Citation

Wang X, Wu Q, Yoon S. Child Psychiatry Hum. Dev. 2019; 50(4): 605-617.

Affiliation

College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, 225H, 1947 N College Rd, 43210, Columbus, OH, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10578-018-00866-1

PMID

30719602

Abstract

Child aggression and its dire consequences cause social problems. Informed by family systems theory and parenting stress theory, this study specifically examined the mediating pathways from father engagement to child aggression through maternal parenting stress, child resistant attachment, and maternal physical abuse. We conducted a secondary data analysis on 2016 mother-child dyads from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study by building structural equation models. We found indirect effects of father engagement on child aggression through influencing mothers' parenting stress. Children's attachment and mothers' physical abuse mediated the effects of mothers' stress on child behavior-based aggression and verbal- and mood-based aggression. Interventions should target fostering fathers' engagement, alleviating mothers' parenting stress and changing mothers' abusive parenting, and improving mother-child attachment.

Language: en

Keywords

Child aggression; Father engagement; Maternal parenting stress; Maternal physical abuse; Resistant attachment