Food Insecurity and Children's Problem Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Parental Relationship Quality and Parenting Stress

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: Food insecurity, identified as a critical stressor for many families, can directly and indirectly influence children's development through interparental relationships and parenting. This study examines how food insecurity relates to children's problem behaviors and the mediating roles of interparental relationship quality and parenting stress. It also investigates the association between parents' perception of relationship quality and both their own and their partner's parenting stress. Method: The study included 2095 children from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. The actor partner interdependence model was used to explore the actor and partner influence of relationship quality on parents' parenting stress. To examine the association pathways from food insecurity to children's problem behaviors, a structural equation model was conducted. Results: Results suggest that fathers' perception of couple relationship quality predicted both their own and their partner's parenting stress while mothers' perception of couple relationship quality only predicted their own, but not fathers', parenting stress. In the positive association between food insecurity and children's problem behaviors, there was a serial mediation through mothers' perception of relationship quality and mothers' parenting stress. In addition, food insecurity was negatively correlated with mothers' perception of relationship quality, but not with that of fathers. Conclusion: This study highlights the pathway from food insecurity to children's problem behaviors through mothers' perceptions of interparental relationship quality and parenting stress. Results provide support for the family stress theory and offer valuable insights for the formulation of potential prevention and intervention programs.