{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T12:27:07Z","timestamp":1787315227668,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":64,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787270400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002858","name":"China Postdoctoral Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2025M781607"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025M781607"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002858","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["2025M781607"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025M781607"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0426zh255","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behav. Sci.","Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The bioecological model emphasizes parent\u2013child interactions as proximal processes associated with children\u2019s development over time, whereas family systems theory highlights the distinct yet interdependent roles of mothers and fathers. However, few longitudinal studies have simultaneously examined the associations of mothers\u2019 and fathers\u2019 parenting styles with preschool children\u2019s social problem-solving skills. This study recruited 275 co-residing mother\u2013father Chinese families and employed a three-wave longitudinal design to investigate the longitudinal associations between fathers\u2019 and mothers\u2019 parenting styles and preschool children\u2019s social problem-solving skills, while considering primary-caregiver status. After accounting for prior levels, mothers\u2019 authoritative parenting at Time 2 was positively associated with children\u2019s social problem-solving skills at Time 3, whereas mothers\u2019 authoritarian parenting at Time 1 was negatively associated with social problem-solving skills at Time 2. Fathers\u2019 authoritative parenting showed no significant longitudinal association. However, the interaction between authoritarian parenting at Time 1 and whether the father was identified as the primary caregiver was significantly associated with children\u2019s social problem-solving skills at Time 2. These findings indicate limited and interval-specific longitudinal associations between parenting styles and children\u2019s social problem-solving skills and the possible relevance of primary-caregiver status.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs16081447","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T11:37:34Z","timestamp":1787312254000},"page":"1447","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Longitudinal Associations of Mothers\u2019 and Fathers\u2019 Parenting Styles with Preschool Children\u2019s Social Problem-Solving Skills: The Moderating Role of Primary-Caregiver Status"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7633-1653","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Keman","family":"Yuan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Institute of Early Childhood Education, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200233, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiaxin","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai Institute of Early Childhood Education, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200233, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3389-7523","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yufang","family":"Bian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment Toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"586\u2212592","DOI":"10.1037\/0278-6133.19.6.586","article-title":"Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: Preliminary data in healthy, white women","volume":"19","author":"Adler","year":"2000","journal-title":"Health Psychology"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Alcaraz, M., Larsen Gibby, A., and Luke, N. 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