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. 2023 Jun 7;143:106280. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106280

Effects of interparental conflict on children's depression in the context of COVID-19: Does parent–child conflict play a role?☆

Zhiya Hua 1,⁎
PMCID: PMC10247145  PMID: 37301112

Abstract

Background

The prevalence of depression among children has dramatically increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective

Through focusing on verbal fights, the most common form of family conflict, this study examined the association between interparental conflict and children's depression and explored the mediating role of parent–child conflict.

Participants and setting

A total of 1005 children (47.0 % females) aged between 9 and 12 years old constituted the analytical subjects, who had been drawn from the 2020 survey of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS).

Methods

Descriptive statistics were obtained, and bivariate correlation analysis and mediation analysis were performed.

Results

According to the Spearman correlation analysis, interparental conflict and children's depression were positively correlated (ρ = 0.214, p < 0.01); moreover, parent–child conflict was significantly positively associated with both interparental conflict (ρ = 0.450, p < 0.01) and children's depression (ρ = 0.224, p < 0.01). Additionally, mediation analysis demonstrated that, after controlling for sociodemographic factors, parent–child conflict operated as a mediator between interparental conflict and children's depression. More specifically, parent–child conflict accounted for 47.6 % of the total effect of interparental conflict on children's depression.

Conclusions

These findings suggested that frequent conflicts between parents predicted increased parent–child conflict, which, in turn, elevated the risk of depression for children. To reduce the risk of children's depression, it is necessary to create a good environment and build a harmonious relationship within the family. At the same time, specific supportive services, such as family therapy, filial therapy, and couple relationship education, should be provided.

Keywords: Interparental conflict, Parent–child conflict, Children's depression, COVID-19, China

1. Introduction

Depression among children is not uncommon (Barber et al., 2014; Black, 1987; Hazell, 2002; Mehler-Wex & Kölch, 2008). According to Costello et al. (2007), about 1–3 % of children were once affected by major depressive disorder. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of depression in children and adolescents dramatically increased across the world (Correale et al., 2021; Loades et al., 2020; Samji et al., 2022; Taskesen et al., 2022; Zablotsky et al., 2022). For instance, a meta-analysis of 29 studies reported that the prevalence of depression in children and adolescents has nearly doubled since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching 25.2 % (Racine et al., 2021). Moreover, empirical research has found that both coronavirus infection (Üstündağ et al., 2022) and pandemic prevention and control measures such as home isolation, online learning, and social distancing (Alwadei & Alnanih, 2022; Xie et al., 2020) significantly exacerbated depression among children. A depressive episode in childhood not only influences children's daily life and general well-being (Crowe & McKay, 2017), but it also exerts long-term and lasting adverse impacts on their health and development later in life (Johnson et al., 2018). For example, studies have found that an episode of depression in children is usually associated with a higher recurrence rate (Clayborne et al., 2019). Given the importance of early prevention and intervention, it is imperative to identify the influential factors of depression in children and to understand their operation mechanisms.

Children's depression is regarded as the outcome of the comprehensive effects of genetic vulnerability, developmental experiences, outer stresses, and growth environment (Bernaras et al., 2019). Research has documented the vital influence of an unsafe family environment, including frequent interparental conflict, on the development of children's depression (Wang et al., 2014). In some academic literature, interparental conflict is further classified as two forms: constructive interparental conflict and destructive interparental conflict (Cummings et al., 2003; Smetana et al., 2006; Warmuth et al., 2020). The former highlights problem solving in the face of conflict, while the latter emphasizes hostile interactions like verbal or physical aggression which usually bring about negative outcomes (Cummings et al., 2003; Lee et al., 2021). A large body of work has shown that interparental conflict (especially the destructive kind), as an important component of adverse childhood experiences, is a significant predictor of children's depression (Ablow et al., 2009; Bai et al., 2022; Hanson, 1999; Jekielek, 1998; Zhen et al., 2022). For example, a longitudinal study of 665 Chinese adolescents revealed that interparental conflict exerted both direct and indirect impacts on their offspring's depressive symptoms (Li et al., 2022). On the contrary, a harmonious relationship between parents was found to be a protective resource of children's well-being and psychological health (Musick & Meier, 2010; Ogburn et al., 2010). For instance, through a comparative study of two groups of families, Ogburn et al. (2010) found that children whose parents have a harmonious relationship have a lower risk of depression compared to those whose parents often argue. To date, although the association between interparental conflict and children's depression has been empirically confirmed by some research, the linking processes and mechanisms are still poorly understood. In addition, since the COVID-19 pandemic started, family conflict, including marital conflict and parent–child conflict, has significantly increased, partly due to the implementation of certain pandemic control policies such as stay-at-home isolation (Chung et al., 2022; de Girolamo et al., 2020). For example, based on their observations in Italy in the first month after the pandemic began, de Girolamo et al. (2020) reported that being forced to stay at home leaded to increased family conflict. Nevertheless, partly because of various restrictions on scientific research (e.g., difficulties in accessing respondents and collecting data) imposed by the pandemic (Bai et al., 2022; Sinko et al., 2022), studies evaluating the impact of family conflict on children's depression in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic are inadequate. Therefore, this study attempted to explore the linking mechanisms that underlie the association between interparental conflict and children's depression through the analysis of a sample of children surveyed in 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

Some studies have identified parent–child conflict as a risk factor of children's depression (Gunlicks-Stoessel et al., 2010; Kim et al., 2009; Tompson et al., 2015). For instance, an empirical study of 350 Chinese American adolescents in California conducted by Hou et al. (2016) revealed that the higher occurrence of parent–child conflicts and more severe depression in adolescents were significantly correlated. Moreover, an experimental study of 107 adolescents with major depressive disorder reported that parent–child conflict was related to chronicity and the recurrence of depression (Birmaher et al., 2000). By contrast, reduced parent–child conflict was found to be beneficial to the remission of children's depression (Feeny et al., 2009; Rengasamy et al., 2013). Furthermore, a large amount of literature has demonstrated that significant positive correlations existed between interparental conflict and parent–child conflict (Li et al., 2020; Sherrill et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2022). For example, a time-lagged analysis of 60 parents with preadolescent children found that the more instances there were of conflict between parents, the higher the subsequent occurrence of conflict between parents and children (Sherrill et al., 2017). Therefore, parent–child conflict was positively related to both children's depression and interparental conflict. Additionally, there is evidence that the relationship between parents and their children can serve as a mediator between interparental conflict and children's psychological health. For example, Amato and Sobolewski (2001) found that parental discord was negatively linked to children's well-being, and that this link was mediated by the closeness between parents and children. Based on the aforementioned correlations, this study hypothesized that parent–child conflict exerted a mediation effect on the relationship between interparental conflict and children's depression; however, this mediating model needs to be empirically confirmed.

After reviewing the existing literature, we found that despite some studies reporting the association between interparental conflict and children's depression, the underlying mechanisms have not been thoroughly explored. Through examining verbal fights, an important dimension of family conflict, among a sample of Chinese children, the current study attempted to determine whether parent–child conflict operated as a mediator between interparental conflict and children's depression. To this end, we proposed four research hypotheses: (1) interparental conflict and children's depression are positively correlated; (2) parent–child conflict is positively related to interparental conflict; (3) parent–child conflict is positively associated with children's depression; (4) the effect of interparental conflict on children's depression is mediated by parent–child conflict.

2. Methods

2.1. Research data and analytical subjects

The data were drawn from the five-wave survey of the Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS), which was conducted by the Institute of Social Science Survey (ISSS) of Peking University with the aim of collecting empirical data for contemporary Chinese studies. The baseline survey of the CFPS, which was administered in 2010, included about 16,000 families across mainland China (Xie & Hu, 2014; Xie & Li, 2015). From 2012 onwards, the tracking survey was conducted every two years. The five-wave survey of the CFPS was carried out in 2020, when China had just experienced the first shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biomedical Ethics Committee of Peking University examined and approved the research protocol of the CFPS, and all participants provided informed consent before being surveyed (ISSS, 2022). After application, the ISSS approved our use of the CFPS data.

A total of 28,590 individuals aged 9 years or above participated in the five-wave survey of the CFPS, from which 1159 participants aged between 9 and 12 years old were drawn. Subsequently, 153 participants who did not give a valid answer to any of the variables of interest were excluded. Finally, after removing an outlier, 1005 children comprised the study sample (Fig. 1 ).

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

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Data inclusion process.

2.2. Variables and measures

2.2.1. Interparental conflict

Family conflict is usually defined as a wide range of conflicts that occur between family members, which can be manifested in many forms, including verbal antagonism, nonverbal anger, physical aggression, and even intimate partner violence (Lee et al., 2021). In Chinese culture, verbal antagonism is the most common form of family conflict (Wang et al., 2022). Therefore, this study focused on verbal fights within a family. More specifically, in the CFPS survey, interparental conflict was evaluated according to the following question: “In the past month, how many times did your parents quarrel with each other?” According to the CFPS guidebook, a “quarrel” refers to yelling at each other without making any concessions due to disagreement. The respondents were asked to indicate the number of quarrels that occurred between their parents in the month before they were surveyed; one quarrel was counted as once. The higher the number, the higher the intensity of the interparental conflict.

2.2.2. Parent–child conflict

In this study, parent–child conflict was evaluated by the survey question: “In the past month, how many times did you quarrel with your parents?” Similarly, respondents were asked to report the frequency of the quarrel that occurred between them and their parents. More quarrels indicated a more intensive conflict between the respondents and their parents.

2.2.3. Children's depression

The severity of the depression that the respondents experienced was assessed using the CES-D 8, a simplified version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES—D) (Radloff, 1977). CES-D 8 included 8 questions that required the respondents to report how often they experienced certain feelings (e.g., sadness and loneliness) or behaviors (e.g., sleep disturbance) in the week prior to the survey. Responses to each question were designed on a four-Likert scale, ranging from 1, “almost none of the time”, to 4, “almost all of the time”. A total score, ranging from 8 to 32, was obtained by accumulating the scores of the eight items. The higher the total score, the more severe the depressive symptoms. CES-D 8 has been validated in various populations and displayed good psychometric properties (Van de Velde et al., 2009). Cronbach's alpha coefficient of CES-D 8 was 0.708 in the current study. Cronbach's alpha is an estimate of internal consistency of a scale. According to Bland and Altman (1997), the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of a scale >0.7 indicates that its internal reliability is acceptable.

2.2.4. Sociodemographic variables

Some sociodemographic variables regarding the respondents' age, sex, educational status, school type, school location, and monthly allowance were also collected and analyzed as covariates.

2.3. Statistical strategies

In this study, SPSS 26.0 (SPSS Inc., IBM, Chicago, IL) was utilized to process and analyze the data. First, descriptive statistics were obtained to explore the main characteristics of the study sample and the variables of interest. Second, a bivariate correlation analysis was performed to examine the relationships between the study variables. Third, to test the possible mediation effect of parent–child conflict, the bootstrapping-based mediation analysis technique, put forward by Preacher and Hayes (2008), was adopted. Different from the classical method of causal step regression (Baron & Kenny, 1986), the bootstrapping-based mediation analysis need not assume the normal distribution of the mediation effect (Zhao et al., 2010); moreover, it can directly calculate the confidence intervals of the indirect effect and consequently determine its significance. According to Hayes (2018), the indirect effect would be considered evident if its confidence intervals did not contain zero. The mediation analysis was performed using the PROCESS macro for SPSS (version 3.5). Significance was set at p < 0.05.

3. Results

3.1. The study sample

After data cleaning, 1005 children aged between 9 and 12, with a mean age of 11.0 years old (SD = 0.81), were included in this study. In the sample, there were slightly more males (53.0 %) than females (47.0 %). The vast majority of the respondents (97.7 %) were primary school students, and two-thirds were in fourth or fifth grade. Regarding education service, more than half of the respondents were studying in rural schools, and 87 % of them attended public schools. In addition, on average, each respondent can receive a monthly allowance of RMB 35.7 (around USD 5) from their parents (Table 1 ).

Table 1.

Description of the sample (N = 1005).

Characteristics Observation number (N) / Mean Percentage (%) / SD
Sex
 Male 533 53.0
 Female 472 47.0
Age
 9 3 0.3
 10 318 31.6
 11 358 35.6
 12 326 32.4
Schooling stage
 Primary school 982 97.7
 Junior high school 23 2.3
Grade
 0ne 23 2.3
 Two 7 0.7
 Three 124 12.3
 Four 345 34.3
 Five 314 31.2
 Six 190 18.9
 Seven 1 0.1
 Eight 0 0.0
 Nine 1 0.1
School location
 Provincial capital city 64 6.4
 Ordinary city 128 12.7
 County seat 253 25.2
 Rural area 556 55.3
 Others 4 0.4
School type
 Public school 874 87.0
 Private school 105 10.4
 Unknown 26 2.6
 Monthly allowance 35.7(RMB) 64.5
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Note: Mean and SD (standard deviations) for continuous variables.

3.2. Correlations between the study variables

The skewness and kurtosis statistics (Table 2 ) suggested that interparental and parent–child conflict were non-normally distributed; hence, Spearman correlation analysis was adopted to examine the correlation between the study variables. As presented in Table 2, interparental conflict and children's depression were significantly positively correlated (ρ = 0.214, p < 0.01). Moreover, parent–child conflict was significantly positively associated with both interparental conflict (ρ = 0.450, p < 0.01) and children's depression (ρ = 0.224, p < 0.01).

Table 2.

Main characteristics of study variables and Spearman correlation coefficients.

Variables 1 2 3 Min Max Mean SD Skewness Kurtosis
1. IC 1 0 50 0.96 2.77 9.14 127.02
2. PCC 0.450⁎⁎ 1 0 50 1.47 3.62 6.63 61.97
3. CD 0.214⁎⁎ 0.224⁎⁎ 1 8 30 12.19 3.39 1.23 2.02
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Note: IC = interparental conflict, PCC = parent–child conflict, CD = children's depression, Min = minimum values, Max = maximum values, SD = standard deviations.

⁎⁎

p < 0.01.

3.3. Mediation analysis

To test whether parent–child conflict mediated the effect of interparental conflict on children's depression, the PROCESS macro (model 4) with 5000 resamples was adopted. Moreover, sex, age, grade, monthly allowance, school type, and school location were added into the hypothesized model as covariates. In the first stage, a regression analysis was executed, with interparental conflict and children's depression treated as hypothesized predictive and outcome variables, respectively. The results indicated that the standardized regression coefficient was 0.151 (p < 0.001), suggesting that the total effect of interparental conflict on children's depression was evident. In the second stage, the regression results demonstrated that the effect of interparental conflict on parent–child conflict (β = 0.389, p < 0.001) and the effect of parent–child conflict on children's depression (β = 0.184, p < 0.001) were both significant. In the third stage, when parent–child conflict was utilized as the hypothesized mediator between interparental conflict and children's depression, the direct effect of the model (β = 0.079, p < 0.05) was still statistically significant. However, compared to the total effect, its magnitude remarkably decreased (Fig. 2 ). Hence, after controlling for sociodemographic factors, we could draw the conclusion that parent–child conflict operates as a partial mediator between interparental conflict and children's depression.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 2

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Parent–child conflict mediates the effect of interparental conflict on children's depression (N = 1005, * p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001).

Moreover, the PROCESS macro could verify the mediation effect of parent–child conflict by considering the distribution of its confidence intervals. The confidence intervals of the various effects of the mediating model proposed in this study are reported in Table 3 . Since the 95 % confidence intervals of the indirect effect of interparental conflict on children's depression through parent–child conflict did not contain zero, the mediation effect of parent–child conflict was considered to be significant at p < 0.05. According to the effect values reported in Table 3, parent–child conflict accounted for 47.6 % (0.0877/0.1844) of the total effect of interparental conflict on children's depression.

Table 3.

Total, direct, and indirect effects and 95 % confidence intervals of the mediating model.

Pathway Effect Effect Value 95 % CI
Lower Upper
IC–CD Total effect 0.1844 0.1096 0.2591
IC–CD Direct effect 0.0966 0.0166 0.1767
IC–PCC–CD Indirect effect 0.0877 0.0289 0.1624
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Note: IC = interparental conflict, PCC = parent–child conflict, CD = children's depression, CI = confidence intervals.

4. Discussion

Through an analysis of a nationwide sample of children in China, this study linked interparental conflict to children's depression and tested the mediation effect of parent–child conflict on that link. In this study, interparental conflict and children's depression were significantly positively correlated, suggesting that interparental conflict was a risk factor of children's depression. This result was in line with previous studies (Bai et al., 2022; Jekielek, 1998; Zhen et al., 2022). For instance, a study of 516 primary school students found that interparental conflict was significantly positively associated with the level of children's depressive symptoms (Yang et al., 2022). In fact, some researchers have pointed out that conflicts between parents exert an adverse impact on children's development and might result in externalizing or internalizing behavior problems (Rhoades, 2008). The current study, through its focus on children's depressive disorders, confirmed this hypothesis.

Moreover, this study found that interparental conflict was significantly positively associated with parent–child conflict, indicating that frequent conflicts between parents were predictors of increased parent–child conflict. This finding was consistent with previously reported results (Li et al., 2020; Sherrill et al., 2017). Through the analysis of a sample of Chinese children, the present study added new empirical evidence to the spillover theory (Engfer, 1988; Sherrill et al., 2017; Zimet & Jacob, 2001), which proposed that negative emotion, affect, and behavior aroused in one family sub-system can transmit to other family sub-systems.

Additionally, this study found that, as hypothesized, parent–child conflict and children's depression were significantly positively correlated, which means that the higher the occurrence of parent–child conflicts, the greater the risk of depression for children. This finding was also consistent with previous studies (Gunlicks-Stoessel et al., 2010; Tompson et al., 2015). For example, in a study on concerted cultivation in Hong Kong, Leung (2020) found that increased parent–child conflict was significantly related to increased depression and anxiety in children. The current study confirmed that parent–child conflict was a risk factor for children's depression.

In addition, the mediation analysis demonstrated that parent–child conflict exerted a mediation effect on the relationship between interparental conflict and children's depression. This finding suggests that the occurrence of more interparental conflicts is a predictor of more parent–child conflicts, which, in turn, elevates the risk of depression for children. This finding is in agreement with previous studies (Hou et al., 2016; Li et al., 2020). For example, a study of 2465 school-age children revealed that parent–child conflict acted as a mediator between academic pressure and the reduced subjective well-being of children (Jiang et al., 2022). The mediation effect of parent–child conflict might be explained by the model of interpersonal stressor (Fiorilli et al., 2019). According to this model, conflict with significant others may increase perceived interpersonal stress, which, in turn, places individuals at an elevated risk for developing symptoms of anxiety and depression. For example, through the analysis of a sample composed of children and adolescents recruited from communities in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, Watson et al. (2022) found that, after controlling for prior levels of psychological health, greater interpersonal stress was significantly associated with more severe depression.

The current study has significant theoretical implications. First, the data and findings reported in this study provide new empirical evidence to the theories that link interparental conflict, parent–child conflict, and children's depression. Second, by revealing the mediation effect of parent–child conflict on the link between interparental conflict and children's depression, this study helps to provide a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms that link parental behavior and family environment to children's mental health. Third, the findings of this study confirm the importance of family relationships; meanwhile, they can expand our understanding of how families matter to children's well-being.

The findings of the current study can also inform prevention and intervention programs for children's depression. First, this study reminds us to devote considerable attention to children living in tense, conflict-prone families as they may be at a heightened risk of developing depressive symptoms. Second, because interparental conflict was demonstrated to be a risk factor of children's depression, the maintenance of a good marital relationship within a family is paramount. Recent studies have found that couple relationship education programs aimed at teaching couples principles and skills that help them form healthy relationships can yield positive intervention effects on child well-being (Markman et al., 2022; Turner et al., 2022). Therefore, to create a good family environment for children, couple relationship education programs can also be considered. Third, a good parent–child relationship was determined to be conducive to reducing the risk of depression in children; hence, effective parent–child communication should be encouraged. Meanwhile, filial therapy that focuses on training basic techniques and skills to parents to strengthen parent–child relationship has demonstrated good treatment effect (Bratton et al., 2005; Ebrahimi et al., 2019). Hence, it can also be integrated into family intervention projects.

One strength of this study is the utilization of a relatively large and nationally representative sample. However, as a cross-sectional analysis based on secondary data, this study also has some important limitations. First, both interparental conflict and parent–child conflict were measured using single-dimensional scales, which only considered language discords and verbal fights although, in fact, other forms of conflict may also happen between family members. Hence, future studies can adopt multi-dimensional scales (Grych et al., 2010; Straus et al., 1998) to comprehensively evaluate interparental conflict and parent–child conflict. Second, although most studies acknowledged that verbal antagonism was the most important dimension of conflict within a family (Grych et al., 1992; Yang et al., 2022), some relevant studies operationalized interparental conflict and parent–child conflict as negative verbal interactions such as nagging and quarreling (Leung, 2020; Sherrill et al., 2017), while others assessed family conflict using multi-dimensional scales (Gunlicks-Stoessel et al., 2010; Zhen et al., 2022). It is noteworthy that the difference in conceptual operationalization limited the comparisons between this study and those relevant studies. Third, this study failed to distinguish destructive family conflicts from constructive ones, which were considered to generate certain positive outcomes (Lee et al., 2021; Smetana et al., 2006; Warmuth et al., 2020). In the future, qualitive studies can be implemented to further examine various forms of family conflicts and their effects on children's well-being. Fourth, similar to some studies on the same topic (Grych et al., 1992; Leung, 2020), the conflict between parents and parent–child conflict in this study were both measured according to the reports of children. It is important to note that this self-report measure only reflects children's perception of family conflict and may not be objective enough. Future studies need to evaluate family conflicts by considering both parents' and children's views. Fifth, the depression scale adopted was not standardized, which limited the comparison between relevant studies. Moreover, whether the CES-D is applicable to children is controversial (Harder et al., 2019). Thus, future studies can adopt evaluation tools that have originally been developed for the detection of depression among children and adolescents (Poznanski & Mokros, 1996). Sixth, the cross-sectional research design cannot make causal statements. In the future, longitudinal research can be performed to further examine the cause–effect relationship between interparental conflict, parent–child conflict, and children's depression. Finally, as a research based on secondary data, this study failed to obtain and consider some important family and social contextual factors (e.g., household incomes, parental education status, experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic, and pandemic-related curbs) that might influence the study variables. Hence, this study can only be seen as an initial exploratory analysis on this topic, and future studies should further examine the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and family conflict, as well as examine those factors that might moderate the association between interparental conflict and children's depression.

5. Conclusions

Through focusing on verbal fights, this initial exploratory study examined one dimension of interparental conflict and parent–child conflict among a sample of Chinese children. Correlation analysis demonstrated that children's depression was significantly positively related to both interparental conflict and parent–child conflict. Meanwhile, parent–child conflict operated as a partial mediator between interparental conflict and children's depression. These findings suggest that family conflicts, including both marital conflict and parent–child conflict, are risk factors of children's depression. To lower the risk of children's depression, it is necessary to create a good environment and build a harmonious relationship within the family. In addition, when necessary, specific supportive services, such as family therapy, filial therapy, and couple relationship education, should be provided in society.

Informed consent statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Declaration of competing interest

The author declares no conflicts of interest.

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks the Institute of Social Science Survey (ISSS) of Peking University for the approval of the data use application.

Footnotes

☆

Institutional Review Board Statement: The Ethics Committee of the School of Government, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law determined that this study did not need a full board review as the CFPS project had been reviewed and approved by the Biomedical Ethics Committee of Peking University (IRB00001052-14010).

Data availability

The data analyzed in this study are publicly accessible on the website of the ISSS at Peking University (http://www.isss.pku.edu.cn/cfps/).

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Associated Data

This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

Data Availability Statement

The data analyzed in this study are publicly accessible on the website of the ISSS at Peking University (http://www.isss.pku.edu.cn/cfps/).

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