Clinical trial NCT00059709: Learning to Resolve Family Conflict
Official title: Understanding and Learning How to Resolve Family Conflict
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Conflict
Family Relations
Keywords: Conflict Resolution training
Children
Lead sponsor: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Sponsor class: NIH
First posted: 2003-05-05
Enrollment: 360
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 4
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: FACTORIAL
Primary purpose: ECT

Brief summary: This study will evaluate the effectiveness of conflict resolution training for families with preschool and elementary school-aged children.

Detailed description: This study will examine the language, reasoning, and social skills used by preschool and elementary school children when they and their parents attempt to understand, conduct, and resolve disputes in everyday family interaction. Families will be given conflict resolution training designed to promote listening and speaking skills that result in more accurate interpersonal and emotional understanding. The training may lower the emotional volatility of family interaction, lower the rate of arguing and fighting between parents and children, increase the rate and frequency of verbal negotiation, and encourage the adoption of conflict strategies that focus on future-oriented behavior and positive outcomes.

A total of 324 working class families, representative of the primary ethnic populations in Chicago (African American, Caucasian, and Mexican American), will be selected for participation. Both parents, one 4- to 6-year-old child, and one 6- to 8-year-old sibling will participate. Single parent families will also be included; the parent will be asked to nominate a second adult or an additional older sibling in place of the second parent.

Each family proceeds through three phases. The initial phase allows assessment of conflict histories, good times, self-appraisals of psychological well-being, affective and social variables that operate within the family, and the family members' ability to discuss and negotiate ongoing problems.

In the second phase, families are randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions. One group is given conflict resolution training and then participates in a series of tasks that focus on child-parent narration, negotiation, and negotiation assessments. A second group participates in the same tasks without training. A third group undergoes only the negotiation assessments. The effectiveness of the training will be evaluated by experimentally assessing conflict resolution skills before and after training in both home and school contexts.

The third phase is a six-month follow-up visit, during which parents and children are again observed negotiating problems. Psychological well-being and affective feelings are once again assessed. The study ends with a debriefing interview for the parents.

The study consists of 14 study visits. Each member in the family will also have four training sessions. Visits are scheduled 3 to 4 times a month, depending on the family's availability.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Nuclear family with at least one biological parent
* African American, Caucasian, or Mexican American
* At least two children: one between the ages of 4 and 6 years, and one between the ages of 6 and 10 years

Primary outcomes:
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Chicago
country: United States
facility: University of Chicago
state: Illinois
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Chicago
name: Nancy L Stein, Ph.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: