Do Discipline Style and Parenting Self-Efficacy Interact to Predict Observed Child Behavior? Outcomes from a Representative Sample of Mothers with Young Chilren

Both parenting style and parents’ sense of their own parenting self-efficacy (PSE) have been found to predict child behavior outcomes in young children. Parents who engage in lax or overreactive parenting practices or who lack confidence in their parenting abilities are more likely to have children who display disruptive and noncompliant behavior. Until now, very little research has examined whether an interaction exits between these two constructs in predicting child behavior outcomes. The current study looked to fill this gap and assess whether a significant moderation relationship exists between parents’ parenting style and PSE in predicting observed child behavior. A representative sample of (N=268) mother-child dyads was assessed using self-report measures of parenting style and PSE and coded data on observed child behavior from a lab-based interaction task. Results of the initial hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed no significant moderation or main effects for the predictors of interest in predicting observed child behavior. Subsequent analyses using parent report of child behavior as the criterion, however, revealed a significant moderation effect in which level of PSE was more predictive of child behavior when parents engaged lax parenting than when they were not lax. No significant interaction was found for overreactive parenting. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed

Predicting Post-Treatment Recurrence Of Child Maltreatment Among Substance-Abusing Parents

Approximately one quarter of parents identified by Child Protective Services (CPS) as having committed child maltreatment will be reidentified within a year. Children who are multiply victimized are at the greatest risk for detrimental outcomes across development. This study looked to determine whether four predictors of interest could help differentiate parents who recommitted maltreatment within an 18-month follow-up period from those who did not. Predictors assessed were the severity of a parents’ substance use, parents’ level of social conflict, parents’ belief in the use of harsh parenting practices and parents’ overall quality of life. Covariates of interest included a parent’s age, race, monthly income, education level and the number of children in the home. This study used a sample of 117 parents of children ages 2 to 8 years who had open CPS cases for substantiated child maltreatment as well as substance use concerns. Analyses consisted of binary logistic regression. Results indicated that parents’ belief in harsh parenting practices significantly predicted child maltreatment recurrence, χ2(1, n=117) = 3.78, p=.046, with each standard deviation increase in belief in harsh parenting associated with an increase of 1.54 in the odds of maltreatment recurrence. Number of children in the home was also a significant predictor, χ2(1, n=117) = 4.00, p=.045, with each additional child in the home increasing the odds for maltreatment recurrence by a factor of 1.50. There was also a significant interaction effect such that for families with fewer children, belief in harsh parenting had a smaller effect on the probability of recurrence than in families with more children