Abstract
Maternal well-being is assumed to be associated with well-being of individual family members, optimal parenting practices, and positive developmental outcomes for children. The objective of this study was to examine the interplay between maternal well-being, parent-child activities, and the well-being of 5- to 7-year-old children. In a sample of N = 291 mother-child dyads, maternal life satisfaction, the frequency of shared parent-child activities, as well as children’s self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary were assessed using several methods. Data were collected in a special study of the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), a representative longitudinal survey of private households in Germany. Using structural equation modeling, significant positive direct and indirect relations between maternal life satisfaction, frequency of shared parent-child activities, children’s self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary were found. The more satisfied the mother was, the more she shared activities with her child and the more the child acted prosocially. Furthermore, the higher the frequency of shared parent-child activities, the higher the child scored in all three analyzed indicators of children’s well-being: self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary. The current study supports the assumption of maternal well-being as the basis of positive parenting practices and child well-being.
Highlights
Children’s well-being depends on their own emotional, social, and cognitive functioning, and on environmental factors
Receptive vocabulary was positively correlated to the frequency of shared activities and self-regulation (0.13 ≤ r ≥ 0.19, p < 0.05)
Children who already visited school scored higher in the receptive vocabulary test and shared less activities with their parents compared to children attending daycare
Summary
Children’s well-being depends on their own emotional, social, and cognitive functioning, and on environmental factors. Familial factors, such as maternal well-being are important and influential. Maternal well-being may possibly affect children’s outcomes via its impact on parenting, for example. In her Theory of Change, Newland (2015) defines “family well-being” as the foundation of “developmental parenting” and “child well-being.”. How parents treat their children and are involved in shared activities impacts children’s development. Maternal characteristics, such as well-being and life satisfaction, may affect children’s emotional and behavioral health. In line with Newland’s (2015) Theory of Change, Agache (2017) suggests the advantage of studying child well-being in relation to family well-being and various parenting factors.
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