Parental dysphoria, marital conflict, and parenting: Relations with children's emotional security and adjustment

This study examined relations among parental dysphoria, family processes, and child adjustment. Dimensions of parenting style, parents' martial conflict tactics and children's emotional security regarding interparental conflict were examined as potential mediators of the parental dysphoria-child adjustment relationship. Two hundred sixty-seven families with a child between the ages of 8--16 participated. Behavioral observations were made of parents' interactions during marital conflict resolution tasks. Innovative procedures were used, assessing children's emotional, behavioral and cognitive reactions to a videotaped constructive marital interaction of their parents conducted in the laboratory. Questionnaires assessed parents' dysphoria, dimensions of parenting, and children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the importance of each of the factors in explaining the association between parental dysphoria and child adjustment. The key finding was evidence that parental dysphoria was linked with child internalizing and externalizing problems through specific, distinct family processes. Parents' marital conflict and children's emotional security regarding interparental conflict were particularly implicated in relations between parental dysphoria and child internalizing. However, it was specific dimensions of parenting that were implicated for children's externalizing problems. Furthermore, it was particular aspects of parenting and marital conflict that were most strongly implicated in pathways between parents' depressive symptoms and children's adjustment problems. Differences were also found in indirect pathways for mothers and fathers. These results underscore the importance of assessing and addressing different family processes depending on the type of adjustment problems children are experiencing. Addressing the marital difficulties and children's feelings of insecurity regarding the marriage may help reduce children's internalizing problems in families with parental dysphoria. Whereas for children's behavioral problems, addressing parenting and or parent-child difficulties may decrease children's risk.