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Economic Pressure, Individual and Family Processes, and Children’s Reticence in Romanian Families

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Abstract

Using Conger’s family stress model as a theoretical framework, a series of mediated associations among economic hardship, perceived economic pressure, parental depression, marital conflict, psychologically controlling parenting, and children’s reticent behaviors in Romanian families were studied. The sample consisted of 121 Romanian mothers and fathers of 4–5-year-old children. Children’s kindergarten teachers living in urban and rural locations evaluated child reticence. Findings generally support the family stress model. Structural equation modeling showed that after controlling for living in a rural location, economic pressure was indirectly linked with marital conflict through depression. Depression was indirectly related to psychological control through marital conflict, and marital conflict was indirectly linked to child reticence through psychological control. Directions for future research and recommendations for interventions and public policy are described.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Family Studies Center at Brigham Young University. We express thanks to the parents and teachers who participated in the study and to Marionela Vartolomei for her assistance in data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    Susanne Olsen Roper, Jennifer George, Larry J. Nelson & Jeremy B. Yorgason

  2. T. Denny Sanford School of Family and Social Dynamics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Franklin O. Poulsen

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  1. Susanne Olsen Roper
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  2. Jennifer George
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  3. Larry J. Nelson
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  4. Jeremy B. Yorgason
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  5. Franklin O. Poulsen
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Correspondence to Susanne Olsen Roper.

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Roper, S.O., George, J., Nelson, L.J. et al. Economic Pressure, Individual and Family Processes, and Children’s Reticence in Romanian Families. J Child Fam Stud 25, 2458–2468 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0412-y

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