Longitudinal Relationships Among Maternal Depression, Social Parenting, and Young Children’s Externalizing Behavior Problems: Moderated Mediation Effect of Young Children’s Negative Emotionality

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigated whether young children’s negative emotionality moderates the longitudinal mediating effect of maternal social parenting on the relationship between maternal depression and young children’s externalizing behavioral problems.Methods: The 2008 (T1)~2012 (T5) data of the Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC) were used. Participants were 1703 children aged 0 to 4 years old, their mothers, and their fathers. Descriptive statistics were performed for the variables and Pearson’s correlation analyses were carried out to identify the association with the variables. SPSS PROCESS macro version 4.0 software was used for analyzing the mediating effect (Model 4) and moderated mediation effect (Model 14). The significance of the indirect effect was verified via a bootstrapping test.Results: According to the results, first, maternal social parenting (T4) had a partial mediating effect on the relationship between maternal depression (T1-T3) and young children’s externalizing behavioral problems (T5). Second, young children’s negative emotionality (T4) had a moderating effect on the relationship between maternal social parenting(T4) and young children’s externalizing behavioral problems (T5). Third, the mediating effect of maternal social parenting (T4) on the relationship between maternal depression (T1-T3) and young children’s externalizing behavioral problems (T4) was moderated by young children’s negative emotionality (T4). Specifically, the indirect effect of maternal depression on young children’s externalizing behavior problems through maternal social parenting was more impactful among young children with average or high on negative emotionality. The findings supported a diathesis-stress model rather than a differential susceptibility model regarding the interaction effect between young children’s temperament and maternal parenting on young children’s externalizing behavior problems.Conclusion:In the context of the diathesis-stress model, adjusting interventions to young children’s negative emotionality, which serves as a vulnerability for negative parenting environments, may be a useful way to prevent their externalizing behavior problems.