Parenting stress and mother– child playful interaction: the role of emotional support

ABSTRACT

While the role of instrumental support on the relationship between parenting stress and parenting behavior has received extensive empirical attention, the effect of emotional support has not. This study examined the main effect of emotional support from mothers’ life partners on mother–child playful interactions, as well as the moderating effect of emotional support on the association between parenting stress and mother–child playful interactions. Participants were 1494 mothers from Wave 4 of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. Results showed that emotional support was positively associated with mother–child playful interaction; however, no evidence of moderation was found between emotional support and parenting stress on mother–child playful interactions. Intervention programs for parenting skills and marriage/spousal relationships focusing on the entire family in clinical therapy for children with emotional or social development problems are recommended.

KEYWORDS:

• Parenting stress
• emotional support
• mother–child playful interaction

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Key Projects of Philosophy and Social Sciences Research, Ministry of Education of The People's Republic of China [grant number 13JZD020].