Maternal and Paternal Parenting: The Roles of the Mother-Father Relationship From a Dyadic Perspective

• In Event: Understanding Parent and Family Factors in Early Learning Settings

Abstract

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the present study investigated the relative effects of marital satisfaction and conflict on mothers’ and fathers’ later parenting outcomes from a dyadic perspective. We also tested whether the negative consequences of low marital satisfaction and high marital conflict were buffered by parents’ participation in workshops, talks, or information sessions at early education and care (EEC) programs. Actor-partner interdependence model showed that both mothers’ and fathers’ marital satisfaction had equally strong positive effects on their own and partners’ direct engagement in parent-child activities four years later. Parents’ EEC participation did not buffer the effects of mother-father relationships, although it had positive main effects on parent-child activities.

Authors

• Yujin Lee, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Kyungmin Kim, Seoul National University

• Songtian Zeng, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Anne Douglass, University of Massachusetts - Boston