Parenting Stress, Parental Reactions, and Externalizing Behavior From Ages 4 to 10

Abstract

The association between parenting stress and child externalizing behavior, and the mediating role of parenting, has yielded inconsistent findings; however, the literature has typically been cross-sectional and unidirectional. In the current study the authors examined the longitudinal transactions among parenting stress, perceived negative parental reactions, and child externalizing at 4, 5, 7, and 10 years old. Models examining parent effects (parenting stress to child behavior), child effects (externalizing to parental reactions and stress), indirect effects of parental reactions, and the transactional associations among all variables, were compared. The transactional model best fit the data, and longitudinal reciprocal effects emerged between parenting stress and externalizing behavior. The mediating role of parental reactions was not supported; however, indirect effects suggest that parenting stress both is affected by and affects parent and child behavior. The complex associations among parent and child variables indicate the importance of interventions to improve the parent–child relationship and reducing parenting stress.

Classifying Korean children’s behavioral problems and their influencing factors: a latent profile analysis

“…In contrast, a child's behavioral problems can frequently aggravate a mother's depression or increase parenting distress (Vaughan et al 2012). This is also explained via the transactional model (Mackler et al 2015;Neece et al 2012). Recent studies, including Mackler et al (2015), divided the relation between parenting distress and child's behavioral problem as the parenting distress direct effects model, indirect effect model through child direct effects model, and parental reaction, and transactional model.…”

“…This is also explained via the transactional model (Mackler et al 2015;Neece et al 2012). Recent studies, including Mackler et al (2015), divided the relation between parenting distress and child's behavioral problem as the parenting distress direct effects model, indirect effect model through child direct effects model, and parental reaction, and transactional model. These studies have shown that such relations are best explained by the transactional model.…”

Stress in childhood and the risk of type 1 diabetes

“…So the question is: Why do we find associations with T1D for experience of a SLE but not for stress among the parents if they both can be regarded as sources of stress for the child? One explanation might be the different nature of the phenomena, where SLEs usually are sudden events in time in contrast to the parental stress that is quite stable and slowly changing over time (Mackler et al, 2015;Rantanen et al, 2015;Östberg et al, 2007). The associations with cortisol and with immunological markers previously found in ABIS concerned a composite measure of stress including both the experience of a SLE, high parenting stress, high level of worries, and dissatisfaction of social support (Carlsson et al, 2014;Koch et al, 2008).…”

“…These results suggest that of the dimensions examined, the combination of high parenting stress across childhood and experiences of SLEs have greatest importance for childrens mental health. However, the results should be interpreted carefully as both parenting stress and child mental health above all are stable over time, as well as the associations are suggested to be reciprocal (Mackler et al, 2015). Hence, I cannot comment on the causality, despite the prospective study design.…”

“…Factors related to the parent-child relation may also be of importance for the children's mental health such as parenting behaviour and the parents' emotional support (Deater-Deckard et al, 1998; Låftman & Östberg, 2006;Mackler et al, 2015). Also other parts of the exosystem besides the parents' social network may indirectly influence the child, for example the parents' work-related stress and the climate at school.…”