Uncovering the links between parenting stress and parenting styles: The role of psychological flexibility within parenting and global psychological flexibility

Psychometric properties of the Mobile Phone Parenting Practices Questionnaire (MPPPQ) for Chinese separated families with young children

The current study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the newly developed Mobile Phone Parenting Practices Questionnaire (MPPPQ) in a sample of Chinese migrant parents experiencing long-term parent-child separation. A total of 547 rural-to-urban migrant parents with 3-to-6-year-old children left in rural hometowns were recruited online and completed electronic questionnaires. Exploratory (N1 = 288) and confirmatory (N2 = 259) factor analyses were successively used to identify the factor structure. The results indicated that the MPPPQ consists of six dimensions, responsivity, autonomy granting, proactive control, directive control, psychological control, and harsh punitive control, with a good model fit. The dimensions showed good internal consistency and composite reliability. By examining associations with constructs of the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire, convergent validity was well established. The criterion validity of the MPPPQ was confirmed by its associations with parental stress, indicated by the Parental Stress Scale. This initial examination of the MPPPQ conveys that it holds good psychometric properties and may contribute to theoretical, methodological, and practical applications regarding parenting in the context of family separation and media use.

Association between Electronic Media Use and Internalizing Problems: The Mediating Effect of Parent-Child Conflict and Moderating Effect of Children's Age

In today's digital world, children are exposed extensively to electronic media, making it an integral part of their daily lives. However, excessive use of electronic media during childhood has been associated with various internalizing problems. Moreover, parent-child conflict and children's age may be closely associated with children's problem behaviors. The current study employed a cross-sectional design and conducted a questionnaire survey of 711 parents to examine the association between children's electronic media use and their internalizing problems. Furthermore, this study probed the mediating role of parent-child conflict within this association and the moderating effect of children's age. The results of structural equation modeling showed a positive correlation between children's use of electronic media and their internalizing difficulties. Parent-child conflict served as a mediating factor in this association. Results also showed that the association between parent-child conflict and internalizing problems becomes more pronounced as children grow older. These findings imply that parents should encourage their children to develop healthy habits in using electronic media while fostering positive relationships. Parents should also be mindful of the psychological changes as children age and provide guidance to help them become proficient digital citizens.

Parenting stress and Chinese preschoolers' approaches to learning: a moderated mediation model of authoritative parenting and household residency

According to the family stress model, this study examined the relationship between parenting stress and preschoolers' approaches to learning (ATL) in China, as well as the mediating effect of authoritative parenting and the moderating effect of household residency (migrant and native). A survey of 5,047 preschoolers' parents (2,186 natives and 2,861 migrants) supports the proposed moderated mediation model. The results showed that after controlling for gender and age, parenting stress affected preschoolers' development of ATL negatively. Authoritative parenting mediates the relationship between parenting stress and preschoolers' ATL. Further, household residency moderated the relationship between authoritative parenting and preschoolers' ATL. The findings of this study suggest that high levels of parenting stress are detrimental to the development of preschoolers' ATL. And parents with low parenting stress are more likely to adopt authoritative parenting, which in turn fosters preschoolers' ATL. In addition, native families' authoritative parenting style are more conducive to fostering preschoolers' ATL than migrant families. Finally, this study contributes to previous research by examining the mechanisms of parenting stress on preschoolers' ATL and provides support for the extension of the family stress model. Importantly, it also informs efforts to improve ATL among preschoolers in Chinese migrant and native families.

Mother-infant bonding in the first nine months postpartum: the role of mother's attachment style and psychological flexibility

INTRODUCTION

Mother's bond to the infant in the postpartum period plays an important role in the subsequent mother-infant relationship and the infant's socio-emotional functioning. Several maternal characteristics, such as attachment style and psychological flexibility, may contribute to the quality of mother-infant bonding, though literature examining these variables is still scarce. The present study aimed to examine the impact of mother's attachment on mother-infant bonding in the first month postpartum and the mediating role of psychological flexibility on that association.

METHODS

Participants were 226 mothers of an infant up to 9 months old, who reported on their own attachment style (in terms of anxiety, comfort with proximity, trust in others), psychological flexibility (in terms of openness to experience, behavioural awareness, valued action) and mother-infant bonding.

RESULTS

Results showed that mother's attachment anxiety predicted a bond with the infant directly and indirectly via mother's psychological flexibility, specifically through behavioural awareness and valued action. Trust in others had an impact on mother-infant bonding through behavioural awareness, whereas comfort with proximity influenced mother-infant bond indirectly, via valued action. Finally, mothers' civil status, schooling and number of children were relevant to better understand the variance of our mediating and dependent variables.

DISCUSSION

Our findings highlight the importance of mother's attachment and psychological flexibility in promoting the quality of mother-infant bonding, which can inform future intervention programmes targeting modifiable factors, such as psychological flexibility, to promote early positive parent-infant relationships, particularly for single, first-time mothers, with higher levels of education.

Psychological flexibility of parents of children with disabilities: A systematic literature review

PURPOSE

Psychological flexibility, a popular concept in clinical psychology, is still evolving in the context of studying parents of children with disabilities. This study systematically reviewed the literature on the psychological flexibility of parents of children with disabilities to identify contributions of the literature and make recommendations for practice and future study.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines and identified studies on the psychological flexibility of parents of children with disabilities using five electronic databases: PsychNet, PubMed, ERIC, Social Services Abstracts, and EBSCO. Twenty-six articles met the criteria and were included. A thematic analysis was conducted to extract major themes.

RESULTS

Three major themes emerged from the data: (1) psychological flexibility is associated with various aspects of mental health; (2) psychological flexibility is associated with parental functioning in caring for children with a disability; (3) acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) based interventions effectively enhance the psychological flexibility of parents of children with disabilities.

CONCLUSIONS

The study concludes that psychological flexibility is extremely relevant to disability studies and should be further explored in relation to different parental well-being and functioning aspects. Professionals are encouraged to incorporate principles of acceptance and commitment therapy into their work with parents of children with disabilities.

Psychometric Properties of the Japanese Version of the Parental Acceptance and Action Questionnaire in Parents with Infants and Toddlers

We aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Parental Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-Japanese version (PAAQ-J). We considered a total of 2000 mothers with infants and toddlers aged 0-3 years and evaluated their scores on the PAAQ-J Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). We conducted an exploratory factor analysis, creating a PAAQ-J with 12 items and three factors (α = 0.80): Inaction-Behavior, Inaction-Cognition, and Unwillingness, with α of 0.84, 0.72 and 0.68, respectively. The test-retest reliability examination results showed that the interclass correlation coefficient was 0.49, with 95% CI between 0.44 and 0.54. The correlation coefficient of PAAQ-J was 0.57, 0.32, and 0.33 with AAQ-II, and HADS-depression and HADS-anxiety, respectively. PAAQ-J's validity to adequately evaluate an individual's avoidance of experiences regarding childcare and their psychological flexibility was proven. Since the original PAAQ was for 6-18-year-old children with anxiety symptoms, it is necessary to examine its reliability and validity not only for infants and toddlers, but also for parents of older children and adolescents in the future.

Association between Mothers' Emotional Problems and Autistic Children's Behavioral Problems: The Moderating Effect of Parenting Style

Mothers' emotional problems are associated with autistic children's behavioral problems. We aim to test whether parenting styles moderate associations between mothers' mood symptoms and autistic children's behavioral problems. A sample of 80 mother-autistic child dyads were enrolled at three rehabilitation facilities in Guangzhou, China. The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) were used to collect the autistic symptoms and behavioral problems of the children. Mothers' depression and anxiety symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) and the General Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale, respectively, and parenting styles were measured using the Parental Behavior Inventory (PBI). Our results show that mothers' anxiety symptoms were negatively associated with their children's prosocial behavior scores (β = -0.26, p < 0.05) but positively related to their social interaction scores (β = 0.31, p < 0.05). Supportive/engaged parenting styles positively moderated the effects of mothers' anxiety symptoms on their prosocial behavior score (β = 0.23, p = 0.026), whereas hostile/coercive parenting styles had a negative moderation (β = -0.23, p = 0.03). Moreover, hostile/coercive parenting styles positivity moderated the effects of mothers' anxiety symptoms on social interaction problems (β= 0.24, p < 0.05). The findings highlight, where mothers adopted a hostile/coercive parenting style while experiencing high anxiety, their autistic child may have more serious behavioral problems.

Psychological flexibility as a predictor of mental health outcomes in parents of pre-school children during the COVID-19 pandemic: A two-year longitudinal study

In light of the adverse mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic for parents of preschool-aged children, it is important to identify modifiable protective factors that can inform interventions for parents who continue to struggle. The present study examined prospective and concurrent associations of parental psychological flexibility (acceptance, defusion, and committed action) with measures of parental stress and depression symptoms in an international sample of parents of preschoolers assessed at three time points over the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic: The start of the pandemic (T1) as well as the end of the first (T2) and second (T3) year of the pandemic. Consistent with hypotheses, the three measures of parent psychological flexibility (assessed at T2) prospectively predicted parenting stress levels one year later (T3) (p < .05). Defusion and Committed Action also prospectively predicted lower levels of depression symptoms one year later [p < .05]. Comparable concurrent analyses of data of parents who provided data at T1 and T2 (N = 79) are also presented with acceptance and defusion negatively associated with parental stress (p < .001) and defusion negatively associated with depression (p < .05). This study contributes longitudinal evidence for the value of psychological flexibility for parents and suggests that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy interventions may help to support parental mental health during sustained periods of stress such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impact of Mothers' Perceived Unsupportive Intergenerational Co-Parenting on Children's Social Competence: Evidence from China

This study examined whether parenting styles mediated the relationship between unsupportive intergenerational co-parenting and children's social competence, and whether the first stage of the mediating process, as well as the direct association between unsupportive intergenerational co-parenting and children's social competence, was moderated by maternal psychological flexibility. The theoretical model was tested using data collected from 412 mothers of children aged 3-6 years at four kindergartens in Shanghai, China. The results showed that: (1) unsupportive intergenerational co-parenting was negatively associated with children's social competence through decreased maternal authoritative parenting and increased authoritarian parenting and (2) the first stage of the mediation mechanism was moderated by maternal psychological flexibility. Specifically, unsupportive intergenerational co-parenting was significantly associated with authoritative and authoritarian parenting for mothers with low and high psychological flexibility, respectively, and the magnitude of the association was higher for mothers with low psychological flexibility. These findings extend the understanding of how and when unsupportive intergenerational co-parenting impacts children's social competence.

Online ACT Matrix Parent Training for Japanese-Speaking Mothers with Distress in the United States

Cultural stigma, shame, self-concealment, and language and socio-economic barriers often keep Asian immigrant parents and children away from mental and behavioral services in the United States. Research shows that increased levels of parent distress suggest a negative impact on parenting practices and correlate child-maltreatment. Therefore, this study aimed to test one functionally contextual strategy to address such issues. The current study evaluated the effects of an online Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) Matrix for Japanese-speaking mothers living the United States. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline single-subject design across four mothers was used to assess the effect of ACT Matrix on value-driven behaviors, parental engagement (session attendance and daily assignment completion), parental distress, and psychological flexibility. The study consisted of a baseline, treatment (three ACT Matrix treatment sessions adapted from the six-step protocol), maintenance, and follow-up phases. A visual analysis reporting level, trend, variability, immediacy of change and overlap was used to identify a functional relation between the treatment and observable overt behaviors of value-driven behaviors and daily assignment completion. In addition, a non-overlap of all pairs was used to measure effect sizes for these behaviors. For psychological flexibility and parental distress, we used the reliable change index to assess whether clinically significant improvement occurred or not. The results revealed that the online ACT Matrix parent training program was effective in improving all four dependent variables. Mothers reported that the training was culturally sensitive, effective, and acceptable. The details of findings and the implications for future research as preventive science are discussed.

Permissive parenting mediates parental stress and child emotions in families of children with Down syndrome

BACKGROUND

Parenting styles mediate parental stress and child emotions in families of typically developing (TD) children. Our main aim was to study these relations in families of children with Down syndrome (DS), who in past research reported increased parental stress and permissive parenting.

METHOD

Our sample included 100 parents of children with DS and 72 parents of TD children age 4-12 years. Parents completed online surveys of parental adjustment and emotion regulation (ER), parenting styles, and child ER and mood.

RESULTS

Parents of children with DS reported more distress and permissive parenting than parents of TD children. Within parents of children with DS, there was an indirect effect of parental stress on child emotions through permissive parenting. This effect was partly conditional upon parental ER and positive adjustment.

CONCLUSIONS

Results have implications for distressed parents of children with DS whose families may benefit from improved coping strategies and increased support.

Parenting styles of Finnish parents and their associations with parental burnout

In the present study, we examined what kind of parenting style groups (defined by parental warmth, behavioral control, and psychological control) can be identified among contemporary Finnish mothers and fathers and how these parenting style groups are associated with parents’ symptoms of parental burnout. Gender differences in parenting style groups, and in their associations with parental burnout, were also investigated. The survey data were gathered from 1,471 Finnish parents (91.2% mothers). The results of k-means cluster analysis identified six different parenting style groups: authoritarian (13.5%), permissive (15.2%), psychologically controlling (19.4%), uninvolved (14.4%), controlling (12.4%), and authoritative (25.1%), with the authoritative parenting style being the most common. The identified parenting style groups were equally common for mothers and fathers. The results showed further that, independently of gender, parents applying the authoritarian parenting style experienced symptoms of parental burnout the most, whereas those with the authoritative or permissive style reported these symptoms the least. Based on the results, it is suggested that child health care and family centers should pay particular attention to potential risk groups such as parents reporting symptoms of parental burnout and parents characterized by an authoritarian parenting style.

Mindful parenting intervention for parents of children with skin conditions: a single group experimental cases series

BACKGROUND

Parents of children with eczema or psoriasis experience high levels of parenting stress, which can negatively impact their child's mental and physical health.

AIMS

We aimed to investigate the effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability of a mindful parenting intervention for parents of children with eczema or psoriasis.

METHOD

Seven parents of children (4-12 years old) with eczema or psoriasis took part in an 8-week mindful parenting group intervention. A single-case experimental design was adopted, whereby parents completed daily idiographic measures of parenting stress related to their child's skin condition. Parents also completed standardised questionnaires measuring their parenting stress, depression, anxiety and quality of life, and children completed a quality of life measure, at four time points: baseline, pre-intervention, post-intervention and 6-week follow-up. Parents provided qualitative feedback after the intervention.

RESULTS

All parents completed the intervention and showed improvements in idiographic measures of parenting stress from baseline to follow-up. Improvements in parenting stress were larger at follow-up than post-intervention, suggesting the benefits of intervention continue beyond the intervention. Six of seven parent-child dyads showed improvement in at least one of the wellbeing measures, from pre-intervention to post-intervention or follow-up. Feasibility was demonstrated through good participant retention, adherence to home practice, and treatment fidelity. Acceptability was demonstrated through positive parent evaluations of the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

Mindful parenting can be an effective, feasible and acceptable intervention for parents of children with eczema or psoriasis. Future studies should attempt to replicate the findings through randomised controlled trials.

Parenting Intervention for Psychological Flexibility and Emotion Regulation: Clinical Protocol and an Evidence-Based Case Study

Psychological flexibility has been found as a protective factor for several psychological problems, including the field of parenting. The present study aims to illustrate a clinical protocol, session by session, for the promotion of parental psychological flexibility and emotion regulation in a case study. The clinical protocol is based on third-wave behavior therapy in a brief intervention of four sessions. The intervention is presented in a clinical case of a mother with a child diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Both mother and child experienced problems with emotional regulation and psychological flexibility. The results show clinically significant improvements in psychological flexibility, emotional regulation, and stress parenting in the mother both after the intervention and at follow-up. In the child, emotional perspective-taking skills, acceptance, and valued actions improved. The case illustrates in detail the application of different strategies of acceptance, mindfulness, emotion regulation, and emotional defusion applicable to parenting. Clinical implications are discussed.

A Study on the Longitudinal Relation Between Maternal Parenting Stress, Warmth Parenting, and Children’s Aggressive Behavior Using Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Modeling : a Multigroup Analysis Across Income Levels

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the longitudinal relationship between maternal parenting stress (MPS), warmth parenting (WP), and children’s aggressive behavior (CAB) in early childhood across income levels.Methods: An autoregressive cross-lagged model was used to assess the mothers and children of 723 families from the Panel Study on Korean Children across the sixth (age 5), seventh (age 6), and eighth (age 7) waves, and bootstrapping was conducted to examine the mediation effects. Further, a multigroup analysis was performed to assess the model’s hypothesized relationships for the low-income and middle-income groups. IBM AMOS 23.0 and SPSS Statistics 26 were used to analyze the data.Results: The results are summarized as follows: First, MPS, WP, and CABs remained unchanged over time. Second, MPS had a significantly negative impact on later WP, and WP negatively affected later MPS. Third, prior WP had a significantly negative impact on CAB. Furthermore, the relationship between MPS and CAB was mediated by WP. Lastly, during the study period, the multi-group analysis found no significant differences in the autoregressive cross-lagged model between the two income groups (the low-income and middle-income groups).Conclusion: The findings revealed that MPS reduced WP, which exacerbated CAB. By illustrating the link between MPS, WP, and CAB, it was highlighted that educational interventions for mothers to minimize parenting stress are likely to have a positive influence on children’s aggressive behavior. More implications are also discussed as a result of these findings.

Factorial Structure and Cross-Cultural Invariance of the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form in Hong Kong and Thailand

With increasing attention on the role of parenting stress on family functioning and children’s development, one area that has been neglected is how such relations differ across cultures. Although sometimes viewed as homogeneous, Asian countries often have markedly different belief systems. Cross-cultural studies require instruments that have been validated in different socio-cultural contexts. The widely used parenting stress index-short form (PSI-SF) has been used in several locations. However, results regarding its factorial structure have been mixed. Furthermore, there are only a few cross-cultural comparison studies. This study examined the factorial structure of an abridged version of the PSI-SF with data from Hong Kong (N = 258) and Thailand (N = 190). The results from confirmatory factor analyses indicated that, in both cultures, a three-factorial structure provides the best model fit. Furthermore, we found evidence for partial metric invariance, suggesting that the test scores can be compared directly. Tests for convergent and discriminant validity revealed that the three factors were correlated with parent general distress, authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting behaviors, in both cultures. These findings suggest that the abridged PSI-SF can provide a meaningful comparison of parenting stress between Hong Kong and Thailand.

Effectiveness of a Web-Based Intervention on Parental Psychological Flexibility and Emotion Regulation: A Pilot Open Trial

"Parenting Forest" is an informed contextual therapy parenting program for improving parental emotion regulation strategies and psychological flexibility. The aim of this study was to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of a self-guided web-based intervention of the Parenting Forest program. The intervention program consists of six self-applied sequential modules that use strategies from contextual therapies for providing a parenting style open to experience, mindful and committed to its actions. A pilot controlled open trial was conducted. Eligible parents (n = 12) enrolled in the web-based intervention completed baseline (T1) and post-intervention (T2) assessment instruments. Parental psychological flexibility, avoidance, emotional regulation, parental stress, satisfaction with life, children's psychological adjustment and client satisfaction were measured to assess the effects of the intervention. Mood, coping, and value-related actions were assessed as measures of progress. The results showed positive effects on the parents' psychological flexibility and emotion regulation. Parents' mood and coping skills improved throughout the intervention program. These results provide preliminary evidence of the web-based Parenting Forest's efficacy, although further research is needed to assess its effectiveness for prevention and in clinical populations.