Reciprocal influences between parents' perceptions of mother-child and father-child relationships: a short-term longitudinal study in Chinese preschoolers.

To examine the reciprocal influences between mother-child and father-child relationships, the authors analyzed cross-lagged longitudinal data on children's relationships with both parents using a structural equation modeling approach. Mothers and fathers of 100 Chinese preschoolers aged 2-3 years filled in the Child-Parent Relationship Scale (R. Pianta, 1992) across 2 time periods 9 months apart. The results showed stability of mother-child and father-child relationships and longitudinal reciprocal influences between the relationships in that over a 9-month follow-up period, mother-child closeness negatively predicted conflict in father-child relationships, and father-child conflict positively predicted mother-child conflict.