Abstract
Objectives
This study attempted to deepen the understanding of the nature of the associations between parents’ self-compassion and specific parenting feelings, and how they both relate to behavior difficulties in their children. A tentative theoretically constructed pathway model was examined, leading from mothers, through their parenting feelings, to the child’s externalizing and internalizing behavior difficulties. An alternative model was also checked examining the role of self-compassion as a mediator of the association between parenting feelings and children’s behavior difficulties.
Method
Participants included 453 Israeli mothers and their children, aged 8–17 years. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing self-compassion, parenting feelings, and their child’s behavior difficulties. The children completed self-reports on their behavior difficulties.
Results
The data showed significant correlations, all at the 0.05 level, among mothers’ self-compassion, their parenting feelings, and their child’s externalizing and internalizing difficulties. The main structural equation model indicated a high level of fit with the empirical data; all fit indices exceeded the required threshold. Mothers’ self-compassion contributed to each of their parenting feeling. Happiness in parenting contributed significantly to lower ratings of externalizing and internalizing difficulties in the child; anxiety and sadness contributed significantly to higher reports of both internalizing and externalizing behavior difficulties; and feelings of anger contributed to higher ratings of externalizing difficulties. Mothers’ self-compassion did not mediate the association between mothers’ parenting feelings and their child’s behavior difficulties. It contributed significantly to their children’s behavior difficulties only through mothers’ parenting feelings.
Conclusions
Maternal parenting feelings have important implications for their child’s psychological difficulties. Self-compassion contributes to parenting feelings. Future research is needed to clarify this contribution.
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Data Availability
All data are available at the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/qjp8r/?view_only=175359d209d9409db8545006258c5c33).
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Acknowledgements
We thank the IDC students who participated in data collection and the participating mothers and children. We appreciate the statistical support of Dr. Amir Hefetz and Dr. Gabriel Liberman from Data-Graph at data.graph.com
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EC: designed and supervised the execution of the study, participated in data analyses, and wrote the paper. ERN: participated in data collection, data organization and analyses, and collaborated in writing the results and editing the final manuscript.
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Cohen, E., Naaman, E.R. Linking Mothers’ Self-Compassion and Parenting Feelings to Their Child’s Behavior Problems. Mindfulness 14, 79–90 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-02043-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-02043-x
Keywords
- Self-compassion
- Parenting feelings
- Externalizing behavior difficulties
- Internalizing behavior difficulties
- Child behavior problems