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Associations Between Maternal Cumulative Psychological Distress and Child Subsequent Social Competence: The Role of Early Childhood Education and Care and Social Networks

Katja Tervahartiala et al.

Scandinavian Journal of Psychology2026https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.70087article
AJG 2
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

Maternal psychological distress may have adverse effects on child socioemotional development. However, supportive social networks and participation in out-of-home childcare may serve as key protective factors and promote positive developmental outcomes. This study investigated whether maternal cumulative psychological distress is associated with children's (n = 528) social competence at the age of 5 years (M = 5.02, SD = 0.08) in Finland. Latent profile analyses (LPA) were conducted to identify latent classes of maternal cumulative symptoms of depression, anxiety, and parenting stress. Associations between these profiles and children's prosocial and antisocial behavior were examined. Additionally, the moderating effects of the child's age at entry into Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and maternal supportive social networks were analyzed. The results showed that chronically high maternal psychological distress was subsequently associated with child's higher impulsivity, higher disruptiveness, and lower empathy. We found no evidence of early ECEC attendance or mother's social networks as moderators between maternal symptoms and child's behavior. Nevertheless, mother's supportive social networks were beneficial for all children and associated with child's higher empathy and cooperation skills. These findings underscore the need for early identification of maternal psychological distress symptoms. Moreover, social networks may serve as valuable resources for families with young children and support child development, even though they did not buffer the effects of maternal distress.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.70087

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@article{katja2026,
  title        = {{Associations Between Maternal Cumulative Psychological Distress and Child Subsequent Social Competence: The Role of Early Childhood Education and Care and Social Networks}},
  author       = {Katja Tervahartiala et al.},
  journal      = {Scandinavian Journal of Psychology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.70087},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.