Family-Wide Dysregulation, Harsh Parenting, and Child Behavior Problems

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

Poorer parental self-regulation and household dysregulation (e.g., lack of routines and order) together contribute to higher levels of harsh reactive parenting, and poorer functioning and maladjustment in childhood and adolescence. However, prior studies have focused only on mothers, and few have incorporated multiple indicators of family-wide dysregulation. These are salient gaps, because prior studies have shown that aspects of fathering (e.g., high levels of involvement in childcare and supportive and sensitive quality of caregiving) are predictive of children’s adaptive behavioral and socioemotional adjustment (Barker, Iles, & Ramachandani, 2017; Meuwissen & Carlson, 2018). Moreover, qualities of fathering behavior have consistently been associated with having a significant role in the development of children’s self-regulation (Nurilla, Hendrawan, & Arbiyah, 2018). For example, harsher paternal parenting has been related to lower levels of children’s metacognition and inhibitory self-control (Lucassen et al., 2015), as well as externalizing behavior problems (McKee et al., 2007; Ramchandani et al., 2013). Considering both parents’ own regulation and parenting practices may provide more understanding of the individual and dyadic contributions of the mother-father roles in parenting, family-wide regulation, and their potential influences on child outcomes. In the current study, we investigated the associations between reliable multi-informant composite scores representing family-wide dysregulation (lower levels of mother and father executive function, effortful control, emotion regulation, and higher levels of mother/father reported household chaos), harsh parenting (mother and father punitive discipline and negativity toward child), and child behavioral problems (parents’ reports and observer ratings). Our hypotheses are 1.1 family-wide dysregulation will be associated with higher levels of harsher parenting and child behavior problems, and 1.2 there will be an indirect effect from dysregulation to child behavior problems via harsher parenting.

The sample included 60 opposite-sex mother-father dyads with a 3-to-7 year old child (45% females; age in months, M = 64.07, SD = 10.97), spanning a broad socioeconomic status range. Data reduction (using PCA) yielded strong support for a reliable multi-informant family-wide dysregulation composite, as well as a harsh parenting composite and a child behavior problems composite. Bivariate Pearson correlations between these key composites revealed moderate positive and significant (all two-tailed p < .001 with 59 df) associations between higher family dysregulation with higher harsh parenting (r = .46) and higher child behavior problems (r = .49), and between higher harsh parenting and higher behavior problems (r = .46). In ongoing analyses, we’ve begun to estimate direct and indirect effects between family dysregulation and child behavior problems via harsh parenting (using the PROCESS macro in SPSS v.26; Hayes, 2019). Preliminary results suggest the presence of a significant direct and indirect effect (via harsher parenting) between family dysregulation and child behavior problems; inclusion of relevant covariates (child age, gender, and parental education) did not alter the results. Furthermore, follow-up analyses in which the measures from separate informants were considered, indicated likely inflated effect sizes only in mothers’ reports. The findings point to the importance of considering family-wide (maternal and paternal) indicators of regulation and caregiving, and utilizing multi-informant methods to identify potential informant/method bias.

Authors

• Christina Bertrand, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Presenting Author

• Kirby Deater-Deckard, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Non-Presenting Author

• Martha Ann Bell, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  Non-Presenting Author