The purpose of this study was to examine the role of perceived parents’ emotional support in the
relationship between the level of parents’ marital conflict and the child’s shame. Three hundred-sixteen
students were surveyed, who were 4th, 5th and 6th grade females and males from 3 elementary schools
located in Gyeonggi-do. The data were collected using the Korean versions of the Children’s Perception of
Interparental Conflict Scale(Grych, Seid & Fincham, 1992), the Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2(Harder &
Zalma, 1990), and the Emotional Support Subscale of the Social Support Scale(Park, 1985). Descriptive
statistics analysis, correlation analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, and structural equation modeling were
performed to analyze the data using SPSS 19.0 and AMOS 19.0. The mediation was tested by Sobel test.
The results indicated that both mother’s and father’s emotional support were not significant moderators
between the parents’ marital conflict and the child’s shame. Instead, the effect of parents’ marital conflict
on the child’s shame was partially mediated through the father’s emotional support. This study examined
the factors and pathways that affect child’s shame by testing the moderating and mediating effects of
parents’ emotional support between the perceived parents’ marital conflict and the child’s shame. The
results provided valuable insights for developing therapeutic and educational programs to intervene
children’s shame when their parents’ marital conflicts were high.