Peer-reviewed article
Parental Psychosocial Well-Being as a Predictor of the Social Competence of a Child
Venla Panula, Niina Junttila, Minna Elisabeth Aromaa, Päivi T. Rautava, Hannele Räihä ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how parents' mental health and well-being during pregnancy relates to their child's social competence at age three. Using data from 1,075 families in Finland, researchers found that each parent's individual well-being predicted their child's social skills, with poorer parental well-being linked to poorer social competence in the child. When looking at families as a whole, these connections were less clear. The research highlights that both parents' psychological health matters for children's social development.
Key points
- Poorer psychosocial well-being in one parent during pregnancy mostly predicted poorer social competence in their three-year-old child at the dyadic level
- Higher psychosocial well-being in one parent appeared to protect the child's social competence development
- At the family level, links between parental well-being and child social competence were not statistically significant
- The study examined both maternal and paternal well-being, emphasizing the importance of considering both parents
Limitations
The study is observational and cannot establish causation, only associations between parental well-being and child outcomes. The findings at family level were not statistically significant, which limits conclusions about how combined parental well-being affects children.
Abstract
Abstract Our study examined the interrelations between the psychosocial well-being of parents at the time of pregnancy and the social competence of their three-year-old child. Whereas most previous studies have linked the psychosocial well-being of one parent to the social development of their child, newer research has highlighted the importance of examining the psychosocial well-being of both parents and its’ effects to the development of the child. This study used data from the Steps to the Healthy Development and Well-being of Children follow-up study (The STEPS Study, n = 1075) to examine the interrelations between the psychosocial well-being of both the mother and the father during the period of pregnancy and the social competence of their three-year-old child. The interrelations between the psychosocial well-being of one parent and the social competence of their child were studied with regression analyses, and family-level interrelations were modeled with a latent profile analysis of family-level psychosocial well-being. At the dyadic level, the poorer psychosocial well-being of one parent during the pregnancy period mostly predicted poorer social competence in their child. However, at the family level, these links were not statistically significant. The higher level of psychosocial well-being experienced by one parent seemed to protect the development of the social competence of their child. This study emphasizes the need to consider the psychosocial well-being of both parents as a factor that influences the social development of their child.