In many families, conflict is part of everyday life and for some children family conflicts are a normal part of life. Conflicts between parent and child are associated with several factors, notably parenting style (Chang et al.,
2003; Krishnakumar & Buehler,
2000), but also inter-parental conflict (Gerard et al.,
2006) and child temperament (Rubin et al.,
2003). These conflicts are described by children as associated with negative emotions such as sadness, anger and embarrassment (Nixon & Halpenny,
2010). Researchers have identified two domains of parenting: parenting practice (e.g., parental monitoring, involvement, and goals) and parenting style (the emotional conditions in which the child is raised) (Spera,
2005). Parenting style, especially harsh parenting, is linked to higher levels of family conflicts and behavioural problems. Growing up in a family characterised by intense conflict and harsh parenting is associated with increased child behavioural and relational problems in both the short and long term (Bayer et al.,
2012; Jaycox & Repetti,
1993; Klahr et al.,
2011; Lunkenheimer et al.,
2017). Since 2015, mental health problems, especially behavioural and emotional problems, are considered the second highest cause of burden of disease in Europe and the Americas (Baranne & Falissard,
2018). Dysfunctional parenting, especially harsh parenting, is associated with risk of increased relational aggression in children (Kawabata et al.,
2011). Conversely, Kawabata and colleagues found that positive parenting behaviours, such as providing warmth, help and positive reinforcement, are associated with less relational aggression in children. This association between harsh parenting and child behaviour problems seems to be bidirectional to some extent, indicating a possible transactional dynamic at play where child and parent are influencing each other’s behaviour (Lansford et al.,
2018; Shaffer et al.,
2013). Parenting programmes are generally the recommended interventions for addressing said problems (Furlong et al.,
2012; Socialdepartementet,
2018), and are the main reasons for seeking parenting support in Sweden (Thorslund et al.,
2019; Wells et al.,
2016)