Investigating bidirectional relationships between parenting stress and child maltreatment from early childhood to adolescence: A random intercept cross-lagged panel model

Abstract

Background

Investigations on bidirectional relationships between parenting stress and child maltreatment are crucial for informing effective intervention strategies; however, there is a lack of research focusing on within-person variations of parenting stress and child maltreatment from children's early childhood through adolescence as well as between-person variations in families.

Objective

The present study examined longitudinal associations between parenting stress and child maltreatment.

Participants and setting

We used panel data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) in the United States. Participants included 1778 mothers interviewed at childbirth and when their focal child was at ages 3, 5, 9, and 15.

Methods

Random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) was conducted to examine bidirectional relationships between parenting stress and child maltreatment from early childhood to adolescence (ages 3 to 15).

Results

Within-person effects vary by child developmental stages. Specifically, there were temporal stabilities of parenting stress across stages of childhood and adolescence (ages 3–15) and of child maltreatment during childhood (ages 3–9). Child maltreatment in late childhood (age 9) was negatively associated with child maltreatment in adolescence (age 15). Bidirectional relationships were found in early to middle childhood (ages 3–5), but not in middle to late childhood (ages 5–9) or in late childhood to adolescence (ages 9–15). Regarding between-person effects, in general, higher levels of parenting stress predicted more child maltreatment.

Conclusions

Disentangling within- and between-person variations will aid in designing developmentally appropriate parenting programs and inform age-specific interventions in cases of child maltreatment.