Clarifying the Association Between Mother-Father Relationship Aggression and Parenting

• In Event: 090 - Regular Session. Parenthood

Abstract

Although much research has investigated consequences of relationship aggression for parenting, longitudinal examination of couple-level data is limited. Further, studies have largely focused on the association between fathers’ perpetration and mothers’ parenting, ignoring consequences of mothers’ perpetration for fathers’ parenting as well as implications of relationship aggression perpetration for one’s own parenting. Analyses using a sample of married or cohabiting couples from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 1,112) show that fathers’ relationship aggression is related to more parenting stress for both parents, fathers’ less engagement with children, and mothers’ more frequent spanking. Yet, these associations disappear in fixed-effects models except for the effects of fathers’ aggression on their parenting stress. Mothers’ aggression is related to more stress for both parents and fathers’ frequent spanking, but these associations disappear in fixed-effects models. In sum, the previously claimed association between relationship aggression and parenting appears to be largely due to selection factors.

Authors

• Kei Nomaguchi, Bowling Green State University

• Wendi Leigh Johnson, Bowling Green State University

• Mallory Minter, Bowling Green State University

• Lindsey Aldrich, Bowling Green State University