The effect of parental psychological flexibility on children’s behavioral problems: a moderated mediation model

BACKGROUND: Building upon previous research suggesting that parental psychological flexibility is negatively associate with children's behavioral problems, this study examined a moderated mediation model to explore the effect of parental psychological flexibility on children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Specifically, parent-child conflict is considered as a mediator while parental phubbing is examined as a moderator. METHODS: This study employed a cross-sectional design, with a total of 1060 parents of preschool-aged children participating. The parents completed a series of surveys, including the Parental Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire, the short form of the Child-Parent Relationship Scale, the Parental Phubbing Scale, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire regarding their children. The moderated mediation model was assessed using SPSS PROCESS 4.1. RESULTS: The results indicated that parental psychological flexibility negatively predicted children's behavioral problems through the mediating effect of parent-child conflict, with this relationship being moderated by parental phubbing; an increase in phubbing weakened the negative correlation between parental psychological flexibility and parent-child conflict, thereby further weakened the negative correlation between parental psychological flexibility and children's behavioral problems. CONCLUSION: These findings offer potential strategies for parents to mitigate the risk of their children developing internalizing or externalizing problems, by enhancing parental psychological flexibility and reducing instances of phubbing behavior.