Parenting stress, family conflict, and children's behavior problems: The protective role of self-regulation.

Abstract

Parenting stress is associated with behavior problems in childhood; however, the mechanisms through which it operates and the factors that weaken its negative effects are not well understood. This study examined the associations between maternal parenting stress during children's toddlerhood and their internalizing and externalizing behavior problems approximately 9 years later, in fifth grade. It also examined the extent to which family conflict mediated those associations and whether children's self-regulation abilities mitigated the negative effects of parenting stress and family conflict. The participants were 2,977 low-income mothers and children (51% boys, 37% European American, 35% African American, and 24% Hispanic) from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project. Data were gathered across four time points: when children were 14 and 36 months of age, before kindergarten entry, when children were about 5 years old, and in fifth grade, when children were about 10 years old. Family conflict mediated the associations between maternal parenting stress and children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. However, the mediated associations varied by children's self-regulation; the links weakened as children's self-regulation abilities increased. The findings highlight the family processes by which maternal parenting stress may be associated with children's internalizing and externalizing behavior outcomes and how self-regulation abilities may reduce the negative impact of parenting stress and family conflict on children's behavior outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).