The role of positive father involvement in the associations among stressful family life events, family functioning, and parental warmth in predicting children's sociobehavioral health in Korean families

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The study examined the longitudinal associations between stressful family life events at 4 years of age and children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors at 7 years of age, whether family functioning and parental warmth (i.e., mothers' warmth, fathers' warmth) successively mediated those associations, and whether the pattern of associations varied by positive father involvement in Korean families. Participants were 1,703 families including mothers (M age = 34 years at T1), fathers (M age = 37 years at T1), and children (M age = 51 months at T1) in the Panel Study on Korean Children. Results revealed that stressful family life events was positively associated with children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors, but not through family functioning and parental warmth. Family functioning and mothers' warmth successively mediated the association between positive father involvement and children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Positive father involvement moderated the association between stressful family life events and externalizing behaviors. The findings highlight that positive father involvement may play a protective role in children's externalizing behaviors when Korean families experience stressful situations.