Interaction between maternal and paternal parenting styles with infant temperament in emerging behavior problems

This study examined the interaction effects of infant temperament (negative affect, orienting/regulatory capacity, surgency) on the relationship between maternal and paternal parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive) and externalizing and internalizing behaviors simultaneously. A diverse sample of mothers (N = 186) and fathers (N = 142) reported on infant temperament of their 6-month-olds and their children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors one year later. Significant interactions revealed: (a) surgency moderated maternal authoritative and paternal permissive parenting style and externalizing behaviors; and (b) surgency moderated maternal authoritarian and paternal authoritative parenting style and internalizing behaviors. No significant interactions were found between maternal and paternal parenting styles and their report of their infants’ orienting/regulatory capacity and negative affect. Findings suggest interaction effects may appear beginning in infancy.     

Links between socialization goals and child‐rearing practices in Chinese and Indian mothers

Mothers of preschoolers in China and India reported on the value they accorded to items tapping two socialization goals, Filial Piety and Socioemotional Development and two parenting styles, Authoritative and Authoritarian. In both cultures, maternal valuing of Filial Piety was associated with greater exertion of parental control, whereas greater valuing of Socioemotional Development was related to more frequent use of Authoritative practices. However, patterns in relationships between Filial Piety, Socioemotional Development and Authoritative parenting differed across Chinese and Indian mothers. Positive associations were found among these three variables for Indian mothers, reflecting Hindu beliefs about young children and childhood. Among Chinese mothers, on the other hand, Filial Piety was negatively related with Socioemotional Development and the use of Authoritative practices. Our results suggest that Chinese mothers believe that the use of authoritative practices, which encourage socioemotional development in children, will inhibit achievement of filial behaviour and academic achievement. Contrasts between these two Asian cultures highlight the importance of considering parents' socialization goals and beliefs in cross‐cultural studies of child‐rearing practices. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parenting in an Individualistic Culture with a Collectivistic Cultural Background: The Case of Turkish Immigrant Families with Toddlers in the Netherlands

Expanding our knowledge on parenting practices of immigrant families is crucial for designing culturally sensitive parenting intervention programs in countries with high immigration rates. We investigated differences in patterns of parenting between second-generation immigrant and native families with young children. Authoritarian and authoritative control and sensitivity of second-generation Turkish immigrant mothers of 2-year-old children (n = 70) and native Dutch mothers (n = 70) were observed in the home and in the laboratory. Controlling for maternal age and education, Turkish immigrant mothers were less supportive, gave less clear instructions to their children, were more intrusive and were less authoritative in their control strategies than native Dutch mothers. No differences were found in authoritarian control. In both ethnic groups supportive presence, clarity of instruction, authoritative control, and low intrusiveness loaded on one factor. No differences between ethnic groups were found in gender-differentiated parenting. Maternal emotional connectedness to the Turkish culture was associated with less authoritative control, whereas more use of the Turkish language was related to more sensitivity. Even though mean level differences in parenting behaviors still exist between second-generation Turkish immigrant and native Dutch mothers, the patterns of associations between parenting behaviors were comparable for both groups. This suggests that existing parenting interventions for native families may be applicable to second-generation Turkish immigrants as well.     

Parental and Child Characteristics Predicting Asian immigrants’ Feeding Practices

To explore parenting style, child effortful control, parenting stress, and their associations with maternal use of pressure to eat among Asian U.S. immigrant families with preschoolers. One hundred and nine Asian immigrant mothers with 3-to-5-year-old children in Maryland, United States rated their authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles, frequency of pressuring their child to eat, perceived parenting stress, and child’s effortful control. Two proposed moderated mediation models were tested using conditional process modeling. Effortful control mediated the association between authoritative parenting style and pressure to eat practices, αβ?=??0.07, p?<?0.05, and the association between authoritarian style and pressure to eat, αβ?=?0.12, p?<?0.05. Moreover, parenting stress moderated the association between child effortful control and maternal pressure to eat in the authoritarian style model, but not in the authoritative style model. Specifically, higher effortful control was associated with less use of pressure to eat at low and mean levels of parenting stress. Our findings revealed potential mechanisms underlying the associations between parenting styles and controlling feeding practices. Importantly, information learned from the present study may guide transdisciplinary efforts to design and implement culturally sensitive and family-based interventions targeting Asian immigrants’ wellbeing and obesity in the United States.

     

Maternal Child‐rearing Practices in Hong Kong and Beijing Chinese Families: A Comparative Study

The present study aimed to examine the child‐rearing practices in Chinese families in Beijing and Hong Kong. The sample consisted of 89 mothers in Beijing and 45 mothers in Hong Kong. The mothers were instructed to respond to the Child‐rearing Practice Report (CRPR) in Q‐sort format. Some of the item clusters were combined to produce the authoritarian and authoritative disciplinary styles. The results indicated that mothers in Hong Kong were more likely to adopt an authoritarian child‐rearing pattern than mothers in Beijing; however, the two groups did not differ in authoritative child‐rearing style. The results also showed that mothers in Hong Kong controlled their children more than their counterparts in Beijing, and they were less inclined to show affection towards their children; mothers in Beijing emphasized their children's achievement much more than their Hong Kong counterparts. The findings suggest that Chinese parental disciplinary styles may be quite different in various regions of Chinese societies. Such variance across different geopolitical locations within the same cultural background has been ignored in past cross‐cultural research.     

Parenting style as a mediator between children's negative emotionality and problematic behavior in early childhood

Negative emotionality is considered to be the core of the difficult temperament concept (J. E. Bates, 1989; R. L. Shiner, 1998). In this correlational study, the authors examined whether the relations between children's negative emotionality and problematic behavior (internalizing and externalizing) were partially mediated by parenting style (authoritative and authoritarian) in a community sample of 196 3-year-old children and their mothers. The authors assessed maternal perception of child negative emotionality using the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (M. K. Rothbart, S. A. Ahadi, K. L. Hershey, & P. Fisher, 2001) and assessed problematic child behavior by means of maternal report using the Child Behavior Checklist (T. M. Achenbach, 1992). The results showed that the relations between child negative emotionality and internalizing and externalizing behaviors were partially mediated by mothers' authoritative parenting style. Moreover, when the authors used confirmatory factor analysis to decontaminate possible overlap in item content between measures assessing temperament and problematic behavior, the association between negative emotionality and internalizing behavior was fully mediated by authoritative parenting.     

Vocabularies

Negative emotionality is considered to be the core of the difficult temperament concept (J. E. Bates, 1989; R. L. Shiner, 1998). In this correlational study, the authors examined whether the relations between children's negative emotionality and problematic behavior (internalizing and externalizing) were partially mediated by parenting style (authoritative and authoritarian) in a community sample of 196 3-year-old children and their mothers. The authors assessed maternal perception of child negative emotionality using the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (M. K. Rothbart, S. A. Ahadi, K. L. Hershey, &; P. Fisher, 2001) and assessed problematic child behavior by means of maternal report using the Child Behavior Checklist (T. M. Achenbach, 1992). The results showed that the relations between child negative emotionality and internalizing and externalizing behaviors were partially mediated by mothers' authoritative parenting style. Moreover, when the authors used confirmatory factor analysis to decontaminate possible overlap in item content between measures assessing temperament and problematic behavior, the association between negative emotionality and internalizing behavior was fully mediated by authoritative parenting.     

How Variations in Parents’ Use of Confrontive and Coercive Control Relate to Variations in Parent–Adolescent Conflict,Adolescent Disclosure,and Parental Knowledge: Adolescents’ Perspective

Benefits and drawbacks of parental control exercised in relation to adolescents continue to be debated in socialization research with greater emphasis being placed on the benefits of parental autonomy-granting than parental control. We examined the relations between maternal and paternal control and parent–adolescent conflict frequency and intensity as well as parental knowledge of adolescent activities and adolescents’ disclosure of their activities to parents. Adolescents in grades 10 and 12 were interviewed about parenting practices their parents employed when regulating 18 adolescent activities. Thirty-seven parenting practices emerged from which authoritarian, directive, authoritative, democratic, and unengaged parenting clusters were derived. Adolescents whose mothers and fathers were classified as directive or authoritative reported less conflict with parents, more disclosure to parents, and more parental knowledge than adolescents whose mothers and fathers were classified as authoritarian. Coercive control practices of authoritarian parents as well as nondemanding practices of unengaged parents and to some extent of democratic parents were related to more negative parent–child relationship indicators than was the extensive use of firm/confrontive control (rational-demanding) by directive parents or authoritative parents. Evidence herein supports the conclusion that even for middle and late adolescents, parental control that is rational and firm is related to beneficial parent–child relationship qualities. Therefore, practitioners should underscore the importance of continued parental control during adolescence not just of autonomy-granting.     

A new typology of fathering: defining and associated variables

Our goal was to identify different types of parenting based on self‐report measures of fathers' involvement and parental attitudes. The present investigation studied 468 two‐parent, French Canadian families with at least one child between 0 and 6 years of age, living in a disadvantaged environment. The study, conducted on a sample of fathers, revealed the presence of the three basic types of parenting identified by Baumrind (authoritarian, authoritative and permissive), and also of a new type of parenting (stimulative parenting). The fathers in this latter group provide more emotional support to children and are more stimulating, as is evidenced by the greater psychological presence of children in the father's cognitions and by the fact that they more frequently introduce their children to new activities. These fathers are characterized by more secure social relationships. The father's parental stress level was found to be the most important variable discriminating between different types of fathering. Authoritarian and authoritative fathers are more at risk of maltreating their children because their more favourable attitude towards the use of physical punishment is combined with greater parental stress, less parental involvement of mothers, and a larger number of children in the home. Authoritarian fathers are even more at risk of maltreating their children because of more difficult family socioeconomic conditions, particularly lower levels of maternal education and income. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Authoritative Parenting of Chinese Mothers of Children with and without Intellectual Disability

The present study examined authoritative parenting and associations with parenting sense of competence and social support in Chinese mothers of children with intellectual disability and mothers of typically developing children. One hundred and sixty-seven mothers of children with intellectual disability with a mean age of 10.89 years (SD?=?1.74) and 119 mothers of typically developing children with a mean age of 10.55 years (SD?=?1.10) participated in a survey. Mothers of children with intellectual disability reported similar levels of parental warmth, and less use of reasoning and autonomy support compared with mothers of typically developing children. Parenting efficacy contributed uniquely to three dimensions of authoritative parenting for mothers of children with intellectual disability. By comparison, parenting efficacy did not contribute to use of reasoning and autonomy support for mothers of typically developing children. Social support made a unique but small contribution to parental warmth but not to parental reasoning and autonomy support for mothers of children with intellectual disability. For mothers of typically developing children, social support was associated with both parental warmth and autonomy support. This study suggests that child disability status is related to maternal authoritative parenting, and additionally, parenting efficacy plays a more critical role in predicting authoritative parenting of Chinese mothers of children with intellectual disability than mothers of typically developing children.     

Relationships between parenting practices and perceptions of child behaviour among Korean immigrant mothers and fathers

This study examined parenting styles and culturally‐specific parenting practices of Korean immigrant mothers (N = 128) and fathers (N = 79) of children (ages 6–10) in New Zealand and the parenting predictors of child behaviour. Participants completed questionnaires on parenting styles and practices, and parental perceptions of child behaviour. Both parents indicated a high degree of devotion (Mo jeong) and involvement in care and education of their child with fathers were more likely than mothers to utilise shaming/love withdrawal and modesty encouragement. Results of regression analyses showed that there were some differences between mothers and fathers in the parenting predictors of child internalising and externalising behaviour problems and prosocial behaviour. Across the whole sample, there were contrasting relationships for authoritative parenting styles, devoted/involved parenting and modesty encouragement/shaming/non‐reasoning parenting practices with child behaviour problems. Results indicated a blend of Western and Korean parenting practices were being utilised after settling in New Zealand.     

儿童早期的母亲生活压力对其5岁行为问题的预测效应：链式中介分析

通过对107名幼儿及其母亲历时5年的5次追踪测量, 考察了儿童早期(9~38个月)母亲生活压力对5岁时儿童行为问题的预测效应及其作用机制。结果发现, 在儿童早期, 母亲生活压力具有相对的稳定性, 但引起母亲生活压力的主要生活事件排序有所变化; 儿童早期母亲生活压力对儿童行为问题的作用机制有两种方式：一方面表现为母亲生活压力对儿童5岁时的情绪症状和品行问题的直接效应; 另一方面表现为通过减少母亲积极养育行为进一步影响儿童情绪症状和同伴问题的间接效应; 此外, 儿童早期母亲生活压力还通过积极养育和儿童努力控制的链式中介作用对儿童过度活跃和亲社会行为产生影响。结论:母亲生活压力对儿童行为问题具有预测效应, 这种效应的机制包括母亲生活压力的直接效应以及通过积极养育、努力控制的间接效应。     

Beyond Deficits: Intimate Partner Violence,Maternal Parenting,and Child Behavior Over Time

Exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) has negative consequences for children’s well-being and behavior. Much of the research on parenting in the context of IPV has focused on whether and how IPV victimization may negatively shape maternal parenting, and how parenting may in turn negatively influence child behavior, resulting in a deficit model of mothering in the context of IPV. However, extant research has yet to untangle the interrelationships among the constructs and test whether the negative effects of IPV on child behavior are indeed attributable to IPV affecting mothers’ parenting. The current study employed path analysis to examine the relationships among IPV, mothers’ parenting practices, and their children’s externalizing behaviors over three waves of data collection among a sample of 160 women with physically abusive partners. Findings indicate that women who reported higher levels of IPV also reported higher levels of behavior problems in their children at the next time point. When parenting practices were examined individually as mediators of the relationship between IPV and child behavior over time, one type of parenting was significant relationship, such that IPV lead to higher authoritative parenting and lower child behavior problems. On the other hand, there was no evidence that higher levels of IPV contributed to more child behavior problems due to maternal parenting. Instead, IPV had a significant cumulative indirect effect on child behavior via the stability of both IPV and behavior over time. Implications for promoting women’s and children’s well-being in the context of IPV are discussed.     

Clinic-Referred Mothers’ Autobiographical Narratives as Markers of Their Parenting Styles

Forty clinic-referred mothers completed questionnaires describing their children’s problems and the mothers’ parenting styles. In addition, each mother told three stories about their personal experiences in child care and one story about being cared for in their families of origin. Each story was transcribed and rated for coherence on six dimensions describing narrative clarity and richness. Results showed the narrative ratings to be fairly reliable and internally consistent, and the questionnaires proved to be psychometrically sound except for one of the parenting style scales that we dropped from further data analyses. Results showed the two remaining scales (authoritative and authoritarian styles) covaried with mothers’ reports about problems with their children. Correlations between mothers’ narrative coherence scores and their parenting style scores showed mixed results: authoritative style was not correlated with narrative coherence, but authoritarian style was negatively correlated with this narrative measure. Regression analyses using the six coherence scales and the authoritarian style scale showed the causality scale to account for most of the variance in authoritarian style. We speculated on the nature of this latter covariation.     

Preschool children with externalizing behaviors: Experience of fathers and mothers

Childhood behavior disorders are related to family stress and maladjustment. Little is known, however, about the adjustment of families with preschool-aged children at risk for subsequent behavior disorders. Moreover, fathers' perceptions of child problem behavior and their reactions to it generally have been neglected. Subjects were mothers and fathers of 52 preschool-aged children assigned to one of three groups: control, moderate externalizing, and high externalizing. Higher child externalizing behavior was associated with greater negative family impact, lowered parenting sense of efficacy, and child-rearing practices that were more authoritarian and less authoritative. Mothers and fathers did not differ in actual perceived level of child behavior problems, although both believed that mothers saw more problems. Child Group × Parent interactions indicated that mothers experienced increased stress and a need for help with moderate as well as high child externalizing behaviors, whereas fathers were not elevated on these measures unless the child's externalizing behaviors were high. Implications of these findings for early family intervention are considered.This study is part of the Preschool Project, conducted at UCLA's Fernald Child Study Center, Co-PIs Bruce L. Baker and Barbara Henker. We appreciate the involvement of Barbara Henker, Erin Gallagher, Laurel Smith, and Terry Webster. We also appreciate the very helpful anonymous feedback from the two journal reviewers.     

Maternal Socialization Goals,Parenting Styles,and Social-Emotional Adjustment Among Chinese and European American Young Adults: Testing a Mediation Model

The authors compared the associations among perceived maternal socialization goals (self-development, filial piety, and collectivism), perceived maternal parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and training), and the social-emotional adjustment (self-esteem, academic self-efficacy, and depression) between Chinese and European American young adults. The mediation processes in which socialization goals relate to young adults’ adjustment outcomes through parenting styles were examined. Results showed that European American participants perceived higher maternal self-development socialization goals, whereas Chinese participants perceived higher maternal collectivism socialization goals as well as more authoritarian parenting. Cross-cultural similarities were found in the associations between perceived maternal authoritative parenting and socioemotional adjustment (e.g., higher self-esteem and higher academic self-efficacy) across the two cultural groups. However, perceived maternal authoritarian and training parenting styles were found only to be related to Chinese participants’ adjustment (e.g., higher academic self-efficacy and lower depression). The mediation analyses showed that authoritative parenting significantly mediated the positive associations between the self-development and collectivism goal and socioemotional adjustment for both cultural groups. Additionally, training parenting significantly mediated the positive association between the filial piety goal and young adults’ academic self-efficacy for the Chinese group only. Findings of this study highlight the importance of examining parental socialization goals in cross-cultural parenting research.     

A Within-Group Analysis of African American Mothers’ Authoritarian Attitudes,Limit-Setting and Children’s Self-Regulation

Research suggests that higher levels of authoritarian parenting exist in African American (AA) families than in European American (EA) families, and that authoritarian attitudes may be associated with more positive outcomes in AA families than EA families. However, less is known about authoritarian attitudes and children’s development within AA families. This within-group study of 50 African American mothers and their 3-year-old children examined associations between maternal authoritarian attitudes, observed maternal limit-setting strategies, and children’s self-regulation during a limit-setting interaction. The findings indicate that while AA families may hold more authoritarian attitudes than EA families, the direction of effect of authoritarian attitudes on children’s outcomes appears to be the same in both ethnic groups. In this sample, when examining AA authoritarian attitudes relative to those of other AA mothers, less or lower authoritarian attitudes were associated with authoritative limit-setting behavior (firm limits within the context of overall warmth and responsiveness) and better children’s self-regulation.     

Maternal socialization goals, parenting styles, and social-emotional adjustment among Chinese and European American young adults: testing a mediation model

The authors compared the associations among perceived maternal socialization goals (self-development, filial piety, and collectivism), perceived maternal parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and training), and the social-emotional adjustment (self-esteem, academic self-efficacy, and depression) between Chinese and European American young adults. The mediation processes in which socialization goals relate to young adults' adjustment outcomes through parenting styles were examined. Results showed that European American participants perceived higher maternal self-development socialization goals, whereas Chinese participants perceived higher maternal collectivism socialization goals as well as more authoritarian parenting. Cross-cultural similarities were found in the associations between perceived maternal authoritative parenting and socioemotional adjustment (e.g., higher self-esteem and higher academic self-efficacy) across the two cultural groups. However, perceived maternal authoritarian and training parenting styles were found only to be related to Chinese participants' adjustment (e.g., higher academic self-efficacy and lower depression). The mediation analyses showed that authoritative parenting significantly mediated the positive associations between the self-development and collectivism goal and socioemotional adjustment for both cultural groups. Additionally, training parenting significantly mediated the positive association between the filial piety goal and young adults' academic self-efficacy for the Chinese group only. Findings of this study highlight the importance of examining parental socialization goals in cross-cultural parenting research.     

Fostering social and emotional intelligence: What are the best current strategies in parenting?

This review focuses on parenting practices that are beneficial or antagonistic to the development of emotional and social intelligence in children. We start by reviewing the somewhat nebulous concepts of emotional and social intelligence. This is followed by an examination of the association between well‐known parenting styles such as authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and directive parenting and various indicators of child emotional and social intelligence. The strategic emotion‐coaching parenting style is also examined for its connections to comparable child outcomes. Parenting practices such as inductive discipline and parental availability also appear to cultivate emotional and social intelligence in children. Finally, overparenting is discussed as a parenting practice that apparently corrupts the development of these traits in emerging adults. We conclude that best practices, where emotional intelligence and social intelligence are the benchmarks, blend parental care and concern with a degree of parental demands on children that are appropriate for their developmental stage.