Poster #128 - Authoritative Parenting as a Protective Factor Against Child Physical Aggression

• In Event: Poster Session 09

Abstract

Relations between temperamental impulsivity and physical aggression have been noted in college students (Hatfield & Dula, 2014); however, fewer studies have examined these relations middle childhood, though links between child impulsive behavior and child aggression have been reported (Ostrov & Godleski, 2009). Research suggests that parenting practices may have a greater effect on children high in temperamental impulsivity than children with less temperamental impulsivity (Kiff et al., 2011). An authoritative parenting is often associated with more adaptive child outcomes, such as fewer child conduct problems (Kuppens & Ceulemans, 2018). Together, these findings indicate that more impulsive children may be more likely to demonstrate physically aggressive behaviors with their peers, though authoritative parenting may help to mitigate aggressive outcomes. The current work explored authoritative parenting as a moderator of the relation of child impulsivity to child physical aggression. We hypothesized that child impulsivity would be positively associated with child physical aggression among parents who rated their parenting as low in authoritative parenting style.

Participants were 110 school-aged children (Mage=105.73 months, SD=5.09 months, 60 boys). Mother-reported child race indicated a primarily white, non-Hispanic sample (92.7%). Mothers were relatively well-educated, with 76.4% having a college degree or higher. Families were also relatively high-income, with 13.6% having annual income of less than $45,000, 28.2% having an annual income between $45,000-$75,000, and 54.5% having an annual income greater than $75,000. Mothers (Mage=39.53 years, SD=4.57 years) reported demographic information and completed several questionnaires. The Authoritative Parenting subscale was computed from the Parental Authority Questionnaire (Reitman et al., 2002), and the child impulsivity subscale was computed from the Temperament in Middle Childhood Questionnaire (Simonds, 2006). Teachers (n=98) completed the Children’s Social Behavior Scale (Crick, 1996); the physical aggression subscale was computed.

A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to examine maternal report of authoritative parenting as a moderator of the relation from child impulsivity to child physical aggression (Table 1). The interaction term was probed using PROCESS (Hayes, 2022; Figure 1). For mothers who had low or mid-range levels of authoritative parenting, children who were higher in impulsivity had higher teacher-reports of physical aggression; however, for mothers who were high in authoritative parenting, there was no relation between child impulsivity and physical aggression.

These findings suggest that mothers who report an authoritative parenting style may provide a more optimal environment for children to learn to manage their impulsivity and have fewer externalizing behaviors. Conversely, mothers who reported lower authoritative parenting style, which balances high warmth and high control, may be less able to facilitate their children’s ability to manage or redirect impulsive behaviors, leading to outcomes like aggressive behaviors with peers. Interventions aimed at reducing child aggressive behaviors may include parent training to adopt more authoritative parenting behaviors. It is important to note that these findings apply to a primarily white, well-educated sample, and families from other cultural contexts may use different parenting styles, which may relate differently to child outcomes in those cultures. Continued examination of these relations in multiple cultural contexts is encouraged.

Authors

• K. Summer Satterfield, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  Presenting Author

• Kassidy Mieses, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

• Cynthia L. Smith, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University