Emotional warmth and negative communication as mediators in the relationship between parental stress and well-being

The present study investigated the association of mothers’ and fathers’ parental stress with their own and their partners’ emotional warmth, negative communication, and well-being. Data were collected from 302 married couples ( N = 604 parents), among whom 51 couples ( N = 102 parents) also participated in a second assessment six months later. Actor-Partner Interdependence Models indicated that stressed parents experienced more negative communication with their children, less emotional warmth, and lower well-being. Cross-sectionally, fathers’ and mothers’ parental stress was indirectly associated with their own well-being through their own negative communication with children and emotional warmth. In the time-lagged model, fathers’ parental stress at T1 was positively associated with their own and mothers’ negative communication at T2. Fathers’ negative communication was, in turn, negatively associated with their well-being at T2, supporting a time-lagged actor–actor indirect association. Mothers’ parental stress at T1 was also negatively associated with their well-being at T2. These findings indicate that parental stress was associated with greater negative communication, lower emotional warmth, and poorer well-being cross-sectionally, while the time-lagged findings further supported associations between negative communication and well-being. Results support the importance of addressing stress, negative communication, and emotional warmth in family-focused interventions.