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Romantic partner satisfaction among low‐income mothers: Links to child‐peer and teacher relationships via mother‐child conflict
Author(s) -
Weaver Krug Chelsea M.,
Taraban Lindsay,
Shaw Daniel S.,
Dishion Thomas J.,
Wilson Melvin N.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
social development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.078
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1467-9507
pISSN - 0961-205X
DOI - 10.1111/sode.12358
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , spillover effect , early childhood , low income , intervention (counseling) , longitudinal study , social psychology , medicine , pathology , socioeconomics , sociology , psychiatry , economics , microeconomics
The current project explores maternal inter‐parental (IP) romantic partner satisfaction in relation to mother‐child conflict and later peer and teacher relations from early to middle childhood among a sample of low‐income, ethnically diverse mothers ( N = 271) who were part of a longitudinal study testing the effectiveness of the Family Check‐Up intervention. We hypothesized spillover effects from IP dissatisfaction during early childhood to mother‐child conflict two years later. Greater mother‐child conflict in turn was expected to lead to poorer peer relations and greater conflict with teachers in middle childhood. The results support a spillover effect from lower IP satisfaction at age 3 to higher mother‐child conflict at age 5 to poorer peer relations and greater conflict with teachers at school at ages 8.5, 9.5, and 10.5. Mother‐child conflict significantly mediates these pathways. The results support the importance of IP satisfaction and mother‐child conflict in early childhood as critical factors in pathways leading to low‐income children's social relationships at school during middle childhood.