Maternal and paternal psychological control and adolescents’ negative adjustment: a dyadic longitudinal study in three countries

Psychological Control (PC) interferes with autonomy-related processes in adolescence and has a negative impact on adolescents’ development related to internalizing and externalizing problems. Several scholars suggested that PC can be used differently by mothers and fathers. However, these differences are still understudied and mainly grounded on maternal and/or adolescents’ perspectives, leading to potentially incomplete inferences on the effects of PC. The present study extends previous research on PC in two directions. First, we tested the dyadic and cumulative effects of maternal and paternal PC on adolescents’ antisocial behaviors and anxious-depressive symptoms. Secondly, we explored the cross-cultural generalizability of these associations in three countries: Italy, Colombia, and USA. Participants included 376 families with data from three consecutive years (T1, adolescents’ age=13.70). Mothers’ and fathers’ reports of PC and youth’s reports of antisocial and internalizing behaviors were assessed. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) we found that maternal PC predicted adolescents’ reported antisocial behaviors whereas paternal PC predicted lower anxious-depressed symptoms. Comparisons across countries evidenced the cross-cultural invariance of the longitudinal APIM across Italy, Colombia, and USA. The practical implications of these results are discussed

Cross-national evidences of a school-based universal program for promoting prosocial behaviors in peer interactions: Main theoretical communalities and local uniqueness

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of prosocial behavior against aggression in a school-based universal intervention adapted in two different (non-Western) countries, Colombia and Chile. Using a randomized pretest-posttest design (and controlling for participants’ gender and parents’ level of education), current results highlighted different effects of a similar program in both sites. First, the school-based universal program designed for promoting prosocial behaviors in the peer context obtained a positive cross-national effect on prosocial behavior rated by three informants (i.e., self, peer, and teacher reports). In Colombia this effect was moderated by the initial level of prosociality of the participants and their level of education. Mediational two waves model corroborated that the improvement on prosocial behaviors in both countries (moderated in the case of Colombia) predicted significantly lower level of physical aggression. Characteristics of the implementation considering different cultural and historical backgrounds were discussed

Predictors and outcomes associated with the growth curves of self-efficacy beliefs in regard to anger and sadness regulation during adolescence: a longitudinal cross-cultural study

IntroductionThis longitudinal study examined unique and joint effects of parenting and negative emotionality in predicting the growth curves of adolescents’ self-efficacy beliefs about regulating two discrete negative emotions (anger and sadness) and the association of these growth curves with later maladjustment (i.e., internalizing and externalizing problems).MethodsParticipants were 285 children (T1: Mage = 10.57, SD = 0.68; 53.3% girls) and their parents (mothers N = 286; fathers N = 276) from Colombia and Italy. Parental warmth, harsh parenting, and internalizing and externalizing problems were measured in late childhood at T1, whereas early adolescents’ anger and sadness were measured at T2 (T2: Mage = 12.10, SD = 1.09). Adolescent self-efficacy beliefs about anger and sadness regulation were measured at five time-points from T2 to T6 (T6: Mage = 18.45, SD = 0.71), and internalizing and externalizing problems were measured again at T6.ResultsMulti-group latent growth curve models (with country as the grouping variable) demonstrated that in both countries there was on average a linear increase in self-efficacy about anger regulation and no change or variation in self-efficacy about sadness regulation. In both countries, for self-efficacy about anger regulation (a) T1 harsh parenting and T1 externalizing problems were negatively associated with the intercept, (b) T2 anger was negatively associated with the slope, and (c) the intercept and the slope were associated with lower T6 internalizing and externalizing problems, controlling for T1 problems. For self-efficacy about sadness regulation, (a) T1 internalizing problems were negatively associated with the intercept only in Italy, (b) T2 sadness was negatively associated with the intercept only in Colombia, and (c) the intercept negatively predicted T6 internalizing problems.DiscussionThis study advances knowledge of the normative development of self-efficacy beliefs about anger and sadness regulation during adolescence across two countries, highlighting the predictive value of pre-existing family and individual characteristics on this development and prediction by the development of self-efficacy beliefs on later adjustment

Corporal Punishment of Children in Nine Countries as a Function of Child Gender and Parent Gender

Background. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a global perspective on corporal punishment by examining differences between mothers' and fathers' use of corporal punishment with daughters and sons in nine countries. Methods. Interviews were conducted with 1398 mothers, 1146 fathers, and 1417 children (age range = 7 to 10 years) in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. Results. Across the entire sample, 54% of girls and 58% of boys had experienced mild corporal punishment, and 13% of girls and 14% of boys had experienced severe corporal punishment by their parents or someone in their household in the last month. Seventeen percent of parents believed that the use of corporal punishment was necessary to rear the target child. Overall, boys were more frequently punished corporally than were girls, and mothers used corporal punishment more frequently than did fathers. There were significant differences across countries, with reports of corporal punishment use lowest in Sweden and highest in Kenya. Conclusion. This work establishes that the use of corporal punishment is widespread, and efforts to prevent corporal punishment from escalating into physical abuse should be commensurately widespread

Boys’ and Girls’ Relational and Physical Aggression in Nine Countries

Distinguishing between relational and physical aggression has become a key feature of many developmental studies in North America and Western Europe, but very little information is available on relational aggression in more diverse cultural contexts. This study examined the factor structure of, gender differences in, and associations between relational and physical aggression in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. Children ages 7 to 10 years (N = 1410) reported on their relationally and physically aggressive behavior. Relational and physical aggression shared a common factor structure across countries. Unsurprisingly, boys reported being more physically aggressive than girls across all nine countries; surprisingly, there were no significant gender differences in relational aggression. In all nine countries, relational and physical aggression were significantly correlated (average r = .49). The countries differed significantly in the mean levels of both relational and physical aggression that children reported using and with respect to whether children reported using more physical than relational aggression or more relational than physical aggression. Despite mean level differences in relational and physical aggression across countries, the findings provided support for cross-country similarities in associations between relational and physical aggression, as well as links between gender and aggression

Neighborhood Danger, Parental Monitoring, Harsh Parenting, and Child Aggression in Nine Countries

Exposure to neighborhood danger during childhood has negative effects that permeate multiple dimensions of childhood. The current study examined whether mothers’, fathers’, and children’s perceptions of neighborhood danger are related to child aggression, whether parental monitoring moderates this relation, and whether harsh parenting mediates this relation. Interviews were conducted with a sample of 1293 children (age M = 10.68, SD = 0.66; 51% girls) and their mothers (n = 1282) and fathers (n = 1075) in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). Perceptions of greater neighborhood danger were associated with more child aggression in all nine countries according to mothers’ and fathers’ reports and in five of the nine countries according to children’s reports. Parental monitoring did not moderate the relation between perception of neighborhood danger and child aggression. The mediating role of harsh parenting was inconsistent across countries and reporters. Implications for further research are discussed, and include examination of more specific aspects of parental monitoring as well as more objective measures of neighborhood danger

Parenting, culture, and the development of externalizing behaviors from age 7 to 14 in nine countries

Using multilevel models, we examined mother-, father-, and child-reported (N = 1,336 families) externalizing behavior problem trajectories from age 7 to 14 in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). The intercept and slope of children\u27s externalizing behavior trajectories varied both across individuals within culture and across cultures, and the variance was larger at the individual level than at the culture level. Mothers’ and children\u27s endorsement of aggression as well as mothers’ authoritarian attitudes predicted higher age 8 intercepts of child externalizing behaviors. Furthermore, prediction from individual-level endorsement of aggression and authoritarian attitudes to more child externalizing behaviors was augmented by prediction from cultural-level endorsement of aggression and authoritarian attitudes, respectively. Cultures in which father-reported endorsement of aggression was higher and both mother- and father-reported authoritarian attitudes were higher also reported more child externalizing behavior problems at age 8. Among fathers, greater attributions regarding uncontrollable success in caregiving situations were associated with steeper declines in externalizing over time. Understanding cultural-level as well as individual-level correlates of children\u27s externalizing behavior offers potential insights into prevention and intervention efforts that can be more effectively targeted at individual children and parents as well as targeted at changing cultural norms that increase the risk of children\u27s and adolescents’ externalizing behavior

Positive parenting and children\u27s prosocial behavior in eight countries

Background Research supports the beneficial role of prosocial behaviors on children\u27s adjustment and successful youth development. Empirical studies point to reciprocal relations between negative parenting and children\u27s maladjustment, but reciprocal relations between positive parenting and children\u27s prosocial behavior are understudied. In this study reciprocal relations between two different dimensions of positive parenting (quality of the mother–child relationship and the use of balanced positive discipline) and children\u27s prosocial behavior were examined in Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. Methods Mother–child dyads (N = 1105) provided data over 2 years in two waves (Mage of child in wave 1 = 9.31 years, SD = 0.73; 50% female). Results A model of reciprocal relations between parenting dimensions, but not among parenting and children\u27s prosocial behavior, emerged. In particular, children with higher levels of prosocial behavior at age 9 elicited higher levels of mother–child relationship quality in the following year. Conclusions Findings yielded similar relations across countries, evidencing that being prosocial in late childhood contributes to some degree to the enhancement of a nurturing and involved mother–child relationship in countries that vary widely on sociodemographic profiles and psychological characteristics. Policy and intervention implications of this study are discussed

Mothers\u27, fathers\u27 and children\u27s perceptions of parents\u27 expectations about children\u27s family obligations in nine countries

Children\u27s family obligations involve assistance and respect that children are expected to provide to immediate and extended family members and reflect beliefs related to family life that may differ across cultural groups. Mothers, fathers and children (N = 1432 families) in 13 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and United States) reported on their expectations regarding children\u27s family obligations and parenting attitudes and behaviours. Within families, mothers and fathers had more concordant expectations regarding children\u27s family obligations than did parents and children. Parenting behaviours that were warmer, less neglectful and more controlling as well as parenting attitudes that were more authoritarian were related to higher expectations regarding children\u27s family obligations between families within cultures as well as between cultures. These international findings advance understanding of children\u27s family obligations by contextualising them both within families and across a number of diverse cultural groups in 9 countries

Culture and Social Change in Mothers’ and Fathers’ Individualism, Collectivism and Parenting Attitudes

Cultures and families are not static over time but evolve in response to social transformations, such as changing gender roles, urbanization, globalization, and technology uptake. Historically, individualism and collectivism have been widely used heuristics guiding cross-cultural comparisons, yet these orientations may evolve over time, and individuals within cultures and cultures themselves can have both individualist and collectivist orientations. Historical shifts in parents’ attitudes also have occurred within families in several cultures. As a way of understanding mothers’ and fathers’ individualism, collectivism, and parenting attitudes at this point in history, we examined parents in nine countries that varied widely in country-level individualism rankings. Data included mothers’ and fathers’ reports (N = 1338 families) at three time points in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. More variance was accounted for by within-culture than between-culture factors for parents’ individualism, collectivism, progressive parenting attitudes, and authoritarian parenting attitudes, which were predicted by a range of sociodemographic factors that were largely similar for mothers and fathers and across cultural groups. Social changes from the 20th to the 21st century may have contributed to some of the similarities between mothers and fathers and across the nine countries