Parental self-efficacy and satisfaction with parenting as mediators of the association between children’s noncompliance and marital satisfaction

Abstract

Parents of young children who exhibit behavioral problems often experience lower marital satisfaction. In the present study we aimed to explore the association between preschool children's noncompliant behavior and marital satisfaction, and to explain it through the mediating role of parental self-efficacy and satisfaction with parenting. Participants were 188 married Israeli couples with a typically developing child aged 3 to 6, selected in a convenience sample. Mothers and fathers independently completed measures of child’s behavior, marital satisfaction, parental self-efficacy, and satisfaction with parenting. Data were collected between September 2019 and February 2020 and were analyzed using the common fate model (CFM). Results indicate a direct, negative association between child's noncompliant behavior and marital satisfaction, which was fully explained by parental self-efficacy and satisfaction with parenting. The study suggests that both parents are affected by their young child’s noncompliance, with a spillover effect from the parent–child relationship into the marital relationship. The findings highlight the importance of early treatment of children's noncompliance and indicate that interventions aimed at enhancing parents’ self-efficacy and satisfaction, as well as the inclusion of both parents in treatment, may be beneficial.

Parents’ Beliefs about Children’s Emotions and Children’s Social Skills: The Mediating Role of Parents’ Emotion Regulation

“…In addition, studies that carried out this type of investigation mainly included participants’ mothers or mothers and fathers from different families. Our study includes dyads (mothers and fathers from the same family), aiming to explore the direct and indirect associations of study variables within the whole family system [ 17 ]. Specifically, we aimed to investigate at a dyadic level, in a non-clinical preschool children sample, the association between parents’ beliefs about children’s emotions and children’s social skills, and the mediator role of parents’ emotion regulation in this association.…”