Fathers’ socioeconomic status and Children’s developmental outcomes: The role of parental depressive symptoms and parent-child interactions

Abstract

This study aims to explore the effects of parental socioeconomic status (SES) on children’s developmental outcomes (e.g., peer relationship, happiness, and depression). Additionally, the mediating roles of parental depressive symptoms and parent-child interactions (PCIs, including both positive and negative PCI) are also of particular interest. A secondary data analysis of the 2014 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) is conducted, using data of 863 mainland China’s families. The results indicate child developmental outcomes are majorly associated with father’s SES, through two different mediating paths. The first one is father’s reported depression plays a mediating role in the relation between his SES and children’s developmental outcomes. In the second path, the effect of father’s SES on children’s developmental outcomes is serially mediated by maternal depressive symptoms and PCIs. These results (a) provide evidence for the cultural universality of the family stress model (FSM), (b) highlight distinctive roles of father and mother in family processes, and (c) extend the applicability of the FSM by the investigations of underrepresented variables.