THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUTUAL FAMILY-RELATIONS AND CHILD PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

The associations of the mutual mother-child, father-child, and mother- father relationship and various patterns of family relations with chil d psychopathology were investigated in a sample of 137 families referr ed to outpatient mental health services. Assessment of the relative as sociation of the different family dyads showed that both the mother-ch ild and the mother-father relationship were related to child problem b ehaviour. However, whereas the mother-child relationship was consisten tly more related to externalising behaviour, the mother-father relatio nship was particularly related to internalising behaviour. Our finding s gave clear support for the cumulative risk model: having more negati vely qualified relationships was associated with more problem behaviou r. Furthermore, our results suggested a protective influence of the pa rent-child relationship: having one or two positive parent-child relat ionships was associated with less problem behaviour. No support was fo und for the cross-generational coalition hypothesis. Implications for future research are discussed.