1-194 - The role of negative attributions of child behavior in at-risk parenting

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The social information processing model (Milner, 1993) postulates that parents at risk for maltreatment show distortions in different steps of social information processing, specifically related to child behavior. Importantly, parents at risk for maltreatment are thought to attribute (ambiguous) child behavior more negatively. The papers in this symposium all address the role of negative attributions in at-risk parenting, each in a different context. All papers focus on both mothers and fathers.

In a longitudinal study (child age 6-18 months), the first paper tests the effect of negative attributions on aggressive parenting among other predictors such as child difficult behavior, physical discipline approval, and knowledge of nonphysical discipline options. The second paper investigates the moderating effect of inhibitory control on the association between negative attributions and negative and positive caregiving assessed using an infant simulator. The third paper reports on the mediating role of negative attributions in the association between parenting stress and harsh and abusive discipline in early childhood. In addition, an experimental design is used to test the causal effect of stress on negative attributions. Finally the discussant will place the different findings in a broader theoretical perspective, focus on similarities and differences between fathers and mothers, and address future research directions based on the three papers. The symposium will provide important new knowledge that helps understand at-risk parenting and gives input for (preventive) interventions focused on both fathers and mothers.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Lenneke Alink, Leiden University

Discussant

• Kirby Deater-Deckard, University Massachusetts

Individual Presentations

• Bidirectional effects in maternal/paternal parent-child aggression: Role of social information processing and temperament - Presenting Author: Christina M. Rodriguez, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Non-Presenting Author: Shannon Michelle Oram Wittig, University of Alabama at Birmingham

• Inhibition moderates the association between attributions and caregiving during interactions with a distressed simulated infant - Presenting Author: David Bridgett, Northern Illinois University; Non-Presenting Author: Julie Crouch, Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault, Northern Illinois University; Non-Presenting Author: Joel Milner, Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault, Northern Illinois University; Non-Presenting Author: John Skowronski, Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault, Northern Illinois University

• Parenting stress, negative attributions, and harsh and abusive parenting: Tests of mediation and causality - Presenting Author: Lenneke Alink, Leiden University; Non-Presenting Author: Marieke Beckerman, Leiden University; Non-Presenting Author: Sheila van Berkel, Leiden University; Non-Presenting Author: Renske Huffmeijer, Leiden University; Non-Presenting Author: Judi Mesman, University of Leiden