The Relationship Between Family Atmosphere Children’s Life Satisfaction and Intergenerational Transmission of Mental Health: The Difference of Parent-Child Gender and Children Age

doi:10.12139/j.1672-0628.2022.02.020

Abstract

Abstract: This study examined the effects of family environment (family atmosphere), cognitive process (life satisfaction) and personal factors (parent-child gender and children’s age) on the intergenerational transmission of mental health. A total of 591 families, including parents and children, participated in the survey. The results showed that: 1) parents’ mental health directly and positively predicted children’s mental health, and family atmosphere and children’s life satisfaction as important mediating variables; 2) mothers’ mental health has more effect on the family atmosphere than fathers’, and family atmosphere and life satisfaction as chained multiple mediating variables between mothers’ mental health and children’s mental health, while only life satisfaction as a mediating variable between fathers’ mental health and children’s mental health; 3) maternal mental health can directly predict the life satisfaction and mental health of daughters, and the effect of intergenerational transmission between fathers and sons is stronger than the one between fathers and daughters and the effect of mothers on children’s mental health increases with the children’s growth, but that of fathers decreases. These findings will reveal the mechanism of intergenerational transmission of mental health, and enrich the influencing factors of mental health.

Key words: intergenerational transmission of mental health, family atmosphere, life satisfaction, parent-child gender, children’s age

摘要： 为探讨家庭环境（家庭氛围）、认知过程（生活满意度）和个人因素（亲子性别和子女年龄）对心理健康代际传递的影响，对591户家庭亲子被试进行调查。结果显示：（1）父母心理健康均正向预测子女心理健康，家庭氛围和子女生活满意度在其中起了重要中介作用；（2）较之于父亲，母亲心理健康对家庭氛围的预测效应更显著，母亲能以家庭氛围和生活满意度为链式多重中介预测子女心理健康，父亲心理健康仅以生活满意度为中介预测子女心理健康；（3）母亲心理健康仅能直接预测女儿的生活满意度和心理健康，父子间代际传递效应高于父女，以及母亲对子女的影响效应随子女年龄增长而提高，父亲的影响效应却在下降。研究结果有助于揭示心理健康代际传递的作用机制，且可丰富心理健康领域的研究。

关键词: 心理健康代际传递, 家庭氛围, 生活满意度, 亲子性别，子女年龄

CLC Number:

B849

LI Qiming, WANG Jiting. The Relationship Between Family Atmosphere Children’s Life Satisfaction and Intergenerational Transmission of Mental Health: The Difference of Parent-Child Gender and Children Age[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2022, 20(2): 282-288.

李启明, 王纪婷. 家庭氛围、子女生活满意度与心理健康代际传递的关系：亲子性别和子女年龄的差异[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2022, 20(2): 282-288.

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