Brassell, A. A., Rosenberg, E., Parent, J., Rough, J. N., Fondacaro, K., & Seehuus, M. (2016). Parent's psychological flexibility: Associations with parenting and child psychosocial well-being. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 5, 111-120. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2016.03.001
Recent research has started to examine psychological flexibility both in normative samples and within the family context. The current study aimed to extend this research by testing a model examining associations between general psychological flexibility, psychological flexibility specific to the parenting role, adaptive parenting practices, and child internalizing and externalizing problems across three developmental stages. Participants (N=615; 55% female) were parents of children in young childhood (3–7 years; n=210), middle childhood (8–12 years; n=200), and adolescence (13–17 years; n=205). Parents reported on their general psychological flexibility, parenting-specific psychological flexibility, parenting practices, and their child's or adolescent's internalizing and/or externalizing problems. Findings were consistent across child age groups and demonstrated that higher levels of parenting-specific psychological flexibility were indirectly related to lower levels of youth internalizing and externalizing problems through adaptive parenting practices. Implications for promotion of well-being within the family context among normative samples are discussed.
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