Economic Pressure, Parent Positivity, Positive Parenting, and Child Social Competence

Objectives The current study examined how economic pressure impacts parental positivity and positive parenting separately for mothers and fathers, as well as how positivity and parenting impact child social competence. Methods This study included 207 mothers, fathers, and their first-born child from toddlerhood through the preschool years. This study employed an Actor–Partner Interdependence Model which was developed to handle dyadic relationships to investigate the association between economic pressure, parental positivity, and positive parenting, separately for mother and father and the interdependent associations between them. Results Results showed that economic pressure when the child was age 2 (Time 1) was negatively associated with maternal and paternal positivity and father positive parenting when the child was 3-4 years old (Time 2). Maternal positivity was associated with paternal positivity and mother positive parenting was associated with father positive parenting. In addition, maternal positivity was associated with mother positive parenting while paternal positivity was not significantly related to father positive parenting at Time 2. Parental positivity and positive parenting at Time 2 were both associated with child social competence at age 5 (Time 3), even after controlling for child social competence at age 2 (Time 1). Conclusions The current results suggest that both maternal and paternal positivity and positive parenting are important protective factors for young children’s social competence even under times of economic adversity.