Material Hardship in Families With Low Income: Positive Effects of Coparenting on Fathers' and Mothers' Parenting and Children's Prosocial Behaviors.

Joyce Y Lee,Brenda L Volling,Shawna J Lee

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.729654

Joyce Y Lee, Brenda L Volling + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.729654

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Abstract

Families with low income experience high levels of economic insecurity, but less is known about how mothers and fathers in such families successfully navigate coparenting and parenting in the context of material hardship. The current study utilized a risk and resilience framework to investigate the underlying family processes linking material hardship and children’s prosocial behaviors in a sample of socioeconomically disadvantaged mother-father families with preschoolers from the Building Strong Families project (N = 452). Coparenting alliance and mothers’ and fathers’ responsive parenting were examined as mediators. Results of structural equation modeling showed that coparenting alliance was associated with higher levels of both mothers’ and fathers’ responsive parenting. Subsequently, both parents’ responsive parenting were associated with higher levels of children’s prosocial behaviors. Material hardship was not associated with coparenting alliance and either parent’s responsive parenting. Tests of indirect effects confirmed that the effects of coparenting alliance on children’s prosocial behaviors were mediated through both mothers’ and fathers’ responsive parenting. Overall, these results suggest that when mothers and fathers have a strong coparenting alliance, they are likely to withstand the negative effects of material hardship and thus engage in positive parenting behaviors that benefit their children’s prosocial development. Family strengthening interventions, including responsible fatherhood programs, would do well to integrate a strong focus on enhancing a positive coparenting alliance between mothers and fathers.

Highlights

Material hardship—defined as challenges with paying for food, housing, utilities, or medical care— is prevalent among American families with low income, with 70% of such families reporting some level of material hardship (Ouellette et al, 2004; Karpman et al, 2018)
Less is known about the family process underlying some of these links in two-parent families with low income and whether resilience present in such families buffers the negative effects of material hardship on relevant family processes and children’s development
The Family Stress Model (FSM) posits that economic pressures arising from negative economic events such as low family income, income loss, unstable work, or debts can lead to higher levels of depressive moods for both mothers and fathers, which lead to relationship strain in the form of interparental conflict

Summary

Introduction

Material hardship—defined as challenges with paying for food, housing, utilities, or medical care— is prevalent among American families with low income, with 70% of such families reporting some level of material hardship (Ouellette et al, 2004; Karpman et al, 2018). The current study aimed to utilize a risk and resilience framework to understand underlying family processes (e.g., coparenting and parenting) linking material hardship and young children’s prosocial behaviors using data from the Building Strong Families (BSF) project, a large and racially diverse sample of socioeconomically disadvantaged mother-father families with low income. The Family Stress Model (FSM: Conger et al, 1992) was first devised to understand better the impact of negative economic events on families in the Midwestern United States during the Great Farm Crisis in the 1980s. The earliest FSM studies used samples of White families in rural farming communities in Iowa (Conger et al, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994) and showed that negative economic events were associated with poor outcomes for children mainly through their effects on parents’ mental health, relationship quality, and parenting behaviors. Poor interparental relationship quality is linked to lower involved or nurturant parenting behaviors that result in children’s maladjustment (Conger et al, 1992)

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