INVESTIGATING THE MEDIATING ROLE OF EMOTIONAL SAFETY IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDHOOD PERCEPTIONS OF PARENTAL CONFLICTS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of children's emotional safety in the family in the relationship between children's perceptions of parental conflict and children's self-esteem in enriching mediating and process-oriented models. For this purpose, 200 elementary fifth grade students (100 girls and 100 boys) who were studying in Tehran during the academic year 2017-2018 were selected using multistage random sampling. And they responded to the child perception questionnaire about conflict between parents, self-esteem, and family safety. Simple and hierarchical regression were used to analyze the data and investigate the direct and intermediate relationships. The results showed that children's perception of parental conflict had an adverse effect on their self-esteem. Also, the child's perception of conflict is directly related to the child's emotional insecurity. In addition, emotional insecurity can reverse the self-esteem of the child. Finally, the mediating role of emotional insecurity in the relationship between conflict perception and self-esteem was confirmed. These findings are consistent with tissue-based cognitive framework hypotheses, emotional safety theory, and protective factors and mediating risk. The results of this study could be useful in enriching process-oriented models that explain the role of mediating risk factors in transmitting parental conflicts to children's behavioral and emotional outputs.

Author Biographies

Maryamolsadat Fazli Ahmad Abad , Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Master of Family Counseling, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, South Tehran Branch, Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Fatemeh Gharehbaghi , Azad University, Tehran, Iran

PhD in Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, South Tehran Branch, Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Farangis Elyasi , Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

PhD Student in Curriculum Planning, Roodehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

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Published
2021-05-04