Abstract
Objectives
Parental mindfulness predicts more positive and supportive parent-child interactions. However, very few studies have tested this association using independent observations of interactions or considered a link with child outcomes. The aims of the current study were to understand (1) how parental mindfulness relates to independent observation of parent-child conflict resolution discussions and (2) how parental mindfulness and conflict resolution relate to children’s symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Methods
Fifty-seven parents and their 8–12-year-old children were recruited from both clinical and community settings. Dyads engaged in a conflict discussion task from which content and resolution quality were coded. Parents self-reported on their dispositional mindfulness, and children self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Results
Parents who rated themselves as higher in the acting with awareness facet of dispositional mindfulness were more likely to refer to their child’s positive emotions, make more positive (e.g. “you were great”) and less negative (e.g., “it was awful”) evaluations, and made fewer oppositional statements when resolving conflict. Parents who rated themselves as higher in the non-judging facet of mindfulness used more validation during conflict discussions. Mediation bootstrapping models showed support for an indirect path of acting with awareness and observing mindfulness relating to children’s symptoms of anxiety and depression, through positive evaluations. There was also support for an indirect path of observing and describing mindfulness relating to internalizing symptoms through reduced use of oppositional strategies.
Conclusions
Parent dispositional mindfulness was associated with more positive and supportive conflict resolution discussions. The current findings also provide preliminary support for conflict resolution mediating a relationship between parent dispositional mindfulness and child symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angold, A., Messer, S. C., Stangl, D., Farmer, E. M. Z., Costello, E. J., & Burns, B. J. (1998). Perceived parental burden and service use for child and adolescent psychiatric disorders. American Journal of Public Health, 88, 75–80.
Antony, M. M., Bieling, P. J., Cox, B. J., Enns, M. W., & Swinson, R. P. (1998). Psychometric properties of the 42-item and 21-item versions of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales in clinical groups and a community sample. Psychological Assessment, 10, 176–181.
Baer, R. A. (2007). Mindfulness, assessment, and transdiagnostic processes. Psychological Inquiry, 18, 238–242.
Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006). Using selfreport assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment, 13, 27–45.
Bayer, J. K., Sanson, A. V., & Hemphill, S. A. (2006). Parent influences on early childhood internalizing difficulties. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 27, 542–559.
Beer, M., Ward, L., & Moar, K. (2013). The relationship between mindful parenting and distress in parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder. Mindfulness, 4, 102–112.
Bird, A., & Reese, E. (2006). Emotional reminiscing and the development of an autobiographical self. Developmental Psychology, 42, 613–626.
Boekhorst, M. G. B., Potharst, E. S., Beerthuizen, A., Hulsbosch, L. P., Bergink, V., Pop, V. J. M., & Nyklicek, I. (2020). Mindfulness during pregnancy and parental stress in mothers raising toddlers. Mindfulness, 11, 1747–1761.
Bogels, S., & Restifo, K. (2013). Mindful parenting: A guide for mental health practitioners. Springer.
Bogels, S., Hoogstad, B., van Dun, L., de Schutter, S., & Restifo, K. (2008). Mindfulness training for adolescents with externalizing disorders and their parents. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 36, 193–209.
Bohlmeijer, E., ten Klooster, P. M., Fledderus, M., Veehof, M., & Baer, R. (2011). Psychometric properties of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in depressed adults and development of a short form. Assessment, 18, 308–320.
Branje, S., van Doorn, M., van der Valk, I., & Meeus, W. (2009). Parent-adolescent conflicts, conflict resolution types, and adolescent adjustment. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30, 195–204.
Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(4), 822–848.
Brumariu, L. E., & Kerns, K. A. (2015). Mother–child emotion communication and childhood anxiety symptoms. Cognition and Emotion, 29, 416–431.
Burgdorf, V., Szabo, M., & Abbott, M. J. (2019). The effect of mindfulness interventions for parents on parenting stress and youth psychological outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1336.
Calvete, E., Gomez-Odriozola, J., & Orue, I. (2020). Differential susceptibility to the benefits of mindful parenting depending on child dispositional mindfulness. Mindfulness, 12, 405–418.
Chaplin, T. M., Sinha, R., Simmons, J. A., & Healy, S. M. (2012). Parent-adolescent conflict interactions and adolescent alcohol use. Addictive Behaviors, 37, 605–612.
Chavira, D. A., Stein, M. B., Bailey, K., & Stein, M. T. (2004). Child anxiety in primary care: Prevalent but untreated. Depression and Anxiety, 20, 155–164.
Chorpita, B. F., Yim, L., Moffitt, C., Umemoto, L. A., & Francis, S. E. (2000). Assessment of symptoms of DSM-IV anxiety and depression in children: A revised child anxiety and depression scale. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 835–855.
Cicchetti, D. V. (1994). Guidelines, criteria, and rules of thumb for evaluating normed and standardized assessment instruments in psychology. Psychological Assessment, 6(4), 284–290.
Cimino, S., Cerniglia, L., Tambelli, R., Ballarotto, G., Erriu, M., Paciello, M., Oppenheim, D., & Koren-Karie, N. (2020). Dialogues about emotional events between mothers with anxiety, depression, anorexia nervosa, and no diagnosis and their children. Parenting, 20, 69–82.
Coatsworth, J. D., Duncan, L. G., Greenberg, M. T., & Nix, R. L. (2010). Changin parent’s mindfulness, child management skills and relationship quality with their youth: Results from a randomized pilot intervention trial. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19, 203–217.
Coatsworth, J. D., Duncan, L. G., Nix, R. L., Greenberg, M. T., Gayles, J. G., Bamberger, K. T., Berrena, E., & Demi, M. A. (2015). Integrating mindfulness with parent training: Effects of the mindfulness-enhanced strengthening families program. Developmental Psychology, 51, 26–35.
Compton, S. N., Nelson, A. H., & March, J. S. (2000). Social phobia and separation anxiety symptoms in community and clinical samples of children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 1040–1046.
Cortazar, N., & Calvete, E. (2019). Dispositional mindfulness and its moderating role in the predictive association between stressors and psychological symptoms in adolescents. Mindfulness, 10, 2046–2059.
Duncan, L. G. (2007). Assessment of mindful parenting among parents of early adolescents: Development and validation of the Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting scale. Unpublished dissertation. The Pennsylvania State University, USA.
Duncan, L. G., Coatsworth, J. D., & Greenbery, M. T. (2009). A model of mindful parenting: Implications for parent-child relationships and prevention research. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 12, 255–270.
Duncan, L. G., Coatsworth, J. D., Galyes, J. G., Geier, M. H., & Greenberg, M. T. (2015). Can mindful parenting be observed? Relations between observational ratings of mother-youth interactions and mothers’ self-report of mindful parenting. Journal of Family Psychology, 29, 276–282.
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, D. M. (2007). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-IV. American Guidance Service.
Dunn, J., & Kendrick, C. (1980). Studying temperament and parent-child interaction: comparison of interview and direct observation. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 22, 484–496.
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A. G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39(2), 175–191.
Feuerborn, L. L., & Gueldner, B. (2019). Mindfulness and social-emotional competencies: Proposing connections through a review of the research. Mindfulness, 10, 1707–1720.
Fivush, R. (1991). Gender and emotion in mother-child conversations about the past. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 1, 325–341.
George, D., & Mallery, M. (2010). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference (10th ed.p. Pearson).
Goldberg, S. B., Tucker, R. P., Greene, P. A., Davidson, R. J., Wampold, B. E., Kearney, D. J., & Simpson, T. L. (2018). Mindfulness-based interventions for psychiatric disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 59, 52–60.
Good, D. J., Lyddy, C. J., Glomb, T. M., Bono, J. E., Warren Brown, K., Duffy, M. K., Baer, R. A., Brewer, J. A., & Lazar, S. W. (2016). Contemplating mindfulness at work: An integrative review. Journal of Management, 42, 114–142.
Grysman, A., & Mansfield, C. D. (2020). Narrative methods in autobiographical memory. In S. Gulgoz & B. Sahin-Acar (Eds.), Autobiographical memory development: Theoretical and methodological approaches. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Hayes, A. F. (2009). Beyond Baron and Kenny: Statistical mediation analysis in the new millenium. Communication Monographs, 76, 408–420.
Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation: A regression-based approach. The Guilford Press.
Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation and conditional process analysis: A regression based approach (2nd Ed). The Guilford Press.
Hayes, A. F., & Preacher, K. J. (2013). Conditional process modeling: Using structural equation modeling to examine contingent causal processes. In G. R. Hancock & R. O. Mueller (Eds.), Quantitative methods in education and the behavioral sciences: Issues, research, and teaching (pp. 219–266). IAP Information Age Publishing.
Henry, J. D., & Crawford, J. R. (2005). The short-form version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21): Construct validity and normative data in a large non-clinical sample. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44, 227–239.
Huisman, M. (2000). Imputation of missing item responses: Some simple techniques. Quality and Quantity, 34, 331–351.
Judd, F., Newman, L. K., & Komiti, A. A. (2018). Time for a new zeitgeist in perinatal mental health. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 52, 112–116.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. Hyperion Books.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 144–156.
Kabat-Zinn, M., & Kabat-Zinn, J. (1997). Everyday blessings: The inner work of mindful parenting. Hyperion.
Karremans, J. C., Schellekens, M. P. J., & Kappen, G. (2015). Bridging the sciences of mindfulness and romantic relationships: A theoretical model and research agenda. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21, 29–49.
Kil, H., & Grusec, J. E. (2020). Links among mothers’ dispositional mindfulness, stress, perspective-taking, and mother-child interactions. Mindfulness, 11, 1710–1722.
Kutner, M. H., Nachtsheim, C., Neter, J., & Li, W. (2004). Applied linear regression models (5th Ed). Irwin.
Laible, D. (2011). Does it matter if preschool children and mothers discuss positive vs. negative events during reminiscing? Links with mother-reported attachment, family emotional climate, and socioemotional development. Social Development, 20, 394–411.
Lansford, J. E., Godwin, J., Al-Hassan, S. M., Bacchini, D., Bornstein, M. H., Chang, L., Chen, B. B., Deater-Deckard, K., Di Giunta, L., Dodge, K. A., Malone, P. S., Oburu, P., Pastorelli, C., Skinner, A. T., Sorbring, E., Steinberg, L., Tapanya, S., Alampay, L. P., Tirado, L. M. U., & Zelli, A. (2018). Longitudinal associations between parenting and youth adjustment in twelve cultural groups: Cultural normativeness of parenting as a moderator. Developmental Psychology, 54(2), 362–377.
Lippold, M. A., Duncan, L. G., Coatsworth, J. D., Nix, R. L., & Greenberg, M. T. (2015). Understanding how mindful parenting may be linked to mother-adolescent communication. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 44, 1663–1673.
Lovibond, S. H., & Lovibond, P. F. (1995). Manual for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (2nd ed.). Psychology Foundation.
MacDonald, E. E., & Hastings, R. P. (2010). Mindful parenting and care involvement of fathers of children with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19, 236–240.
Maliken, A. C., & Katz, L. F. (2013). Exploring the impact of parental psychopathology and emotion regulation on evidence-based parenting interventions: A transdiagnostic approach to improving treatment effectiveness. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 16, 173–186.
Mazzone, L., Ducci, F., Scoto, M. C., Passaniti, E., D’Arrigo, V. G., & Vitiello, B. (2007). The role of anxiety symptoms in school performance in a community sample of children and adolescents. BMC Public Health, 7, 1–6.
McKee, L. G., Parent, J., Zachary, C. R., & Forehand, R. (2018). Mindful parenting and emotion socialization practices: Concurrent and longitudinal associations. Family Process, 57, 752–766.
Medeiros, C., Gouveia, M. J., Canavarro, M. C., & Moreira, H. (2016). The indirect effects of the mindful parenting of mothers and fathers on the child’s perceived well-being through the child’s attachment to the parents. Mindfulness, 7, 916–927.
Meppelink, R., de Bruin, E. I., Wanders-Mulder, F. H., Vennik, C. J., & Bogels, S. M. (2016). Mindful parenting training in child psychiatric settings: Heightened parental mindfulness reduces parents’ and children’s psychopathology. Mindfulness, 7, 680–689.
Moed, A., Gershoff, E. T., Eisenberg, N., Hofer, C., Losoya, S., Spinrad, T. L., & Liew, J. (2015). Parent-adolescent conflict as sequences of reciprocal negative emotion: Links with conflict resolution and adolescents’ behavior problems. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 44, 1607–1622.
Morsbach, S. K., & Prinz, R. J. (2006). Understanding and improving the validity of self-report of parenting. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 9, 1–21.
Nivard, M. G., Lubke, G. H., Dolan, C. V., Evans, D. M., St Pourcain, B., Munafo, M. R., & Middeldrop, C. M. (2017). Joint developmental trajectories of internalizing and externalizing disorders between childhood and adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 29, 919–928.
Norton, P. J. (2007). Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21): Psychometric analysis across four racial groups. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 20, 253–265.
O’Laughlin, K. D., Martin, M. J., & Ferrer, E. (2018). Cross-sectional analysis of longitudinal mediation processes. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 53, 375–402.
Oldehinkel, A. J., Hartman, C. A., De Winter, A. F., Veenstra, R., & Ormel, J. (2004). Temperament profiles associated with internalizing and externalizing problems in preadolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 421.
Parent, J., McKee, L. G., Rough, J. N., & Forehand, R. (2016). The association of parent mindfulness with parenting and youth psychopathology across three developmental stages. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 44, 191–202.
Pickard, J. A., Townsend, M. L., Caputi, P., & Grenyer, B. F. S. (2018). Top-Down and bottom-up: The role of social information processing and mindfulness as predictors in maternal-infant interaction. Infant Mental Health Journal, 39, 44–54.
Pinquart, M., & Kauser, R. (2018). Do the associations of parenting styles with behavior problems and academic achievement vary by culture? Results from a meta-analysis. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 24(1), 75–100.
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers, 36, 717–731.
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptomatic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879–891.
Rapee, R. (2012). Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Nature, development, treatment and prevention. In A. Figueroa & C. Soutullo (Eds.), IACAPAP textbook of child and adolescent mental health. Wikimedia Commons.
Recchia, H. E., Ross, H. S., & Vickar, M. (2010). Power and conflict resolution in sibling, parent-child and spousal negotiations. Journal of Family Psychology, 24, 605–615.
Reese, E., Bird, A. L., & Tripp, G. (2007). Children’s self-esteem and moral self: Links to parent-child conversations regarding emotion. Social Development, 16, 460–478.
Reese, E., Bird, A. L., Taumoepeau, M., Schmidt, J. M., Mohal, J., Grant, C. C., Atatoa Carr, P. E., & Morton, S. M. B. (2016). “You are our eyes and ears”: A new tool for observing parent-child interactions in large samples. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 7, 386–408.
Robin, A. L., & Foster, S. L. (1989). Negotiating parent–adolescent conflict: A behavioral family systems approach. New York: Guilford Press.
Roemer, A., Sutton, A., Grimm, C., & Medvedev, O. N. (2020). Differential contribution of the Five Facets of Mindfulness to well-being and psychological distress. Mindfulness, 12, 693–700.
Salmon, K., & Reese, E. (2016). The benefits of reminiscing with young children. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25, 233–238.
Sawyer Cohen, J. A., & Semple, R. J. (2010). Mindful parenting: A call for research. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19, 145–151.
Sawyer, M. G., Arney, F. M., Baghurst, P. A., Clark, J. J., Graetz, B. W., Kosky, R. J., et al. (2001). The mental health of young people in Australia: Key findings from the child and adolescent component of the national survey of mental health and well-being. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 35, 806–814.
Short, K., Eadie, P., Descallar, J., Comino, E., & Kemp, L. (2017). Longitudinal vocabulary development in Australian urban Aboriginal children: Protective and risk factors. Child Care, Health and Development, 43, 906–917.
Siegling, A. B., Furnham, A., & Petrides, K. V. (2018). Facet benchmarking: Advanced application of a new instrument refinement method. Personality and Individual Differences, 120, 288–298.
Slagt, M., Dubas, J. S., Deković, M., & van Aken, M. A. G. (2016). Differences in sensitivity to parenting depending on child temperament: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 142(10), 1068–1110.
Smith, J. D., & Dishion, T. J. (2013). Mindful parenting as a transdiagnostic family process in the development and maintenance of youth psychopathology. In J. T. Ehrenreich-May & B. C. Chu (Eds.), Transdiagnostic mechanisms and treatment for youth psychopathology (pp. 138–160). New York: The Guilford Press.
Splett, J. W., Garzona, M., Gibson, N., Wojtalewicz, D., Raborn, A., & Reinke, W. M. (2019). Teacher recognition, concern and referral of children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems. School Mental Health, 11, 228–239.
Steinberg, L., & Morris, A. S. (2001). Adolescent development. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 83–110.
Suveg, C., Zeman, J., Flannery-Schroeder, E., & Cassano, M. (2005). Emotion socialization in families of children with an anxiety disorder. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33, 145–155.
Suveg, C., Sood, E., Barmish, A., Tiwari, S., Hudson, J. L., & Kendall, P. C. (2008). “I’d rather not talk about it”: Emotion parenting in families of children with an anxiety disorder. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 875–884.
Townshend, K., Jordan, Z., Stephenson, M., & Tsey, K. (2016). The effectiveness of mindful parenting programs in promoting parents’ and children’s wellbeing: a systematic review. JBI Database of Systematic Reviews & Implementation Reports, 14, 139–180.
Turpyn, C. C., & Chaplin, T. M. (2016). Mindful parenting and parents’ emotion expression: Effects on adolescent risk behaviors. Mindfulness, 7, 245–254.
Wang, Y., Liang, Y., Fan, L., Lin, K., Xie, X., Pan, J., & Zhou, H. (2018). The indirect path from mindful parenting to emotional problems in adolescents: The role of maternal warmth and adolescent’s mindfulness. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 546.
Woodward, L. J., & Fergusson, D. M. (2001). Life course outcomes of young people with anxiety disorders in adolescence. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 1086–1093.
Yap, M. B. H., & Jorm, A. F. (2015). Parental factors associated with childhood anxiety, depression, and internalizing problems: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 175, 424–440.
Funding
This study was funded by the University of Wollongong ECR Grant to Dr Amy Bird.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
AB designed the study, coded the data, conducted data analysis, and wrote the paper. SR collected and transcribed the data and assisted with study design and manuscript preparation. JAP assisted with study design, data analytic approach, and manuscript preparation. MM collected and transcribed the data, completed reliability coding, and edited the manuscript. MD and JSH assisted with study design and manuscript preparation.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics Approval
The questionnaires and methodology for this study was approved by the Human Research Ethics committee of the University of Wollongong (2018/492) and the State Department of Education (19/184120) for school recruitment.
Informed Consent
All parent and child participants provided written informed consent.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bird, A.L., Russell, S., Pickard, J.A. et al. Parents’ Dispositional Mindfulness, Child Conflict Discussion, and Childhood Internalizing Difficulties: A Preliminary Study. Mindfulness 12, 1624–1638 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01625-5
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01625-5