The Latinx population in the United States has been growing steadily over the last few decades, necessitating the need to better understand the impact of stress and acculturation on Latinx parents and children to provide more targeted community supports. This study examines how parenting stress, within the context of acculturation, is associated with children's internalizing and externalizing behaviours among newly immigrated Latinx families (n = 129). Correlational analyses were used to understand the relationship between acculturation, parenting stress for mothers and fathers, and children's behaviour problems. Regression analyses were used to predict children's behaviours when accounting for acculturation and parenting stress. Results indicated that parent acculturation was not associated with child problem behaviours for mothers or fathers. Maternal parenting stress was associated with child internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems, while paternal parenting stress was associated with child externalizing problems only. Implications and future directions for this research are discussed.

It is well established that parenting influences child behavior at home, but less is known about the associations between parenting and teacher reports of child behavior at school, an environment more distal from the home context. This study investigated the presence of authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved parenting styles (PS) in a community sample of 321 parents with kindergarteners (M age = 5.45 years) in the Northwestern United States. This study analyzed (1) which PS were present, (2) if PS was associated with family characteristics, (3) if teacher reported behavior problems in spring of children’s kindergarten year varied by PS, and (4) whether associations between PS and child behaviors were moderated by parenting stress. Study hypotheses were that PS would be associated with family characteristics, that teacher reported child behaviors would differ by PS, and that parenting stress would moderate the relationship between PS and behavior problems at school. Results indicated all PS were present. Chi-squares and ANOVA’s identified that PS were significantly associated with parenting stress and child problem behaviors. ANOVAs determined differences in parenting stress and problem behaviors depending on PS. ANOVAs revealed parenting stress moderated the relation between PS and child problem behavior. Few studies to date have analyzed the presence of all four PS among kindergarteners and the relationship this has with teacher-reported classroom behavioral concerns. This study sought to fill this gap as results have implications for targeted parenting prevention interventions to promote children’s social and behavioral adjustment during the transition to elementary school.

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