Differential Impact of Parental Practices and Parental Emotional Clarity on Child Symptoms in Single-Child vs. Multiple-Child Divorced Families

Objective: The main objective of this study was to analyze the differences in parental emotional clarity and parental practices among families with a single child and families with more than one child, and their relationship with the children's internalizing and externalizing symptomatology, specifically, anxiety-depression and aggressive behavior in a conflictive divorce context. Methods: The participants were 247 Spanish divorced parents. In total, 62% of the participants reported being the parents of one child and 38% of two children. All participants answered questionnaires that measured the variables investigated in this study. Results: The results supported the working hypothesis that families with more than one child present with less emotional clarity, which, concatenated with critical and rigid parental guidelines, is associated with children's greater presence of anxious-depressive and aggressive symptoms. Conclusions: Families with more than one child have less positive parental guidelines and so their children express more symptoms.