The Relationship Between Parenting Stress And Child Anxiety:The Mediating Role Of Parent-child Relationship

Anxiety is one of the main manifestations of children’s emotional disorders.And the prevalence rate among children in China is very high,about 15%-24%.Negative effects of anxiety starting from childhood would be continuous to adolescence,even adulthood,if no immediate action is taken,and some adverse social function such as substance abuse and criminal behavior in adulthood could be positively predicted by children’s anxiety.In order to promote healthy and positive development of children,it is necessary to explore the related factors affecting children’s anxiety and the specific mechanism that would make great effect to the prevention and intervention of children’s anxiety.It was believed that parenting stress and parent-child relationship were two important factors to children’s anxiety,which could be positively predicted by the former one whereas negatively predicted by the latter one..In the family system,parents share the responsibility of raising children,and the parenting behavior of one parent would not only affect the parent-child relationship of themselves,but also their spouse.Therefore,based on the family system theory,this study was to explore the relationship between parental stress,parent-child relationship and child anxiety,and to provide a theoretical basis for the prevention and intervention of children’s anxiety,and to promote the positive development of children.A longitudinal design with a two-time interval of one year was used.683 children and their parents from 6 primary schools in Jinan were selected,and The Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale-Parent,Parenting Stress Index-Short Form and parent-child relationship questionnaire reported by parents were used to measure parental parenting stress,parent-child relationship and children’s anxiety,and to examine the influence of parenting stress on the parent-child relationship of themselves and their spouse,and the mediating role of parent-child relationship between parental parenting stress and children’s anxiety.Based on the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model,this study used a Structural Equation Model to analyze the data.The results showed that:(1)The Physical injury fears of girls scored significantly higher than that of boys.The level of separation anxiety disorder of children from grades 1 to 3 scored significantly higher than that of children in grades 4 and 5;the level of Social phobia of children in grade 1 scoredsignificantly lower than that of children in grades 2 to 4.The level of maternal stress scored significantly higher than that of the fathers.The mothers of the boys reported a higher level of parenting stress than the mothers of the girls;the parents of the non-only child reported a higher level of parenting stress than the parents of the only child.The level of mother-child cohesion was higher than the level of father-child cohesion;the parents of the girls reported a higher level of parent-child cohesion than the parents of the boys;the mothers of the non-only child reported a lower level of parent-child cohesion and higher levels of parent-child conflict than the mothers of the only child.(2)Parental parenting stress was significantly positively correlated with child anxiety after one year,significantly negatively correlated with parent-child cohesion,and significantly positively correlated with parent-child conflict.Parental parent-child cohesion was significantly negatively correlated with child anxiety after one year,and parent-child conflict was significantly and positively correlated with child anxiety one year later.(3)Both the fathers’ and the mothers’ parenting stress have significant actor effect.Paternal and maternal parenting stress could significantly predict their parent-child relationship.The maternal parenting stress has only significant paternal effect on the father-child cohesion.That is,the maternal parenting stress could significantly predicted the father-child cohesion.(4)The longitudinal design was found that parental stress could significantly predict children’s anxiety after one year.The mother-child conflict reported by the mother could significantly predict children’s anxiety after one year.The mediating role of mother-child conflict between mother’s parenting stress and child anxiety was proved.