The longitudinal association of family stress with child adjustment: Mother–child and father–child conflict as simultaneous mediators

This study examined the longitudinal association of family stress with child adjustment and tested mother- and father–child conflict as simultaneous mediators. On two occasions about 12 months apart, data were collected from the mothers and fathers of 477 kindergarten children from Hong Kong, China. The mean age of children at Time 1 was 52.3 months (SD = 7.18), and 47% of them were girls. At Time 1, mothers and fathers independently completed questionnaires on their family stress and provided demographic information. At Times 1 and 2, mothers and fathers independently rated their own relationships with their children and their children’s adjustment. Structural equation models revealed that, controlling for demographic factors and the prior levels of the outcome and mediator variables, family stress was associated with increases in child externalizing and internalizing behaviors and decreases in child prosocial behaviors over time. The associations of family stress with increases in child externalizing and internalizing behaviors were partially mediated by increases in both mother- and father–child conflict over time, whereas the association of family stress with decreases in child prosocial behaviors was fully mediated by increases in mother–child conflict. Theoretically, our findings highlighted the roles of both mother- and father–child conflict in understanding the relationship of family stress with child adjustment in a Chinese community. Practically, our findings pointed to the potential utility of helping mothers as well as fathers manage family stress and parent–child conflict as means to support the development of young children. Copyright © 2025 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.