The effects of mother-father relationships on children’s social-emotional competence: The chain mediating model of parental emotional expression and parent-child attachment

Yu Tang, Shaomei Li, Lin Ma, Yuxin Zheng and Yan Li

Children and Youth Services Review, 2023, vol. 155, issue C

Abstract: Mother-father relationships, as one of the key elements of the marriage subsystem, play an essential function in the improvement of social-emotional competence. The study used social learning theory as an analytic framework to consider the potential mechanisms by which mother-father relationships influence social-emotional competence. Therefore, 802 children and their parents from 54 classes in 27 preschools in China were selected to research the chain-mediating function of parental emotional expression and parent–child attachment in mother-father relationships affecting social-emotional competence. The results indicated that (1) Mother-father relationships significantly and positively predicted social-emotional competence. (2) Parental emotional expression and parent–child attachment separately fully mediated the relationship between mother-father relationships and social-emotional competence. (3) Parental emotional expression and parent–child attachment were chain mediators between mother-father relationships and social-emotional competence. This study highlights the important contribution of mother-father relationships in the improvement of social-emotional competence. Hence, parents are supposed to realize the significance of mother-father relationships in the cultivation of social-emotional competence. Meanwhile, parents should express emotions rationally in the family. They should give their children effective support and companionship to form a high-quality parent–child attachment, which ultimately affects the improvement of social-emotional competence.

Keywords: Mother-father relationships; Social-emotional competence; Parental emotional expression; Parent-child attachment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:155:y:2023:i:c:s0190740923004231

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107227

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