Does Emotion Regulation or Cognitive Control Mediate the Effect of Trait Mindfulness on Parenting? Testing the Monitoring and Acceptance Theory

Introduction: A growing body of research has linked trait mindfulness to parenting. In this study, we tested the mediation pathways underlying this link in a sample of combat-deployed fathers. We defined trait mindfulness as the capacity both to be aware of (i.e. monitor) one’s inner experiences and to bring an attitude of acceptance to the experiences, as suggested in Monitoring and Acceptance theory (Lindsay & Creswell, 2018). According to MAT, monitoring predicts adaptive psychological functioning if monitoring is combined with acceptance. We investigated whether monitoring and acceptance had an interaction effect on parenting (RQ1), and further tested whether emotion regulation and cognitive control were mediators of this effect (RQ2), as these two variables are correlates of trait mindfulness and parenting.

Method: Drawing data from a preventive intervention study of post-deployed military families, we analyzed 282 military fathers who had been deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan since 2001 and returned. Fathers were mostly Caucasian, in their 30s, married, and lived in middle-class households. At baseline, trait mindfulness was self-reported using the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire. Specifically, the Observing subscale indicated monitoring and the Nonreactivity subscale indicated acceptance. At baseline and 1-year later, emotion regulation was self-reported using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (reverse-coded), and cognitive control was assessed using a Go/No-Go task. At baseline and 2-years later, parenting was observed through video-taped family interactions (involving both parents and a 4-13-year-old child) and coded using a theory-driven, empirically validated coding system. Control variables included demographic and deployment-related variables.

Results: A direct effect model demonstrated a good fit, χ²(11) = 5.03, p = .93, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.00, SRMR = 0.01. Monitoring by acceptance predicted parenting at 2-years (β = .16, p =.01), suggesting that higher monitoring plus higher acceptance predicted better parenting. A mediation model with cognitive control demonstrated a good fit, χ²(5) = 6.07, p = .30, CFI = .99, RMSEA = 0.03, SRMR = 0.01. Monitoring by acceptance (β = .14, p < .05) predicted cognitive control at 1-year, such that higher monitoring plus higher acceptance predicted better cognitive control, which in turn predicted parenting at 2-year (β = .14, p < .05). A mediation model with emotion regulation demonstrated a good fit, χ²(7) = 13.94, p = .05, CFI = .98, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMR = 0.02. Acceptance predicted emotion regulation at 1-year (β = .15, p < .01), which further predicted parenting at 2-year (β = .17, p < .01). In a two-mediator model, cognitive control rather than emotion regulation remained as a significant mediator for the effect of monitoring by acceptance on parenting.

Conclusions: The findings are discussed in the context of the MAT framework and conceptualizations of mindfulness, emotion regulation, cognitive control, and parenting.