Literature on the course of children’s social emotional development in early childhood is abundant. In addition, literature has identified that various family level variables play a role in a children’s social emotional development. However, little research has utilized longitudinal panel data to investigate the relationship between children’s social emotional development and caregiver’s psychological well being.

In this paper, latent growth curves were constructed for children’s externalizing behaviors, caregiver depression, and caregiver stress. Latent growth curves were constructed for caregiver stress, caregiver depression, and child externalizing behaviors. The mean score for participants were highest at the initial measurement points and decreased over the course of the subsequent measurement periods. A structural equation model was utilized to identify a model in which the effect of time living in poverty on externalizing behaviors was mediated by caregiver depression. In addition, the effect of caregiver depression on externalizing behaviors was mediated by caregiver stress. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed.