Longitudinal associations between maternal harsh parenting and child temperament: The moderating role of children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia

To better understand biology by environment interactions in early temperament, we examined whether children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; resting RSA and RSA reactivity) operated as a biological marker of differential susceptibility to maternal harsh parenting in predicting children's temperament. Participants were 133 mother-child dyads (53% male children) from families oversampled for lower income, higher life stress, and child maltreatment risk. Mothers reported harsh parenting at age 3 and children's temperament, including negative affectivity, effortful control, and surgency, at ages 3 and 4. Resting RSA was measured during a 3-min resting task. RSA reactivity was computed as a difference score between a 4-min toy cleanup task and the resting task. Results showed that the interaction between maternal harsh parenting and children's resting RSA significantly predicted negative affectivity, after controlling for sex, household income, and age 3 negative affectivity. Specifically, harsh parenting positively predicted negative affectivity among children with higher, but not lower, resting RSA. Similarly, maternal harsh parenting interacted with children's RSA reactivity to predict negative affectivity after adjusting for controls, such that harsh parenting positively predicted negative affectivity in children with higher, but not lower, RSA reactivity. These findings suggest that higher resting RSA and greater RSA reactivity may operate as markers of increased susceptibility to negative parenting in the development of negative affectivity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Relationship Between Harsh Parenting and Smartphone Addiction Among Adolescents: Serial Mediating Role of Depression and Social Pain

Purpose

With the increasing prevalence of smart phones, adolescent smartphone addiction has garnered significant attention from researchers. Previous studies have revealed that smartphone addiction is associated with various internalization and externalization problems. Therefore, this present study aims to investigate the risk factors contributing to adolescent smartphone addiction.

Methods

Study 1 recruited a sample of 540, 690, and 470 Chinese students aged between 10-17 years for exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and predictive validity analysis of the social pain scale. Study 2 utilized data from a sample of 718 Chinese students aged between 10-17 years to examine the measurement model used revised social pain scale, smartphone addiction scale, harsh parenting scale, and depression sub-scale.

Results

The present study revealed that (1)The Social Pain Scale had good applicability in Chinese adolescents; (2) There were significant, positive correlations among harsh parenting, smartphone addiction, depression and social pain; (3) Social pain and depression played a partially serial mediating role in the relationship between harsh parenting and smartphone addiction, and similarly the relationship between paternal harsh parenting and smartphone addiction, while a completely serial mediating role in the relationship between maternal harsh parenting and smartphone addiction.

Conclusion

This study provides a direct path (improving parenting style) and an indirect path (reducing social pain to reduce depression) regarding interventions for adolescents with smartphone addiction, and establishes a basis for improving the situation of adolescent smartphone addiction.

Harsh parenting among veterans: parents' military-related PTSD, mentalization, and pre-military trauma

Objectives

Veteran parents experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may resort to harsh parenting. The indirect pathway from parental military-related PTSD to harsh parenting, and the moderating role of parents' pre-military trauma histories, has been less explored. Informed by mentalization theory, as well as trauma-sensitive and posttraumatic growth perspectives, we aim to explore the associations between veteran parents' military-related PTSD, mentalization, harsh parenting, and prior trauma before military service.

Methods

Data were collected from an online research panel of 509 veteran parents with children under 10. We employed Structural Equation Models to test indirect and moderating effects.

Results

We identified an indirect effect of parental pre-mentalization from military PTSD to harsh parenting [corporal punishment: b = 0.35, p < 0.001, 95% CI (0.23, 0.46); psychological aggression: b = 0.14, p < 0.001, 95% CI (0.09, 0.19)]. Multi-group analysis on four parent groups (parents with only pre-military physical trauma, parents with only pre-military psychological trauma, parents with both pre-military physical and psychological trauma, and parents with no pre-military physical or psychological trauma) highlighted differences in these associations, particularly between parents with only pre-military physical trauma and those without any physical and psychological trauma. The military-related PTSD effects on psychological aggression, corporal punishment, and pre-mentalization were all significantly higher for parents without pre-military physical and psychological trauma.

Conclusion

Modifying parents' interpretation of their child's mental states can potentially counteract the effects of veterans' military PTSD on harsh parenting. Family-based programs should be created considering veteran parents' pre-military trauma histories.

Why is Smartphone Addiction More Common in Adolescents with Harsh Parenting? Depression and Experiential Avoidance's Multiple Mediating Roles

Purpose

Harsh parenting is positively correlated with adolescents' smartphone addiction, according to a growing corpus of studies. The various mediating processes that could underlie this link, however, are not well understood. Based upon the experiential avoidance model, the current research aimed to identify the relation between harsh parenting and adolescents' smartphone addiction and the mediating roles of adolescents' depression and experiential avoidance.

Methods

We recruited 456 adolescents (female = 52.6%; Mage = 13.19 years, SD = 0.85) at a public junior high school in China to complete the harsh discipline scale, 90-item Hopkins symptom checklist, acceptance and action questionnaire version II, and smartphone addiction scale short version. SPSS24.0 was used to conduct independent samples t-test, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis and common method bias test, PROCESS were used to conduct a significance test of the chain mediation effect on the data. Age, gender, and grade were used as con-founders that were controlled in order to make cautious predictions.

Results

The results showed that (1) harsh parenting was positively correlated with adolescents' depression, experiential avoidance, and smartphone addiction; (2) both depression and experiential avoidance fully mediated the link between harsh parenting and smartphone addiction; and (3) depression and experiential avoidance also sequentially mediated the link between harsh parenting and smartphone addiction. These findings have significant implications for the prevention and intervention of adolescents' smartphone addiction.

Conclusion

These findings suggested that harsh parenting may have an indirect impact on smartphone addiction in both a simple way (parallel mediation) and a complicated way (serial mediation). In addition, these studies shed light on smartphone addiction prevention and intervention.

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.

Maternal adult attachment and mother-adolescent attachment: the chain mediating role of marital satisfaction and harsh parenting

This study explored the relationship between maternal adult attachment and mother-adolescent attachment based on the attachment theory and spillover hypothesis of family systems theory. A survey research was conducted on 992 mothers and adolescents using a convenience sampling method. A survey research was conducted on 992 Chinese mothers and adolescents using a convenience sampling method. The results indicated that (1) maternal adult attachment avoidance and anxiety were significantly negatively related to maternal marital satisfaction and mother-adolescent attachment, and significantly positively related to maternal harsh parenting; maternal adult attachment anxiety was a significant direct predictor of mother-adolescent attachment; (2) Maternal marital satisfaction and maternal harsh parenting mediated the significant effect between maternal adult attachment and mother-adolescent attachment, specifically pathways contained three: a separate mediating effect of maternal marital satisfaction, a separate mediating effect of maternal harsh parenting, and a chain mediating effect of maternal marital satisfaction and maternal harsh parenting. The findings suggest that maternal adult attachment, marital satisfaction, and harsh parenting behaviors can have significant effects on adolescents' mother-adolescent attachment.

Maternal executive function, authoritarian attitudes, and hostile attribution bias as interacting predictors of harsh parenting

Executive function (EF) plays a key role in healthy development and human functioning across multiple domains, including socially, behaviorally, and in the self-regulation of cognition and emotion. Prior research has associated lower levels of maternal EF with harsher and more reactive parenting, and mothers' social cognitive attributes like authoritarian child-rearing attitudes and hostile attribution biases also contribute to harsh parenting practices. There have been few studies that explore the intersection of maternal EF and social cognitions. The present study addresses this gap by testing whether the relationship between individual differences in maternal EF and harsh parenting behaviors is statistically moderated separately by maternal authoritarian attitudes and hostile attribution bias. Participants were 156 mothers in a socioeconomically diverse sample. Multi-informant and multimethod assessments of harsh parenting and EF were utilized, and mothers self-reported on their child-rearing attitudes and attribution bias. Harsh parenting was negatively associated with maternal EF and hostile attribution bias. Authoritarian attitudes significantly interacted with EF (and the attribution bias interaction was marginally significant) in prediction of variance in harsh parenting behaviors. Commensurate with social information processing theory, EF and social cognitive attributes play critical and distinct roles in the causes of harsh caregiving practices. Findings elucidate that reforming parental social cognitions, in addition to targeting EF, may be effective prevention and intervention methods for yielding more positive parenting behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Warm and Harsh Parenting, Self-Kindness and Self-Judgment, and Well-Being: An Examination of Developmental Differences in a Large Sample of Adolescents

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the associations between warm and harsh parenting and adolescent well-being, and the mediating effects of self-kindness and self-judgment, in relationships. Moreover, this study investigated developmental differences across three adolescence stages (early, middle, and late). Methods: In total, 14,776 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 13.53 ± 2.08, 52.3% males), including individuals in early (10-12 years old, N = 5055), middle (13-15 years old, N = 6714), and late adolescence (16-18 years old, N = 3007) participated in this study. All the adolescents rated their levels of warm and harsh parenting, self-kindness and self-judgment, and well-being. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was adopted to examine the mediation model. Multi-group analysis was conducted to investigate differences in the mediation model across the different developmental stages. Results: Both warm and harsh parenting were related to adolescent well-being through the mediating effects of self-kindness and self-judgment. However, warm parenting exerted a more substantial impact on adolescent well-being. Self-kindness had a more robust mediating effect than self-judgment in relationships. Moreover, harsh parenting had a weaker impact on adolescent well-being in late adolescence than in early and middle adolescence. Warm parenting had a more significant impact on adolescent well-being in early adolescence than in middle and late adolescence. Conclusions: Overall, warm parenting had a more substantial effect than harsh parenting on adolescent well-being. The findings also highlighted the crucial mediating effect of self-kindness in the relationships between parenting and well-being. Moreover, this study also indicated the importance of warm parenting in early adolescence. Intervention programs should focus on enhancing the level of warm parenting to promote self-kindness in adolescents, in order to improve their well-being.

Associations between Parenting, Temperament-Related Self-Regulation and the Moral Self in Middle Childhood

The moral self is increasingly being debated in research, i.e., what causes children to internalise and evaluate the importance of certain moral values. The aim of the present study is to analyse associations between parental warmth and harsh parenting, temperamental self-regulation (inhibitory control and impulsivity), and the moral self in middle childhood. A total of 194 (n = 52 children with special educational needs in emotional-social development) six- to eleven-year-old children (M_age = 8.53, SD_age = 1.40) and their primary caregivers (M_age = 40.41, SD_age = 5.94) participated in this cross-sectional questionnaire study. Parental warmth and impulsivity were associated with the moral self. Impulsivity mediated the relationship between harsh parenting as well as parental warmth and the moral self. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance to social information processing theory. The importance of parenting and temperamental self-regulation is discussed as implications that may in turn strengthen children's moral selves.

Longitudinal impact of parents' discrimination experiences on children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms: A 2-year study of families of autistic children

LAY ABSTRACT

Although many parents of autistic children are routinely discriminated against, the potential impact of this discrimination on their parenting processes and child-rearing outcomes has seldom been investigated. The present study addressed this gap in the literature by examining the longitudinal associations of parents' discrimination experiences with children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms among families of autistic children and testing whether these associations would be mediated by parental depression, harsh parenting, and coparenting conflict. On three occasions across 2 years (i.e. T1, T2, and T3), 441 parents of autistic children from Hong Kong, China, provided questionnaire data. Path analyses showed that parents' discrimination experiences at T1 had significant direct effects on parental depression, harsh parenting, and coparenting conflict at T2, which, in turn, had significant direct effects on children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms at T3. Bootstrap analyses further demonstrated that parents' discrimination experiences at T1 had significant indirect effects on children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms at T3 via parental depression, harsh parenting, and coparenting conflict at T2. Our findings have important theoretical contributions and significant practical implications. Theoretically, our findings elucidate how parents' discrimination experiences may longitudinally heighten children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms by adversely affecting parental well-being and parent-child and inter-parental relationships. Practically, our findings highlight the importance of designing and implementing community-based stigma reduction programs and family-based stigma coping interventions to reduce parents' discrimination experiences and associated adverse outcomes on well-being, parenting, marriage, and child development.

Meaning in Life and Self-Control Mediate the Potential Contribution of Harsh Parenting to Adolescents' Problematic Smartphone Use: Longitudinal Multi-Group Analyses

Problematic smartphone use (PSU) has become an increasingly serious social issue that gradually impairs adolescents' daily social functioning. This study aimed to examine the potential contribution of harsh parenting (HP) to PSU by testing a two-mediator model in which meaning in life (MIL) and self-control (SC) were hypothesized to be two mediators. The moderating role of gender was also examined. Eight hundred and twenty-eight middle school students from rural areas in China (mean age = 13.04) reported on harsh parenting, MIL, self-control, and PSU. Both parents also reported on each other's harsh parenting and their child's self-control. Multi-group structural equation modeling analyses revealed gender differences in the association patterns among the model variables. Harsh parenting was only indirectly associated with PSU for both boys and girls. MIL and self-control completely mediated the relation between harsh parenting and PSU in sequential manners for boys and girls. And for boys, beyond the common path from harsh parenting to PSU, another indirect path existed from harsh parenting to self-control to PSU. But jointly, MIL and self-control precipitate more indirect effects for girls than for boys in the association between harsh parenting and PSU. Findings suggested that harsh parenting was detrimental to adolescents' MIL and self-control, which enhances their risk for PSU, especially for girls. These findings provide more insights for efforts to prevent adolescents from PSU.

Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence and the Harsh Parenting of Children

While research shows that adult intimate partner violence (IPV) and harsh parenting of children co-occur, less information is available about whether specific types or patterns of IPV create greater risk for harsh parenting, and whether these patterns vary by gender. This study used latent class analysis (LCA) to examine unique patterns of IPV perpetration and victimization among men and women, and variation across patterns by gender, parenting status, and harsh parenting of children. Data are from the Lehigh Longitudinal study (n = 332). LCA produced four classes of IPV perpetration and victimization (Minor Psychological; None; Moderate; and Severe), which were invariant by gender. Although any level of IPV was associated with an increase in harsh parenting, patterns of IPV characterized by a greater number of and more severe types, were particularly associated with the use of harsh parenting toward their children for both mothers and fathers. Parents were overrepresented in all IPV classes compared to the No-IPV class. Results suggest the need for more broad screening and increased supports for parents that are tailored to different levels of need.

The Occurrence and Co-Occurrence of Harsh Parenting and Family Conflict in Hong Kong

The violation of children's right to a safe home environment is a major public health problem in need of serious attention. Evidence has been limited about the family characteristics that go with the co-occurrence of harsh parenting and family conflict. By using a representative community sample of Hong Kong families, this study aims to examine the prevalence and risk factors of harsh parenting and family conflict. This study was conducted using a secondary analysis obtained from the 2017 Hong Kong Family Survey with a sample size of 1926 respondents who have children. Results showed that participants' ages are negatively related to the occurrence and co-occurrence of harsh parenting and/or family conflict. Married mothers reported less family conflict. Fathers with lower education levels reported more experiences of family violence. Mothers reporting a higher level of family satisfaction were less associated with harsh parenting. This study provides insights into the unique and shared familial elements that prevent harsh parenting and family conflict and help facilitate the development of effective intervention strategies for family violence co-occurrence. Family-based prevention for family violence may screen for the presence of harsh parenting and family conflict and take into consideration these signals to better support families in need.

Ecological validity in measuring parents' executive function

Parents' executive functions (EFs), or cognitive skills facilitating thought and behavior management, are meaningful correlates of parenting behavior. EFs are theorized to support parents in inhibiting reactive responses, managing information during parent-child interactions, and adapting to novel developmental demands. Less effective EFs associate with risk for harsh parenting and physical abuse, underscoring the importance of research on parental EFs in promoting healthy child development. Yet, despite the strong theory, findings are mixed and reveal only modest effect sizes in relations between EFs and parenting. One explanation may be a lack of ecological validity in measuring parental EFs. Traditional measures of adult EFs have been used, but these are decontextualized and do not reflect the cognitively and emotionally demanding nature of parenting. In this article, we argue that new and adapted measures are needed. We discuss the role of EFs in parenting, review measurement, and offer suggestions for improvements in ecological validity.

Understanding How Child Temperament, Negative Parenting, and Dyadic Parent-Child Behavioral Variability Interact to Influence Externalizing Problems

To better understand the development of externalizing behavior, the current study examines how multiple levels of influence (child temperament, negative parenting, and dyadic interactions) work together to increase externalizing behaviors over time. Negative parenting (NP) and observed dynamic dyadic behavioral variability (DBV) in parent-child interactions (e.g., in discipline and compliance) are characteristic of coercive family processes. The present study first examined latent profiles of temperament in 3-year-olds (N = 150). Four temperament profiles emerged: high reactive, exuberant, low reactive, and inhibited. Temperament profiles were then examined as moderators of the effects of age 3 NP and DBV on child externalizing problems at age 4. Exuberant temperament exacerbated the association between higher levels of NP and DBV and higher levels of child externalizing. Additionally, temperament moderated the combined effects of NP and DBV such that at low and mean levels of NP, children with exuberant temperaments who experienced higher DBV had higher externalizing behaviors, whereas at higher levels of NP, the influence of DBV was no longer significant. Results suggest pathways by which children's experiences of NP and DBV with parents contribute to their greater externalizing problems over time, in the context of the child's unique temperament profile.

Child Community Violence Exposure in an at-Risk Sample: Developmental Trajectories, Caregiving Risks, and the Role of Child Temperament

Objective

To better understand early etiological pathways to trajectories of child exposure to community violence (CECV), we used person-centered latent class growth analysis (LCGA) to examine chronicity of CECV from early school age through early adolescence, and examined early risks of the identified CECV trajectories (i.e., prenatal cocaine exposure, harsh parenting and caregiving instability across infancy and early childhood, and child activity level and inhibitory control at kindergarten age).

Method

An at-risk sample (N = 216; 110 girls) of primarily low-income participants (76% on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) with high rates of prenatal substance exposure was used. The majority of the mothers were African American (72%), had high school or below education (70%), and were single (86%). Postnatal assessments occurred at eight time points during infancy and toddlerhood, early childhood through early school age, and early adolescence.

Results

We identified two distinct linearly increasing CECV trajectories (high-exposure and low-exposure). An interaction between child activity level and maternal harshness emerged, such that children with high activity levels and experiencing high harshness had the highest probabilities of being in the high exposure-increasing trajectory, in addition to early caregiving instability (conditional effect).

Conclusion

The current findings not only have important theoretical implications but also provide insights into early intervention.

Preventing early harsh parenting and toddler behavior problems: The role of neighborhood collective efficacy among low-income Latine families

Harsh parenting behaviors are alarmingly prevalent during infancy and toddlerhood. From an ecological perspective, predicting and preventing harsh parenting requires probing not only micro- and exosystem-level processes but also the interactions among them. In the current longitudinal study, we examined associations among maternal depressive symptoms, harsh parenting, and neighborhood collective efficacy in 142 low-income Latina mothers and their infants (M_{child age} = 14.11 months, SD = 3.60). We hypothesized that there would be a mediated pathway from maternal depressive symptoms to harsh parenting to toddler behavior problems, and that neighborhood collective efficacy would moderate this pathway. As predicted, maternal depressive symptoms predicted toddler behavior problems, and harsh parenting significantly mediated this association. Moreover, neighborhood collective efficacy was a significant moderator such that this indirect pathway was maintained in the context of low neighborhood collective efficacy only. When collective efficacy was high, this pathway was not significant. Results are discussed in terms of the buffering potential of neighborhood collective efficacy. Tentative implications for leveraging neighborhood supports to prevent early harsh parenting are suggested.

Factors Associated With Trajectories of Externalizing Behavior in Preschoolers

OBJECTIVE

More media exposure and life stressors are associated with higher levels of externalizing behaviors in young children; however, their joint impact on externalizing behavior trajectory is unknown. This study assessed the relationship of stressful life events (SLE), media exposure, and additional demographic and family variables on the trajectory of externalizing behaviors in preschool-aged children.

METHODS

Participants were children ages 3 to 5 years from a large, 18-month duration, randomized control trial to reduce inappropriate media exposure. The sample was recruited from community pediatrics' practices. Intervention and control groups were collapsed, with study arm a covariate. Latent growth modeling (LGM) was conducted, with main outcome of externalizing behaviors at 6, 12, and 18 months after study initiation. Primary exposures of interest were total daily media hours, SLE, intimate partner violence, and harsh parenting.

RESULTS

Final analyses included 613 children. LGM without covariates revealed a significant decrease in mean externalizing score between baseline and 18 months. LGM with covariates revealed that individuals with more media exposure exhibited more externalizing behaviors and SLE significantly predicted a slower decline in externalizing behaviors. Externalizing behavior at 18 months was significantly predicted by SLE, child age, white non-Hispanic race, and harsh parenting.

CONCLUSIONS

Exposure to a greater number of stressful life events appears to slow the age-appropriate decline in externalizing behaviors for preschool-aged children, while harsh parenting and media exposure are associated with more externalizing behavior. Findings highlight the importance of screening and surveillance in primary care and the need for early intervention efforts targeted to these risks.

The role of parenting in the intergenerational transmission of executive functioning: A genetically informed approach

Deficits in executive functioning both run in families and serve as a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology. The present study employed twin modeling to examine parenting as an environmental pathway underlying the intergenerational transmission of executive functioning in an at-risk community sample of children and adolescents (N = 354 pairs, 167 monozygotic). Using structural equation modeling of multi-informant reports of parenting and a multi-method measure of child executive functioning, we found that better parent executive functioning related to less harsh, warmer parenting, which in turn related to better child executive functioning. Second, we assessed the etiology of executive functioning via the nuclear twin family model, finding large non-shared environmental effects (E = .69) and low-to-moderate heritability (A = .22). We did not find evidence of shared environmental effects or passive genotype-environment correlation. Third, a bivariate twin model revealed significant shared environmental overlap between both warm and harsh parenting and child executive functioning (which may indicate either passive genotype-environment correlation or environmental mediation), and non-shared environmental overlap between only harsh parenting and child executive functioning (indicating an effect of harsh parenting separable from genetic confounds). In summary, genetics contribute to the intergenerational transmission of executive functioning, with environmental mechanisms, including harsh parenting, also making unique contributions.

The Role of Mindfulness in Mitigating the Detrimental Effects of Harsh Parenting among Chinese Adolescents: Testing a Moderated Mediation Model in a Three-Wave Study

Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study aimed to investigate the mediating role of depressive symptoms and the moderating role of mindfulness in the association between harsh parenting and adolescent suicidal ideation in the Chinese cultural context. Using a three-wave (i.e., three months apart) data collection among 371 Chinese adolescents, this study found that depressive symptoms mediated the relationship between harsh parenting and adolescent suicidal ideation. Moreover, adolescent mindfulness mitigated the effects of harsh parenting on suicidal ideation, as well as the indirect effect of harsh parenting on suicidal ideation via depressive symptoms. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Prospective longitudinal associations between harsh parenting and corticolimbic function during adolescence

Childhood adversity is thought to undermine youth socioemotional development via altered neural function within regions that support emotion processing. These effects are hypothesized to be developmentally specific, with adversity in early childhood sculpting subcortical structures (e.g., amygdala) and adversity during adolescence impacting later-developing structures (e.g., prefrontal cortex; PFC). However, little work has tested these theories directly in humans. Using prospectively collected longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) (N = 4,144) and neuroimaging data from a subsample of families recruited in adolescence (N = 162), the current study investigated the trajectory of harsh parenting across childhood (i.e., ages 3 to 9) and how initial levels versus changes in harsh parenting across childhood were associated with corticolimbic activation and connectivity during socioemotional processing. Harsh parenting in early childhood (indexed by the intercept term from a linear growth curve model) was associated with less amygdala, but not PFC, reactivity to angry facial expressions. In contrast, change in harsh parenting across childhood (indexed by the slope term) was associated with less PFC, but not amygdala, activation to angry faces. Increases in, but not initial levels of, harsh parenting were also associated with stronger positive amygdala-PFC connectivity during angry face processing.

The relation between harsh parenting and bullying involvement and the moderating role of child inhibitory control: A population-based study

Harsh parenting has been linked to children's bullying involvement in three distinct roles: perpetrators, targets (of bullying), and perpetrator‐targets. To understand how the same parenting behavior is associated with three different types of bulling involvement, we examined the moderating roles of children's inhibitory control and sex. In addition, we differentiated between mothers’ and fathers’ harsh parenting. We analyzed multi‐informant questionnaire data from 2131 families participating in the Dutch Generation R birth cohort study. When children were three years old, parents reported on their own harsh parenting practices. When children were four, mothers reported on their children's inhibitory control. At child age six, teachers reported on children's bullying involvement. Our results revealed that fathers’, and not mothers’, harsh parenting increased the odds of being a perpetrator. No moderation effects with children's inhibitory control and sex were found for the likelihood of being a perpetrator. Moderation effects were present for the likelihood of being a target and a perpetrator‐target, albeit only with mothers’ harsh parenting. Specifically, for boys with lower‐level inhibitory control problems, mothers’ harsh parenting increased the odds of being a target. In contrast, for boys with higher‐level inhibitory control problems, mothers’ harsh parenting decreased the odds of being a target. Furthermore, for girls with higher‐level inhibitory control problems, mothers’ harsh parenting increased the odds of being a perpetrator‐target. Overall, our results underscore the importance of differentiating by children's cognitive skills and by parent and child sex to fully understand how harsh parenting and bullying involvement are related.

Harsh Parenting and Children's Aggressive Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model

Harsh parenting and its effect on children’s aggressive behavior has received attention from researchers, however few studies have considered the role of the emotional process. This study aims to examine the relationship between harsh parenting, children’s aggressive behavior, normative beliefs about aggression, and regulatory emotional self-efficacy, alongside their mechanism of interplay. A sample of 235 senior primary school students in Beijing were recruited as participants by using the Harsh Parenting Scale, the Normative Beliefs about Aggression Scale, the Buss–Warren Aggression Questionnaire, and the Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale. Results indicated that: (1) Harsh parenting had a significant positive predictive effect on children’s aggressive behavior after controlling gender; (2) normative beliefs about the aggression of children mediated the relationship between harsh parenting and children’s aggressive behavior; and (3) regulatory emotional self-efficacy had moderating effects both the mediation model of normative beliefs about the aggression of children and in the direct predictive model of harsh parenting on children’s aggressive behavior. The results are not only helpful to understand the relationship between harsh parenting and children’s aggressive behavior from the perspective of an integrated model of emotion processes and cognition, but also provide a new practical way to prevent and intervene in children’s aggressive behavior in the future.

The Impact of Harsh Parenting on the Development of Obesity in Adulthood: An Examination of Epigenetic/Gene Expression Mediators Among African American Youth

Objective: We examined the association of prospectively assessed harsh parenting during adolescence with body mass index (BMI) in young adulthood among African American youth. We also assessed the role of methylation of obesity-related genes and gene expression markers of obesity as mediators of this association, providing a pathway for the biological embedding of early harsh parenting and its long-term impact on young adult health.

Methods: Hypotheses were tested with a sample of 362 African American youth for whom harsh parenting was assessed at ages 10–15, BMI was assessed at age 10 and 29, and both DNA methylation (DNAm) and gene expression of obesity genes were assessed at age 29. Mediational analyses were conducted using bootstrap methods to generate confidence intervals.

Results: Controlling for genetic risk for obesity and health-related covariates, harsh parenting across childhood and adolescence was associated with change in BMI (Δ BMI) from ages 10–29. In addition, we found that the indirect effect of harsh parenting on Δ BMI was mediated through obesity-related DNAm and accounted for 45.3% of the total effect. Further, obesity-related DNAm mediated the effect of harsh parenting on gene expression of obesity-related genes (GEOG), and GEOG, in turn, mediated the impact of obesity-related DNAm on ΔBMI. This pathway accounted for 3.4% of the total effect. There were no gender differences in the magnitude of this indirect effect.

Conclusions: The results suggest that alterations in methylation and gene expression mediate the impact of harsh parenting on change in obesity from childhood to young adulthood, illustrating plausible biological pathways from harsh parenting to obesity and bolstering the hypothesis that harsh parenting in childhood and adolescence can become biologically embedded and contribute to obesity.

Paternal and Maternal Harsh Parenting and Chinese Adolescents' Social Anxiety: The Different Mediating Roles of Attachment Insecurity With Fathers and Mothers

Although negative parenting and attachment insecurity have been demonstrated to place children at risk for social anxiety, the different roles of fathers and mothers in this association need to be further clarified. This study examined the different mediating roles of attachment insecurity with fathers and mothers in the association between harsh parenting and social anxiety among Chinese adolescents. A sample of 395 students in the sixth through eighth grades with their parents was enlisted as participants of this survey from two public middle schools located in Northern China. Parents were required to report on their harsh parenting, and students were asked to report on their social anxiety and perceived attachment insecurity with both parents. The results demonstrated that both paternal harsh parenting and maternal harsh parenting were positively associated with attachment insecurity with both parents. More importantly, we found that attachment insecurity with mothers partially mediated the association between maternal harsh parenting and adolescent social anxiety but completely mediated the relation of paternal harsh parenting to adolescent social anxiety. These results expanded extant understandings on the associations among harsh parenting, attachment insecurity, and child social anxiety by taking the different roles of both parents into consideration.

Predictive Models of Maternal Harsh Parenting During COVID-19 in China, Italy, and Netherlands

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic drastically impacted on family life and may have caused parental distress, which in turn may result in an overreliance on less effective parenting practices. Objective: The aim of the current study was to identify risk and protective factors associated with impaired parenting during the COVID-19 lockdown. Key factors predicting maternal harsh discipline were examined in China, Italy, and the Netherlands, using a cross-validation approach, with a particular focus on the role of allomaternal support from father and grandparents as a protective factor in predicting maternal harshness. Methods: The sample consisted of 900 Dutch, 641 Italian, and 922 Chinese mothers (age M = 36.74, SD = 5.58) who completed an online questionnaire during the lockdown. Results: Although marital conflict and psychopathology were shared risk factors predicting maternal harsh parenting in each of the three countries, cross-validation identified a unique risk factor model for each country. In the Netherlands and China, but not in Italy, work-related stressors were considered risk factors. In China, support from father and grandparents for mothers with a young child were protective factors. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the constellation of factors predicting maternal harshness during COVID-19 is not identical across countries, possibly due to cultural variations in support from fathers and grandparents. This information will be valuable for the identification of at-risk families during pandemics. Our findings show that shared childrearing can buffer against risks for harsh parenting during COVID-19. Hence, adopting approaches to build a pandemic-proof community of care may help at-risk parents during future pandemics.

Mother's exposure to domestic and community violence and its association with child's behavioral outcomes

This study investigated the potential cumulative effect of maternal exposure to violence both at home and in community on children. This study used the data (N = 2506) from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. We found that maternal nonphysical victimization, either by witnessing violence in the community or by experiencing psychological domestic violence, had a direct negative effect on children's depression and anxiety. Maternal nonphysical victimization also indirectly elevated child's aggression through mother's use of psychological and physical aggression toward the child. Witnessing community violence by mothers, directly and indirectly, worsened the child's withdrawal behaviors through the mother's psychological aggression toward the child. Mother's direct victimization by community violence and physical domestic violence was not related to child's behavioral outcomes after controlling for other risk factors. This study points to important considerations for devising intervention and prevention for mothers and children. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Recollections of Maternal and Paternal Punitive Discipline in Childhood and Violent Attitudes and Behaviors in Adulthood: A Mediation Model

This cross-sectional retrospective study on a convenience sample of 973 Greek undergraduate students examined whether the violent socialization in childhood and the criminal history in adolescence would be mediators between parents' harsh discipline and young adults' violent attitudes and behaviors (VA/B). Structural Equation Modelling indicated that both the mothers' and fathers' punitive discipline at age 10 have an indirect impact, through the mediators, on young adults' VA/B. A direct effect was also found from mothers' and fathers' punitive discipline to violence approval and from fathers' punitive discipline to antisocial personality symptoms, and corporal punishment law attitude. The findings suggest that early experiences of harsh discipline may increase the risk of adult's violence and call for multilevel prevention and intervention programs targeting both parents and children.

Twin Differences in Harsh Parenting Predict Youth's Antisocial Behavior

In the current study, we leveraged differences within twin pairs to examine whether harsh parenting is associated with children's antisocial behavior via environmental (vs. genetic) transmission. We examined two independent samples from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Our primary sample contained 1,030 families (2,060 twin children; 49% female; 6-10 years old) oversampled for exposure to disadvantage. Our replication sample included 240 families (480 twin children; 50% female; 6-15 years old). Co-twin control analyses were conducted using a specification-curve framework, an exhaustive modeling approach in which all reasonable analytic specifications of the data are interrogated. Results revealed that, regardless of zygosity, the twin experiencing harsher parenting exhibited more antisocial behavior. These effects were robust across multiple operationalizations and informant reports of both harsh parenting and antisocial behavior with only a few exceptions. Results indicate that the association between harsh parenting and children's antisocial behavior is, to a large degree, environmental in origin.

Testosterone Associations With Parents' Child Abuse Risk and At-Risk Parenting: A Multimethod Longitudinal Examination

The current investigation considered salivary testosterone as a potential biomarker of physical child abuse risk. Parents enrolled in a prospective, longitudinal, multimethod study beginning prenatally provided saliva when their toddlers were 18 months old. Mothers and fathers self-reported on their empathy, frustration tolerance, and child abuse risk, as well as completing analog tasks of frustration intolerance and child abuse risk and participating in structured parent-child interactions. In contrast to mothers, fathers' higher testosterone levels were associated with increased child abuse risk, less observed positive parenting, more observed negative parenting, and an analog task of frustration intolerance; such findings were reflected across time. Further, fathers' socioeconomic status moderated the association between testosterone levels and abuse risk. No evidence of partner effects was observed in dyadic analyses. The current findings suggest that higher testosterone levels reflect an increased likelihood that paternal physically abusive behavior may be expressed.

The intergenerational transmission of harsh parenting, substance use, and emotional distress: Impact on the third-generation child

The current study evaluated the intergenerational transmission of harsh parenting, substance use, and emotional distress across generations and the association with child aggression. The study included 218 Generation 1 (G1) mothers and fathers, their adolescent (Generation 2; G2) who participated from middle adolescence through adulthood, and the 3rd-generation (G3) child between ages 3-5 years and 6-10 years. G1 behavior was examined when G2 was 16 and 18 years old; G2 alcohol problems and marijuana use were assessed when G2 was 19 and 21 years old. G2 emotional distress and harsh parenting were examined when the G3 child was between 3 and 5 years old. Finally, G3 aggression was assessed between 6 and 10 years old. Results showed continuity of G1 behavior when G2 was in adolescence to G2 behavior in adulthood. G1 alcohol problems and G1 harsh parenting were both associated with G3 aggression through G2 alcohol problems, G2 emotional distress, and G2 harsh parenting. Results suggest that G1 problem behavior as experienced by G2 adolescents in the family of origin plays an important role in G2 alcohol problems in emerging adulthood, which leads to G2 emotional distress and G2 harsh parenting in adulthood, which is related to G3 aggression in the early elementary school years. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Maternal alcohol dependence and harsh caregiving across parenting contexts: The moderating role of child negative emotionality

Parental alcohol dependence is a significant risk factor for harsh caregiving behaviors; however, it is unknown whether and how harsh caregiving changes over time and across parenting contexts for alcohol-dependent mothers. Furthermore, to our knowledge, no studies have examined whether and how distinct dimensions of child characteristics, such as negative emotionality modulate harsh caregiving among alcohol-dependent mothers. Guided by parenting process models, the present study examined how two distinct domains of children's negative emotionality-fear and frustration-moderate the association between maternal alcohol dependence and maternal harshness across discipline and free-play contexts. A high-risk sample of 201 mothers and their two-year-old children were studied over a one-year period. Results from latent difference score analyses indicated that harsh parenting among alcohol-dependent mothers increased over time in the more stressful discipline context, but not in the parent-child play context. This effect was maintained even after controlling for other parenting risk factors, including other forms of maternal psychopathology. Furthermore, this increase in harsh parenting was specific to alcohol-dependent mothers whose children were displaying high levels of anger and frustration. Findings provide support for specificity in conceptualizations of child negative emotionality and parenting contexts as potential determinants of maladaptive caregiving among alcohol-dependent mothers.

Longitudinal associations between mothers' and fathers' anger/irritability expressiveness, harsh parenting, and adolescents' socioemotional functioning in nine countries

The present study examines parents' self-efficacy about anger regulation and irritability as predictors of harsh parenting and adolescent children's irritability (i.e., mediators), which in turn were examined as predictors of adolescents' externalizing and internalizing problems. Mothers, fathers, and adolescents (N = 1,298 families) from 12 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and United States) were interviewed when children were about 13 years old and again 1 and 2 years later. Models were examined separately for mothers and fathers. Overall, cross-cultural similarities emerged in the associations of both mothers' and fathers' irritability, as well as of mothers' self-efficacy about anger regulation, with subsequent maternal harsh parenting and adolescent irritability, and in the associations of the latter variables with adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems. The findings suggest that processes linking mothers' and fathers' emotion socialization and emotionality in diverse cultures to adolescent problem behaviors are somewhat similar. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Harsh physical punishment as a mediator between income, re-reports and out-of-home placement in a child protective services-involved population

Poverty is consistently associated with a higher risk of experiencing child maltreatment, and children from poor families are the majority of children involved in child protective services (CPS). However, the mediators in the relationship from income to CPS involvement are not entirely understood. Using theoretically-informed mediating path models and data from the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW II), this study tests the role of harsh physical punishment as a mediator between family income and CPS involvement. CPS involvement was measured by subsequent report of maltreatment and removal to out-of-home care. The direct paths from income to re-report and to removal were significant; with higher income associated with lower risk of report and removal. Lower income was significantly associated with higher rates of harsh physical punishment. However, harsh punishment did not mediate the relationship between income and the outcomes. These results suggest that even within a population primarily comprised of low-income families, lower income is a risk for subsequent reports and removals as well as a risk for higher rates of harsh physical punishment. However, in this sample harsh physical punishment is not the mechanism that results in higher subsequent-reports or removal rates.

Intergenerational Continuity of Psychological Violence: Intimate Partner Relationships and Harsh Parenting

OBJECTIVE

This prospective, longitudinal investigation examined psychological violence across generations. We examined how parent psychological violence experienced during adolescence influenced the stability of one's own intimate partner psychological violence perpetration across time and how psychological violence is related to harsh parenting in adulthood.

METHOD

Data came from 193 parents and their adolescent who participated from adolescence through adulthood. Parental psychological violence was assessed in early adolescence. Partner violence was assessed in late adolescence, emerging adulthood, and adulthood. Harsh parenting to their offspring was assessed in adulthood.

RESULTS

Parent psychological violence in early adolescence was associated with one's own intimate partner psychological violence in late adolescence. Partner psychological violence was stable from emerging adulthood to adulthood. Moreover, parental violence was also related to their own harsh parenting in adulthood.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that children exposed to parental psychological violence during adolescence may have greater difficulty developing acceptable behaviors in their own romantic relationships over time, as well as parenting their own child in adulthood. Findings highlight the importance for clinicians and policy makers to develop and utilize effective educational and preventive interventions designed toward not only adolescent behaviors, but also that of the parent. Understanding how the family environment impacts current and long-term functioning is important in helping stop the cycle of violence across generations.

Associations between Child Maltreatment, Harsh Parenting, and Sleep with Adolescent Mental Health

Youth who suffer from psychiatric disorders are at high risk for negative outcomes, including aggression and substance abuse. Although many youth with psychiatric disorders have endured harsh parenting and/or child maltreatment (CM), differential associations between these experiential factors have yet to be fully explored. Sleep problems have also been implicated in psychiatric disorders and are consistently associated with CM. The overlap and unique contributions of CM and sleep problems to the mental health of youth remains unclear; longitudinal studies from late childhood into adolescence, when psychiatric illnesses frequently onset, are rare. The current longitudinal study examined associations of CM, harsh parenting, and sleep problems with symptoms of four psychiatric disorders: Conduct Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Anxiety, and Depression. Early adolescent youth with no history of substance use (N = 529) were sampled from a working class, medium-sized city in northern Kentucky, and an extensive battery of tests were administered to youth and a parent. CM was more strongly and consistently related to psychiatric disorder symptoms at baseline than was harsh parenting. Reports of harsh parenting were more strongly associated with externalizing symptoms than internalizing symptoms. Sleep problems were also positively associated with psychiatric disorder symptoms at baseline, but did not exacerbate the effects of CM or harsh parenting on symptom counts. Longitudinally, harsh parenting was more predictive of change in psychiatric symptoms two to three years later than was CM. The potential significance of childhood adversity and sleep problems for prevention of later mental health problems are discussed.

Economic pressure and depressive symptoms: Testing the family stress model from adolescence to adulthood

The family stress model (FSM) was used to examine the effects of economic pressure on maternal depressive symptoms, couple conflict, and mother harsh parenting during adolescence on offspring depressive symptoms in adulthood. Prospective longitudinal data were analyzed across 3 developmental time points that included 451 mothers and their adolescents. Economic pressure and mother depressive symptoms were assessed during early adolescence, couple conflict and mother harsh parenting were assessed during middle to late adolescence, and offspring depressive symptoms were assessed in adulthood. Findings were in support of pathways in the FSM in that economic pressure was related to maternal depressive symptoms, which were associated with couple conflict, which in turn predicted mother harsh parenting during adolescence, and mother harsh parenting was associated with offspring depressive symptoms in adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of harsh parenting and positive parenting practices on youth aggressive behavior: The moderating role of early pubertal timing

Prior research indicates that early pubertal timing is associated with aggressive behavior, particularly in the context of adversity as postulated in the contextual amplification hypothesis. However, few studies have examined harsh parenting as the context for the effect of early pubertal timing. Even fewer studies have tested the interactive effect of early pubertal timing and positive parenting on aggressive behavior. In this study, we tested the proposition that early pubertal timing, contrary to the general conception of it as a vulnerability, indexed susceptibility, and thus early maturing individuals were affected more by their environment in a "for better and for worse" manner. The sample consisted of 411 community-recruited youth aged 11-12 years (51% boys, 80% African Americans). Participants reported Tanner Stages of pubertal development, aggressive behavior and harsh parenting practice of their parents. Puberty scores were standardized with groups of the same age, sex, and ethnicity, and those that scored the top one-third were defined as early maturing individuals. Parents reported youth's aggressive behavior and their parenting practices towards the youth, including harsh parenting and positive parenting. Early pubertal timing significantly moderated the relationship between harsh/positive parenting and aggressive behavior. Specifically, harsh parenting was positively associated with aggressive behavior to a larger degree among early maturing individuals than among on-time/late-maturing individuals. Positive parenting was inversely associated with aggressive behavior but only among early maturing individuals. This study is the first to document support for early pubertal timing as susceptibility to the environmental influences in relation to aggressive behavior. Theoretical and intervention implications are discussed.

The long reach of early adversity: Parenting, stress, and neural pathways to antisocial behavior in adulthood

BACKGROUND

Early life adversities including harsh parenting, maternal depression, neighborhood deprivation, and low family economic resources are more prevalent in low-income urban environments and are potent predictors of psychopathology, including, for boys, antisocial behavior (AB). However, little research has examined how these stressful experiences alter later neural function. Moreover, identifying genetic markers of greater susceptibility to adversity is critical to understanding biopsychosocial pathways from early adversity to later psychopathology.

METHODS

Within a sample of 310 low-income boys followed from age 1.5 to 20, multimethod assessments of adversities were examined at age 2 and age 12. At age 20, amygdala reactivity to emotional facial expressions was assessed using fMRI, and symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder were assessed via structured clinical interview. Genetic variability in cortisol signaling (CRHR1) was examined as a moderator of pathways to amygdala reactivity.

RESULTS

Observed parenting and neighborhood deprivation at age 2 each uniquely predicted amygdala reactivity to emotional faces at age 20 over and above other adversities measured at multiple developmental periods. Harsher parenting and greater neighborhood deprivation in toddlerhood predicted clinically-significant symptoms of AB via less amygdala reactivity to fearful facial expressions and this pathway was moderated by genetic variation in CRHR1.

CONCLUSIONS

These results elucidate a pathway linking early adversity to less amygdala reactivity to social signals of interpersonal distress 18 years later, which in turn increased risk for serious AB. Moreover, these findings suggest a genetic marker of youth more susceptible to adversity.

Parenting stress mediates the association between negative affectivity and harsh parenting: A longitudinal dyadic analysis

The current study examined parenting stress (disaggregated into personal distress and child rearing stress) at 12 months postpartum as a mediator of the longitudinal association between parental negative affectivity at 6 months postpartum and harsh parenting at 3 years postpartum for first-time parents with a child transitioning from late toddlerhood to the early preschool years. Analyses were conducted using Mediation for Actor Partner Interdependence Modeling in a sample of 164 couples who participated in a randomized controlled trial of a universal, couple-based transition to parenthood program. There were indirect actor effects of negative affect on a parent's own harsh parenting through both dimensions of parenting stress, with a stronger mediating effect for personal distress than child rearing stress. There were also indirect partner effects of negative affect on one's partner's harsh parenting through the partner's parenting stress, with a stronger indirect partner effect from mothers' negative affect to fathers' harsh parenting than vice versa. Specifically, the mediating effect of personal distress was found for both mothers and fathers, whereas the mediating effect of child rearing stress was found from mothers' negative affect to fathers' harsh parenting only. Findings highlight the importance of a dyadic approach in examining the longitudinal association between negative affect and harsh parenting and suggest that reducing parenting stress in the first year postpartum may decrease the risk of future harsh parenting among couples in which one or both partners experience negative affectivity. (PsycINFO Database Record

Harsh parenting, child behavior problems, and the dynamic coupling of parents' and children's positive behaviors

We examined self-reported maternal and paternal harsh parenting (HP) and its effect on the moment-to-moment dynamic coupling of maternal autonomy support and children's positive, autonomous behavior. This positive behavior coupling was measured via hidden Markov models as the likelihood of transitions into specific positive dyadic states in real time. We also examined whether positive behavior coupling, in turn, predicted later HP and child behavior problems. Children (N = 96; age = 3.5 years at Time 1) and mothers completed structured clean-up and puzzle tasks in the laboratory. Mothers' and fathers' HP was associated with children's being less likely to respond positively to maternal autonomy support; mothers' HP was also associated with mothers' being less likely to respond positively to children's autonomous behavior. When mothers responded to children's autonomous behavior with greater autonomy support, children showed fewer externalizing and internalizing problems over time and mothers showed less HP over time. These results were unique to the dynamic coupling of maternal autonomy support and children's autonomous behavior: The overall amount of these positive behaviors did not similarly predict reduced problems. Findings suggest that HP in the family system compromises the coregulation of positive behavior between mother and child and that improving mothers' and children's abilities to respond optimally to one another's autonomy-supportive behaviors may reduce HP and child behavior problems over time. (PsycINFO Database Record

Beyond main effects of gene-sets: harsh parenting moderates the association between a dopamine gene-set and child externalizing behavior

BACKGROUND

In a longitudinal cohort study, we investigated the interplay of harsh parenting and genetic variation across a set of functionally related dopamine genes, in association with children's externalizing behavior. This is one of the first studies to employ gene-based and gene-set approaches in tests of Gene by Environment (G × E) effects on complex behavior. This approach can offer an important alternative or complement to candidate gene and genome-wide environmental interaction (GWEI) studies in the search for genetic variation underlying individual differences in behavior.

METHODS

Genetic variants in 12 autosomal dopaminergic genes were available in an ethnically homogenous part of a population-based cohort. Harsh parenting was assessed with maternal (n = 1881) and paternal (n = 1710) reports at age 3. Externalizing behavior was assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at age 5 (71 ± 3.7 months). We conducted gene-set analyses of the association between variation in dopaminergic genes and externalizing behavior, stratified for harsh parenting.

RESULTS

The association was statistically significant or approached significance for children without harsh parenting experiences, but was absent in the group with harsh parenting. Similarly, significant associations between single genes and externalizing behavior were only found in the group without harsh parenting. Effect sizes in the groups with and without harsh parenting did not differ significantly. Gene-environment interaction tests were conducted for individual genetic variants, resulting in two significant interaction effects (rs1497023 and rs4922132) after correction for multiple testing.

CONCLUSION

Our findings are suggestive of G × E interplay, with associations between dopamine genes and externalizing behavior present in children without harsh parenting, but not in children with harsh parenting experiences. Harsh parenting may overrule the role of genetic factors in externalizing behavior. Gene-based and gene-set analyses offer promising new alternatives to analyses focusing on single candidate polymorphisms when examining the interplay between genetic and environmental factors.

Harsh Parenting As a Potential Mediator of the Association Between Intimate Partner Violence and Child Disruptive Behavior in Families With Young Children

Young children living with intimate partner violence (IPV) are often also exposed to harsh parenting. Both forms of violence increase children's risk for clinically significant disruptive behavior, which can place them on a developmental trajectory associated with serious psychological impairment later in life. Although it is hypothesized that IPV behaviors may spillover into harsh parenting, and thereby influence risk for disruptive behavior, relatively little is known about these processes in families with young children. The current study examines the overlap of the quality and frequency of psychological and physical forms of IPV and harsh parenting, and tests whether harsh parenting mediates the relationship between IPV and child disruptive behavior in a diverse cross-sectional sample of 81 children ages 4 to 6 years. Results suggest that mothers reporting a greater occurrence of psychologically aggressive IPV (e.g., yelling, name-calling) more often engage in psychological and physical aggression toward their children (odds ratios [ORs] = 4.6-9.9). Mothers reporting a greater occurrence of IPV in the form of physical assault more often engage in mild to more severe forms of physical punishment with potential harm to the child (ORs = 3.8-5.0). Psychological and physical forms of IPV and harsh parenting all significantly correlated with maternal reports of child disruptive behavior (r = .29-.40). Psychological harsh parenting partially mediated the association between psychological IPV and child disruptive behavior. However, a significant direct effect of psychological IPV on preschool children's disruptive behavior remained. Implications for child welfare policy and practice and intervention, including the need for increased awareness of the negative impact of psychological IPV on young children, are discussed.

Interactive Effects of Psychosocial Stress and Early Pubertal Timing on Youth Depression and Anxiety: Contextual Amplification in Family and Peer Environments

While off-time pubertal development has emerged as a potential risk factor for both symptoms of depression and anxiety in youth, the literature is mixed and inconsistent as to (1) how early versus late pubertal timing confers risk for both boys and girls, (2) if the conferred risk is distinct between symptoms of anxiety and depression, and (3) under what social contexts (e.g., family environment, peer relationships) off-time pubertal development may emerge as a potent risk factor for these symptoms. The present study examined the impact of perceived pubertal timing on symptoms of anxiety and depression in two distinct psychosocial contexts: parent's perceptions of their own harsh parenting and parent's perceptions of their child's peer problems. The sample consisted of 412 parents (M = 38.6 years old, SD = 7.8, 60.4% mothers) of children between the ages of eight and seventeen (M = 12.13, SD = 2.97, 45.4% girls). All constructs were assessed by parent reports. Linear multiple regression analyses revealed that the interaction between earlier pubertal timing and greater peer problems was significantly related to higher youth depressive and anxiety symptoms. The interaction between earlier pubertal timing and greater harsh discipline was significantly related to higher youth anxiety but not depressive symptoms. Youth gender did not qualify findings. Results suggest that the contextual amplification process of early pubertal timing may occur in both high stress family and peer environments and impact both girls and boys.

An Alternative to Residential Neighborhoods: An Exploratory Study of how Activity Spaces and Perception of Neighborhood Social Processes relate to Maladaptive Parenting

BACKGROUND

The environments where parents spend time, such as at work, at their child's school, or with friends and family, may exert a greater influence on their parenting behaviors than the residential neighborhoods where they live. These environments, termed activity spaces, provide individualized information about the where parents go, offering a more detailed understanding of the environmental risks and resources to which parents are exposed.

OBJECTIVE

This study conducts a preliminary examination of how neighborhood context, social processes, and individual activity spaces are related to a variety of parenting practices.

METHODS

Data were collected from 42 parents via door-to-door surveys in one neighborhood area. Survey participants provided information about punitive and non-punitive parenting practices, the locations where they conducted daily living activities, social supports, and neighborhood social processes. OLS regression procedures were used to examine covariates related to the size of parent activity spaces. Negative binomial models assessed how activity spaces were related to four punitive and five non-punitive parenting practices.

RESULTS

With regards to size of parents' activity spaces, male caregivers and those with a local (within neighborhood) primary support member had larger activity spaces. Size of a parent's activity space is negatively related to use of punitive parenting, but generally not related to non-punitive parenting behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest social workers should assess where parents spend their time and get socially isolated parents involved in activities that could result in less use of punitive parenting.

Attention bias and anxiety in young children exposed to family violence

BACKGROUND

Attention bias toward threat is associated with anxiety in older youth and adults and has been linked with violence exposure. Attention bias may moderate the relationship between violence exposure and anxiety in young children. Capitalizing on measurement advances, this study examines these relationships at a younger age than previously possible.

METHODS

Young children (mean age 4.7, ±0.8) from a cross-sectional sample oversampled for violence exposure (N = 218) completed the dot-probe task to assess their attention biases. Observed fear/anxiety was characterized with a novel observational paradigm, the Anxiety Dimensional Observation Scale. Mother-reported symptoms were assessed with the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment and Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children. Violence exposure was characterized with dimensional scores reflecting probability of membership in two classes derived via latent class analysis from the Conflict Tactics Scales: Abuse and Harsh Parenting.

RESULTS

Family violence predicted greater child anxiety and trauma symptoms. Attention bias moderated the relationship between violence and anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

Attention bias toward threat may strengthen the effects of family violence on the development of anxiety, with potentially cascading effects across childhood. Such associations maybe most readily detected when using observational measures of childhood anxiety.

Harsh parenting, parasympathetic activity, and development of delinquency and substance use

Stress response systems are thought to play an important role in the development of psychopathology. In addition, family stress may have a significant influence on the development of stress response systems. One potential avenue of change is through alterations to thresholds for the activation of stress responses: Decreased threshold for responding may mark increased stress sensitivity. Our first aim was to evaluate the interaction between thresholds for parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) responding, operationalized as resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and harsh parenting in the prediction of development of delinquency and adolescent substance use (resting RSA as a biomarker of risk). The second aim was to evaluate if resting RSA changes over time as a function of harsh parenting and stress reactivity indexed by RSA withdrawal (altered threshold for stress responding). Our third aim was to evaluate the moderating role of sex in these relations. We used longitudinal data from 251 children ages 8-16 years. Mother-reports of child delinquency and RSA were acquired at all ages. Adolescents self-reported substance use at age 16 years. Family stress was assessed with child-reported harsh parenting. Controlling for marital conflict and change over time in harsh parenting, lower resting RSA predicted increases in delinquency and increased likelihood of drug use in contexts of harsh parenting, especially for boys. Harsh parenting was associated with declining resting RSA for children who exhibited greater RSA withdrawal to stress. Findings support resting PNS activity as a moderator of developmental risk that can be altered over time.

Does adolescents' religiousness moderate links between harsh parenting and adolescent substance use?

Extant literature suggests that religiousness is inversely related to adolescent substance use; yet, no systematic investigation has examined whether religiousness may be a protective factor against substance use in the presence of risk factors. We examined whether religiousness moderates the links between parents' psychological and physical aggression and adolescent substance use directly and indirectly through adolescent self-control. The sample comprised adolescents (n = 220, 45% female) and their primary caregivers. Structural equation modeling analyses suggested that adolescents with low religiousness were likely to engage in substance use when subjected to harsh parenting, but there was no association between harsh parenting and substance use among adolescents with high religiousness. Furthermore, although harsh parenting was related to poor adolescent self-control regardless of religiousness levels, poor self-control was significantly related to substance use for adolescents with low religiousness, whereas the link between poor self-control and substance use did not exist for adolescents with high religiousness. The findings present the first evidence that adolescent religiousness may be a powerful buffering factor that can positively alter pathways to substance use in the presence of risk factors such as harsh parenting and poor self-control.

Neighborhood Danger, Parental Monitoring, Harsh Parenting, and Child Aggression in Nine Countries

Exposure to neighborhood danger during childhood has negative effects that permeate multiple dimensions of childhood. The current study examined whether mothers', fathers', and children's perceptions of neighborhood danger are related to child aggression, whether parental monitoring moderates this relation, and whether harsh parenting mediates this relation. Interviews were conducted with a sample of 1,293 children (age M = 10.68, SD = .66; 51% girls) and their mothers (n = 1,282) and fathers (n = 1,075) in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). Perceptions of greater neighborhood danger were associated with more child aggression in all nine countries according to mothers' and fathers' reports and in five of the nine countries according to children's reports. Parental monitoring did not moderate the relation between perception of neighborhood danger and child aggression. The mediating role of harsh parenting was inconsistent across countries and reporters. Implications for further research are discussed, and include examination of more specific aspects of parental monitoring as well as more objective measures of neighborhood danger.

Spanking and child development across the first decade of life

OBJECTIVE

To examine the prevalence of maternal and paternal spanking of children at 3 and 5 years of age and the associations between spanking and children's externalizing behavior and receptive vocabulary through age 9.

METHODS

The Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study, a longitudinal birth cohort study of children in 20 medium to large US cities, was used. Parental reports of spanking were assessed at age 3 and 5, along with child externalizing behavior and receptive vocabulary at age 9 (N = 1933). The data set also included an extensive set of child and family controls (including earlier measures of the child outcomes).

RESULTS

Overall, 57% of mothers and 40% of fathers engaged in spanking when children were age 3, and 52% of mothers and 33% of fathers engaged in spanking at age 5. Maternal spanking at age 5, even at low levels, was associated with higher levels of child externalizing behavior at age 9, even after an array of risks and earlier child behavior were controlled for. Father's high-frequency spanking at age 5 was associated with lower child receptive vocabulary scores at age 9.

CONCLUSIONS

Spanking remains a typical rearing experience for American children. These results demonstrate negative effects of spanking on child behavioral and cognitive development in a longitudinal sample from birth through 9 years of age.