Supplementary Material for: Mechanisms Linking Interparental Aggression to Child Dental Caries

Research has garnered support for a systemic view of factors
affecting child dental caries that accounts for the influence of social
factors such as the family environment. Our previous work has
demonstrated the association between mother-to-father emotional
aggression and child caries. The present study builds on these results
by evaluating pathways that might explain this relation. Families (n
= 135) completed a multimethod assessment of mother-to-father emotional
aggression, child caries, and several hypothesized mediators (i.e.,
child cariogenic snack and drink intake, child internalizing behaviors,
child salivary cortisol and α-amylase reactivity, parental laxness,
child oral hygiene maintenance, and parental socialization of child oral
hygiene maintenance). Mediation analyses partially supported the role
of the child's diet as a mechanism linking mother-to-father emotional
aggression and child caries. However, children's neglect of oral
hygiene, parental laxness, and child emotional and biological
disturbances failed to stand as conduits for this association. Future
investigations should expand upon these results to better establish the
causal links that could only be suggested by the present cross-sectional
findings.