Associations between maternal apology, parenting, and child internalizing, externalizing and prosocial behaviors

Abstract

Although mistakes are inevitable in parenting, parental apology is largely unexplored in developmental literature. The current study aimed to characterize associations between parent apology, parenting behaviors, and internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors during the middle childhood period. Participants were 177 mothers of school-aged children. Parenting behaviors, maternal proclivity to apologize, and child behaviors were measured via maternal report. Participants were also asked to model a written apology, and responses were coded for apology effectiveness. Maternal proclivity to apologize was positively associated with involvement, positive parenting, and child prosocial behaviors and negatively associated with inconsistent discipline and child internalizing behaviors. Proclivity to apologize predicted child prosocial behaviors beyond general parenting behaviors. Apology effectiveness was inversely related to inconsistent discipline, positive parenting, and child externalizing behaviors. These preliminary findings show distinct associations between maternal apology components and parenting and child behaviors. Discussion is framed around implications for parenting interventions and prosocial development.