Abstract
This study was performed to examine the role of harsh parental discipline in mediating and moderating the effects of environmental adversity (family socioeconomic disadvantage and adverse life events) on emotional and behavioral problems across early-to-middle childhood. The sample included 16,916 children (48% female; 24% non-White) from the U.K.’s Millennium Cohort Study. We analyzed trajectories of conduct, hyperactivity, and emotional problems, measured at ages 3, 5, and 7 years, using growth curve models. Harsh parental discipline was measured at these ages with parent-reported items on the frequency of using the physical and verbal discipline tactics of smacking, shouting at, and “telling off” the child. As expected, family socioeconomic disadvantage and adverse life events were significantly associated with emotional and behavioral problems. Harsh parental discipline was related to children’s trajectories of problems, and it moderated, but did not explain, the effect of environmental risk on these trajectories. High-risk children experiencing harsh parental discipline had the highest levels of conduct problems and hyperactivity across the study period. In addition, harsh parental discipline predicted an increase in emotional symptoms over time in high-risk children, unseen in their counterparts experiencing low levels of harsh parental discipline. However, children in low-risk families were also negatively affected by harsh parental discipline concurrently and over time. In conclusion, harsh parental discipline predicted emotional and behavioral problems in high- and low-risk children and moderated the effects of family poverty and adversity on these problems.
Highlights
Much research finds that environmental adversity, such as family socioeconomic disadvantage (SED) and stressful life events, is linked with increases in children’s emotional and behavioral problems (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002; Drukker, Kaplan, Feron, & van Os, 2003; Goodnight et al, 2012; Kohen, Leventhal, Dahinten, & McIntosh, 2008)
We explored the longitudinal associations among environmental adversity, Harsh parental discipline (HPD), and child problem behavior across the early- and middlechildhood data sweeps in Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), corresponding to ages 3, 5, and 7 years
HPD has attracted the interest of developmental psychologists because it is strongly related to child problem behavior and to important risk factors of child problem behavior, such as poverty and adverse life events (ALE)
Summary
We hypothesized that children exposed to environmental adversity would concurrently and longitudinally have more problem behavior relative to children without this exposure. We further hypothesized that HPD would partially mediate the effect of environmental adversity on child problem behavior, and moderate it. We expected that HPD would be strongly associated with child problem behavior, given that, similar to environmental adversity, it is a powerful risk factor of child problem behavior in its own right
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43)
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
