the cognitive-contextual framework, threat appraisals are conceptualized as a primary process that initiates coping strategies (Fosco et al., 2007; Fosco & Grych, 2010; Grych & Fincham, 1990). Although both perspectives conceptualize children’s subjective experiences of parental conflict differently, they share the view that threat evaluations are central to the process of how interparental conflict affects coping and adjustment. Empirical research reliably supports threat appraisals as a key mechanism of risk for maladjustment (e.g. Cummings, George, McCoy, & Davies, 2012; Davies & Cummings, 1998; Davies et al., 2002; Fosco & Grych, 2007; Grych & Fincham, 1993; see Rhoades, 2008), most consistently for internalizing problems (Fosco & Grych, 2008; Grych et al., 2003). Inquiries into child characteristics that moderate these pathways may reveal different processes for different children and provide insight into specific points of intervention.
