Daily Parental Positive Experiences Are Linked to Better Daily Parenting Practice Through Reduced Stress and Depressive Mood

Studies have found that parents' cumulative protective and compensatory experiences (PACEs) can protect parenting quality from stress and mental health issues and promote positive parenting through elevated mental health. Existing studies have focused primarily on between-person comparison, but resilience is a dynamic within-person process that unfolds across time. Using a 100-day daily diary design, this study collected 3359 daily observations from 39 parents of preschoolers in the West South-Central United States using self-report surveys. Dynamic factor analysis was used to model daily parental responsiveness and frustration. Controlling for the previous day's responsiveness and frustration, daily parental PACEs were promotive of parental responsiveness. PACEs also mitigated the negative link between stress and frustration. Concurrent mediation analyses revealed that PACEs promote parental responsiveness through decreased stress but not depressive mood. PACEs were linked to less parental frustration through decreased stress and depressive mood. These results highlight that daily PACEs may contribute to intergenerational resilience through parenting practices. Findings are discussed in the context of ways to promote caregiver resilience and reduce stress when parenting preschoolers.