Marital stress and children's externalizing behavior as predictors of mothers’ and fathers’ parenting

Abstract

Previous research suggests that mothers' and fathers' parenting may be differentially influenced by marital and child factors within the family. Some research indicates that marital stress is more influential in fathers' than mothers' parenting, whereas other research shows that children's difficult behavior preferentially affects mothers' parenting. The present study examined marital stress and children's externalizing behavior in middle childhood as predictors of mothers' versus fathers' consistency, monitoring, and support and care in early adolescence, and the subsequent associations of these parenting behaviors with externalizing behavior 1.5 years later. Pathways were examined within a longitudinal mediation model testing for moderation by parent gender (N = 276 mothers, N = 229 fathers). Children's externalizing behavior in middle childhood was found to more strongly inversely predict mothers' versus fathers' monitoring in early adolescence. In contrast, marital stress more strongly predicted low monitoring for fathers than for mothers. Regardless of parent gender, marital stress predicted lower levels of parental consistency, and children's externalizing behavior predicted lower levels of parental support. Mothers' monitoring and fathers' support in early adolescence predicted lower levels of externalizing behavior 1.5 years later. The results are discussed with respect to family transactions relative to parent gender and implications for intervention.

Interparental Conflict Management Strategies and Parent–Adolescent Relationships: Disentangling Between‐Person From Within‐Person Effects Across Adolescence

“…Regarding the differences between mothers and fathers, our results echoed recent conceptualizations that have underlined the complementarity between the maternal and the paternal roles on parenting (Cabrera, Fitzgerald, Bradley, & Roggman, ; Elam et al, ). On the between‐person level, the correlations were similar for mothers and fathers, but the finding that on the within‐person level marital conflict was exclusively related to the father–adolescent relationship indicates that it may be more difficult for fathers than mothers to navigate between the parental and the spousal roles (Coiro & Emery, ; Elam et al, ). This can explain the “reverse spillover” effect we found only for the father–adolescent negative interactions.…”

“…However, the few significant effects on the within‐person level were in support of the spillover hypothesis, which posits that conflict in one family subsystem might lead to conflict in another family subsystem. These within‐person effects were found only for fathers, echoing recent studies that fathers are more spillover prone than mothers (e.g., Chung et al, ; Elam, Chassin, Eisenberg, & Spinrad, ; Kouros, Papp, Goeke‐Morey, & Mark, ).…”

Autonomy support in toddlerhood: Similarities and contrasts between mothers and fathers.

“…Turning to child characteristics, evidence has suggested a dosage effect in which children’s difficult behavior exerts a stronger influence on mothers’ than on fathers’ parenting (e.g., Elam, Chassin, Eisenberg, & Spinrad, 2017 ; Meunier, Roskam, & Browne, 2011 ). The gender composition of the parent–infant dyad has also appeared to be important.…”

Affiliation with substance‐using peers: Examining gene‐environment correlations among parent monitoring, polygenic risk, and children's impulsivity

“…These models propose bidirectional effects between the parent and child in which children's behavior affects the parenting they receive, which subsequently influences later child outcomes. This is especially salient for disruptive and disinhibited child behavior which evoke poor parenting, subsequently contributing to poor child outcomes later in life (e.g., Elam, Chassin, Eisenberg, & Spinrad, ; Latzman, Elkovitch, & Clark, ; Prinzie et al, ). In a review, Kiff, Lengua, and Zalewski () found such bidirectional transactions to exist between child impulsivity and negative parenting.…”