Parent or Child Driven? Associations Over Time Between Parental Depressive Symptoms, Parental Locus of Control, and Child Negative Emotionality in US Military Families

Military personnel are at an elevated risk of depression after combat exposure, which can create significant stress for both the civilian spouses/partners and their children. However, the complex associations between parental mental health, family dynamics, and child characteristics have rarely been examined in post-deployment populations. This study examined the associations between parental depressive symptoms, parental locus of control, and child negative emotionality using a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model in US military families. The findings indicated that for mothers, increases in parental locus of control were associated with decreases in later parental depressive symptoms, while increases in child negative emotionality were associated with an increase in later parental depressive symptoms. For fathers, increases in parental locus of control were surprisingly associated with an increase in later child negative emotionality. These findings suggest that parenting interventions for military families should strengthen mothers' parental locus of control to buffer against depressive symptoms, while equipping fathers with noncoercive, emotionally supportive parenting strategies during reintegration.