Examining the Effect of Unpredictability in the Home on Forms of Aggression in Early Childhood: The Moderating Role of Supportive and Harsh Parenting

• In Event: Developmental pathways to childhood aggression: The roles of parenting and household structure

Abstract

This project aims to examine links between unpredictability in the home and forms of aggression in early childhood. Unpredictability in the home may be conceptualized as high levels of inconsistent discipline and household chaos– two factors that have been demonstrated to predict increases in physical aggression in children (Barry et al., 2009; Martin et al., 2012). This study (N = 130, M age = 51.58 months; 41% female; 9.2% Asian, 8.5% Multiracial, 5.4% Black, 3.1% Hispanic, 65.4% White, 0.8% other, 7.6% missing) aims to expand upon these findings by exploring whether harsh and supportive parenting moderate the effect of unpredictability in the household on physical (e.g., hitting, kicking) and relational (e.g., social exclusion) aggression. It was hypothesized that unpredictability in the home will predict increases in physical and relational aggression, and that parenting will moderate this relation whereby harsh parenting exacerbates these effects and supportive parenting protects against increases in aggression. Data were collected using parent- and teacher-report across two time points– beginning of preschool and mid-kindergarten. All measures demonstrated good reliability (i.e., Cronbach’s .70).Unpredictability in the home was operationalized as a mean composite of inconsistent discipline and household chaos, though separate analyses also examined unique effects of each variable. Importantly, supportive and harsh parenting were distinct constructs (r = - .04, p = .66) and included within the same model as moderators. High versus low supportive/harsh parenting were distinguished as being 1.5 standard deviations above or below the mean, respectively.

Model fit was excellent when examining unpredictability in the home’s effects on forms of aggression [e.g., 𝜒2(2) = 2.27, p = .32, CFI = 1.00, SRMR = .03, RMSEA = .03]. Results revealed that unpredictability in the home predicted increases in physical (𝛽 = 2.03, p = .02) and relational (𝛽 = 2.00, p = .03) aggression and interacted with supportive, but not harsh parenting. Unpredictability in the home predicted increases in physical and relational aggression only at low levels of supportive parenting (Figure 1). When examining the unique effects of inconsistent discipline and household chaos, model fit was excellent, [e.g., 𝜒2(2) = 0.29, p = .87, CFI = 1.00, SRMR = .01, RMSEA = .00]. Household chaos predicted increases in relational aggression (𝛽 = 3.11, p = .01), though was unrelated to physical aggression (𝛽 = 1.79, p = .14). Inconsistent discipline was unrelated to physical (𝛽 = .86, p = .44) and relational (𝛽 = -.14, p = .90) aggression. Significant moderating effects of supportive parenting demonstrated that household chaos predicted increases in relational aggression only at low and average levels of supportive parenting (Figure 2). Data collection is ongoing for this project and additional data will be available in time for the conference, thus strengthening the robustness of analyses. Nonetheless, current results suggest that the positive relation between unpredictability in the home and aggression is present even when controlling for harsh parenting. The moderating effect of supportive parenting highlights how parental warmth is especially crucial in the context of inconsistent and unpredictable environmental factors.

Authors

• Gabriela Vivian Memba, State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo)
  Presenting Author

• Jamie M. Ostrov, State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo)

• Kristin Tymchak