Abstract
Objectives
Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (N = 507), we considered the role of parents’ earlier (child age 5) relationship quality, co-parenting quality, and father involvement in children’s later (age 9) internalizing and externalizing behaviors, with a specific focus on mediational links. We also explored the possibility of different patterns of associations based on child gender.
Method
A demographically diverse sample of women who were in stable relationships (married or cohabiting) with the focal child’s biological father completed questionnaires assessing the primary study variables at child ages 5 and 9 years.
Results
Correlational analyses supported many of the hypothesized links between relationship quality, co-parenting quality, father involvement, and children’s behaviors problems, although more so for boys. Regression analyses further illuminated the associations among the study variables. Importantly, co-parenting quality served as a mediator in the link between relationship quality and boys’ age 9 internalizing and externalizing behaviors.
Conclusions
This study identified different patterns for boys and girls, with relationship quality, co-parenting quality, and father involvement being important for boys but only co-parenting quality being important for girls. Further, findings suggest that for boys, the quality of the mother’s romantic relationship has a bearing on the quality of her co-parenting with the father, which in turn impacts the son’s behavioral adjustment. Future studies are needed to understand the nature of the longitudinal associations among the study variables more fully.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
About the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/about.
Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Integrative guide for the 1991 CBCL/4-18, YSR and TRF profiles. Burlington: University of Vermont.
Ackerman, B. P., D’ Eramo, K. S., Umylny, L., Schultz, D., & Izard, C. E. (2001). Family structure and the externalizing behavior of children from economically disadvantaged families. Journal of Family Psychology, 15(2), 288–300. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.15.2.288.
Baker, J. K., Fenning, R. M., & Crnic, K. A. (2011). Emotion socialization by mothers and fathers: coherence among behaviors and associations with parent attitudes and children’s social competence. Social Development, 20(2), 412–430. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2010.00585.x.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173.
Beck, A. N., Cooper, C. E., McLanahan, S., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2010). Partnership transitions and maternal parenting. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(2), 219–233. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00695.x.
Berger, L. M., & McLanahan, S. S. (2015). Income, relationship quality, and parenting: associations with child development in two-parent families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 77, 996–1015. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12197.
Brock, R. L., & Kochanska, G. (2015). Decline in the quality of family relationships predicts escalation of children’s internalizing symptoms from middle to late childhood. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 43(7), 1295–1308. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-0008-9.
Castillo, J. T., Welch, G. W., & Sarver, C. M. (2013). The relationship between disadvantaged fathers’ employment stability, workplace flexibility, and involvement with their infant children. Journal of Social Service Research, 39(3), 380–396. https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2013.775089.
Cox, M. J., & Paley, B. (1997). Families as systems. Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 243–267. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.48.1.243.
Cummings, E. M., Merrilees, C. E., & George, M. W. (2010). Fathers, marriages, and families: revisiting and updating the framework for fathers in family context. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of father in child development. 5th edn (pp. 154–176). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Easterbrooks, M. A., & Emde, R. M. (1988). Marital and parent-child relationships: the role of affect in the family system. In R. A. Hinde & J. Stevenson-Hinde (Eds.), Relationships within families: Mutual influence (pp. 48–67). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Erel, O., & Burman, B. (1995). Interrelatedness of marital relations and parent-child relations: a meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 118, 108–132. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.118.1.108.
Fagan, J., & Palkovitz, R. (2011). Co-parenting and relationship quality effects on father engagement: variations by residence, romance. Journal of Marriage and Family, 73(3), 637–653. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2011.00834.x.
Feinberg, M. E., Jones, D. E., Roettger, M. E., Solmeyer, A., & Hostetler, M. L. (2014). Long-term follow-up of a randomized trial of family foundations: effects on children’s emotional, behavioral, and school adjustment. Journal of Family Psychology, 28(6), 821–831. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000037.
Fomby, P., & Cherlin, A. J. (2007). Family instability and child well-being. American Sociological Review, 72(2), 181–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240707200203.
Fomby, P., & Osborne, C. (2010). The influence of union instability and union quality on children’s aggressive behavior. Social Science Research, 39(6), 912–924. https://doi.org/10.1016/2Fj.ssresearch.2010.02.006.
Gerard, J. M., Krishnakumar, A., & Buehler, C. (2006). Marital conflict, parent-child relations, and youth maladjustment: a longitudinal investigation of spillover effects. Journal of Family Issues, 27(7), 951–975. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X05286020.
Goldberg, J. S., & Carlson, M. J. (2014). Parents’ relationship quality and children’s behavior in stable married and cohabitating families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 76(12), 762–777. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12120.
Goldberg, J. S., & Carlson, M. J. (2015). Patterns and predictors of co-parenting after unmarried parents part. Journal of Family Psychology, 29(3), 416–426. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000078.
Harnish, J. D., Dodge, K. A., & Valente, E. (1995). Mother-child interaction quality as a partial mediator of the roles of maternal depressive symptomatology and socioeconomic status in the development of child behavior problems. Child Development, 66, 739–753.
Kamp Dush, C. M., Kotila, L. E., & Schoppe-Sullivan, S. (2011). Predictors of supportive co-parenting after relationship dissolution among at-risk parents. Journal of Family Psychology, 25(3), 356–365. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023652.
Lyons-Ruth, K., Alpern, K., & Repacholi, B. (1993). Disorganized infant attachment classification and maternal psychosocial problems as predictors of children’s hostile-aggressive behavior in the preschool classroom. Child Development, 64, 572–585. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.20008.
Marchand, J. F., Hock, E., & Widaman, K. (2002). Mutual relations between mothers’ depressive symptoms and hostile-controlling behavior and children’s externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Parenting, 2(4), 335–353. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327922PAR0204_01.
Marchand-Reilly, J. F. (2012). The role of fathers’ depressive symptoms and lax and overreactive discipline in children’s externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Journal of Adult Development, 19(4), 181–189. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-012-9145-3.
McClain, L., & Brown, S. L. (2016). The roles of fathers’ involvement and co-parenting in relationship quality among cohabiting and married parents. Sex Roles, 76(5-6), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0612-3.
McHale, J. P. (1995). Co-parenting and triadic interactions during infancy: the roles of marital distress and child gender. Developmental Psychology, 31(6), 985–996. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.31.6.985.
McHale, J. P., & Rasmussen, J. L. (1998). Coparental and family group-level dynamics during infancy: early family precursors of child and family functioning during preschool. Development and Psychopathology, 10(1), 39–59. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579498001527.
Nelson, J. A., O’Brien, M., Blankson, A. N., Calkins, S. D., & Keane, S. P. (2009). Family stress and parental responses to children’s negative emotions: tests of spillover, crossover, and compensatory hypotheses. Journal of Family Psychology, 23(5), 671–679. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015977.
O’Leary, K. D. (1984). Marital discord and children: problems, strategies, methodologies, and results. New Directions in Child Development, 24, 35–46. https://doi.org/10.1002/cd.23219842404.
Reichman, N., Teitler, J., Garfinkel, I., & McLanahan, S. (2001). The fragile families and child wellbeing study: background, research design, and sampling issues. Children and Youth Services Review, 23(4/5), 303–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0190-7409(01)00141-4.
Reid, W. J., & Crisafulli, A. (1990). Marital discord and child behavior problems: a meta-analysis. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 18(1), 105–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00919459.
Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., Altenburger, L. E., Lee, M. A., Bower, D. J., & Kamp Dush, C. M. (2015). Who are the gatekeepers? Predictors of maternal gatekeeping. Parenting, 15(3), 166–186. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2015.1053321.
Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., Schermerhorn, C. E., & Cummings, E. M. (2007). Marital conflict and children’s adjustment: evaluation of the parenting process model. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69(5), 1118–1134. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2007.00436.x.
Schrodt, P., & Shimkowski, J. R. (2013). Feeling caught as a mediator of co-parental communication and young adult children’s mental health and relational satisfaction with parents. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30(8), 977–999. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407513479213.
Stanley, S. M., & Howard, J. M. (1992). Assessing commitment in personal relationships. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 595–608.
Stroud, C. B., Durbin, C. E., Wilson, S., & Mendelsohn, K. A. (2011). Spillover to triadic and dyadic systems in families with young children. Journal of Family Psychology, 25(6), 919–930. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025443.
Stroud, C. B., Meyers, K. M., Wilson, S., & Durbin, C. E. (2015). Marital quality spillover and young children’s adjustment: evidence for dyadic and triadic parenting as mechanisms. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 44(5), 800–813. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2014.900720.
Torres, N., Verrissimo, M., Monteiro, L., Ribeiro, O., & Santos, A. (2014). Domains of father involvement, social competence and problem behavior in preschool children. Journal of Family Studies, 20(3), 188–203. https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2014.1108200.
Waldfogel, J., Craigie, T., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2010). Fragile families and child well-being. The Future of Children, 20(2), 87–112. https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.2010.0002.
Yildirim, E. D., & Roopnarine, J. L. (2015). The mediating role of maternal warmth in the association between harsh parental practices and externalizing and internalizing behaviors in Hispanic American, African American, and European American families. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 23(3), 430–439. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038210.
Zemp, M., Milek, A., Cummings, E. M., Cina, A., & Bodenmann, G. (2016). How couple- and parenting-focused programs affect child behavior problems: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(3), 798–810. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0260-1.
Author Contributions
All aspects of the study were undertaken jointly by both authors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical Approval
We can confirm that Institutional Review Panels at Princeton University and Columbia University have provided the requisite ethics approvals for the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained for all study participants.
Additional information
Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Marchand-Reilly, J.F., Yaure, R.G. The Role of Parents’ Relationship Quality in Children’s Behavior Problems. J Child Fam Stud 28, 2199–2208 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01436-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01436-2