“Growing up under pressure”: The family stress model and its role in psychological aggression and physical assault across early and late childhood

Background

As economic pressures on families intensify, the pathways through which material hardship shapes parental behavior and child outcomes become increasingly critical to understand.

Objective

Building upon the Family Stress Model (FSM), we examined the combined influence of material hardship, parental aggravation, and neighborhood efficacy on child maltreatment risks. We hypothesized that these pathways would differ in strength between early and late childhood.

Methods

We conducted multiple linear regression analysis with RStudio using waves 3 and 6 of the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n = 3830) data.

Results

Material hardship significantly predicted both psychological aggression (β = 0.20, p < .001) and physical assault (β = 0.22, p < .001) in early childhood, while its influence diminished in late childhood, remaining significant only for psychological aggression (β = 0.22, p < .001). Parental aggravation showed similar patterns, with stronger effects in early childhood for both outcomes (β = 0.18 and β = 0.15, respectively, p < .001) but maintaining significance only for psychological aggression in late childhood (β = 0.15, p < .001).

Conclusions

These findings extend the FSM by demonstrating that the transmission of family stress varies substantially across developmental stages, with early childhood emerging as a period of heightened vulnerability. The enduring impact of psychological aggression through adolescence, coupled with declining physical assault, exposes how different forms of maltreatment follow unique age-related patterns - a finding that challenges traditional ‘one-size-fits-all’ interventions approaches. Hence, we suggest developmentally tailored interventions that address both immediate material needs and parental stress management, particularly during early childhood when the impact of these stressors are strongest.