Maternal Work–Family Experiences: Longitudinal Influences on Child Mental Health through Inter-Parental Conflict

Abstract

Objectives: Recent evidence suggests that parents’ negative experiences of combining work and family roles can have harmful effects on children, but little is known about the mechanisms that explain the crossover from the work–family interface to children’s mental health over time. This study tested whether inter-parental conflict mediated the relation between maternal work–family factors (conflict or enrichment) and subsequent child mental health problems across childhood (4–5 to 8–9 years) and adolescence (10–11 to 14–15 years). Methods: Data were six waves from the kindergarten cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, including mother-report of work–family conflict/enrichm..