Parallel Growth of Children’s Internalizing Behaviors Predicted by Positive Parenting Behaviors

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Internalizing behaviors, like depressive disorders or anxiety, are disorders that are directed toward oneself versus externalizing behaviors that are directed toward others (Achenbach, 1978). These internalizing behaviors garner less attention than their externalizing counterparts but are associated with health problems later in life (Jamnik & DiLalla, 2019). Extant research has noted that early identification of these behaviors is possible and predicts children’s later internalizing behavior (Essex et al., 2009). One factor related to children’s internalizing (and externalizing) behaviors is parents’ behaviors (Galambos, Barker, & Almeida, 2003; Leve, Kim, & Pears, 2005; Yap & Jorm, 2015), yet these studies historically have predominantly focused on white, middle class families. Better understanding of how positive parenting might protect against the development of internalizing behaviors in youth from different countries is needed. We hypothesized that there is an inverse relation between internalizing behaviors and positive parenting behaviors in childhood, however as youth enter adolescence this relation may change as youth move towards wanting more independence.
In this study we explored if children’s internalizing behaviors are predicted by positive parenting and if children’s gender moderates this association. Data from a longitudinal study of youth aged 8 years old on average at time of recruitment was used to conduct this study. Families from 13 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and United States) were sampled. For these analyses, we used child reports of internalizing behaviors and parent reports of positive parenting. The analyses included 1414 youth, 1357 mothers, and 1081 fathers.
Correlations between the parent-reported positive parenting behaviors, child gender, and children’s self-reported internalizing behaviors were examined (Tables 1 & 2). Linear and quadratic models were run to examine the trajectories of children’s internalizing behaviors and mothers’ and fathers’ positive parenting behaviors. The results indicated that a quadratic growth model was best suited for children’s internalizing behaviors (χ^2 (27)= 333.63; p ≤ 0.001; RMSEA = 0.085 [90% confidence interval: 0.077 – 0.093]; CFI = 0.888). Whereas, the model that best fit fathers’ positive parenting was a linear growth model (χ^2 (8)= 64.01; p ≤ 0.001; RMSEA = 0.077 [90% confidence interval: 0.060 – 0.095]; CFI = 0.890). Mothers’ positive parenting modeled as linear and quadratic growth did not yield an acceptable fit. In the parallel growth model with mothers’ positive parenting behaviors, children’s internalizing behavior was predicted by the child’s internalizing intercept (b = 13.92, p ≤ 0.001), linear form (b = -1.05, p ≤ 0.001), and quadratic form (b = 0.14, p < 0.001) and by the mother’s intercept (b =3.44 , p ≤ 0.001) and linear form (b = -0.06, p ≤ 0.001). Taken together, these findings suggest there is a weak relation between internalizing behaviors and positive parenting across time. Further research that focuses on these inflection points in children’s development may be of interest, specifically examining differences between countries and how other domains of parenting, such as parental monitoring, moderate the associations between positive parenting and children’s internalizing behaviors.

Authors

• Cory Campbell, University of Washington
  Presenting Author

• Ann T. Skinner, Duke Univeristy
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer E. Lansford, Duke University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kirby Deater-Deckard, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laura Di Giunta, Sapienza University of Rome
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kenneth A Dodge, Duke University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Qin Liu
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sevtap Gurdal, University West, Trollhättan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Paul Odhiambo Oburu, Maseno University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Concetta Pastorelli, Sapienza University of Rome
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emma Sorbring, Högskolan Väst
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laurence Steinberg, Temple University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sombat Tapanya, Private Practice
  Non-Presenting Author

• Liliana Uribe Tirado, Universidad de San Buenaventura
  Non-Presenting Author

• Saengduean Yotanyamaneewong, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
  Non-Presenting Author

• Liane Peña Alampay, Ateneo de Manila University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Suha Al-Hassan, The Hashemite University, Jordan; Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority, UAE
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dario Bacchini, University of Naples 'Federico II'
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marc H Bornstein, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD/NIH)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lei Chang, University of Macau
  Non-Presenting Author