Parental divorce, interparental conflict, and parent-child relationships in Spanish young adults

Abstract The main aim of this study was to analyze the associations between parental divorce and interparental conflict with father-child and mother-child relationship quality, in a Spanish young adult sample. The moderating effect of adult child´s gender was also analyzed. Using a sample of 1,078 Spanish young adults, our results suggested that interparental conflict was more strongly associated with lower mother-child and father-child relationship quality, and that parental divorce was more strongly associated with father-child relationship quality than with mother-child relationship quality. In addition, adult child´s gender only moderated the effect of parental divorce on father-child relationship quality, such that women from divorced families score lower on father-child relationship quality than women from non-divorced families. Findings add to the existing literature and promote a better comprehension of the complex associations between parental divorce and conflict with parent-child relationship quality in an understudied cultural context.