Peer-reviewed article
Interparental conflict and children's sleep quality in the chinese family context: the serial mediating roles of emotional insecurity and subjective well-being.
Hou H, Guan Y, Luo T ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how parental conflict affects children's sleep quality in Chinese families. The research found that parental conflict leads to worse sleep through two psychological pathways: children becoming emotionally insecure, and reduced feelings of well-being. Interviews with children showed they understood parental conflict through ideas about family harmony and their responsibilities within family relationships, which is particular to the Chinese cultural context.
Key points
- Interparental conflict was significantly associated with poorer sleep quality in children (r = 0.39, p < 0.001)
- The relationship persisted even after accounting for emotional insecurity and subjective well-being as mediating factors (β = 0.11, p = 0.006)
- Indirect effects through emotional insecurity alone, subjective well-being alone, and both in sequence were all statistically significant (0.014, 0.019, and 0.004 respectively)
- Children interviewed described interparental conflict in terms of family harmony, parent-child connection, and relational responsibility, reflecting Chinese cultural values
- Study included 900 upper-grade primary school children (mean age 10.58 years) using mixed-methods design
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional in its quantitative component, so causal direction cannot be firmly established. The qualitative sample of 23 children is small relative to the 900 surveyed, limiting generalizability of the interview findings.
Abstract
Background Sleep problems in children are an important risk factor for cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development. Previous studies have shown that interparental conflict is closely associated with poorer sleep quality in children. However, the internal psychological variables involved in this association, particularly how they may be understood within the Chinese family context, remain insufficiently examined. Based on a sample of Chinese children, this study examined the association between interparental conflict and poorer sleep quality in children, and it tested the mediating pathways of emotional insecurity and subjective well-being(SWB). Methods This study employed a quantitatively driven explanatory sequential mixed-methods design combining questionnaire survey data with child interviews. The quantitative component included 900 upper-grade primary school children (M = 10.58, SD = 0.81). Correlation analyses and a serial mediation model were used to examine the associations among interparental conflict, emotional insecurity, SWB, and children's sleep quality. In the qualitative component, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 children, and thematic analysis was used to supplement and contextualize the quantitative findings. Results Interparental conflict was significantly associated with poorer sleep quality in children (r = 0.39, p < 0.001), and this association remained significant after emotional insecurity and SWB were included as mediators in the model (β = 0.11, p = 0.006). The statistical indirect effects through emotional insecurity, through SWB, and through emotional insecurity and SWB in sequence, were all significant, with effect values of 0.014, 0.019, and 0.004 respectively. The qualitative findings showed that the interviewed children incorporated interparental conflict into their understanding of family relationships, their own situations, and daily life circumstances. Within the Chinese family context, these responses were more clearly reflected in a contextualized organization of meaning around family harmony, parent-child connection, and relational responsibility. Conclusions Emotional insecurity and SWB are important psychological variables for understanding the association between interparental conflict and poorer sleep quality in children. At the same time, these processes may acquire specific meanings within the Chinese family context.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- No intervention tested; this is an observational study examining the psychological pathways linking parental conflict to children's sleep problems
- Population
- 900 upper-grade primary school children in China (mean age 10.58 years, SD 0.81); qualitative interviews with 23 of these children
Key finding
Interparental conflict significantly associated with poorer sleep quality (r = 0.39, p < 0.001)
H et al. · Europe PMC · 17 Jul 2026