Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via E. Weiss 21, 34128 Trieste, Italy.
Child and Youth Lab, Sigmund Freud University of Milan, Via Ripa di Porta Ticinese 77, 20143 Milan, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 13;19(20):13151. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192013151.
Parent-child conflict can have a series of negative consequences concerning youth emotional and behavioral development. The link between family conflict and children's externalizing symptoms is well established, whereas the association with internalizing symptoms is less explored. Within the school context, children are engaged in other meaningful relationships (i.e., with teachers and peers) which contribute to their growth. This cross-sectional study aimed at understanding whether a cooperative behavior with the teachers is able to mediate the association between parent-child conflict and children's psychopathological symptoms. We recruited 319 (150 boys) school-aged children (M = 11.3 years; SD = 1.8 years) and their parents and teachers. Children self-reported on their internalizing symptoms, whereas parents completed a questionnaire concerning their relationship with the child, and teachers rated children's behavior and internalizing/externalizing symptoms. Analyses conducted through Hayes' PROCESS tool showed that cooperation with the teacher partially mediated the association between parent-child conflict and child-reported depressive symptoms. Notably, cooperative behavior fully mediated the link between parent-child conflict and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms reported by teachers. Difficulties exhibited at school partly derive from a conflictual home environment. Our findings showed that such problems can be reduced thanks to a cooperative relationship with the teacher.
亲子冲突会对青少年的情绪和行为发展产生一系列负面影响。家庭冲突与儿童外化症状之间的联系已得到充分证实，而与内化症状之间的关联则探讨较少。在学校环境中，儿童还与教师和同伴等其他有意义的关系建立联系，这有助于他们的成长。本横断面研究旨在了解与教师的合作行为是否能够调节亲子冲突与儿童心理病理症状之间的关联。我们招募了 319 名（男生 150 名）学龄儿童（M=11.3 岁；SD=1.8 岁）及其父母和教师。儿童自我报告其内化症状，而父母则完成了一份关于他们与孩子关系的问卷，教师则对儿童的行为和内化/外化症状进行了评分。通过 Hayes 的 PROCESS 工具进行的分析表明，与教师的合作行为部分调节了亲子冲突与儿童报告的抑郁症状之间的关联。值得注意的是，合作行为完全调节了教师报告的亲子冲突与儿童内化和外化症状之间的联系。在学校表现出的困难部分源于冲突的家庭环境。我们的研究结果表明，由于与教师的合作关系，可以减少此类问题。
