Infants' emotional security: The confluence of parental depression, Interparental conflict, and parenting

Examining the link between parental relationship functioning and parent sensitivity: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Fathers remain neglected in attachment research, despite paternal sensitivity being important for children's development. Past research suggested that fathers' parenting may be influenced by contextual factors, including relationship functioning between parents.

OBJECTIVE

This meta-analysis examined the association between paternal sensitivity and parental relationship functioning, and compared the magnitude of associations to those of maternal sensitivity.

METHOD

A search conducted across five databases up to February 2023 yielded 44 studies and N = 4,616 fathers (mean father age: 31.7 years; mean child age: 19.1 months). All studies included an observational measure of paternal sensitivity and a measure of parental relationship functioning.

RESULTS

Paternal sensitivity was positively associated with the quality of the co-parenting relationship (r = .13, 95% CI [.01, .25]) and parental romantic relationship (r = .09, 95% CI [.03, .15]).. Associations were similar for mothers and fathers.

CONCLUSION

This study contributes to our understanding of factors that enhance paternal sensitivity.

IMPLICATIONS

The results of this research may inform family-wide intervention and prevention efforts to support child well-being.

Destructive interparental conflict affects Chinese children's emotional and behavioral problems: Indirect pathways via parent-child attachment and emotional insecurity

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have demonstrated that destructive interparental conflict (IPC) is closely related to the emergence of emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents. In addition, in the family system, such conflict also affects the patent-child attachment relationship and emotional insecurity of adolescents.

OBJECTIVES

This study mainly explores the relationship between destructive interparental conflict and adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems, focuses on the role of parent-child attachment and emotional insecurity, and analyzes whether this relationality plays multiple mediating roles in the influence of destructive interparental conflict on emotional and behavioral problems.

METHODS

Data for the study were obtained through a questionnaire survey conducted on 524 Chinese adolescents from primary and junior high school.

RESULTS

Structural equation modeling was conducted to test direct and indirect pathways between destructive interparental conflict and Chinese adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems. Destructive IPC negatively predicted parent-child attachment and parent-child attachment negatively predicted emotional and behavioral problems. Destructive Interparental conflict positively predicted emotional insecurity and emotional insecurity positively predicted emotional and behavioral problems.

DISCUSSION

The results show that: (1) Parent-child attachment negatively predicted emotional and behavioral problems, and emotional insecurity positively predicted the same. (2) Parent-child attachment and emotional insecurity act in a multiple mediating role between destructive IPC and adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems. (3) Parent-child attachment and emotional insecurity constitute two indirect pathways between destructive IPC and adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Destructive IPC can adversely affect emotional and behavioral problems among adolescents; destructive IPC plays a damaging role in their emotional security and parent-child attachment, consequently effecting emotional and behavioral problems.

The Divorce Process and Child Adaptation Trajectory Typology (DPCATT) Model: The Shaping Role of Predivorce and Postdivorce Interparental Conflict

Divorce has been conceptualized as a process. Research has extensively demonstrated that it is pre/postdivorce family environment factors that primarily account for the variability in children's adaptation over parental divorce process rather than the legal divorce per se. Amongst various factors, interparental conflict has been consistently identified as a prominent one. Surprisingly, a single source is still lacking that comprehensively synthesizes the extant findings. This review fills this gap by integrating the numerous findings across studies into a more coherent Divorce Process and Child Adaptation Trajectory Typology (DPCATT) Model to illustrate that pre/postdivorce interparental conflict plays crucial roles in shaping child adaptation trajectories across parental divorce process. This review also summarizes the mechanisms (e.g., child cognitive and emotional processes, coparenting, parent-child relations) via which pre/postdivorce interparental conflict determines these trajectories and the factors (e.g., child gender and age, child coping, grandparental support) that interact with pre/postdivorce interparental conflict to further complicate these trajectories. In addition, echoing the call of moving beyond the monolithic conceptualization of pre/postdivorce interparental conflict, we also review studies on the differential implications of different aspects (e.g., frequency versus intensity) and types (e.g., overt versus covert) of interparental conflict for child adjustment. Last, limitations of prior studies and avenues for future research are discussed. The proposed framework may serve as a common knowledge base for researchers to compare/interpret results, detect cutting edges of the fields, and design new studies. The specificity, complexity, nuance, and diversity inherent within our proposed model await to be more fully revealed.

Parental Relationship Status as a Moderator of the Associations Between Mothers' and Fathers' Conflict Behaviors and Early Child Behavior Problems

This study examines interparental conflict and associations with child behavior problems among a large, diverse sample of families with low income (N = 2,691) using path model analyses of mothers' and fathers' reports of constructive interparental conflict, destructive interparental conflict, and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization at 15 months and child emotional insecurity and child behavior problems at 36 months. Multigroup models examined whether parental relationship status (i.e., married, cohabiting, and churning) moderated these associations. Fathers' perceptions of interparental conflict behaviors showed few direct associations with child outcomes, whereas mothers' perceptions of interparental conflict showed more robust associations with child outcomes. Specifically, mother-reported destructive conflict was associated with higher levels of child emotional insecurity and child behavior problems across parental relationship status subgroups. Mother-reported constructive conflict had a small negative association with child behavior problems in cohabiting families. Child emotional insecurity mediated the association of maternal destructive conflict on child behavior problems. Although churning families experienced higher levels of moderate and severe interparental conflict, associations linking destructive conflict to child behavior problems were consistent across parental relationship subgroups. There were few direct effects of father-reported constructive and destructive conflict on child well-being. However, the results supported the notion that fathers play an influential role in the family system via maternal reports of IPV victimization. Results of this study suggest that the mechanisms underlying emotional security theory, in which child emotional insecurity mediates the associations between maternal destructive conflict and child behavior problems, apply to a large and racially diverse sample of socioeconomically disadvantaged children.

Interparental Conflict and Early Adulthood Depression: Maternal Care and Psychological Needs Satisfaction as Mediators

Previous research has identified exposure to interparental conflict (IPC) in childhood as a risk factor for young adults' depression. However, there is still a lack of understanding of the underlying mediating mechanisms of this association. Driven by the spillover hypothesis, the present study investigated whether maternal antipathy and neglect, and in turn unmet psychological needs, mediated the relation between IPC and early adulthood depression in a sample of 347 undergraduate students (M = 23.27 years; SD = 0.86; 57.05% women) in China. The participants completed self-report measures of IPC, maternal care, satisfaction of basic psychological needs, and depression. Structural equation modeling revealed that: (a) IPC was positively associated with early adulthood depression; (b) this association was sequentially mediated by inadequate maternal care (i.e., antipathy and neglect) and by unsatisfied psychological needs. These findings suggest that efforts to prevent depression should focus on reducing not only IPC, but also inadequate maternal care and unmet psychological needs.

Parenting Styles, Coparenting, and Early Child Adjustment in Separated Families with Child Physical Custody Processes Ongoing in Family Court

Coparenting conflict and triangulation after separation or divorce are associated with poorer child adjustment when parenting gatekeeping and conflict occur. Fewer studies reported psychosocial adjustment of children under three. We explored the effects of authoritarian and permissive parenting styles and negative coparenting on child adjustment in a purpose sample of 207 Portuguese newly separated/divorced parents (50.2% mothers/49.8% fathers) with sole or joint (49.8%/50.2%) physical custody processes ongoing in court. Parents filled out the Parenting Styles Questionnaire-Parents' report, the Coparenting Questionnaire, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Parenting and coparenting moderations path analysis to predict child adjustment were tested for two groups (2/3-year-old child/>3-year-old-child) and showed a good fit, followed by multigroup path analysis with similarities. Findings suggest harsh parenting and interparental conflict and triangulation as predictors for poor early child adjustment. The ongoing custody process could contribute to increased interparental conflict. The families' unique functioning, parenting, and conflict should be considered in young children custody decisions made in a particularly stressful period when the parental responsibilities' process is still ongoing and conflict may increase to serve the best interest of the child and promote healthy development. Future directions and practical implications are discussed.

The Impact of Interparental Conflicts on Online Game Addiction Symptomatology: The Mediating Roles of the Parent-Adolescent Relationship and Loneliness in Adolescents

Many studies have documented the close association that exists between interparental conflicts and the symptomatology of online game addiction. However, the underlying mechanism that drives this association has not been fully investigated. This cross-sectional study explores the effect of interparental conflicts on online game addiction symptomatology in adolescents, focusing on the mediating effects of the parent-adolescent relationship and of adolescent loneliness. A total of 553 middle school students completed a questionnaire that included: a perception of interparental conflict scale, a level of closeness to parents scale, a short UCLA Loneliness scale, and an online game addiction symptomatology scale. Results showed that interparental conflicts, parent-adolescent relations, and adolescent loneliness are all significantly related to online game addiction symptomatology in adolescents. Structural equation modeling results indicate that the effects of interparental conflicts on adolescent online game addiction symptomatology are partially mediated by the parent-adolescent relationship and by adolescent loneliness.

The Implications of Early Marital Conflict for Children's Development

Although negative associations between the frequency and intensity of marital conflict and children's adjustment are well documented, less is known about how parents' conflict styles are related to children's developmental outcomes. The present study examines whether exposure to different types of parents' conflict styles, during a child's first year of life, is related to children's behavioral outcomes in the first grade. Parents' conflict resolution styles (CRSs) and child outcomes were examined in a sample of 150 working-class, first-time parents and their children. It was hypothesized that infants' exposure to more conflictual conflict resolution styles would predict poorer child outcomes over time. Results revealed that parents' unique conflict styles mattered in unique ways for children's development, but also that the interaction of parents' styles, their dyadic conflict patterns, was also related to child outcomes. Results revealed that higher levels of parents' depressive or angry CRSs in the first year predicted more internalizing problems for children, while constructive CRS was related to fewer externalizing problems. However, gender effects showed that higher rates of parental compliance during conflict were related to more internalizing problems in girls. Furthermore, dyadic results revealed that having one parent angrily engage in conflict and the other parent - withdraw, comply or angrily engage - was related to more externalizing problems for boys. Overall, results showed that parents' different conflict resolution styles, during a child's first year of life, are related to their children's developmental outcomes 6 years later. These results emphasize children's early vulnerability to parental conflict and hold implications for clinicians and practioners.

Maternal Parenting Stress in the Face of Early Regulatory Disorders in Infancy: A Machine Learning Approach to Identify What Matters Most

Objective: Early regulatory disorders (ERD) in infancy are typically associated with high parenting stress (PS). Theoretical and empirical literature suggests a wide range of factors that may contribute to PS related to ERD. The aim of this study was to identify key predictors of maternal PS within a large predictor data set in a sample of N = 135 mothers of infants diagnosed with ERD. Methods: We used machine learning to identify relevant predictors. Maternal PS was assessed with the Parenting Stress Index. The multivariate dataset assessed cross-sectionally consisted of 464 self-reported and clinically rated variables covering mother-reported psychological distress, maternal self-efficacy, parental reflective functioning, socio-demographics, each parent's history of illness, recent significant life events, former miscarriage/abortion, pregnancy, obstetric history, infants' medical history, development, and social environment. Variables were drawn from behavioral diaries on regulatory symptoms and parental co-regulative behavior as well as a clinical interview which was utilized to diagnose ERD and to assess clinically rated regulatory symptoms, quality of parent-infant relationship, organic/biological and psychosocial risks, and social-emotional functioning. Results: The final prediction model identified 11 important variables summing up to the areas maternal self-efficacy, psychological distress (particularly depression and anger-hostility), infant regulatory symptoms (particularly duration of fussing/crying), and age-appropriate physical development. The RMSE (i.e., prediction accuracy) of the final model applied to the test set was 21.72 (R ² = 0.58). Conclusions: This study suggests that among behavioral, environmental, developmental, parent-infant relationship, and mental health variables, a mother's higher self-efficacy, psychological distress symptoms particularly depression and anger symptoms, symptoms in the child particularly fussing/crying symptoms, and age-inappropriate physical development are associated with higher maternal PS. With these factors identified, clinicians may more efficiently assess a mother's PS related to ERD in a low-risk help-seeking sample.

After the Marriage Is Over: Mothers' Separation Distress and Children's Postdivorce Adjustment

Objective

We examine whether (direct effect) and how (indirect effect) residential mothers' postdivorce separation distress is associated with children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors.

Background

The consequences of postdivorce separation distress for adults, and specifically parents, have been established. Because research has also identified interdependent associations between parents' and children's postdivorce adjustment, it is possible that parents' separation distress has negative implications for children's postdivorce adjustment as well.

Method

This study uses longitudinal, multimethod, multiinformant data from divorcing mothers and their children (N = 319 mother-child dyads). Families were recruited from divorce court records within 120days of divorce filing. Hierarchical linear modeling techniques, path analysis, and mediation models were used to achieve the goals of the study.

Results

Mothers' separation distress was significantly associated with increases in children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Mothers' co-parenting conflict mediated the link between mothers' separation distress and children's internalizing but not externalizing behaviors. Ineffective parenting did not mediate the links between separation distress and children's internalizing or externalizing behaviors.

Conclusion

Residential mothers' postdivorce separation distress has direct and indirect implications for their children's postdivorce adjustment.

Implications

Professionals can promote postdivorce family adjustment by acknowledging the consequences of residential mothers' separation distress and assisting those who experience it. Practitioners can also use this study's findings to inform co-parenting education programs.