Reducing Child-Related Negative Attitudes, Attributions of Hostile Intent, Anger, Harsh Parenting Behaviors, and Punishment Through Evaluative Conditioning

Does parental use of harsh discipline and punishment in response to ambiguous child situations vary by child physical abuse risk?

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

The present study investigated the extent to which fathers and mothers at high-risk and low-risk for child physical abuse (CPA) differed in their use of harsh discipline and punishment when presented ambiguous child situations (situations where differences in positive and negative valences are close to zero).

PARTICIPANTS/METHODS

High-risk for CPA parents (N = 74: fathers, n = 41; mothers, n = 33) and low-risk parents (N = 178: fathers, n = 91; mothers, n = 87) were asked to indicate their likelihood of using harsh verbal discipline (HVD), harsh physical discipline (HPD), and punishment (i.e., retributive harm separate from HVD and HPD) after viewing each of eighteen ambiguous child situations.

RESULTS

As expected, high-risk, compared to low-risk, for CPA parents were significantly (ps < 0.001) more likely to use HVD (d = 0.546), HPD (d = 0.595), and punishment (d = 0.564). Overall, fathers, relative to mothers, were significantly more likely to use HVD (d = 0.261) and HPD (d = 0.238). For punishment, however, there was no significant parental role (father, mother) difference (d = 0.136).

CONCLUSIONS

Since in everyday living situations many child behaviors are ambiguous, the findings that parents, especially high-risk for CPA parents, use harsh discipline and punishment when encountering ambiguous child situations suggest that non-contingent harsh child-related parental behaviors may be frequent in the lives of some children. The findings that parents may use non-contingent discipline and punishment suggest the need to explore whether, when these parenting behaviors occur, they increase the likelihood of negative child outcomes.

Relationship between Harsh Parenting and Aggressive Behaviors in Male Juvenile Delinquents: Potential Mediating Roles of Peer Victimization and Hostile Attribution Bias

Harsh parenting can be regarded as a harsh behaviors, feelings, and attitudes toward children in the process of parenting. According to the theory of intergenerational transmission of violence, harsh parenting is an important factor affecting children's aggressive behavior, but the theory does not clarify the specific action path between harsh parenting and aggressive behavior. In order to reveal the relationship between harsh parenting and the aggressive behavior of juvenile delinquents, 604 male juvenile delinquents (N = 604; M_age = 16.57 years; SD = 0.612 years) were investigated using the Harsh Parenting Questionnaire, the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, the Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale, and the Word Sentence Association Paradigm for Hostility in Chinese. Analysis using structural equation modeling procedures showed that (a) all variables were positively associated with each other; (b) the partial indirect effect of harsh parenting on aggressive behaviors was determined through the mediators of peer victimization and hostile attribution bias independently; and (c) the partial indirect effect was determined through the mediators of peer victimization and hostile attribution bias sequentially. The results suggest that harsh parenting can explain the highly aggressive behavior of male juvenile delinquents. Moreover, harsh parenting may also predict the risk of peer victimization and hostile attribution bias, thereby predicting the development of highly aggressive behaviors.

Do Brief Lab-Based Interventions Decrease Coercive Conflict Within Couples and Parent-Child Dyads?

Coercive conflicts between parents and children and between couples are implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of psychological and physical health problems. Despite its seeming importance to population health, there are no widely available, easy-to-use methods with demonstrated efficacy to engage coercive conflict and reduce it. Identifying and testing potentially efficacious and disseminable micro-interventions (i.e., interventions that can be delivered in under 15 minutes via computer or paraprofessional) for targets with cross-cutting health implications, such as coercive conflict, is the focus of the National Institutes of Health Science of Behavior Change initiative. We experimentally tested four micro-interventions targeting coercive conflict in couple and parent-child dyads in a within-between design. There were mixed but supportive findings for the efficacy of most of the micro-interventions. Attributional reframing, implementation intentions, and evaluative conditioning all reduced coercive conflict as assessed by some but not all measures of observed coercion. No findings indicated any iatrogenic effects. Interpretation bias modification treatment improved at least one measure of coercive conflict for couples, but not for parents and children; additionally, it increased self-reported coercive conflict. Overall, these results are encouraging and suggest that very brief and highly disseminable micro-interventions for coercive conflict are a fruitful direction for inquiry. Optimizing micro-interventions and deploying them across the health care infrastructure could tremendously enhance family functioning and, in turn, health behaviors and health (ClinicalTrials.gov IDs: NCT03163082, NCT03162822).

Exploring Positive Classical Conditioning Procedure Effects on Evaluations of Children, Thoughts About Children, and Behaviors Toward Children: Two Experiments

Exposing parents to a positive classical conditioning (+CC) procedure can (a) prompt positive evaluations of children, (b) alter judgments made about children from their behavior, and (c) reduce harsh behaviors enacted toward children. Two studies explored possible limits of these effects. Results from Study 1 showed that only some +CC effects evinced in prior research emerged when the positive trait words used as the unconditioned stimuli in prior research were replaced with positive emojis. Results from Study 2 showed with positive trait word stimuli that a backward +CC procedure produced many of the same effects produced by the forward +CC procedure. These results collectively support the idea that +CC procedures may simultaneously prompt several different kinds of learning. From a practical perspective, consideration of these various kinds of learning is important to an understanding of when the use of the +CC procedure might reduce child abuse risk.

Child-related attributions of hostile intent and harsh discipline: Moderating effects of anger

Two studies tested whether attributions of hostile intent (AHI) and anger for ambiguous child behaviors uniquely predict parents' harsh verbal discipline (HVD) and harsh physical discipline (HPD) or whether AHI only predicts harsh discipline when AHI occurs in conjunction with anger, as suggested by the Integrated Cognitive Model of general aggression (Wilkowski & Robinson, 2010, J. Pers., 78, 9-38). Replicating previous studies, the expected positive bivariate relationships between AHI, anger, HVD, and HPD were found in Study 1 (N = 493). However, when AHI, anger, and the AHI by anger interaction were considered simultaneously, patterns of prediction varied by discipline type. For HVD, high levels of AHI, high levels of anger, and the AHI by anger interaction (at high levels of AHI and anger) each were significant predictors. For HPD, low levels of AHI, high levels of anger, and the AHI by anger interaction (at high levels of AHI and anger) were significant predictors, suggesting a possible suppressor effect for AHI. These results were replicated in Study 2 ( N = 503). Thus, there was support for the contention that AHI only predicts harsh discipline when AHI occurs in conjunction with anger with respect to HPD but this was not the case for HVD. Since AHI suppressor effects were observed for HPD in two large sample studies, variables that may account for the AHI suppressor effects and the need for testing more complex interactive predictive models of harsh parenting behaviors are discussed.

Brain structure links trait hostile attribution bias and attitudes toward violence

The majority of research regarding hostile attribution bias focuses on its effect on aggression. However, little is known about the brain structure associated with trait hostile attribution bias and the mediating mechanism underlying this link. The current study uses voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to identify the brain regions related to individual differences in trait hostile attribution bias, measured by a Word Sentence Association Paradigm - Hostility in a sample of 176 undergraduate students. Subsequently, two mediation models with regard to brain structure, trait hostile attribution bias, and attitudes toward violence (measured by the Attitudes toward Violence Scale) were analyzed. The results reveal that trait hostile attribution bias is positively correlated with gray matter volume (GMV) in the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and negatively associated with the left lingual gyrus (LG). Furthermore, attitudes toward violence acted as a mediator underlying the association between the left OFC volume and trait hostile attribution bias. Such bias also mediated the relationship between the left OFC and attitudes toward violence. We argue that attitudes toward violence and trait hostile attribution bias seem to predict each other, and the GMV in the left OFC may involve the underlying cognitive mechanism of the bidirectional relationship between the two variables. These results and ideas may shed light on the current understanding of the relationships of the brain's anatomical features, attitudes toward violence, and trait hostile attribution bias.

A randomized controlled trial and economic evaluation of the Parents Under Pressure program for parents in substance abuse treatment

BACKGROUND

There is growing interest in the provision of parenting support to substance misusing parents.

METHODS

This pragmatic, multi-center randomized controlled trial compared an intensive one-to-one parenting program (Parents under Pressure, PuP) with Treatment as Usual (TAU) in the UK. Parents were engaged in community-based substance misuse services and were primary caregivers of children less than 2.5 years of age. The primary outcome was child abuse potential, and secondary outcomes included measures of parental emotional regulation assessed at baseline, 6 and 12-months. A prospective economic evaluation was also conducted.

RESULTS

Of 127 eligible parents, 115 met the inclusion criteria, and subsequently parents were randomly assigned to receive PuP (n = 48) or TAU (n = 52). Child abuse potential was significantly improved in those receiving the PuP program while those in TAU showed a deterioration across time in both intent-to-treat (p < 0.03) and per-protocol analyses (p < 0.01). There was also significant reliable change (recovery/improvement) in 30.6% of the PuP group compared with 10.3% of the TAU group (p < 0.02), and deterioration in 3% compared with 18% (p < 0.02). The probability that the program is cost-effective was approximately 51.8% if decision-makers are willing to pay £1000 for a unit improvement in the primary outcome, increasing to 98.0% at a £20,000 cost-effectiveness threshold for this measure.

CONCLUSIONS

Up to one-third of substance dependent parents of children under 3-years of age can be supported to improve their parenting, using a modular, one-to-one parenting program. Further research is needed.