Journal of Family Psychology最新文献

Parent anxiety and depression are well-established risk factors for childhood internalizing problems. While effective parenting may buffer this relationship, the role of parenting knowledge, defined as understanding evidence-based parenting strategies, remains underexplored. Using a nationally representative sample of 1,000 parents of children aged 5-12, we examined whether parenting knowledge moderated the association between parent and child symptoms of anxiety and depression. Results indicated significant moderation effects: Among parents with lower knowledge, there were strong positive associations between parent and child internalizing symptoms, whereas among those with higher knowledge, these associations were significantly weaker. Findings held even after adjusting for key demographic covariates and sensitivity analyses. These results suggest that parenting knowledge may serve as a protective factor within families experiencing psychological distress and highlight its potential as a target for prevention and early intervention efforts. This study contributes to a growing literature on cognitive protective mechanisms in parent-child mental health dynamics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Maternal and paternal postpartum depression are important indicators of children's mental health. However, few studies have tested the putatively distinct mechanisms via which they are associated with child/adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. We sought to differentiate the mediating role of maternal versus paternal family processes in these associations. We analyzed data (n = 1,694) from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, a representative 1997-1998 birth cohort. Mothers and fathers self-reported their depressive symptoms at 5 months postpartum using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Child/adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms were reported by parents, teachers, and children using the Social Behavior Questionnaire (ages 3.5-13 years) and self-reported by adolescents using the Mental Health and Social Inadaptation Assessment for Adolescents (ages 15-17 years). Parent-reported parenting practices and family functioning at 1.5 and 2.5 years and marital satisfaction at 2.5 years were tested as mediators. Using structural equation modeling, we found that postpartum depressive symptoms in mothers and fathers were differentially associated with child/adolescent mental health. Maternal symptoms were associated with increased child/adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms via increased maternal coercive parenting practices (21.7%), lower paternal marital satisfaction (4.1%), and reduced family functioning (21.2%). Paternal symptoms were associated with increased child/adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms via increased paternal coercive parenting practices (8.4%), decreased paternal marital satisfaction (23.4%), and reduced family functioning (54.2%). The distinct maternal and paternal mechanisms illustrate how parental depression is differentially associated with child mental health and highlight a need to understand their relative significance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study examined profiles of parental strengths and changes in these strengths across the transition from toddlerhood to early childhood. Participants were 4,520 mothers with low incomes from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Latent class analysis was used to identify unique classes of parental strengths at child ages 3 and 5, and latent transition analysis was used to examine transitions in class membership across this period. Four classes of parental strengths were identified at child ages 3 and 5. Parents were characterized as "psychologically regulated with interparental strain," "psychosocially regulated with coercive behavior," "psychologically dysregulated," and having "multidomain parental strengths." Class membership was least stable for the "psychologically dysregulated" class and most stable for the "multidomain parental strengths" class. Parents' perceived self-efficacy predicted initial parental strengths and changes in these strengths over time. The present findings provide insight into how and why parental strengths might change across the transition from toddlerhood to early childhood among low-income families and can support the development of more tailored, strengths-based interventions for this population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The cultural value of familism describes prioritizing family over the individual. Previous evidence supports relations between familism and health behaviors, including sleep. Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, this investigation explored associations of parent and adolescent familism and adolescent sleep. The sample included 438 Latino/a parent-adolescent dyads, with youth averaging 11.87 (SD = 0.67) years old (assigned female at birth: 49.78%) and parents averaging 40.51 (SD = 6.50) years old (female: 90.38%) with a majority identifying as Mexican or Mexican American (parents: 53.83%; youth: 54.51%). Most adolescents were born in the United States or its territories (94.28%). Parents and adolescents independently reported on multiple dimensions of familism, including familism support, familism obligation, and familism referent, which were combined to create an overall familism score. Adolescents wore Fitbit devices that measured objective parameters of sleep including minutes, efficiency, wake after sleep onset, latency, midpoint, and variability in minutes and midpoint. Multiple regression models were fit to determine associations of parent and adolescent familism dimensions with adolescent sleep. Youth obligation and parent support familism were related to more ideal sleep, while youth referent and parent obligation familism were related to less ideal sleep. While some dimensions of familism may pose a risk for poor sleep, others support ideal sleep and should be emphasized within the parent-adolescent relationship. As practitioners and clinicians incorporate cultural sensitivity into their practices and recommendations and families cultivate a supportive environment through familism values, Latino/a youth will be more likely to experience optimal sleep outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Adopting a diathesis-stress framework, we examined whether maternal trait-level distress reactivity (the tendency to experience poorly regulated anxiety or discomfort in response to children's negative emotions) interacted with the intensity of children's negative emotions to predict the quality of mothers' subsequent responses in real-world settings. With a sample of 53 families with a child between 3 and 5 years old (M_{child age} = 50.47 months, 28 girls), we collected 16-hr audio recordings of children in the home. From the recordings, multiple emotional episodes (range = 4-10 episodes, M = 9.47, SD = 1.34) per child were selected to code for children's negative emotional intensity and the quality of mothers' subsequent response (i.e., support and nonsupport). We also computed the percentage of maternal positive and negative emotion words for each maternal response using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program. Mothers reported on their tendency to experience distress in response to their child's negative emotions and general difficulties with emotion regulation. Multilevel models revealed that increases in children's negative emotional intensity were associated with real-time increases in maternal nonsupport and decreases in maternal positive emotion talk, but only for mothers who reported high trait levels of distress reactivity. These findings emerged after controlling for maternal difficulties with emotion regulation. Findings highlight the importance of examining how maternal trait-level emotional characteristics in the parenting context interact with situational stressors (e.g., intensity of children's negative emotional expressions) to predict specific parenting behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Pursuing compassionate goals (i.e., seeking to improve others' well-being) has generally been linked with positive emotional and relational well-being, whereas self-image goals (i.e., striving to maintain or enhance how one is perceived by others) tend to be associated with poorer well-being. However, limited research has examined these goals in the context of parenting. In this 9-day daily experience study (N = 270), we investigated whether compassionate and self-image goals in relation to children were associated with parental well-being, parenting, and child adjustment. We also tested whether empathic and negative emotions mediate these associations. Results showed that parents who pursued compassionate goals reported more optimal well-being (e.g., greater positive emotions, lower stress) and more positive parenting and child adjustment (e.g., more supportive parenting, fewer negative child behaviors) both overall and across the week, in part due to their association with greater empathic emotions and lower negative emotions. Conversely, self-image goals were largely unrelated to well-being, parenting, and child adjustment. These findings suggest that parents' efforts to support their children's well-being are associated with their own well-being, parenting, and child adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Parental harsh discipline, such as psychological aggression and corporal punishment, is a key characteristic of authoritarian parenting and has negative implications for child development. The trajectory of discipline evolves with child development, especially during childhood, potentially leading to varied cumulative effects on their well-being in adolescence. This study examined (a) distinct trajectories of maternal and paternal harsh discipline from Grades 1 to 6 in China and (b) their cumulative effects on adolescent well-being from Grades 7 to 9. Separate models were created for mothers and fathers, reflecting their unique parenting roles. A total of 1,045 children and their parents participated. Latent class growth analyses identified the predominant trajectories of parental harsh discipline were at low and moderate levels; importantly, a greater proportion of fathers than mothers followed a low-increasing trajectory. Conditional growth models over 9 years revealed that higher or increasing levels of psychological aggression and corporal punishment predicted lower initial levels of adolescent subjective well-being. Furthermore, escalating maternal corporal punishment predicted slower growth in adolescents' self-esteem. These findings highlight the importance of subgroup differences and cultural context in understanding the cumulative effects of harsh discipline in childhood on adolescence well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Among Mexican families during the early wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study tested how parental factors such as parental work-related economic stress, marital satisfaction, anxiety, depression, and resilience were associated with youth routine adherence (e.g., maintaining regular bedtimes, mealtimes, and physical activities) and social support seeking via peer interactions through phone calls, texts, and social media. Parent gender was tested as a moderator of relations. Participants were 2,369 Mexican caregivers (89.2% women, M_age = 34.21) with wide socioeconomic backgrounds, who completed online surveys of family functioning during the early waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings indicated variability in adherence to family routines and social support seeking during COVID-19. Less parental depression and greater parental resilience related to children's routine adherence and both work-related economic stress and lower marital satisfaction were indirectly related to routine adherence via lower depressive symptoms. Less depression, but greater anxiety, was associated with more youth social support seeking in models without marital satisfaction. Again, work-related economic stress was indirectly related to social support seeking via both depression and anxiety. Effects were generally small and parent gender did not moderate any relations. Parents may be gatekeepers for strategies designed to help children cope with stress, and parenting variables-most notably parental depression and broader stressors in the work and marital domains-appear to relate to how youth coped with stress in Mexico during the early waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Existing research has found that home visiting programs for families with young children can improve children's development and strengthen caregiver and family well-being. However, the pandemic created numerous challenges for home visiting programs, forcing them to deliver services online or in a hybrid format to respond to pandemic-related challenges. Questions remain about the impacts of these programs when delivered at-scale via a hybrid model, especially during this uniquely challenging time. The present study reports 12-month impacts from a randomized controlled trial of Child First-an evidence-based home visiting program that provides psychotherapeutic, parent-child intervention (children ages 0-5) embedded in a coordinated system of care-when implemented as a hybrid service. This study estimates impacts within four domains: families' receipt of services, caregiver psychological well-being and parenting, child behavior, and family economic well-being. After randomly assigning families (N = 224) to receive Child First or typical community services, the research team surveyed caregivers (N = 182) about a year after study enrollment. Results from regression models with site fixed effects revealed suggestive evidence that Child First reduced caregivers' job loss and self-reported substance abuse, and increased receipt of virtual services during the pandemic. There were null impacts on caregivers' psychological well-being, families' involvement with the child welfare system, children's behaviors, and other indicators of economic well-being. Implications for future research and policy are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The family stress model (FSM) posits that socioeconomic status affects child developmental outcomes through parental mental health and parenting practices. Although the FSM has been validated in various contexts, there is limited research on its applicability across diverse family structures in the United States. This study uses multigroup structural equation modeling to test the FSM across three family types: biologically connected/adopted two-parent families (T-B/A), stepfamilies (ST), and single-parent families (SP) among a representative sample of children in the United States (N = 28,234; Mage = 12.5 years; 13,671 females and 14,563 males). The results show that family structure moderates three of the nine pathways in the FSM. Specifically, the association between socioeconomic status and parental mental health and the association between parental aggravation and children's grades are stronger in T-B/A families than in ST and SP families. The association between parental aggravation and children's mental health is similar between T-B/A families and ST but weaker for SP families. The remaining associations in the FSM are consistent across the three family structures. Overall, these findings confirm the theoretical utility of the FSM across common family structures and also highlight the need to incorporate family structure-related variables, such as stressors unique to ST and SP families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).