Longitudinal Relationships Among Marital Conflict,Maternal and Paternal Warmth and Control,and Preschoolers’ Socioemotional Outcomes in South Korea

Abstract

This longitudinal study examined spillover effects of marital conflict on subsequent parenting and preschoolers’ outcomes in South Korea. Data came from the Panel Study on Korean Children. Participants were 1,826 South Korean fathers, mothers, and their preschool children (M age = 3 years at Time 1; 51.5% boys). Path analysis was conducted to examine longitudinal relationships among marital conflict, fathers’ and mothers’ parenting behaviors (i.e., warmth and strict control), and preschool children’s emotional maladjustment and peer relationships. Marital conflict when children were age 3 predicted lower levels of warmth for mothers and fathers, but not levels of strict control, when children were age 4. Maternal reports of lower warmth and higher strict control when children were age 4 predicted preschoolers’ later emotional maladjustment, but not peer relationships at age 5. Paternal reports of warmth and control at age 4 predicted preschoolers’ subsequent peer relationships, but not their emotional problems at age 5. Direct effects of marital conflict at age 3 on children’s outcomes at age 5 were also found. The model fits equally well for boys and girls. The study suggests that different socialization processes may have been affected for mothers and fathers by marital conflict, which in turn selectively affected different outcomes in children.