Mother-father relationships and child social-emotional adjustment: Mediation through maternal and paternal parenting

Abstract

Mother-father relationships are one of the most important contexts for children's social-emotional de-velopment during early childhood. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (family N = 1,438; child ages of 3, 5, and 9), we examined whether mother-father relationships influence child social-emotional adjustment through the mediating role of parenting. Maternal and paternal coparenting behaviors and maternal parenting stress mediated the association between mother-father relationships and child social-emotional adjustment. Dyadic data from mothers and fathers also revealed similarities and differences in how parents' own and partner's perceptions of their marital relationships were asso-ciated with parenting between mothers and fathers. Findings underscore the importance of considering children's social-emotional adjustment from a family systems perspective.(c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.