Children's opposition, marital and life satisfaction: the mediating role of parenting stress

Abstract

Objective: The present study examines the association of children's oppositional behavior with marital and life satisfaction by examining the mediating role of parenting stress. Background: Previous research indicates that parents of children who exhibit behavioral problems often experience parenting stress and lower marital and life satisfaction. However, few studies have addressed the underlying mechanisms, and even fewer have focused on the effects of children's nonclinical oppositional behaviors while obtaining data from both parents. Method: Participants were 211 parent dyads (N = 422) of typically developing preschool children. Data on child's oppositional behavior, parenting stress, and marital and life satisfaction were obtained from both parents simultaneously and analyzed using the common fate mediation model. Results: Parenting stress was found to fully mediate the associations between children's oppositional behavior and marital and life satisfaction, whereas marital satisfaction was found to partially mediate the association between parenting stress and life satisfaction. Conclusions: Children's oppositional behaviors lead to lower marital and life satisfaction through a mechanism of parenting stress, and parenting stress negatively affects life satisfaction, both directly and indirectly, through marital satisfaction. Implications: Therapeutic interventions for treating children's oppositional behaviors can usefully include a direct focus on reducing parenting stress and enhancing parents’ ability to cope with child-related stress as a couple, thus improving parents’ satisfaction with their marital relationship and with life in general.