Psychological Distress, Couple Interactions, and Parenting: A Dyadic Analysis of African American Couples

• Date: 01 June 2017
• Published date: 01 June 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12352

T E. S University of Georgia

L G S University of Georgia∗

R L. S University of Georgia∗∗

C C Iowa State University∗∗∗

Psychological Distress, Couple Interactions, and

Parenting: A Dyadic Analysis of African American

Couples

Parental depression is a well-established risk

factor for couple conict and ineffective or

hostile parenting (M. C. Lovejoy, P. A. Graczyk,

E. O’Hare, & G. Neuman, 2000; L. M. Papp,

M. C. Goeke-Morey, & E. M. Cummings, 2007).

Although research suggests that caregiver

depression may impact parenting indirectly

via increased conict between couples (e.g.,

R. D. Conger et al., 2002), few studies take

into account the behaviors of both caregivers in

exploring these relations. The goal of the current

study is to employ an actor–partner mediator

model to examine the complex relations among

psychological distress, negative couple inter-

actions, and parenting. Using a sample of 162

Department of Sociology, 214A Baldwin Hall, 355 Jackson

Street, Athens, GA 30602 (tesutton@uga.edu).

∗Department of Sociology, 115 Baldwin Hall, 355 Jackson

Street, Athens, GA 30602.

∗∗Department of Sociology, 324 Baldwin Hall, 355 Jackson

Street, Athens, GA 30602.

∗∗∗Department of Psychology, W112 Lagomarcino Hall,

901 Stange Road, Ames, IA 50011.

This article was edited by Linda Waite.

Key Words: African American, aggression, conict, couple

relationships, parenting.

African American couples with children, we nd

evidence that the psychological distress of each

caregiver has an effect on couple interactions

for both men and women. The effects from each

caregivers’ distress to parenting are mainly

indirect through the interactional behaviors of

the mother toward the father, consistent with

the father vulnerability hypothesis (e.g., E. M.

Cummings, M. Goeke-Morey, & J. Raymond,

2004).

The negative consequences of parental depres-

sion on familial relationships have been well

established in the past several decades. For

example, depression is related to more negative

and less positive couple interactions for both

depressed individuals and their partners (Papp,

Goeke-Morey, & Cummings, 2007). Parental

depression is also a known risk for ineffective

parenting as well as greater hostility and less

warmth displayed by parents toward their chil-

dren (Conger et al., 2002; Lovejoy, Graczyk,

O’Hare, & Neuman, 2000; McMakin et al.,

2011). Importantly, some research has suggested

that the effects of depression on parenting may

be explained in part by the negative inuence

of caregiver conict on parenting behaviors

(Conger et al., 2002; Erel & Burman, 1995).

850 Journal of Marriage and Family 79 (June 2017): 850–864

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12352