Uncovering the links between parenting stress and parenting styles: The role of psychological flexibility within parenting and global psychological flexibility

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the role of psychological flexibility within parenting in the relationship between parenting stress and parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian and permissive) in mothers of early and middle-aged children, as well as the moderator role of global psychological flexibility. The sample comprised 250 mothers of children between 2 and 12 years old, recruited online and in-person, who answered to self-report questionnaires assessing anxiety/depression symptoms, parenting stress, psychological flexibility within parenting, global psychological flexibility and parenting styles. The mediating model presented a very good fit for the data (CFI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.07, 90% CI = 0.046/0.094) and has shown to be invariant across mothers of different age groups. Direct and indirect effects were found, with parenting stress affecting parenting styles directly, and indirectly, through psychological flexibility within parenting. The lower levels of psychological flexibility within parenting were translated into lower use of authoritative parenting style and into a higher use of authoritarian or permissive styles of parenting. Also, multigroup analyses showed that the model was variant as a function of global psychological flexibility (Δχ2(10) = 138.09, p < .001) supporting the buffer effect of global psychological flexibility in these relationships. Our results are innovative by highlighting the important role of psychological flexibility within parenting as a self-regulatory skill in the mother-child relationship, as it influences the mothers’ ability to regulate their emotions and behavior in a way that promotes a sensitive response to the child’s needs and good parenting practices, even in the presence of stressful demands (parenting stress).