Understanding Preemptive Parenting: Relations With Toddlers' Misbehavior, Overreactive and Lax Discipline, and Praise

Abstract

The relations among preemptive parenting (i.e., a hypothetical set of strategies parents can use prior to child misbehavior that serves to prevent or avoid undesirable child behaviors), dysfunctional discipline, and praise were examined. Forty mother–toddler (M age = 26.15 months, SD = 5.60) dyads interacted in a standard laboratory task designed to elicit misbehavior and discipline. Observational data indicated that preemptive parenting contributed to the prediction of child misbehavior above and beyond the prediction from dysfunctional discipline and praise but did not contribute uniquely to the prediction of mother-reported externalizing behavior problems. Further analyses indicated that child misbehavior mediated the relation between preemptive parenting and overreactive, but not lax, discipline.