Interparental Conflict and Young Adults’ Romantic Relationship Quality: Mediating Pathways Through Parental and Romantic Attachment and Gender Differences

The present study aimed to investigate the mediating roles of parental and romantic attachment in the relationship between interparental conflict (IPC) and young adults’ romantic relationship quality, and whether their mediating roles differ between males and females. A total of 160 heterosexual romantic couples (mean age = 21.82 years, SD = 1.72 years) from a capital city in western China volunteered to take part in an online survey, which encompassed self-report questionnaires of IPC, parental attachment, romantic attachment, and romantic relationship quality. Structural equation modeling was conducted to analyze data among males and females, respectively. Results suggested that male adults’ attachment to mother independently mediated the relationship between IPC and male adults’ romantic relationship quality, whereas romantic anxiety independently mediated the relationship between IPC and female adults’ romantic relationship quality. In addition, for both males and females, parental and romantic attachment did not sequentially mediate the association between IPC and romantic relationship quality. These findings illustrate the differential roles that parental and romantic attachment play in the mediation mechanisms for male and female young adults.