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Maternal negative expressiveness and preschool children's problem behaviors: Social information processing
Yuwei Huang1, Wan Ding1, Siman Liu1
1School of Education, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China.
Acta Psychologica
|August 12, 2026
Summary
Maternal negative expressiveness predicts preschooler behavior problems via impaired social encoding skills. Paternal positive parenting can buffer this negative effect, suggesting targeted interventions for prevention.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Psychology
- Family Studies
Background:
- Maternal negative expressiveness is linked to child behavior problems, but mechanisms are unclear.
- Understanding social information processing (SIP) and parenting roles is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- Examine how maternal negative expressiveness relates to preschooler internalizing/externalizing problems.
- Investigate the mediating role of children's SIP and moderating role of paternal positive parenting.
Main Methods:
- Multi-method, multi-informant study with 309 preschoolers and parents.
- Assessed maternal expressiveness, child behavior problems, paternal parenting, and child SIP.
- Used moderated mediation analysis with Johnson-Neyman technique.
Main Results:
- Maternal negative expressiveness positively associated with child internalizing/externalizing problems.
- Children's encoding accuracy (SIP stage) partially mediated this association.
- Paternal positive parenting buffered the negative impact of maternal expressiveness on child encoding.
Conclusions:
- Maternal negative expressiveness affects child behavior partly via encoding deficits.
- Paternal positive parenting can mitigate negative effects of maternal expressiveness.
- Interventions should target maternal expressiveness, paternal parenting, and child encoding skills.
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