Child-Invested Contingent Self-Esteem, Emotional Dysregulation, and Parental Maltreatment: An Actor–Partner Interdependence Model Among Chinese Parents

Parental maltreatment has profound and severe negative effects on children's physical and mental development, as well as on family functioning and stability. Although the existing literature extensively investigates the mechanisms underlying parental maltreatment, the interdependence of parental behaviors and the unique role of cultural context—specifically, the potential influence of parental self-esteem on maltreatment behavior within the Chinese cultural framework—remain underexplored. Therefore, this study utilized a longitudinal Actor–Partner Interdependence Mediation Model (APIMeM) to track 627 pairs of parents of fourth-grade elementary school students (fathers: M_age = 35.06 years, SD = 5.80; mothers: M_age = 33.09 years, SD = 5.89) over a 2-year period with three assessments. The aim was to examine the relationship between Child-Invested Contingent Self-Esteem (CCSE) and parental maltreatment, and to explore the potential mediating role of emotional dysregulation. The results indicated that parental CCSE significantly predicted their own maltreatment behaviors and directly predict their partner's maltreatment behaviors. Emotional dysregulation mediated the relationship between CCSE and parental maltreatment: parents' CCSE influenced their partner's emotional dysregulation, which in turn affected their own maltreatment behaviors. Simultaneously, parents' CCSE influenced their own emotional dysregulation, which indirectly affected their partner's maltreatment behaviors. This study provides a novel understanding of the mechanisms underlying parental maltreatment from the perspectives of CCSE and emotional dysregulation, highlighting the key role of parental interaction patterns and emotional transmission in the occurrence of family violence. These findings offer empirical support for the development of effective parental maltreatment prevention and intervention strategies that are culturally tailored to the Chinese context.