Stability of father- and mother-child synchrony in a playful setting from preschool to middle childhood: Associations with children's behavior problems

Abstract

As scholars move away from distinct conceptualizations of mothering and fathering (Fagan et al., 2014), scholars have developed novel observational paradigms that are adapted to mothers’ and fathers’ interactive style. For example, the Laughing Task procedure allows for the assessment of parent-child synchrony in a playful setting. However, parent-child synchrony has rarely been assessed at multiple time points, especially in middle childhood. This study aims to extend the applicability of the Laughing Task procedure to middle childhood by 1) exploring the stability between dimensions of dyadic synchrony in 76 intact biparental Canadian families over a five-year period, and 2) examining the longitudinal and concurrent association between dyadic synchrony and children's behavior problems in middle childhood. Children participated in a playful interaction with their father and their mother during separate laboratory visits at both time points. Both parents reported on their child's behavior problems at Time 2. Results showed a strong stability between the dimensions of playful interactions over time, but only for father-child dyads. Nonetheless, the interaction of mother-child and father-child coordination was a significant predictor of children's behavior problems. Result shows that children presented higher behavior problems when concurrent dyadic coordination was low with both parents. Moreover, high coordination with one parent buffered against low coordination with the other parent in the prediction of behavior problems. These results support the validity and reliability of the Laughing Task procedure in middle childhood, especially for father-child dyads.