Parental Emotion Regulation, Psychological Distress, and Family Involvement in Education Among Chilean Caregivers: An Observed-Variable Analysis

This study examined the association between parental emotion regulation (ER) and family involvement in education (FIE), including the potential mediating role of psychological distress, operationalized through depressive, anxiety, and stress symptomatology (DASS), and the moderating role of caregiver gender, while accounting for sociodemographic variables. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of n = 219 Chilean parents/caregivers. The Emotion Regulation Evaluation Scale (RE-MESACTS), the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), and the Family Involvement in Education Scale (EPFE) were administered. A sequential observed-variable analytical strategy combining regression, mediation with non-parametric bootstrap (5000 resamples), moderation, covariate-adjusted models, and complementary sensitivity analyses was employed. ER was positively associated with FIE after accounting for DASS (β = 0.230, p = 0.004) and negatively associated with DASS (β = −0.410, p < 0.001). However, DASS was not significantly associated with FIE (β = −0.065, p = 0.365), and the indirect effect of ER on FIE through DASS was not statistically significant (B = 0.026, p = 0.374). A statistically significant ER × Gender interaction was observed (B = 0.739, p < 0.001). Simple-slope analyses showed a positive association among female caregivers (B = 0.345, p < 0.001) and a negative association among male caregivers (B = −0.394, p = 0.021). An exploratory complementary multigroup analysis showed that the ER → FIE path differed between gender groups, χ2(1) = 7.90, p = 0.005. Most sociodemographic covariates were not significantly associated with FIE; however, caregivers of students attending private fee-paying schools reported significantly higher FIE than those associated with public schools ( = 3.162, p = 0.045). Overall, ER was positively associated with educational involvement, whereas DASS did not statistically mediate the ER–FIE association. The observed ER × Gender interaction suggests a potential gender-dependent pattern; however, because the male subgroup was small (n = 38), the gender-specific estimates should be regarded as preliminary and require replication in larger and more gender-balanced samples. The findings highlight the relevance of parental emotion regulation for family involvement and provide a basis for further investigation of psychological and sociodemographic factors associated with educational involvement.