Department of Psychological Sciences.
Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology.
J Fam Psychol. 2018 Aug;32(5):553-564. doi: 10.1037/fam0000413. Epub 2018 Jun 21.
In the current study, we examined the potential for transactional relations among parents' marital satisfaction, coparental cooperation and conflict, and parent-child relationship satisfaction in a sample of 249 families with 2-3-year-old children. Using a novel multiwave design with frequent assessments to better capture transactional family processes, mothers and fathers were assessed across 5 waves with 2-month lags; mean age of the target children (53% girls) was 2.8 years ( = 0.62) at baseline. Cross-lagged, multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses using an actor-partner interdependence modeling framework revealed coparental cooperation and conflict as likely mechanisms within the family system. Specifically, marital satisfaction from both parents was reciprocally linked to fathers' coparental cooperation over time, supporting transactional links between those two family subsystems. In addition, there were significant transactional links between both mothers' and fathers' coparental cooperation and father-reported parent-child relationship satisfaction across time, revealing within-parent and cross-parent mediation. Regarding coparental conflict, marital satisfaction from both parents was reciprocally linked to the same parents' reports of coparental conflict across time (i.e., actor effects). Furthermore, father-reported coparental conflict acted as a mediating or intervening mechanism between father-reported marital satisfaction and mother-reported parent-child relationship satisfaction (cross-parent mediation). Taken as a set, the findings supported coparental cooperation and conflict as significant links between marital functioning and the parent-child relationship. Findings build on a growing body of literature addressing the transactional associations embedded within the family system and highlight the importance of modeling the inherent interdependencies between mothers' and fathers' reports of family functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record
在当前的研究中，我们考察了 249 个有 2-3 岁孩子的家庭样本中，父母婚姻满意度、夫妻合作与冲突以及亲子关系满意度之间的相互关系。采用新颖的多波设计和频繁评估，更好地捕捉交易型家庭过程，母亲和父亲在 5 个波次中进行了评估，波次之间间隔 2 个月；目标儿童的平均年龄（53%为女孩）为 2.8 岁（=0.62），在基线时。使用演员-伙伴相互依赖模型框架的交叉滞后多层次结构方程模型（SEM）分析表明，夫妻合作与冲突是家庭系统内的可能机制。具体来说，父母双方的婚姻满意度与父亲的夫妻合作随着时间的推移而相互关联，支持这两个家庭子系统之间的交易联系。此外，母亲和父亲的夫妻合作与父亲报告的亲子关系满意度之间存在显著的跨时交易联系，揭示了父母内和跨父母的中介作用。关于夫妻冲突，父母双方的婚姻满意度与父母双方报告的夫妻冲突随时间相互关联（即演员效应）。此外，父亲报告的夫妻冲突在父亲报告的婚姻满意度与母亲报告的亲子关系满意度之间充当了中介或干预机制（跨父母中介）。总的来说，这些发现支持夫妻合作与冲突作为婚姻功能与亲子关系之间的重要联系。这些发现建立在越来越多的文献基础上，这些文献探讨了家庭系统中嵌入的交易关联，并强调了对家庭功能的固有相互依存关系进行建模的重要性。
