Interparental conflict, emotional security, and adolescents' self-concept

According to the Emotional Security Theory, feeling safe in the family is a main goal for adolescents. Interparental conflict threatens adolescents' emotional security but there are few studies that relate interparental conflict, emotional security, and adolescents' self-perceptions. Our aim was to relate these dimensions. Participants were 196 adolescents of both sexes with a mean age of 15.24 years. The CPIC scale was used to measure perceived interparental conflict, the SIFS was used to measure emotional security, identifying one secure dimension and two insecure dimensions (preoccupation and disengagement), and the SDQ II, that was used to measure academic and non-academic self-concept. Adolescents of both sexes who were more emotionally disengaged had lower scores on general self-concept, general academic self-concept, self-esteem, and relationships with parents. These results have implications for educational and psychological interventions due to the role played by relationships and self-perceptions in adolescents' development.