Fathers’ Economic Stress, Depression, and Coping with Children’s Negative Emotion: Effects on Preschoolers’ Problem Behavior

Objectives: This study examined how fathers’ economic stress and psychological factors influenced preschoolers’ problem behaviors through depression and emotional responses. Although fathers play a crucial role in early childhood development, research on their psychological and parenting mechanisms remains limited. Grounded in Conger’s (1994) Family Stress Model, this study analyzed how paternal economic stress affects children’s behavioral outcomes through depression and emotion-related parenting practices.Methods: Participants were 233 South Korean fathers raising children aged 3-5. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires that measured economic stress, depressive symptoms, paternal responses to children’s negative emotions, and children’s problem behaviors.Results: Paternal economic stress significantly and indirectly influenced children’s problem behaviors through fathers’ depression. Moreover, economic stress influenced children’s behaviors through a sequential pathway: depression followed by unsupportive emotional responses. Supportive responses did not significantly mediate this relationship.Conclusion: This study highlights the indirect role of father’s psychological distress in shaping children’s problem behaviors, emphasizing that unsupportive emotional responses intensify the negative effects of economic stress. Using the Family Stress Model, these findings underscore the need for father-focused parenting education and emotional support programs to enhance family resilience and promote healthy developmental outcomes during early childhood.