Typologies of family dynamics in Chinese families and implications for child adjustment: A person-centered approach.

Abstract

Taking a holistic view of family relationships, this study examined how distinct patterns of family relationships were related to children's psychological adjustment among 346 Chinese families (mothers: M_age = 37.05, SD = 3.870; fathers: M_age = 39.58, SD = 4.087) with primary school children (46.5% girls; M_age = 10.49, SD = .978). Three distinct patterns of family dynamics were identified using dyadic latent profile analysis: positive spillover (PS), overt negative spillover (ONS), and covert negative spillover (CNS). In PS families, mothers and fathers perceived higher interparental quality, less hostile and disengaged interparental conflict strategies, and more positive parenting behaviors. ONS families, in contrast, exhibited poor interparental relationships and greater use of corporal punishment in parent-child relationships. CNS families adopted fewer hostile strategies but more disengaged strategies in marriage and more corporal punishment in parenting than average. Children from PS families had the most prosocial behaviors and least internalizing and externalizing problems, whereas children from ONS families had the least prosocial behaviors and most internalizing and externalizing problems. Although parents of CNS families reported their children exhibited moderate levels of internalizing and externalizing problems, children themselves reported more anxiety problems than children from ONS families and the ones from PS families. These findings showed three different forms of "spillover effect" between interparental relationships and parenting, which had discrepant implications for children's psychological adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).