The Importance of Parents' Dyadic Coping for Children

Abstract

Stress and coping in couples have received increased research attention during the past two decades, particularly with regard to how couples cope with stress. Dyadic coping has emerged as a strong predictor of relationship satisfaction. Less research has focused on the effects of dyadic coping on other outcomes or family members. In the present study, the authors addressed this gap by examining parents' dyadic coping as a predictor of children's internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and prosocial behavior in three independent studies. In Studies 1 and 2 self-report data were used to assess parents' dyadic coping through the parents' and the children's perspective, and Study 3 included observational data on dyadic coping. Parental dyadic coping was related to children's externalizing symptoms, internalizing symptoms, and prosocial behavior, although results for the latter two outcomes were not consistent across the three studies. The findings suggest that parents' dyadic coping deserves greater consideration within the context of child development.

Role of clarity of other's feelings for dyadic coping

“…This study was approved by the local ethics committee. The current data set has already been used in other publications (e.g., Zemp, Bodenmann, Backes, Sutter‐Stickel, & Revenson, ), but the current results do not overlap with these published results.…”

Dyadic Coping in Couples: A Conceptual Integration and a Review of the Empirical Literature

“…DC has also been shown to be beneficial for other family members. Zemp et al (2016) found that DC predicted lower internalizing and externalizing symptoms and higher prosocial behavior in children, with particularly stable effects for externalizing behavior.…”

Dyadic Coping in Foster and Biological Parents and Its Relation to Child Psychopathology

“…They found that destructive couple conflict at baseline significantly predicted child behavior problems 1 year later (t2), but also that child behavior problems at t2 significantly predicted the extent of couple conflict another year later. While the earlier research, for example, by Schermerhorn et al (2007) and Zemp, Bodenmann, Backes, et al (2016), was conducted with families with mainly school aged children and adolescents, the foster and biological children of the present investigation were mainly of preschool age. At this point, again, longer follow-ups are needed to track the development of the DC of (foster) parents and its association with child mental health problems over a longer period of time.…”

“…If the parents lack adequate coping competencies, child-related stress may spill over to the parental relationship, impair the parental communication, and lead to a reduced relationship satisfaction in couples (Mitnick, Heyman, & Smith Slep, 2009;Zemp, Nussbeck, Cummings, & Bodenmann, 2017). Low DC competencies may also be a risk factor for child maladjustment (e.g., Zemp, Bodenmann, Backes, et al, 2016), while high DC competencies are an important protective factor for child mental health (e.g., Cina & Bodenmann, 2009;Zemp, Milek, et al, 2016).…”

“…The association between child behavior problems and the parental relationship expressed, for example, in their DC competencies, however, should not be considered as unidirectional but bidirectional (e.g., Zemp, 2018). Zemp, Bodenmann, Backes, et al (2016) examined parental DC as a predictor of child behavior in three cross-sectional studies with typically developing healthy children. As a result they found that parental DC was significantly associated with children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems as well as prosocial behavior across informants and measures of DC (parent-report: n = 354, M = 9.3 years, range: 4-18 years; child-report: n = 187, M = 11.8 years, range: 11-13; behavior observation: n = 38; M = 12.3, range: 9-17 years).…”