The Interplay Among Domestic Violence, Household Chaos, Parenting Practices, and Preschool Children’s Psychological Adjustment

• In Event: 2-065 - Influences and Mechanisms of the Influence of Parental Conflict on Children

Integrative Statement

Domestic violence (DV) has consistently been linked with children’s psychological difficulties, and accumulating evidence suggests that the influence of DV on parenting behaviors may be a key mechanism underlying these associations (Krishnakumar & Buehler, 2000). However, modest to moderate effect sizes point to high variability in the outcomes of parents and children in households characterized by DV. Aspects of the broader family context have repeatedly been conceptualized as primary sources of heterogeneity in these predictive pathways, but very little research has systematically explored this possibility. One potentially salient family-level factor, household chaos, characterized by heightened confusion, agitation, disorganization, and lack of family routines, has been linked with negative parenting practices and child maladjustment (Evans et al., 2005). However, no studies have examined how DV and chaos operate jointly in multivariate models of parenting behaviors and young children’s psychological functioning. To address this significant gap in the literature, the present study aimed to: (a) provide the first empirical test of whether household chaos moderates mediational pathways involving DV, parenting practices, and child psychological adjustment, (b) examine whether there is specificity or generalizability in parenting (punitive vs. responsive) practices and child adjustment (externalizing vs. internalizing symptoms) outcomes implicated in the predictive pathways, and (c) test if the interaction is salient even in the context of exposure to other types of adversity (e.g., non-DV subtypes of child maltreatment, lifetime contextual stressors, traumatic events).
Participants in this longitudinal (two measurement occasions spaced 6 months apart) project included 274 ethnically and racially diverse (46% Hispanic, 28% White Non-Hispanic, 16% Black, 10% other races) preschool children (M age = 50.86 months) and their primary caregivers. Child welfare documentation of moderate to severe maltreatment within the last 6 months was present for 143 children; 112 were in households characterized by DV; most (86%) families qualified for public assistance; 131 children were male. Child protection records, parent reports, and semi-structured interviews in the home were used to assess DV, household chaos, exposure to other adversities, and parenting practices at baseline. Parent reports were used to assess child internalizing and externalizing symptoms at the 6-month follow-up.
Even after controlling for exposure to other adversities and demographic covariates, the interaction between DV and household chaos significantly predicted higher levels of punitive parenting, which in turn predicted greater child externalizing symptoms 6 months later (see Figure 1 for βs). Supporting moderated mediation, bias-corrected bootstrapping tests indicated that the indirect path involving the interaction between DV and chaos, punitive parenting practices, and externalizing symptoms was significantly different from zero, 95% CI [.106, 3.673]. Simple slope analyses revealed that DV significantly predicted greater punitive parenting only when chaos was high, not low (Figure 2 depicts graphical plots and bs). Of relevance to the high-risk nature of the sample, findings replicated with child maltreatment, rather than DV, as the predictor. Findings will be discussed in relation to risk and potentiating models of developmental psychopathology, models of family stress and spillover, and their theoretical and practical implications for understanding children’s adaptation in high-risk family contexts.

Authors

• Jesse L. Coe, Alpert Medical School of Brown University
  Presenting Author

• Laura Frank, Bradley/Hasbro Research Center
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie H. Parade, Bradley Research Center/Brown University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ronald Seifer, Brown University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Audrey R. Tyrka, Brown University/Butler Hospital
  Non-Presenting Author