Marital quality and children’s prospective internalizing problems: A moderated mediation model

Abstract

• The results exhibited that maternal negative emotional expressivitymediated the relationship between marital quality and children’s internalizing problems, and children’s resting RSA moderated this mediation effect. • The finding suggested that the moderated mediation effect has longitudinal stability. • The finding highlights the importance of considering multiple family and individual factors to understand the development of children’s internalizing problems. The previous cross-sectional study has found that maternal negative emotional expressivity played the mediation effect between marital quality and children’s internalizing problems, and resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) moderated this mediation effect. The present study further examined whether this moderated mediation effect was sustained over time. Participants included 168 children at the first assessment (T1; M = 7.35 years, SD = 0.48; 54% boys) and 147 children two years later (T2; M = 9.38 years, SD = 0.42; 51% boys). At T1, electrocardiogram monitoring was performed on the children to obtain resting RSA data. The Marital Quality Questionnaire (ENRICH), the Family Expressivity Questionnaire (FEQ), and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) were reported by children’s mothers to assess marital quality, maternal emotional expressivity, and children’s internalizing problems. At T2, the internalizing problems were assessed again. The results showed that maternal negative emotional expressivity played a mediating role in the longitudinal relationship between marital quality and children’s internalizing problems, and children’s resting RSA moderated this mediation effect after controlling for children’s sex, family SES and internalizing problems at T1. The findings suggested that the moderated mediation effect has longitudinal stability and highlight the importance of considering multiple family and individual factors to understand the development of children’s internalizing problems.