Examining early childhood emotional well-being among fragile families: Examining the role of maternal stress and resident fathers

Social emotional development and mental health in early childhood provides a critical foundation for positive adjustment through the lifespan. Positive social emotional development is linked with greater competence in peer relationships, increased school success, and decreased risk for mental health problems in later life. When considering internalizing problems in early childhood most literature focuses on externalizing behaviors while less work centers on internalizing problems. Furthermore, scholars have recognized the unique dynamics of nonbiological families and family relationships, less attention focuses on how the role of various family processes in early childhood outcomes may vary among those living in social (i.e., stepfather) and biological father families. Using Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing data, this study examines how family processes relate to early childhood internalizing problems for children living among cohabitating social and biological father families. Included family process variables come from varying contexts of the family such as the mothers psychological wellbeing (i.e. maternal stress), couple dynamics (parental support & relationship quality), and fathers engagement (emotional & activity engagement). Hierarchical multiple regression is used to examine the directionality of effects at ages 3 and 5 years.