Poster #149 - Longitudinal Relations Among Paternal Warmth, Maternal Parenting Stress, and Children’s Anxiety/Depression and Aggressiveness

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Positive parenting behaviors (Smetana, Crean, & Daddis, 2002) and less parenting stress (Baker et al., 2002) tend to be associated with fewer behavior problems among children. However, the majority of studies on these topics have focused on mothers (Bronte-Tinkew, Moore, & Carrano, 2006), giving an incomplete picture of the relationship between parenting and child development. Additionally, these associations among parenting behaviors, family stress, and child adjustment have been primarily conducted in the United States and have not been replicated in other countries. To correct this weakness, the present study examined the relationships among fathers’ parental warmth, mothers’ parenting stress, and children’s behavior problems across three time points. Specifically, we analyzed data from a longitudinal research project, The Panel Study on Korean Children, which was collected in 2011 (T1), 2012 (T2), and 2013 (T3). A total of 1,824 families with a three-year old child (in 2011) were interviewed or answered questionnaires three times over the course of three years (M child age = 4 years, 5 months, SD = 1 month at T2). Three questionnaires were used to examine the relationships among paternal warmth, maternal parenting stress, and children’s anxiety/depression and aggressive behaviors. The analyses were conducted using a three-wave cross-lagged path analysis within structural equation modeling (SEM) in Mplus. The results showed that paternal warmth, maternal parenting stress, and children’s behavior problems were positively associated with one another at each time point; among all three variables, greater values at earlier waves predicted greater values at later waves (see Figures 1 and 2). In addition, there were indirect longitudinal effects in both models. Greater paternal warmth at T1 predicted lower maternal parenting stress at T2 after controlling for maternal stress at T1 (b = -.127, p = .001 for the anxiety/depression model; b = -.126, p = .001 for the aggressive behaviors model), and this lower maternal stress subsequently predicted lower juvenile anxiety/depression (b = .027, p < .001) and fewer aggressive behaviors (b = .062, p < .001) at T3, after controlling for those behavior problems at earlier waves. There were bidirectional effects in both models as well. Lower maternal parenting stress at T1 predicted lower stress at T3 via lower juvenile anxiety/depression (b = .014, p < .001) and fewer aggressive behaviors (b = .017, p < .001), as well as via paternal warmth at T2 (b = .004, p = .037 for anxiety/depression; b = .004, p = .053 for aggressive behaviors, marginally significant). Also, greater paternal warmth at T1 predicted lower maternal parenting stress at T3 via fewer aggressive behaviors at T2 (b = -.007, p = .058, marginally significant). This study highlights important predictions of later constructs through earlier constructs using a longitudinal model, and demonstrates mutual influence in the relationships between parent and child, in contrast to the unidirectional effects that only go from parent to child. The results have implications for families by highlighting the importance of positive fathering for maternal psychological well-being and children’s development throughout the lifespan.

Authors

• Yookyung Lee, The University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jeffrey T Cookston, San Francisco State University
  Presenting Author