Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Parental Self-Compassion and Child Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Parental Depressive Symptoms

Version 1 : Received: 14 April 2022 / Approved: 15 April 2022 / Online: 15 April 2022 (09:11:15 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Cheung, R.Y.M.; Li, Z.; Ho, A.P.L. Parental Self-Compassion and Child Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Parental Depressive Symptoms. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 5133. Cheung, R.Y.M.; Li, Z.; Ho, A.P.L. Parental Self-Compassion and Child Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Parental Depressive Symptoms. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 5133.

Abstract

Building on a framework of risk transmission to children of depressed parents, the present study investigated the associations between parents’ self-compassion, parent’s depressive symptoms, and child adjustment. A total 189 Chinese parents (101 mothers) whose children were 2-8 years old were recruited to complete a questionnaire, including measures of self-compassion, depressive symptoms and children’s prosocial behavior, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems. Findings indicated mediation effects, in that parents’ depressive symptoms mediated the associ-ation between their self-compassion and child adjustment outcomes, namely children’s internal-izing and externalizing problems, after controlling the effects of monthly family income, child gender, and parent gender. Competing hypothesis suggested that parents’ self-compassion did not moderate between parents’ depressive symptoms and child adjustment outcomes. Hence, the association between parental depressive symptoms and child adjustment was not dependent on the level of parents’ self-compassion. As an implication, researchers and practitioners should be made aware of the protective role of parents’ self-compassion in the family context.

Keywords

externalizing problems; internalizing problems; parental depression; prosocial behavior; self-compassion

Subject

Social Sciences, Psychology

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