(PS12-21) Evaluating Parental Relationship Consensus, Satisfaction, and Cohesion in the Relation Between Parental Stress and Child Psychopathology: A Parallel Mediation Model

Research suggests that parent stress is positively associated with child emotional and behavioral problems (Spinelli et al., 2020). Relational adjustment, measured by dimensions of consensus (agreement in decision making, values, and affection), satisfaction (characterized by low conflict and instability), and cohesion (marked by productive discussions and joint activities), has been inversely linked to parental stress (Cihan & Var, 2023). While most research looks at relationships more broadly, parsing out the specific relationship elements that are influenced by parent stress and actively play a role in child psychopathology is less common. Therefore, the current study sought to examine the direct and indirect effects of three mediators (i.e., relationship consensus, satisfaction, and cohesion) on the relationship between parental stress and childhood internalizing and externalizing symptoms using data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time period where increased parental stress, child internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and diminished relationship adjustment have been documented (Brown et al., 2020; Khoury et al., 2021; Aydin et al., 2022).

Participants were 307 female US residents (Mage=20.59, SD=7.01) who were primary caregivers to at least one child in K-6^th grade (52.2% male, Mage=8.21, SD=2.11). A stress measure (Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) was collected at T1 (April 2020), a relationship adjustment measure (Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale; Busby et al., 1995) was collected at T2 (June 2020), and a child internalizing and externalizing symptoms measure (Behavior and Feelings Survey; Weisz et al., 2020) was collected at T3 (July 2020). Based on a nonsignificant Little’s missing completely at random test (p = 0.16), full information maximum likelihood estimation was used to address missing data and robust maximum likelihood estimation was employed.

The lavaan package in R was used to run a parallel mediation path model to examine the associations between parent stress on internalizing and externalizing symptoms and the mediating effect of three dimensions of relationship adjustment (i.e., consensus, satisfaction, and cohesion). Caregiver and child age and gender were included as covariates. The model had good fit. While parent stress was directly associated with child internalizing (β = 1.33, p < 0.01) and externalizing (β = 0.19, p = 0.01) symptoms, only one indirect association through relationship satisfaction to child externalizing symptoms was significant (β = 0.79, SE = 0.39, p = 0.04). Additionally, indirect pathways through cohesion and consensus were marginally significant.

Findings suggest that satisfaction, operationalized as low conflict, in the parental relationships partially explains the link between parent stress and child psychopathology. This is consistent with previous literature that indicates the stronger impact of conflict in a relationship in comparison to positive aspects like cohesion and consensus (Gottman & Silver, 2015). Parental relationships, and particularly relationship satisfaction, may be a promising element of interventions for child internalizing and externalizing symptoms in the context of parental stress.