Abstract
According to Belsky’s process model of parenting, parents’ personality represents the most important factor influencing parenting and child development. While an extensive literature has empirically corroborated the role of irritability traits in predicting aggressive behaviors in laboratory-based studies, only a few studies have examined the role of irritability in predicting aggressive behaviors within family contexts. The present study addressed this gap by examining the longitudinal association between maternal irritability and harsh parenting. Referencing latent state-trait theory (LST), first we estimated the amount of variance in mothers’ irritability due to trait and state components, and, next, we examined the relation between mothers’ irritability (both at trait- and state- levels) and harsh parenting over time. A sample of 204 mothers from Naples and Rome provided data over 5 years in four waves. Mothers averaged 40.30 years (SD = 5.33) at Time 1 and 44.01 years (SD = 5.43) at Time 4. Their children (50% girls) were 9.45 years (SD = 0.74) at Time 1 and 13.18 years (SD = 0.66) at Time 4. Results of LST analysis showed that, on average, 39% of variability in irritability was due to trait-like factors and only 12% to state-like factors. A multitrait-multistate model revealed that the irritability trait associated with mother’s lack of control predicted her harsh parenting 1-year later, while controlling for the rank-order stability of harsh parenting.
Highlights
Developmental and clinical studies have empirically supported the detrimental consequences of harsh parenting for children’s emotional and behavioral health
The STMS model presented a poor fit, χ2(121) = 300.016, p < .001, comparative fit index (CFI) = .80, Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) = .81, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) =
The latent state-trait theory (LST) model relating mothers’ irritability to their harsh parenting fit the data well, χ2(105) = 177.263, p < .001, CFI = .91, TLI = .90, RMSEA =
Summary
Developmental and clinical studies have empirically supported the detrimental consequences of harsh parenting (both physical and verbal) for children’s emotional and behavioral health. In a meta-analysis of 88 studies conducted over the last 62 years [1], parental physical punishment was associated with increased children’s aggression, delinquency, antisocial behavior, and diminished moral internalization, poorer quality of parent-child relationships, and lower mental health. The use of harsh verbal parenting (e.g., shouting, yelling, threatening) has been associated with children’s mental problems such as depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, and problematic social interaction (e.g., [2,3,4,5]).
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