Abstract

This study examined the effect of parental mindfulness on children’s peer competence through the mediating roles of marital communication and children’s emotion regulation. Participants were 208 parents who were maintaining their marital relationship while raising elementary school-aged children. The findings were as follows. First, children’s emotion regulation mediated the relationship between parental mindfulness and children’s peer competence. Second, marital communication influenced children’s peer competence through the mediating role of children’s emotion regulation. Third, in the pathway from parental mindfulness to children’s peer competence, marital communication and children’s emotion regulation demonstrated sequential mediating effects. Based on these findings, implications for practice, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed.