Abstract
This study investigated associations between parental and child psychopathology with parenting stress as a possible mediator, in order to get more insight in mothers’ and fathers’ roles in the development of psychopathology in children. Parents of 272 clinically referred (aged 6–20, 66% boys) reported about their own and their child’s behavioral problems, and about parenting stress. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. Outcomes of path models demonstrated that mothers’ higher internalizing and externalizing problems were associated with respectively children’s higher internalizing and externalizing problems. Fathers’ higher externalizing problems were associated with both children’s higher internalizing and externalizing problems, but fathers’ internalizing problems were only associated with children’s lower externalizing problems. Parenting stress fully mediated the relation between mothers’ and children’s externalizing problems, and partly mediated the relation between mothers’ and children’s internalizing problems. For fathers, parenting stress partly mediated the relation between fathers’ internalizing problems and children’s externalizing problems. Findings indicate that for mothers, the association between parental and child psychopathology is specific, whereas for fathers it is non-specific. Furthermore, results suggest that reducing parenting stress may decrease child problem behavior. Longitudinal studies are needed in order to gain more insight in the direction and underlying mechanisms of the relation between parental and child psychopathology, including parental stress.
Highlights
Worldwide, about 13% of the children suffer from mental disorders such as anxiety disorders, depressive disorder, and ADHD
From studies that have included fathers, it has become clear that fathers’ psychopathology is () associated with child psychopathology: (1) most paternal psychiatric disorders are associated with an increased risk for the development of emotional and behavioural problems in their children, independent of maternal psychiatric disorders, and (2) results of a meta-analysis demonstrated that externalizing problems in fathers and mothers were comparably associated with externalizing problems in their children, while internalizing problems of both mothers and fathers were associated with internalizing problems in their children, the association appeared to be stronger for mothers (Connell and Goodman 2002)
Parents with psychopathology may be more vulnerable to parenting stress, which lead to more negative parenting, and in turn, parental stress may interfere with their abilities to inhibit negative parenting behaviors (e.g., Bögels et al 2010)
Summary
About 13% of the children suffer from mental disorders such as anxiety disorders, depressive disorder, and ADHD (see meta-analysis of Polanczyk et al 2015). Parents with psychopathology may be more vulnerable to parenting stress (as they have less coping resources), which lead to more negative parenting, and in turn, parental stress may interfere with their abilities to inhibit negative parenting behaviors (e.g., avoidance or withdrawal when they are high on the internalizing spectrum, and/or aggression when they are high on the externalizing spectrum) (e.g., Bögels et al 2010) Viewed this way, parenting stress may be an important mediator for the association between parent- and child psychopathology. If parenting stress is found to mediate the association between parent- and child psychopathology, it may be a relatively easy and important target for treatment (e.g., mindful parenting is found to be an effective intervention to manage parenting stress; Bögels et al 2014)
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