Clarifying the Association Between Mother-Father Relationship Aggression and Parenting.

Although much research examines the association between fathers' relationship aggression and mothers' parenting, little attention is given to mothers' aggression, mutual aggression, or fathers' parenting. Using a sample of coresiding couples from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N= 973), the authors examine the association between mothers' and fathers' relationship aggression, measured as frequency and perpetration-victimization types (mutual, mother only, father only), and mothers' and fathers' parenting. Fixed effects regression models show that fathers' aggression is positively related to mothers' parenting stress, whereas father-only or mother-only aggression is related to fathers' stress. For both parents, aggression perpetration is negatively related to their own engagement with children. Mother-only aggression is negatively related to mothers' spanking and positively related to fathers' spanking. These findings suggest the importance of examining both parents' aggression and perpetrators' as well as victims' parenting to better understand the link between relationship aggression and parenting.