Interparental marital quality and children’s anxiety: The mediating role of rejection sensitivity

The current longitudinal study investigated the effects of both mother- and father-report marital quality, and children’s perception of interparental marital quality on children’s anxiety one year later and whether these effects would be mediated by children’s rejection sensitivity. Five hundred and twenty-six school-aged children (Mage = 9.91 years, SD = 0.93, 41.3 % females) and both their fathers and mothers completed the measures at three time points, half a year apart. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that both father-report and mother-report marital quality negatively predicted children’s anxiety directly, while children’s perception of interparental marital quality had indirect effects on children’s anxiety through their rejection sensitivity, after controlling for the stability of children’s anxiety. No significant child gender differences in the mediating model were found. The findings highlight the importance of simultaneously considering the effects of both parent-report marital quality and children’s perception of interparental marital quality on child adjustment, and provide intervention suggestions to reduce child anxiety.