Parental Psychological Distress, Parent – Child Relationship Qualities, and Child Adjustment: Direct, Mediating, and Reciprocal Pathways Lauren M. Papp, E. Mark Cummings, and Marcie C. Goeke-Morey SYNOPSIS Objective. The purpose of this study was to explicate the role of parenting qual- ities of acceptance, psychological autonomy, and firm control in the link be- tween maternal and paternal psychological distress and youth adjustment problems. Design. A community sample of 277 families provided information about parental psychological distress, parenting qualities, and child adjustment via mother, father, and child questionnaire ratings. Results. Direct associations among the variables were consistent with predictions. Mediation processes were identified using structural equation modeling. Specifically, parental ac- ceptance and psychological autonomy served as mediators of the association between parental psychological distress and child problems, whereas firm con- trol did not mediate the direct associations. Conclusions. Drawing on a devel- opmental psychopathology perspective, this study’s results indicate that the link between mother and father psychological distress and child adjustment problems is accounted for, in part, by parental acceptance and psychological au- tonomy than by behavioral control. Alternative pathways among these family processes also received empirical support. INTRODUCTION Current theory and research indicate the importance of incorporating mul- tiple family risk factors into accounts of child growth and development (Cox & Paley, 2003; Cummings, Davies, & Campbell, 2000). For example, problematic child adjustment has been reliably linked to family factors such as disruptions in the parent – child relationship (Baumrind, 1993; Gaylord, Kitzmann, & Coleman, 2003; Prevatt, 2003) and elevated levels of parental psychological symptoms (Downey & Coyne, 1990). Notably, fol- lowing long traditions of separate consideration, recent studies have in- PARENTING: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE Copyright © 2005, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. July–September 2005 Volume 5 Number 3 Pages 259–283