Parental Hostility Research Articles

A prospective investigation of the development of borderline personality symptoms.

The antecedents and developmental course of borderline personality disorder symptoms were examined prospectively from infancy to adulthood using longitudinal data from a risk sample (N = 162). Borderline personality disorder symptom counts were derived from the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders diagnostic interview at age 28 years. Correlational analyses confirmed expected relations between borderline symptoms and contemporary adult disturbance (e.g., self-injurious behavior, dissociative symptoms, drug use, relational violence) as well as maltreatment history. Antecedent correlational and regression analyses revealed significant links between borderline symptoms in adulthood and endogenous (i.e., temperament) and environmental (e.g., attachment disorganization, parental hostility) history in early childhood and disturbance across domains of child functioning (e.g., attention, emotion, behavior, relationship, self-representation) in middle childhood/early adolescence. Process analyses revealed a significant mediating effect of self-representation on the relation between attachment disorganization on borderline symptoms. The findings are discussed within a developmental psychopathology framework in which disturbance in self-processes is constructed through successive transactions between the individual and environment.

Home Treatment as an Alternative to Hospital Admission for Mothers in a Mental Health Crisis: A Qualitative Study

Home Treatment as an Alternative to Hospital Admission for Mothers in a Mental Health Crisis: A Qualitative Study

Concurrent and Across-Time Relations between Mother/Father Hostility and Children’s Aggression: A Longitudinal Study

This study examined the concurrent and across-time relations between father/mother hostility and child aggression in a sample of 523 (58.7% girls) primary and secondary school children. Data were collected over a period of 3 years, in which the children’s mean age was 11.1, 12.17, and 13.19 years old, respectively. Correlational analyses and cross-sectional and longitudinal structural equation models showed significant relations between parental hostility (both father and mother) and child aggression. These relations, which mainly concerned mothers, predicted future child aggression 1 and 2 years later. Child aggression and parental hostility also elicited each other, thus providing evidence for family socialization as an interactive process.

Coparenting in Intact and Divorced Families: Its Impact on Young Adult Adjustment

ABSTRACT This study examined the potential mediating roles of coparenting and parenting practices on the relationship between marital status and young adult adjustment in intact and divorced or separated families. Participants were 340 undergraduate students from intact and divorced or separated families who completed questionnaires that tapped a range of adjustment factors (mental health, fear of intimacy, work ethic, self-esteem, delinquency) along with coparenting and parenting practices. Data were analyzed via structural equation modeling. Results suggest that coparenting and parenting practices, including parental hostility, parental cooperation, mothering, and fathering, are important partial mediators of the relationship between marital status and young adult adjustment. Intervention and legal implications are discussed.

Discourses of childhood innocence in primary school HIV/AIDS education in South Africa

This article draws from interview data to examine the meanings that teachers in two race and class-specific contexts in greater Durban, South Africa, may give to children's right to sexual health information as a part of HIV/AIDS education. The article focuses on the regulation and production of childhood innocence by means of the ways the primary school teachers talked about sex in their HIV/AIDS education lessons to grade-four students. I argue that discourses of childhood innocence regulate and limit the possibilities of conversing about sex in such a context. The dominant discourses construct children as 'too young to know' and displace children's right to sexual health information to older children, while stressing anxieties about parent hostility to sex education, which precludes effective coverage of sexual topics in HIV/AIDS education. Showing how race, class and culture are deployed in upholding innocence, I contend that the notion of childhood innocence is embedded within the varying social contexts that make up the South African landscape. But, I suggest that an assumption that primary school teachers will engage with HIV/AIDS education while mediating information about sex in health promotion is simplistic. In conclusion, I propose a need for ongoing theoretical and practical work with teachers and the need to build alliances with parents.

Using Sibling Differences to Estimate Effects of Parenting on Adolescent Sexual Risk Behaviors

Purpose To estimate effects of positive and involved parenting during mid-adolescence on sexual risk behaviors (frequency of intercourse, unprotected intercourse, and number of sexual partners) during late adolescence. Substantial literature suggests that supportive family contexts and parenting behaviors may discourage adolescents from engaging in early and risky sexual activities; yet methodological limitations hamper the conclusions regarding causality and directionality that can be drawn from much existing research. To address such limitations, the current study used a variety of increasingly conservative statistical modeling techniques to help control for unobserved heterogeneity and potential bias and hence to progress toward identifying causal relationships. Methods Drawing from a nationally representative longitudinal survey of adolescents (NLSY97; N = 4980), this study used ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models, lagged regression models, and family fixed-effects models to assess whether parental knowledge, parent negativity, and family activities during midadolescence predicted differences in late adolescent sexual risk behaviors. Results Even after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity across individuals and across families, parenting processes significantly predicted later adolescent sexual risk behaviors. Specifically, more regular family activities and less negative and hostile parenting during mid-adolescence predicted lower sexual risk behaviors during late adolescence. Conclusions Results concerning the buffering effects of parenting on adolescent risk behaviors help to inform prevention and intervention efforts. Through the use of more rigorous statistical methodology and large representative samples of youth, this research provides an exemplar of how survey research can seek to move closer to understanding causal processes in the exceedingly complex systems of human development.

Longitudinal associations between parents' hostility and siblings' externalizing behavior in the context of marital discord.

This study examined longitudinal associations between parents' hostility and siblings' externalizing behavior in the context of interparental discord. The sample included 116 families (mothers, fathers, 2 siblings) assessed in middle childhood, when siblings were, on average, 8 and 10 years old, and in adolescence, at average ages of 14 and 16 years. Parents reported on their hostility toward each child and on each child's externalizing problems. Raters observed interparental hostility, and parents rated their marital quality. Results indicated both within-family and between-families effects. Specifically, the child who received more parental hostility than his or her sibling showed greater increases in externalizing problems than his or her sibling; this association was moderated by marital discord. In addition, the child who exhibited more behavioral problems than his or her sibling received greater increases in hostile mothering than did his or her sibling. Between-families effects were evident, in that children's externalizing problems were associated with increases in mothers' hostility toward both children in the family. Results support transactional models of development and family systems theory.

Light and Heavy Heterosexual Activities of Young Canadian Adolescents: Normative Patterns and Differential Predictors

The objectives of this research were to explore patterns of heterosexual activity in early adolescence and to examine the differential pathways to light and heavy heterosexuality. We utilized the National Longitudinal Survey of Canadian Children and Youth (NLSCY) in which heterosexual behaviors, as well as puberty, parenting processes, peer self‐concept, and problem behaviors were examined. The heterosexual activities of the majority of 12‐ and 13‐year‐old adolescents were largely confined to light activities of hugging, holding hands, and kissing. Heavy activities such as petting and sexual intercourse were reported less often. Using predictor variables from Cycle 1 of the NLSCY when participants were 10‐ and 11‐year‐olds, SEM analyses indicated that puberty and higher peer self‐concept shared significant direct pathways to both light and heavy heterosexuality. Heavy sexual activity, however, was uniquely associated with the risk factors of adolescent problem behaviors. Positive and hostile parenting styles were indirectly associated with light sexual activity through peer self‐concept. Positive and hostile parenting styles were also indirectly associated with heavy sexual activity through both peer‐oriented self‐concept and problem behaviors. Results support differential patterns and predictors of light and heavy sexuality in early adolescence.

Clinically Referred ODD Children with or without CD and Healthy Controls: Comparisons Across Contextual Domains

This study compares 6–11-year-old, clinically referred boys and girls diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, either with (ODD + CD, n = 40) or without Conduct Disorder (ODD only; n = 136), to a matched sample of healthy control children (HC; n = 69). Multiple informants completed intake diagnostic interviews and self-reports to evaluate constructs examining the child’s functioning and contextual influences on functioning (e.g., parent, family, peer, community). ODD + CD and ODD only children were each distinguished from HCs by greater exposure to delinquent peers and lowered parental self-efficacy. In further comparisons to the HC group, ODD only status was associated with parental use of psychological aggression and more stressful life events, whereas ODD + CD status was associated with greater parental hostility. Relative to ODD alone status, ODD + CD status was comparable on all but one variable (greater parental hostility). Similar findings were reported using a subset of girls only. The characteristics that distinguish children with DBDs from controls and, in particular, ODD + CD from ODD only, bear implications for understanding and treating both CD and ODD.

Examining the Link Between Infant Attachment and Child Conduct Problems in Grade 1

We examined the extent to which infant attachment status is directly related to child conduct problems 6 years later, and assessed the potential mediating roles of hostile parenting and maternal depression. The sample included 84 adolescent mothers and their children (45 girls, 39 boys). Infant attachment status was assessed using the Strange Situation when the study children were 1-year-old. Hostile parenting was coded during a parent–child interaction task when the study children were 4.5-years-old. Maternal depression was self-rated, also when the study children were 4.5-years-old, using the Beck Depression Inventory. Mothers reported child conduct problems at Grade 1 on the Child Behavior Checklist. Infant attachment status at 1 year of age was directly related to child conduct problems but not to hostile parenting or maternal depression. Neither hostile parenting nor maternal depression mediated the relationship between infant attachment status and child conduct problems. However, the pattern of relations differed by attachment security. For securely attached children, maternal depression, but not hostile parenting, was directly related to conduct problems. For insecurely attached children, hostile parenting, but not maternal depression, was directly related to child conduct problems. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.

The Development of Interpersonal Aggression During Adolescence: The Importance of Parents, Siblings, and Family Economics

Latent growth curve modeling employed data from a longitudinal study of 451 sibling families to examine parents, siblings, and family economics as factors in individual differences in the developmental course of interpersonal aggression during adolescence. Findings suggest that individual change in interpersonal aggression during adolescence can be predicted by the gender and aggression of one's sibling; predictions varied by the gender composition of the sibling dyad. Rates of parental hostility predicted levels of interpersonal aggression for both older (mean age = 12 years) and younger siblings (mean age = 15), and growth in aggression for younger siblings. Family economic pressure predicted interpersonal aggression of both siblings indirectly through parental hostility. Implications for future research and preventive interventions are discussed.

Civilising Children: A Comment on Richard Tremblay’s “The Development of Youth Violence: An Old Story with New Data

Through a number of highly influential publications, including this one, Tremblay has challenged the ways in which criminologists, developmentalists, and prevention researchers look at violence and aggression over the life course. In a nutshell, Tremblay disputes the view, held by many criminologists that violent and aggressive behaviour starts in early adolescence and that, therefore, causes of aggression must be sought during this period of human development. In contrast, the main empirical pattern found in longitudinal studies suggests that aggressive behaviour is most prevalent between the end of the second and the end of the fourth year after birth and then becomes less frequent throughout the life course. Therefore, Tremblay argues, “we do not need to learn to aggress. We learn not to aggress. Humans and many other animal species learn to use alternatives to physical aggression”. Of course, the early propensity for aggression is not uniform. Rather, there are individual differences in aggressive behaviour at ages 2–4, some due to genetic factors, others due to environmental factors such as family dysfunction, coercive–hostile parenting, or substance use during pregnancy. But, ultimately, it is early education that matters most in civilising children, Tremblay argues along the lines of St. Augustine, Erasmus and Hobbes. If it fails, children will be at increased risk for a large number of negative outcomes, including substance use, early parenthood, unemployment, mental disorders and crime/aggression. Consequently, prevention is most effective if it focuses on quality early education. The paper by Tremblay covers a huge ground and combines a philosophical perspective on human nature, a developmental theory of aggressive and delinquent behaviour and a firm view on where we should invest in prevention. In my subsequent brief remarks, I will venture on this broad perspective and try to add some critical thoughts. Developmental Causes of Aggression: Tremblay emphasises that aggression is not learnt but that the relinquishment of violence is due to the learning of alternatives to aggression. If we accept this argument, then much of the search for risk factors of aggression is Eur J Crim Policy Res (2007) 13:171–173 DOI 10.1007/s10610-007-9051-6

Maternal childhood abuse and offspring adjustment over time

This study addressed the basis for the intergenerational transmission of psychosocial risk associated with maternal childhood abuse in relation to offspring adjustment. The study tested how far group differences in individual change in adjustment over time were explained by differences in exposure to specific environmental risk experiences. Data are drawn from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Information on mothers' own experience of childhood abuse, offspring adjustment at ages 4 and 7 years, and hypothesized mediators was available for 5,619 families. A residuals scores analysis was used to track children's adjustment over time. Maternal childhood abuse was associated with poorer behavioral trajectories between ages 4 and 7 years. Children of abused mothers were more likely to experience a range of negative life events between ages 4 and 7 years, including changes in family composition, separations from parents, "shocks and frights" and physical assaults. Interim life events, together with antecedent psychosocial risk (maternal antenatal affective symptoms, age 4 parental hostility, age 4 family type) fully mediated the association between maternal childhood abuse and offspring prognosis.The authors express their gratitude to the families who participated in the study. Support for these analyses was provided by a grant from the Medical Research Council. The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) is part of the World Health Organisation initiated European Study of Pregnancy and Childhood, and is supported, among others, by the Wellcome Trust, The Department of Health, The Department of the Environment, and the Medical Research Council. The ALSPAC study team comprises interviewers, computer technicians, laboratory technicians, clerical workers, research scientists, volunteers, and managers who continue to make the study possible.

A longitudinal twin study of the genetic and environmental etiology of maternal hostile-reactive behavior during infancy and toddlerhood

Children's negative characteristics are thought to be a factor in evoking hostile parenting responses. This can result in genotype/environment correlations ( rGE) in which children's heritable traits influence the parenting they experience. We did genetic analyses on 292 mothers’ self-reported hostile-reactive behaviors toward each of their twins at 5, 18 and 30 months. Finding heritability for a parenting behavior analyzed as a child phenotype is evidence of rGE correlation. The heritability of maternal behavior was modest (29% at 5 months, 0% at 18 months, and 25% at 30 months) and longitudinal analyses indicated that genetic factors at 5 and 30 months were uncorrelated. Common environment factors, probably reflecting characteristics of the mothers, were the main source of variance at the three ages and were highly correlated through time. We concluded that children's heritable characteristics evoked maternal negative response at specific times, but were not responsible for the stability of maternal hostility from infancy to toddlerhood.

The joint development of physical and indirect aggression: Predictors of continuity and change during childhood

A person-oriented approach was adopted to examine joint developmental trajectories of physical and indirect aggression. Participants were 1183 children aged 2 years at the initial assessment and followed over 6 years. Most children followed either low or declining trajectories of physical aggression (PA), but 14.6% followed high stable trajectories. Approximately two-thirds of participants followed low indirect aggression (IA) trajectories (67.9%), and one-third (32.1%) followed high rising trajectories. The results combining both PA and IA group memberships indicate that most children (62.1%) exhibit desisting levels of PA and low levels of IA. A significant proportion followed a trajectory of moderately desisting PA and rising IA (14.2%), and 13.5% followed high level trajectories of both forms of aggression. Virtually no children were high on one type and low on the other. Multinomial regressions analyses were used to predict joint trajectory group membership from selected child and family variables measured at 2 years. Young motherhood and low income predicted membership in the high PA-high IA trajectory, but only hostile parenting remained significant after family processes variables were entered in the model. Being a boy, young motherhood, and hostile parenting were generally associated with higher levels of PA. Girls were more likely than boys to follow a trajectory of desisting PA and rising IA. The results suggest that some children, mostly girls, reduce their use of PA and tend to increase their use of IA, and that highly physically aggressive children also tend to be highly indirectly aggressive. Early family risk characteristics and hostile parenting interfere with the socialization of aggression.

A preliminary examination of the intergenerational continuity of maternal psychopathic features

The study provided a preliminary test of the intergenerational continuity of maternal psychopathic features in a non-referred elementary aged sample of children. Consistent with dominant etiological models and recent behavioral genetics research, a direct association was expected between maternal and child affective features of psychopathy (i.e., callous-unemotional or CU traits). Potential mediators representative of alternative transmission mechanisms were assessed including parenting dysfunction, parental hostility/interpersonal insensitivity, and child impulsivity. Behavioral features of psychopathy were also assessed and were predicted to bear weaker and more indirect parent-child associations. A mixed sex sample of 83 children accompanied by a biological mother were administered a multi-informant rating-scale battery including separate parent (i.e., Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale) and child (i.e., Antisocial Process Screening Device) measures of psychopathy. Consistent with prediction, a significant association was documented between maternal and child CU traits (r=.22). Additionally, a slightly weaker association and statistical trend (r=.21) was observed in the relation between maternal and child interpersonal features of the psychopathy construct. Contrary to prediction, all documented associations were fully mediated by parental hostility and parenting dysfunction. Given the preliminary nature of study findings, implications for developmental modeling and future intergenerational continuity research are discussed.

‘Theatre of Attachment’: Using Drama to Facilitate Attachment in Adoption

Joan Moore describes an innovative drama therapeutic approach to facilitating attachment between adoptive parents and their children who suffered abuse and neglect in their family of origin. Children of hostile parents often display fear of adults' proximity. Play is proposed as the most natural way to increase empathy between these children and adoptive parents. Their joint engagement in ‘make-believe’ invites discovery of new perspectives and heightened self-awareness. The child's life story is explored, initially using metaphor as fictional contexts provide the privacy of distance that allow us to confront what may otherwise be too disturbing or painful. It is argued that working in the child's home, using sensory materials, assists transfer of learning from the therapeutic play space to daily life. Children begin to reassess their survival of adversity as ‘heroes’ rather than ‘victims’. Released from blame for events over which they had little control, children explore continuing troublesome patterns and, through theatrical enactment, create new ways of being. Parents' direct involvement in performance of the child's story (both fictional and real) leads to improved mutuality. The shared emotional experience brings parent and child closer, and parents gain improved confidence to support their children.

Parent-child relationships as systems of support or risk for adolescent suicidality.

This study examined a process model of predicting adolescent suicidality. Adolescent emotional distress was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between parental behaviors and subsequent adolescent suicidality. The parental behaviors studied included parental warmth and parental hostility. A sample of 451 families from rural Iowa participated in this longitudinal study, which included both observational and self-report data. Models were tested with structural equation modeling. Adolescent emotional distress was found to be a mediating variable between paternal warmth and adolescent suicidality. Results indicated that maternal warmth predicted adolescent suicidality but not emotional distress. Parental hostility did not predict either latent variable. Clinical implications are provided.

Adolescents' behavior in the presence of interparental hostility: developmental and emotion regulatory influences.

Within-family covariation between interparental hostility and adolescent behavior across three interactions over a 2-year period was explored in a sample that included 37 typical adolescents and 35 adolescents recently hospitalized for psychiatric difficulties. More interparental hostility across the three interactions was associated with more adolescent hostility and more positive engagement (at a trend level) regardless of psychiatric background. Parent-to-child hostility in each interaction mediated the link for adolescent hostility but not for positive adolescent engagement. Emotion regulation capacities and age were linked to variability in adolescents' behavior in the presence of interparental conflict. In interactions with more interparental hostility, adolescents with greater capacity to tolerate negative affect were more likely to show increased positive engagement, and adolescents who were better able to modulate their emotional expression were less likely to show increased hostility. Covariation between interparental and adolescent hostility across the three family interactions decreased as the adolescent aged. These findings are consistent with the theory that exposure to interparental hostility is emotionally disequilibrating, and that adolescent responses may reflect differences in emotion regulation and other developmentally based capacities. Gender and variations across families in overall levels of hostile parenting were also linked with adolescent behavior in the presence of interparental hostility.

Economic Stress, Parenting, and Child Adjustment in Mexican American and European American Families

To assess the impact of economic hardship on 111 European American and 167 Mexican American families and their 5th-grade (M age=11.4 years) children, a family stress model was evaluated. Structural equation analyses revealed that economic hardship was linked to indexes of economic pressure that were related to depressive symptoms for mothers and fathers of both ethnicities. Depressive symptoms were linked to marital problems and hostile parenting. Paternal hostile parenting was related to child adjustment problems for European Americans, whereas marital problems were linked to child adjustment problems for Mexican Americans. Maternal acculturation was associated with both higher marital problems and lower hostile parenting. The utility of the model for describing the effects of economic hardship in Mexican Americans is noted.