Psychological Development and Education ›› 2020, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (1): 121-128.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2020.01.14

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Parental Marital Quality and Internalizing Problem among Children: The Moderated Mediation Model

WANG Zhenhong, PENG Yuan, ZHAO Yimeng   

  1. School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062
  • Published:2020-02-05

Abstract: The present study examined the relation between parental marital quality and children' internalizing a problem, as well as the mediating role of parental emotion expressiveness and the moderating role of vagal activity. Totally 155 elementary school students (80 boys and 75 girls) participated in this study. Electrocardiogram (ECG) data were collected to obtain RSA during the baseline period and task period. Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire, ENRICH and CBCL were used to assess the main variables in this study. The results showed that (1) parental marital quality can predict children's internalizing problem. (2) Both parental negative and positive emotion expressiveness played mediating role in the relationship between parental marital quality and children's internalizing problem.(3) Baseline RSA moderated the mediating path of parental negative emotion expressiveness and children's internalizing problem. The present study exhibited that marital quality has both direct and indirect influence on children's internalizing problem, and vagal tone can buffer the negative effect on children.

Key words: parental marital quality, internalizing problem, parental emotion expressiveness, vagal activity, children

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