CHILDREN RESPONSES TO INTERADULT ANGER AS A FUNCTION OF INFORMATION ABOUT RESOLUTION

In everyday family environments, conflict resolution in the presence of children is often not feasible. Can children still benefit from other sources of information about resolution? Analogue studies presented 5- to 6-year-old and 9- to 10-year-old children with videotaped scenarios of interadult conflicts ending in various ways. Study 1 demonstrated that negative effects of adults' disputes on children are reduced even by ''resolution behind closed doors.'' Study 2 showed that negative reactions are also reduced by an adult's subsequent description of a resolution. Even 5- to 6-year-olds were capable of inferring resolution from incomplete information.