Examining interparental conflict, parent-child conflict, and child emotion regulation within the Family Check-Up®: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Interparental and parent-child conflict are key familial risk factors for emotion regulation (ER) difficulties in early childhood. This study examined the impact of the Family Check-Up® (FCU), a preventative family-centered intervention, on child ER at 12 months post-intervention, and whether the FCU moderated the association between early exposure to family conflicts (interparental and parent-child conflict) and ER outcomes. In a longitudinal randomized controlled trial conducted in Canada, 206 parent-child dyads (children aged 2–4 years) with early indicators of emotional and behavioural risk were assigned to the FCU intervention or a community control group. ER was assessed using an observational task coded into three ER strategy subgroups: behavioural coping, task-oriented, and emotion-oriented. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the models. Results indicated that the FCU intervention significantly reduced the number of behavioural coping ER strategies, such as avoidance and expressing negative affect. Moreover, the FCU buffered the negative association between parent-child conflict and task-oriented ER. However, interparental conflict was not significantly associated with ER outcomes and effects were not observed for emotion-oriented ER. These findings highlight the FCU's potential to reduce contextually maladaptive ER and mitigate the impact of parent-child conflict on child ER.