Associations between Psychopathology in Mothers, Fathers and Their Children: A Structural Modeling Approach

Abstract

This study investigated associations between parental and child psychopathology with parenting stress as a possible mediator, in order to get more insight in mothers’ and fathers’ roles in the development of psychopathology in children. Parents of 272 clinically referred (aged 6–20, 66% boys) reported about their own and their child’s behavioral problems, and about parenting stress. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. Outcomes of path models demonstrated that mothers’ higher internalizing and externalizing problems were associated with respectively children’s higher internalizing and externalizing problems. Fathers’ higher externalizing problems were associated with both children’s higher internalizing and externalizing problems, but fathers’ internalizing problems were only associated with children’s lower externalizing problems. Parenting stress fully mediated the relation between mothers’ and children’s externalizing problems, and partly mediated the relation between mothers’ and children’s internalizing problems. For fathers, parenting stress partly mediated the relation between fathers’ internalizing problems and children’s externalizing problems. Findings indicate that for mothers, the association between parental and child psychopathology is specific, whereas for fathers it is non-specific. Furthermore, results suggest that reducing parenting stress may decrease child problem behavior. Longitudinal studies are needed in order to gain more insight in the direction and underlying mechanisms of the relation between parental and child psychopathology, including parental stress.

Testing the Effects of COVID-19 Confinement in Spanish Children: The Role of Parents’ Distress, Emotional Problems and Specific Parenting

“…Focusing on child negative outcomes, parenting distress was revealed as an important risk factor, which exerted stronger influence than parenting practices on child conduct problems, emotional problems and hyperactivity [ 59 , 60 ]. It may be that in an emotionally challenging situations like the COVID-19 crisis, problem behaviors are more responsive to feelings brought by parents to the parent–child relation than to the specific, deliberate strategies to guide children’s behavior; this finding shows the need to promote a good emotional atmosphere at home as a main way to prevent problems in pandemic conditions.…”

“…Additionally, bi-directional influences might be suggested, with anxious children demanding more information, and/or parents trying to support distressed children by offering information [ 19 ]. In this regard, it is important to note again that the cross-sectional design developed for the current study did not allow for accounting for potential reciprocal effects between study variables, including the expected influence of child’s behavior on parenting distress [ 60 ] and parenting behavior [ 61 ], an issue that should be further addressed in future research.…”

“…First, although all study variables were modeled assuming a sequential pattern of direct effects, the cross-sectional design did not allow for establishing causal effects and conclusions. Moreover, we have already indicated that that bidirectional effects are likely to occur among parent and child variables [ 60 , 61 ]; hence, longitudinal designs are needed for a better account of the family processes involved in health-related crises. Importantly, the existence of cascading effects from the psychosocial context to the child’s adaptations does not imply that the reversed effects are negligible [ 5 ].…”

Is intrauterine exposure to acetaminophen associated with emotional and hyperactivity problems during childhood? Findings from the 2004 Pelotas birth cohort

“…These results are consistent with the specificity of acetaminophen observed by Thompson et al [ 7 ] and with the results from previous studies that used the same adjustment approach with other analgesics [ 8 ]. It has also been shown that children whose mothers have externalizing disorders (e.g., conduct disorder or drug/alcohol dependence) are at an increased risk for developing behavior problems [ 49 ]. Although we do not have information regarding externalizing problems in mothers, we included smoking and drinking behavior during pregnancy, which could be considered as proxies.…”

Comparison of the Effectiveness of Mother’s Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Training on Externalizing Disorder and Self-efficacy of Aggressive Children

“…So it plays a crucial role in the development of the child's psychological and emotional characteristics. Some research has focused on the active role of parental behavior, most notably, the lack of parental involvement, poor management and supervision, violent and unstable discipline (Satoorian, Tahmassian, & Ahmadi, 2016) and parenting problems and maternal stress (Weijers, van Steensel & Bögels, 2018). Esehaghzadeh, Reyhani, Moharari, & Mazlom (2018) reported that training positive parenting programs on the mother-child relationship can improve the mother-child relationship in mothers of children with externalizing disorders and reduce symptoms of externalizing disorders.…”