The influence of children’s behavior problems on parents’ psychological well-being: A serial mediation model of parental psychological control and parental burnout

•Childrent’s behavior problems have no direct effect on parents’ psychological well-being.•Parental psychological control and parental burnout played a serial mediating role in the relationship between childrent's behavior problems and parents' psychological well-being. Becoming a parent is not an easy journey, this includes not only happy moments with children but aslo time of fatigue, anxiety and burnout. The present study seeks to examine the effect of children's behavior problems on parents' psychological well-being (PW) and the serial mediation role of parental psychological control (PCS) and parental burnout (PB). Participants included 555 Vietnamese parents (Mage = 36.64, SD = 4.90 years old) selected through an online survey. Participants completed questionnaires regarding demographic information, PCS, PB, PW, and children's behavior problems. The main findings include: (a) Children's behavior problems have no direct effect on PW; (b) PCS and PB played a serial mediating role in the relationship between children's behavior problems and PW. This study's results have implications for developing interventions in family settings to increase PW and reduce PCS, PB to make the parenting process more effective.