Poster #152 - Parenting of Behaviorally Inhibited Children: A Comparison of Perceived Parenting Values and Observed Parenting Behaviors

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Behaviorally inhibited (BI) children who fear novelty are at risk of later social and emotional difficulties (Rubin et al., 2009), but parenting behavior moderates this association. Researchers have reported that parental support serves as a protective factor that may buffer an inhibited child from developing internalizing problems (Chen et al., 2014). While observed parenting behavior has been found to predict socioemotional outcomes for BI children, it remains unclear whether parental beliefs about their socialization practices also predict outcomes for BI children. The relation between parental reports of their socialization practices and observations of those practices “in vivo” is, relatively unknown (Rubin et al., 2006). The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between parental beliefs about socialization practices and observed parenting behaviors in a sample of parents of BI preschoolers. We predicted that parents of BI preschoolers who reported high perceived nurturance would exhibit more engagement, positive affect, and cognitive stimulation and less negative control, and that parents who reported high perceived restrictiveness would demonstrate more negative control.

Participants included 151 BI preschoolers (M age = 52.93 months) and their parents (129 mothers, 22 fathers). Parenting was observed during 10 minutes of free play using the Parent and Child Interaction Scale (Rubin et al., 2016). “Engagement” was measured by observing parents’ active participation with their child. “Positive affect” was assessed as the parents’ tendency to demonstrate enjoyment and approval of the child. “Cognitive stimulation” measured parents’ attempts to offer intellectually challenging comments or questions. “Negative control” assessed parents’ tendency to direct the interaction and neglect to promote children’s autonomy. Parents reported on their perceived nurturance (a desire to emotionally support children and exploration) and restrictiveness (a desire to set limits and promote appropriate behavior) on the Child-Rearing Practices Report (Rickel & Biasatti, 1982).

The hypotheses were tested using a saturated path model with robust standard errors using the lavaan package in R. Parental reports of nurturance and restrictiveness were entered as predictors of observed engagement, positive affect, cognitive stimulation, and negative control. Results revealed that neither reported nurturance nor restrictiveness was significantly associated with observed engagement or positive affect. Parental reports of restrictiveness were positively associated with observed cognitive stimulation. In contrast, reports of nurturance were positively associated with observed negative control.

The results suggest that parenting attitudes do not strongly correspond to observed parenting behavior, and the associations that emerged were in the opposite direction from what was predicted. The positive association between perceived restrictiveness and observed cognitive stimulation may arise because restrictiveness includes a desire to actively teach children appropriate behavior, which may extend to cognitive domains. The positive association between perceived nurturance and observed negative control may emerge because parents of BI children may believe they must guide the play when children do not explore novel situations, leading parents to demonstrate a form of “helicopter parenting” (Padilla-Walker, 2014). More importantly, however, the findings suggest that parents of highly BI preschoolers typically do not successfully enact their parenting values during observed interactions with their children.

Authors

• Emily Delinski, University of Maryland, College Park
  Presenting Author

• Kelly Alexandra Smith, University of Maryland, College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kenneth H. Rubin, Department of Human Development & Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nicholas Wagner, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Christina Danko, University of Maryland
  Non-Presenting Author

• Andrea Chronis-Tuscano, University of Maryland, College Park
  Non-Presenting Author