Poster #14 - Family Resources for Children’s Well-being in the First Five Years of Life

• In Event: 2-001 - Poster Session 1 during Breakfast

Abstract

This paper investigates family factors affecting children’s development in the first five years of life, based on the family stress model (Conger, Conger, & Martin, 2010). In particular, we address the role of parental education, financial hardship, coparenting problems, and several aspects of parenting, linking these factors to children’s temperament and problem behavior across time. We expect that negative effects of social disadvantage (low education, financial hardship) on children’s temperament and well-being are mediated through coparenting problems and the impaired quality of parenting.
Based on data from the German family panel “pairfam”, we followed newborn children from wave 2 to wave 6, i.e. from their first months of life to age 4. Data come from 126 anchor persons (55.6% female) whose child was born between wave 1 (2008/2009) and 2 (2009/2010) and who participated in the subsequent annual assessments. The analyses are restricted to stable nuclear families (76% married).
The data indicate moderate stability for coparenting problems and low stability of temperament. Interestingly, the link between childrens negative temperament at age 2 and their overall problem behavior indicated by the SDQ at age 4 is stronger than the link between temperament in the first and third year. While coparenting problems in the first year were linked to children’s temperament at W4, no further direct links between both constructs was evident. However, there is an indirect link between coparenting problems at W4 and children’s problem behavior at W6, mediated through negative communication. Stronger coparenting problems at W4 predict parents’ use of more negative communication towards their child at W5 which in turn is linked to children’s increased problem behavior at W6. Furthermore, negative communication increases the risk for more coparenting problems at W6.
The results of the impact of parent’s gender are expected: Mothers rate the temper of their 2 year old more positive than fathers. Finally, parental education– but contrary to our expectations, not economic deprivation – proves relevant. While high parental education at W2 is a resource for children’s lower problem behavior at W6, it seems to work as risk factor for negative parental communication at W5.

Authors

• Carolin Thoennissen, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

• Sabine Walper, German Youth Institute Munich
  Presenting Author

• Barbara Wilhelm, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich