Genetics and Culture in Harsh Parenting

• In Event: Harsh Parenting in the 21st Century: Exploring Genetics, Cultural Factors, and the Mental Health Sequelae

Abstract

Abstract: Sixty countries have banned the use of corporal punishment in all settings, beginning with Sweden in 1966 and others joining (e.g., Japan in 2020). But in some other places rattan canes for hitting children are easily available because corporal punishment is considered an accepted way of disciplining children, showing parental investment in their offspring’s development (Cheung & Lim, 2022). Yet other countries allow parents to use physical force to discipline their children, including spanking, but with restrictions, such as not spanking a child younger than 2 or older than 12 years of age. Such environmental factors influence the prevalence of corporal punishment and harsh parenting, as is also clear from the increases in harsh parenting during Covid-related lockdowns (Riem et al., 2021).

At the same time, genetic factors may play a role in harsh parenting. In an extended family design including 556 individuals from 63 families with two or three participating generations, genetic pathways played a significant role in parents’ use of emotional abuse but not physical abuse (Pittner et al., 2019a). Child genetic effects were however found for experienced severe physical abuse (Pittner et al., 2019b). In the Dunedin Study with observed parenting and parental GWAS data (Wertz et al., 2019), the authors found the PGS for educational attainment (PGS-EA) related to parenting in their sample of 702 participants. Parents with higher PGS-EA scores provided more warm, sensitive and stimulating parenting to their 3-year-old child. If the PGS-EA is related to positive parenting, it may also predict (lower levels of) harsh parenting.

We examined this issue in the Generation R study, a population-based prospective cohort study based in The Netherlands with observational and self-reported parenting data at various developmental time-points. First, we replicated the association between PGS-EA and observed sensitive parenting at child age 3 years in a sample of 1354 mothers. Next, we examined the association between PGS-EA and harsh parenting as measured with items from the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC) self-reported questionnaire (Straus et al., 1998). PGS-EA explained a non-significant 0.1 % of the variance in harsh parenting, which increased to a non-significant 0.5% when we controlled for the child’s PGS-EA score. Lastly, with a more exploratory aim, we examined associations with several parental PGSs for mental health. Only PGS-Bipolar Disorder was significantly related to harsh parenting.

Replication analyses are currently pursued in a Canadian sample of 419 parents of youth with serious mental health problems using parent and youth reports of harsh parenting and mental health.

Based on the results so far, we tentatively conclude that the evidence for parental genetic factors predicting harsh discipline is elusive. However, child genetic factors may play a role in eliciting harsh discipline (Jaffee et al., 2004; Pittner et al., 2019b), and child and parent genetic effects are dependent on context. This leaves ample room for individual and cultural interventions aiming at reducing corporal punishment and harsh discipline.

Authors

• Marian J Bakermans-Kranenburg, ISPA Lisbon
  Presenting Author

• Irene Pappa, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• Colin Ross, University of British Columbia

• Jana Runze, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• Katherine O'Donnell

• Marlene M. Moretti, Simon Fraser University

• Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, University College London (UCL)