Poster #32 - Parental Psychological Distress and Child Externalizing Behaviors: Potential Moderating Role of Parental Resources

• In Event: Poster Session 17

Abstract

The role of parental resources, like social support and coping efficacy, that may modify the association between parental psychological distress and child externalizing behaviors warrants investigation. Prior research has shown that children who exhibit high levels of externalizing behaviors are at risk of developing a pattern of problematic behaviors for years to come (McMahon et al., 2006), however less is known about the interactive pathways involved in the emergence of behavior problems. Research has established that parents’ psychological distress is a risk factors for behavior problems in their children (Patrick et al., 2020). Individuals who perceive greater social support and report higher levels of problem focused coping skills also experience benefits in multiple domains including greater well-being (Chao, 2011; Razurel et al., 2013). The current study sought to advance our understanding of the moderating role of parental level of resources—social support satisfaction and problem-focused coping—on the associations between maternal and paternal psychological distress and emerging externalizing problem behaviors in young children. This study involved data from a diverse sample of 201 primiparous mothers and 151 of their partners beginning the last trimester of pregnancy followed until their children became 4 years old. For the current analysis, mothers and fathers reported their current psychological distress, social support satisfaction, and coping self-efficacy when their child was 18 months (Time 3; T3). Both mothers and fathers then reported their child’s externalizing behavior problems at (Time 4; T4) when their child was 4 years old. Results indicated (see Table 1) that greater maternal self-reported psychological distress and lower levels of maternal coping self-efficacy at T3 predicted maternal reports of higher child externalizing behaviors at T4. Two statistically significant interaction terms were observed: both self-reported T3 maternal social support satisfaction and coping moderated the relationship between self-reported maternal psychological distress at T3 and reported child externalizing behaviors at T4. Specifically, low levels of social support satisfaction seem to worsen the effects of higher psychological distress, wherein mothers with lower social support satisfaction and greater psychological distress later report more behavior problems in their children (simple slopes t=3.71, p < .001). Alternatively, higher levels of social support satisfaction seemed to buffer the effect between higher maternal psychological distress and later perceived child externalizing behaviors. Problem-focused coping skills were not as useful at higher levels of psychological distress for mothers, but at lower levels of psychological distress, lower levels of problem-focused coping skills were associated with more perceived externalizing behaviors (simple slopes t=4.17, p < .001). For fathers, their self-reported coping self-efficacy at T3 predicted their perception of their child’s externalizing behaviors at T4. However, neither father’s self-reported social support satisfaction nor psychological distress at T3 predicted their reports of their child’s externalizing behaviors at T4. No other significant effects or interactions were observed for fathers. Results of this study underscore the importance of parent gender and considering the effects of parental resources, like social support and coping, that may minimize or influence the relations between maternal psychological distress and perceived child externalizing behaviors.

Authors

• Abigail J Anderson, University of Alabama at Birmingham
  Presenting Author

• Christina Maria Rodriguez, Old Dominion University