Do mothers’ and fathers’ parental stress differently relate to child adjustment? A mediated dyadic approach

Changes in family dynamics in the last years, namely due to the greater involvement of women in the labor force, have led to an increase in parental stress in mothers and fathers. However, it remains unexplored how mothers’ and fathers’ parental stress differently affect children’s socioemotional adjustment, especially when considering the relationship established between parents in what concerns childrearing, i.e., coparenting. This study utilizes the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model to examine how mothers' and fathers' parental stress is related to their own (i.e., actor’s effect) and their partner’s reports of their children’s socioemotional competencies, as well as the indirect effects of the coparenting relationship in this association. Dyadic mediation models were estimated with 216 dyads of cohabiting parents in Portugal. Results show that mothers’ and fathers’ greater parental stress was positively related to children’s aggressive behaviors and negatively related to social competencies. Indirect effects were found through conflict coparenting, in the association between mothers’ parental stress and children’s anxiety, and in the association between fathers’ stress and children’s aggression. Partner effects were found between fathers’ reports on parental stress and conflict coparenting and mothers’ perceptions of children’s competencies. Findings may be helpful to guide interventions to address child development in the context of broader stress in the family system in which children are inserted.