From family to school: the dual protection of father-child relationship and teacher-student relationship on children’s mental health problems

Mental health problems among children are a significant public health concern. Family dynamics and early educational environments are critical in shaping children's mental health. This study explores the impact of maternal authoritarian parenting on preschool children's mental health, considering the mediating role of children's emotion regulation abilities and the moderating effects of father-child and teacher-child relationships. Participants included 412 preschool children from three kindergartens in Shanghai, along with their parents and teachers. Data were collected in two phases through questionnaires at an interval of 6 months. Results indicated that children's emotion regulation abilities fully mediated the relationship between maternal authoritarian parenting and children's mental health problems. The interaction between maternal authoritarian parenting and father-child relationships significantly predicted children's emotion regulation abilities (β = 0.163, p < 0.05), while the interaction between children's emotion regulation abilities and teacher-child relationships significantly predicted children's mental health problems (β = 0.145, p < 0.001). This study innovatively used the Polynomial Curved Surface Fitting (PSCF) technique to validate the existence of a dual moderated mediation effect. This finding supports the positive role of the cumulative advantage effect of father-child and teacher-child relationships in promoting children's mental health. These findings also have important practical implications for the development of intervention strategies and educational policies.