Promoting Resilience in At-Risk Preschoolers: An Integration of Parenting Dimensions

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Early exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) is a threat to the healthy development of preschool-aged children. Supportive parenting has been shown to be one of the most potent protective factors for children exposed to violence; however, few studies have examined how multiple dimensions of parenting may combine to promote resilience in children. This study examined the joint effects of three parenting dimensions that have been independently associated with resilience (warmth, discipline, emotion coaching) in a sample of preschoolers from Head Start programs. Interactions between 127 children and caregivers were coded for each type of parenting, caregivers reported on warmth and emotion socialization, and both caregivers and teachers reported on children’s emotion regulation, social competence, school readiness, and behavior problems. Preliminary results show that self-reports of warmth moderated associations of IPV with emotion regulation, F(4,114)=7.97, p<.001; social competence, F(4,114)=5.41, p=.001; school readiness, F(4,114)=5.40, p=.001; and behavior problems F(4,114)=2.615, p=.04. Caregiver emotion coaching significantly moderated the association of IPV with children's emotion regulation, F(4,111)=3.69, p=.007, and behavior problems, F(4,111)=2.89, p=.03. Observed warmth and effective discipline are in the process of being coded, and further analyses will assess the joint associations of the observed parenting dimensions with adaptive functioning, clarifying the complex nature of parenting and its role in facilitating resilience in at-risk preschoolers.

Authors

• Mara Makasiar, Marquette University
  Presenting Author

• John Grych, Marquette University
  Non-Presenting Author