Predictors of parenting among African American single mothers: Personal and contextual factors

Guided by family stress theory, relations among neighborhood stress, maternal psychological functioning, and parenting were examined among 123 low‐income, urban‐dwelling, African American single mothers. Using a longitudinal design, structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesis that neighborhood stress results in poorer parenting over time through its detrimental effect on maternal psychological functioning. Social support from family and friends was examined as a potential moderator of the association between neighborhood stress and parenting behavior. Results indicated that higher levels of neighborhood stress were related to greater psychological distress among mothers, which in turn, was significantly related to less engagement in positive parenting practices approximately 15 months later. A moderating effect emerged for social support, however, such that the proposed model provided a better fit for mothers reporting low levels of perceived social support than for mothers reporting high levels. Implications of the findings for prevention and intervention are discussed.     

Physical Discipline and Behavior Problems in African American,European American,and Hispanic Children: Emotional Support as a Moderator

Using data collected over a 6‐year period on a sample of 1,039 European American children, 550 African American children, and 401 Hispanic children from the children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study assessed whether maternal emotional support of the child moderates the relation between spanking and behavior problems. Children were 4–5 years of age in the first of 4 waves of data used (1988, 1990, 1992, 1994). At each wave, mothers reported their use of spanking and rated their children's behavior problems. Maternal emotional support of the child was based on interviewer observations conducted as part of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment. For each of the 3 racial‐ethnic groups, spanking predicted an increase in the level of problem behavior over time, controlling for income‐needs ratio and maternal emotional support. Maternal emotional support moderated the link between spanking and problem behavior. Spanking was associated with an increase in behavior problems over time in the context of low levels of emotional support, but not in the context of high levels of emotional support. This pattern held for all 3 racial‐ethnic groups.     

Clarifying the Association Between Mother–Father Relationship Aggression and Parenting

Although much research examines the association between fathers' relationship aggression and mothers' parenting, little attention is given to mothers' aggression, mutual aggression, or fathers' parenting. Using a sample of coresiding couples from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 973), the authors examine the association between mothers' and fathers' relationship aggression, measured as frequency and perpetration–victimization types (mutual, mother only, father only), and mothers' and fathers' parenting. Fixed effects regression models show that fathers' aggression is positively related to mothers' parenting stress, whereas father‐only or mother‐only aggression is related to fathers' stress. For both parents, aggression perpetration is negatively related to their own engagement with children. Mother‐only aggression is negatively related to mothers' spanking and positively related to fathers' spanking. These findings suggest the importance of examining both parents' aggression and perpetrators' as well as victims' parenting to better understand the link between relationship aggression and parenting.     

Friendship Quality,Peer Group Affiliation,and Peer Antisocial Behavior as Moderators of the Link Between Negative Parenting and Adolescent Externalizing Behavior

Quality of peer relationships and perceived peer antisocial behavior were examined as moderators of the link between negative parenting and externalizing behavior problems in school from middle childhood to early adolescence. Data on negative parenting (i.e., unilateral parental decision making, low supervision and awareness, and harsh discipline) were collected from 362 parents in the summer preceding the adolescents' entry into Grade 6. Adolescent reports of positive peer relationships and peer antisocial behavior were assessed in the winter of Grade 7. The outcome measure was teacher report of adolescent externalizing behavior in the spring of Grade 7, controlling for externalizing behavior in Grade 5. High levels of friendship quality and peer group affiliation attenuated the association between unilateral parental decision making and adolescent externalizing behavior in school; this was particularly true when adolescents associated with peers perceived to be low in antisocial behavior. In addition, having low‐quality peer relationships and having peers perceived to be highly antisocial further amplified the association between unilateral parental decision making and adolescent externalizing behavior problems. Finally, high levels of friend and peer group antisocial behavior exacerbated the predictiveness of harsh discipline for adolescents' externalizing behavior.     

Perceived Parental Relationships and Health‐Risk Behaviors in College‐Attending Emerging Adults

The present study investigated the association of perceived parenting with health‐risk behaviors in an ethnically diverse sample of 1,728 college‐attending emerging adults. Participants completed retrospective measures of perceived maternal and paternal nurturance, connection, psychological control, and disrespect and reported their frequency of binge drinking, illicit drug use, unsafe sexual behavior, and impaired driving. Multivariate Poisson regression analyses indicated that perceived paternal acceptance was associated inversely with 6 of the 12 health‐risk behaviors measured, whereas perceived mothering was related only to 2 of these health‐risk behaviors. These patterns were consistent across gender, ethnicity, and family structure.     

Neighborhood and parenting both matter: The role of neighborhood collective efficacy and maternal spanking in early behavior problems

Using multilevel modeling on a sample of 2472 families in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this study explored the simultaneous role of neighborhood collective efficacy and maternal spanking on externalizing and internalizing problems in early childhood. Mediation analyses tested whether maternal spanking mediates the effect of neighborhood collective efficacy on behavior problems. Results indicated the direct influences of neighborhood collective efficacy and maternal spanking on externalizing and internalizing behavior problems, even after controlling for earlier behavior problem scores and a comprehensive set of child, family, and neighborhood level covariates. The indirect associations between neighborhood collective efficacy and behavior problems through maternal spanking were not significant, after considering the covariates. These findings demonstrate the importance of a multilevel framework that concurrently promotes positive neighborhood and parenting processes for desirable child outcomes.     

Parenting Stress,Parental Reactions,and Externalizing Behavior From Ages 4 to 10

The association between parenting stress and child externalizing behavior, and the mediating role of parenting, has yielded inconsistent findings; however, the literature has typically been cross‐sectional or unidirectional. In the current study, the authors examined the longitudinal transactions among parenting stress, perceived negative parental reactions, and child externalizing at 4, 5, 7, and 10 years old. Models examining parent effects (parenting stress to child behavior), child effects (externalizing to parental reactions and stress), indirect effects of parental reactions, and the transactional associations among all variables were compared. The transactional model best fit the data, and longitudinal reciprocal effects emerged between parenting stress and externalizing behavior. The mediating role of parental reactions was not supported; however, indirect effects suggest that parenting stress both is affected by and affects parent and child behavior. The complex associations among parent and child variables indicate the importance of interventions to improve the parent–child relationship and reducing parenting stress.     

Interparental Hostility and Early Adolescent Problem Behavior: The Mediating Role of Specific Aspects of Parenting

This study examines how parenting helps explain the contemporaneous association between interparental hostility and adolescent problem behavior. A theoretical model of spillover was tested specifying five aspects of mothers' and fathers' parenting that might be associated with parents' hostile interactions with one another: harshness, inconsistency, psychological intrusiveness, and lower levels of acceptance and monitoring knowledge. The sample consisted of 416 early adolescents and their married parents. The association between interparental hostility and adolescent externalizing problems was mediated uniquely by fathers' and mothers' harshness, lower levels of fathers' monitoring knowledge, and mothers' psychological intrusiveness. The association between interparental hostility and adolescent internalizing was mediated uniquely by mothers' harshness, psychological intrusiveness, and lower levels of acceptance. These patterns were similar for sons and daughters.     

Parenting Gains in Head Start as a Function of Initial Parenting Skill

Using data from the Head Start Impact Study (n = 3,696), this article examines whether one year of Head Start differentially benefited parents as a function of their initial parenting behaviors. Four outcomes are examined, namely, parents' rates of engaging in cognitive stimulation, reading to their child, and spanking, as well as their depressive symptoms. In general, most parents demonstrated improvements in their reading practices and cognitive stimulation regardless of their parenting behaviors at baseline. However, depressive symptoms and spanking behavior showed improvements only among parents who began the Head Start program with the most depressive symptoms and the most frequent spanking, respectively. These findings suggest that treatment‐induced changes in parenting can vary by parents' incoming attributes and that heterogeneity of effects should be considered. Implications for Head Start and other parenting interventions are discussed.     

Mothers' and Fathers' Work Hours,Child Gender,and Behavior in Middle Childhood

This study examined the association between typical parental work hours (including nonemployed parents) and children's behavior in two‐parent heterosexual families. Child behavior was measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at ages 5, 8, and 10 in the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study (N = 4,201 child‐year observations). Compared to those whose fathers worked fewer hours per week, children whose fathers worked 55 hours or more per week had significantly higher levels of externalizing behavior. This association was not explained by father–child time during the week, poorer family functioning, or overreactive parenting practice. Further, when stratifying the analysis by child gender, this association appeared to exist only in boys. Mothers' work hours were unrelated to children's behavioral problems. The role of parent and child gender in the relationships between parental work hours and children's behavioral problems, together with mediating factors, warrants further investigation.     

Temperamental Vulnerability and Negative Parenting as Interacting Predictors of Child Adjustment

This study examines parenting by temperament interactions in predicting child adjustment. Participants included 40 first and second graders, their mothers, and teachers. Child report of maternal psychological control and hostility was assessed using the Child Puppet Interview. Mothers completed temperament scales from the Child Behavior Questionnaire, and teachers provided information on child adjustment. As expected, among children high in irritable distress, maternal psychological control was associated with internalizing problems and maternal hostility was associated with externalizing problems. Among children with poor effortful control, maternal hostility was associated with externalizing behavior. This study offers evidence that the effects of negative parenting are accentuated among children with temperamental vulnerabilities.     

Marital Conflict and Children’s Adjustment: Evaluation of the Parenting Process Model

This investigation tested whether parenting mediates longitudinal associations between marital conflict and children’s adjustment. Data were drawn from a three‐wave study of 283 families with children aged 8 – 16 years at Wave 1. Relations among marital conflict, parenting (behavioral control, psychological autonomy, and warmth), and children’s adjustment (externalizing and internalizing) were examined. Structural equation models indicated multiple dimensions of parenting mediated relations between marital conflict and children’s adjustment. When including controls for earlier adjustment, behavioral control continued to mediate relations between marital conflict and change in children’s internalizing symptoms over time. These results advance parenting process models for relations between marital conflict and child adjustment and provide impetus for study of other pathways, including direct and child effects.     

Maternal Age,Psychological Maturity,Parenting Cognitions,and Mother–Infant Interaction

In the context of the trend toward delayed childbearing, the aim of this study was to examine relations among maternal age and the quality of maternal interactive behavior at 7 months assessed using sensitivity and mind‐mindedness, while also considering whether age effects were attributable to psychological maturity and parenting cognitions. Participants were 150 Australian mothers (mean age 33‐years) and their firstborn infants who were participating in a prospective study of parenthood. Path analysis showed maternal age had both direct and indirect associations with maternal interactive behavior. Older mothers made more mind‐related comments to their infants. They were also more sensitive; however, this effect was indirect and explained by greater psychological maturity (hardiness) and a more internal locus of control with regard to parenting. Results suggest that older maternal age may confer some benefits in terms of responsive parenting in infancy.     

Depression and Anxiety Symptoms in Female Adolescents: Relations with Parental Psychopathology and Parenting Behavior

Parental psychopathology and parenting behavior are known to be related to adolescents depression and anxiety, but unique roles of mothers and fathers are not clear. Our aim was to examine the relation of maternal and paternal psychopathology, emotional support, and respect for autonomy, and their interaction to depression and anxiety symptoms in adolescents. In total, 142 female adolescents participated, together with 138 mothers and 113 fathers. Data were analyzed using latent growth curve modeling. Paternal emotional support was negatively related to adolescent baseline level of depression and anxiety symptoms. Further, we found that there was a positive association between respect for autonomy and depression symptoms in adolescents for higher levels of paternal symptoms of psychological problems.     

Hugs,Not Hits: Warmth and Spanking as Predictors of Child Social Competence

Many parents believe that spanking is an effective way to promote children's positive behavior, yet few studies have examined spanking and the development of social competence. Using information from 3,279 families with young children who participated in a longitudinal study of urban families, this study tested competing hypotheses regarding whether maternal spanking or maternal warmth predicted increased social competence and decreased child aggression over time and which parent behavior was a stronger predictor of these changes. The frequency of maternal spanking was unrelated to maternal warmth. Findings from cross‐lagged path models indicated that spanking was not associated with children's social competence, but spanking predicted increases in child aggression. Conversely, maternal warmth predicted children's greater social competence but was not associated with aggression. Warmth was a significantly stronger predictor of children's social competence than spanking, suggesting that warmth may be a more effective way to promote children's social competence than spanking.     

Chinese Parenting Behaviors,Adolescent School Adjustment,and Problem Behavior

The present research examined the relationship between supportive and controlling dimensions of parenting behaviors and Chinese adolescent outcomes (school adjustment and problem behavior). Researchers collected self-report data from 589 adolescents in Hangzhou, China. Results showed the factor structure for the Parent Behavior Measure in the Chinese sample was different from the factor structure based on Western research. Specifically, paternal support did not emerge as a viable factor. Parental monitoring and involvement predicted positive adolescent outcomes, whereas punitiveness and permissiveness predicted negative outcomes. Surprisingly, maternal support predicted more adolescent problem behavior, especially for boys. Guilt induction, love withdrawal, and positive induction did not predict any significant adolescent outcomes when other parenting behaviors were controlled. School adjustment mediated and gender moderated the relationship between parenting and adolescent problem behavior. The importance of considering parenting behaviors, adolescent school adjustment, gender, and cultural norms when examining adolescent problem behavior was discussed.     

Transactional and Cascading Relations Between Early Spanking and Children's Social‐Emotional Development

The authors tested a series of models linking spanking and child social‐emotional outcomes using a sample of 3,870 families from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. Spanking was measured by the number of times the focal child was spanked by the mother at ages 1, 3, and 5. Internalizing and externalizing symptoms were assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist at ages 3 and 5. Child emotionality was used to index child behavior at age 1. A series of nested transactional and cascade models was tested through structural equation modeling. The final model supported transactional effects between spanking and child externalizing behaviors over child ages 1, 3, and 5. In addition, one cascade effect was found: Spanking at age 1 was related to greater externalizing behavior at age 3, which was related to greater internalizing behavior at age 5. Implications for family theory and future research are discussed.     

Perceived Paternal and Maternal Acceptance and Rural African American and European American Youths' Psychological Adjustment

This study explores the following question: Are rural African American and European American youths' experiences of paternal and maternal acceptance equally related to their self‐reported psychological adjustment, or do youths' experiences of paternal acceptance account for an independent portion of the variance in psychological adjustment, over and above the portion of variance explained by their experiences of maternal acceptance? This study also explores possible social‐class, age, gender, and paternal‐residence differences in perceived paternal and maternal acceptance and youths' psychological adjustment. The research is based on a proportional, stratified, random sample of 281 African American and European American families in a poor, rural, biracial county of Georgia, U.S.A. Results of multiple regression analyses indicate that only perceived paternal acceptance is significantly related to European American youths' self‐reported psychological adjustment when controlling for the influence of perceived maternal acceptance. In African American families, both perceived paternal acceptance and perceived maternal acceptance are significantly related to youths' self‐reported psychological adjustment. Finally, results of analyses indicate that relationships between perceived paternal and maternal acceptance and youths' psychological adjustment within the ethnic groups are not related significantly to youths' age, gender, paternal residence, or social class.     

Maternal depression,parental attributions,and adolescent psychopathology: An evaluation using observational and video-mediated recall methods

Parenting styles associated with maternal depression are a risk factor for adolescent psychopathology, and maternal attributional styles may be a key mechanism in this relationship. Mother-adolescent dyads (N = 180; 96 male; ages 10–15) completed in-person interactions and then the mothers participated in a video-mediated recall procedure to assess maternal attributions. Maternal depression was associated with negative attributions. Negative attributions were associated with low parental acceptance, aggressive parenting, and low positive parenting. Positive maternal attributions were associated with less aggressive parenting, and more positive parenting during one interaction task. Adolescent externalizing behaviors were associated with negative attributions. Future research should evaluate whether maternal attributions mediate the association between maternal depression and both parenting behaviors and adolescent mental health.     

Parents and Peers in Relation to Early Adolescent Problem Behavior

Concurrent and prospective associations between parent‐youth dyadic hostility and adolescent externalizing and internalizing problem behavior were examined in a sample of 416 families. Parenting control, parents’ well‐being, and youths’ affiliation with deviant peers were included as integral covariates. Information from multiple sources was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Concurrently, youth externalizing problems were associated with dyadic hostility, deviant peers, inadequate parenting control, and fathers’ well‐being (inversely). Internalizing problems were associated with inadequate parenting control and lower levels of fathers’ well‐being. Prospectively, some of these relations continued over 2 years, with a few new associations emerging. A process model is proposed in which parent‐youth dyadic hostility during early adolescence influences parenting, peer relations, and parents’ well‐being over time.