Effects Of Harsh Parenting Research Articles

Harsh parenting and smartphone addiction: The mediating role of core self-evaluation and the moderating role of nature connectedness

The mechanisms underlying how and when harsh parenting increases the risk of smartphone addiction are far from being understood. Meanwhile, studies examining protective factors against the effects of harsh parenting on smartphone addiction are still scarce. In this study, a moderated mediation model was constructed to investigate the potential mechanisms behind the effect of harsh parenting on smartphone addiction, and highlight the possible protective role of core self-evaluation as a mediating variable and nature connectedness as a moderating variable in this relationship. The sample consisted of 1316 college students ranging in age between 18 and 23 years old (M = 18.96, SD = 1.54 years, 77.05% female) from two universities located in Central China. Participants completed questionnaires regarding demographics, harsh parenting, smartphone addiction, core self-evaluations, and connectedness to nature. Hayes PROCESS macro for SPSS was used to test the hypothesized model. After demographic covariates were controlled for, the results revealed that: (a) harsh parenting was positively associated with smartphone addiction; (b) core self-evaluations mediated the relationship between harsh parenting and smartphone addiction; and (c) nature connectedness could moderate the effect of harsh parenting on core self-evaluations. The findings of this work may help guide interventions to prevent smartphone addiction among college students. Implications for practice was discussed.

Effects of harsh parenting and positive parenting practices on youth aggressive behavior: The moderating role of early pubertal timing.

Prior research indicates that early pubertal timing is associated with aggressive behavior, particularly in the context of adversity as postulated in the contextual amplification hypothesis. However, few studies have examined harsh parenting as the context for the effect of early pubertal timing. Even fewer studies have tested the interactive effect of early pubertal timing and positive parenting on aggressive behavior. In this study, we tested the proposition that early pubertal timing, contrary to the general conception of it as a vulnerability, indexed susceptibility, and thus early maturing individuals were affected more by their environment in a "for better and for worse" manner. The sample consisted of 411 community-recruited youth aged 11-12 years (51% boys, 80% African Americans). Participants reported Tanner Stages of pubertal development, aggressive behavior and harsh parenting practice of their parents. Puberty scores were standardized with groups of the same age, sex, and ethnicity, and those that scored the top one-third were defined as early maturing individuals. Parents reported youth's aggressive behavior and their parenting practices towards the youth, including harsh parenting and positive parenting. Early pubertal timing significantly moderated the relationship between harsh/positive parenting and aggressive behavior. Specifically, harsh parenting was positively associated with aggressive behavior to a larger degree among early maturing individuals than among on-time/late-maturing individuals. Positive parenting was inversely associated with aggressive behavior but only among early maturing individuals. This study is the first to document support for early pubertal timing as susceptibility to the environmental influences in relation to aggressive behavior. Theoretical and intervention implications are discussed.

A prospective study of heart rate and externalising behaviours in young children

Background: Low heart rate predicts externalising and delinquent behaviour in adults, adolescents and school-age children. In younger children the evidence is less clear. Moreover, the specificity of the relation between the autonomic nervous system and different forms of externalising behaviour is uncertain. We investigated the longitudinal relation between resting mean heart rate and different externalising behaviours. Methods: In 412 children of the Generation R Study, we measured resting mean heart rate at 14 months. At 3 years, child problem behaviour was assessed by the mother with the Child Behavior Checklist. In a gift delay task, we observed whether children were compliant and whether they lied about their noncompliance. The association of heart rate with behaviour was contrasted with the effect of harsh parenting. Results: In our main analysis, we examined the association between heart rate and reported and observed child behaviour. For comparison, the association of heart rate with behaviour was contrasted with the effect of harsh parenting. Mean heart rate was positively associated with Anxious/Depressed scale scores (b = .1, 95% CI = 0.01; 0.2, p = .04), but not with Aggressive Behaviour (b = .02; 95% CI = 0.1; 0.1, p = .8) nor Attention Problem scale scores (b = .08, 95% CI = 0.3; 0.5, p = .8). We could not demonstrate an association between mean heart rate and noncompliance during the gift delay task (OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 0.9; 1.1, p = .2), but lower heart rate predicted higher odds of the child lying (OR = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.3; 0.9, p = .03). In contrast, harsh parenting was associated with mother-reported Aggressive Behaviour (b = .7, 95% CI = 0.4; 0.9, p < .001) and Attention Problems (b = .2, 95% CI = 0.1; 0.3, p < .001), but not with observed lying (OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.8; 1.4, p = .8). Conclusions: Lower resting mean heart rate at age 14 months predicts low anxiety symptoms and higher odds of lying at age 3 years. Low resting mean heart rate may be less an indicator of early childhood aggression than of fearless behaviour. Keywords: Child, heart rate, anxiety, externalising behaviour, parenting, compliance.

Delinquency in Adolescent Girls: Using a Confluence Approach to Understand the Influences of Parents and Peers.

Determining the interdependence of family and peer influences on the development of delinquency is critical to defining and implementing effective interventions. This study explored the longitudinal relationship among harsh punishment, positive parenting, peer delinquency, and adolescent delinquency using data from a sub-sample of the Pittsburgh Girls Study. Participants were 622 adolescent girls (42% European American, 53% African American); families living in low-income neighborhoods were oversampled. After controlling for the effects of race, living in a single parent household, and receipt of public assistance, harsh punishment and peer delinquency in early adolescence were positively related to delinquency in mid-adolescence. No significant main effects of positive parenting or interaction effects between parenting and peer delinquency were observed. Thus, the effects of harsh parenting and peer delinquency are independent and perhaps additive, rather than interdependent. Results indicate the continued importance of targeting both parenting and peer relationships to prevent delinquency in adolescent girls.

A prospective study of heart rate and externalising behaviours in young children.

Low heart rate predicts externalising and delinquent behaviour in adults, adolescents and school-age children. In younger children the evidence is less clear. Moreover, the specificity of the relation between the autonomic nervous system and different forms of externalising behaviour is uncertain. We investigated the longitudinal relation between resting mean heart rate and different externalising behaviours. In 412 children of the Generation R Study, we measured resting mean heart rate at 14 months. At 3 years, child problem behaviour was assessed by the mother with the Child Behavior Checklist. In a gift delay task, we observed whether children were compliant and whether they lied about their noncompliance. The association of heart rate with behaviour was contrasted with the effect of harsh parenting. In our main analysis, we examined the association between heart rate and reported and observed child behaviour. For comparison, the association of heart rate with behaviour was contrasted with the effect of harsh parenting. Mean heart rate was positively associated with Anxious/Depressed scale scores (β = .1, 95% CI = 0.01; 0.2, p = .04), but not with Aggressive Behaviour (β = .02; 95% CI = −0.1; 0.1, p = .8) nor Attention Problem scale scores (β = .08, 95% CI = −0.3; 0.5, p = .8). We could not demonstrate an association between mean heart rate and noncompliance during the gift delay task (OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 0.9; 1.1, p = .2), but lower heart rate predicted higher odds of the child lying (OR = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.3; 0.9, p = .03). In contrast, harsh parenting was associated with mother-reported Aggressive Behaviour (β = .7, 95% CI = 0.4; 0.9, p < .001) and Attention Problems (β = .2, 95% CI = 0.1; 0.3, p < .001), but not with observed lying (OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.8; 1.4, p = .8). Lower resting mean heart rate at age 14 months predicts low anxiety symptoms and higher odds of lying at age 3 years. Low resting mean heart rate may be less an indicator of early childhood aggression than of fearless behaviour.

Do harsh and positive parenting predict parent reports of deceitful‐callous behavior in early childhood?

The relationship between parenting and the development of antisocial behavior in children is well established. However, evidence for associations between dimensions of parenting and callous-unemotional (CU) traits is mixed. As CU traits appear critical to understanding a subgroup of youth with antisocial behavior, more research addressing the link between early parenting and CU traits is needed. The current study investigated longitudinal predictions between measures of harsh and positive parenting, and early CU behavior. Data from mother-child dyads (N = 731; 49% female) were collected from a multi-ethnic, high-risk sample with young children, and included self-reported and multi-method observed parenting. CU behavior was assessed using a previously validated measure of deceitful-callous behavior (Hyde et al., 2011). Results suggest that dimensions of harsh parenting, but not positive parenting, contribute to the development of child deceitful-callous behavior. Nevertheless, deceitful-callous behavior showed strong stability over time and the effects of harsh parenting, especially observed harshness, were modest. The current findings have implications for developmental psychopathology and early interventions for antisocial behavior. The results also raise a number of issues about measuring emerging CU behavior in very young children, including the interrelation between parent perceptions and reports of child behavior, parent reactions, and the subsequent development of severe antisocial behavior.

Interpersonal Violence: Secondary Analysis of the Keep Your Children/Yourself Safe and Secure (KySS) Data

IntroductionThe purpose of the secondary analysis was to determine agreement of parents and children to the interpersonal violence (IPV) items on the Keep Your Children/Yourself Safe and Secure (KySS) survey to assess mental health concerns. MethodsA comparative, descriptive design was used to determine the level of agreement between parent/child dyads on the 15 attitude/knowledge and worry items related to IPV (n = 563 dyads). ResultsSingle mother/son and 10- to 12-year-olds had less agreement than other dyad combinations and child age groups. Six of the 10 knowledge/attitude items had significant differences, including multigenerational occurrence of sexual abuse, the effect of harsh parenting, witnessing domestic violence, and incidence of physical abuse. The least agreement was on sexual abuse, incidence of physical abuse, and outcome of strict parenting (p < .001). Parents had greater worry about the parent-child relationship than did the children (p < .001). DiscussionParents and clinicians may not realize how different their understanding of IPV is from that of children. Identifying items of least agreement can inform parents and clinicians in targeting violence education and prevention.

A genetically informed study of the association between harsh punishment and offspring behavioral problems.

Conclusions about the effects of harsh parenting on children have been limited by research designs that cannot control for genetic or shared environmental confounds. The present study used a sample of children of twins and a hierarchical linear modeling statistical approach to analyze the consequences of varying levels of punishment while controlling for many confounding influences. The sample of 887 twin pairs and 2,554 children came from the Australian Twin Registry. Although corporal punishment per se did not have significant associations with negative childhood outcomes, harsher forms of physical punishment did appear to have specific and significant effects. The observed association between harsh physical punishment and negative outcomes in children survived a relatively rigorous test of its causal status, thereby increasing the authors' conviction that harsh physical punishment is a serious risk factor for children.

Behavioural problems in 2‐year‐olds: links with individual differences in theory of mind, executive function and harsh parenting

Cognitive and family factors are implicated in the origins of behavioural problems, but little is known about their independence or interplay. We present data from 127 two-year-olds from predominantly disadvantaged families who completed tests of 'theory of mind' (ToM), executive function (EF) and verbal ability. Researchers' home-visit ratings and detailed video-based coding of mother-child interactions were combined to give an aggregate measure of harsh parenting, while behavioural problems were indexed by a multi-informant, multi-setting, multi-measure aggregate. Harsh parenting and deficits in ToM and verbal ability each predicted unique variance in behavioural problems; independent effects of EF were only marginally significant. Harsh parenting and ToM interacted significantly in their effects on behavioural problems. Child and family influences on behavioural problems should be considered in tandem, as they show significant interplay; in particular, advanced ToM skills appear to buffer young children against effects of harsh parenting.