van Dijk Willeke, de Moor Marleen H M, Oosterman Mirjam, Huizink Anja C, Matvienko-Sikar Karen
Department of Clinical, Neuro and Developmental Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2022 Dec 16;16:942363. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.942363. eCollection 2022.
Parenthood can be experienced as a pleasant but challenging period for parents, possibly accompanied by parenting stress. Early parenthood in particular is a vulnerable period as many parents experience biological and psychosocial changes related to new parenthood. Previous studies have shown that parenting stress is related to child behavior problems, but few studies have investigated the transactional relations across time between parenting stress and child internalizing and externalizing outcomes separately, examining within-person changes. The first aim of this study was to examine the transactional within-person associations of parenting stress and child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems across childhood from age 9 months to 9 years. As a second aim, we examined parenting as a possible underlying mechanism of the transactional associations by testing whether parental warmth and hostility mediate within-person associations of parenting stress and child behavior across time.
Data were analyzed from the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal child cohort study including 7,208 caregiver-child dyads at wave 1 (child's age 9 months), who were followed at child's age three (wave 2), five (wave 3), and 9 years (wave 5). Primary caregiver's and child's age and gender, household income, occupational status, educational status, partner status, and cultural background were covariates assessed at all waves. Data were analyzed using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) in R-lavaan.
Bidirectional relations between parenting stress and child behavior were found for both internalizing and externalizing behavior from age 5 to 9, but not for earlier time points.
Our results did not indicate mediating effects of parental warmth or parental hostility in the associations between parenting stress and child behavior problems. Therefore, we conclude that parenting stress and child internalizing as well as parenting stress and child externalizing behaviors have transactional associations from child's age 5 to 9 years. Future research examining transactional associations of parenting stress and child behaviors should investigate possible other mediations taking a within-person approach by utilizing the RI-CLPM.
为人父母对家长来说可能是一段愉快但充满挑战的时期，可能伴随着育儿压力。尤其是初为人父母的阶段是一个脆弱时期，因为许多家长经历了与初为人父母相关的生理和心理社会变化。以往研究表明，育儿压力与儿童行为问题有关，但很少有研究分别考察育儿压力与儿童内化和外化结果随时间的相互关系，以及个体内部的变化。本研究的首要目的是考察从9个月到9岁的整个童年期育儿压力与儿童内化和外化行为问题之间的个体内部相互关系。作为第二个目的，我们通过检验父母的温暖和敌意是否介导了育儿压力与儿童行为随时间的个体内部关系，来考察育儿作为这种相互关系的一种可能潜在机制。
对爱尔兰儿童成长纵向队列研究的数据进行分析，该研究在第1波（儿童9个月大）时纳入了7208对照顾者 - 儿童二元组，并在儿童3岁（第2波）、5岁（第3波）和9岁（第5波）时进行跟踪。在所有波次中评估的协变量包括主要照顾者和儿童的年龄、性别、家庭收入、职业状况、教育状况、伴侣状况和文化背景。使用R语言中的lavaan软件包通过随机截距交叉滞后面板模型（CLPM）对数据进行分析。
从5岁到9岁，育儿压力与儿童行为之间在内化和外化行为方面均发现了双向关系，但在更早的时间点未发现。
我们的结果并未表明父母温暖或父母敌意在育儿压力与儿童行为问题之间的关联中起中介作用。因此，我们得出结论，从儿童5岁到9岁，育儿压力与儿童内化以及育儿压力与儿童外化行为之间存在相互关系。未来研究育儿压力与儿童行为的相互关系时，应采用个体内部方法，利用随机截距交叉滞后面板模型研究可能的其他中介作用。
