Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T20:41:20.877Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Discipline as a mediator of the impact of maternal stress and mood on child conduct problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

James Snyder
James Snyder*
Affiliation:
Wichita State University
*
Address reprint requests to: James Snyder, Department of Psychology, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS 67208.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using a within-subject, time series approach, two competing models concerning the temporal relations between maternal distress (mood and stress), maternal discipline, and child conduct problems were assessed. Two measures of each of these constructs were collected at 10 assessment points, each separated by 3 to 4 days, in each of 10 single-parent families with a 4- to 5-year-old conduct problem child. After standardizing each of the measures over repeated assessment points in each family and aggregating the data across families, the models were tested using correlational and structural equation analyses. The fit of the data to the models supported the hypothesis that the association of maternal distress with child conduct problems is mediated by her disciplinary practices. On days when mothers reported more negative mood and stress, they were more likely to demonstrate poor disciplinary tactics. Temporal variation in discipline was, in turn, related to same-day variation in the frequency of child conduct problems. However, the model hypothesizing a direct relationship from maternal distress to child problems in addition to the indirect path through discipline was also supported, suggesting that maternal discipline is not the sole mediating variable.

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , July 1991 , pp. 263 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achenbach, T. M., & Edelbrock, C. (1983). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist and Revised Child Behavior Profile. Burlington, VT: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.Google Scholar
Belsky, J. (1984). The determinants of parenting: A process model. Child Development, 55, 83–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bentler, P. M. (1989). EQS Structural Equations Program Manual. Los Angeles: BMDP Statistical Software.Google Scholar
Bolger, N., DeLongis, A., & Kessler, R. C. (1988). The structure of daily stress. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Sociology and Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capaldi, D. M., & Patterson, G. R. (1989). Psychometric properties of fourteen latent constructs from the Oregon Youth Study. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caspi, A., & Elder, G. H. (1988). Emergent family patterns: The inter-generational construction of problem behavior and relationships. In Hinde, R. A. & Stevenson-Hinde, J. (Eds.), Relationships within families: Mutual influences (pp. 218–240). Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, P. C., & Reid, J. B. (1987). Parent observation and report of child symptoms. Behavioral Assessment, 9, 97–109.Google Scholar
Cummings, E. M., Ballard, M., El-Sheikh, M., & Lake, M. (1991). Resolution and children's responses to interadult anger. Developmental Psychology, 27, 462–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dishion, T., Gardner, K., Patterson, G., Reid, J., Spyrou, S., & Thidobeaux, S. (1983). The family process code: A multidimensional system for observing family interaction. Unpublished manuscript, Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene, OR.Google Scholar
Elder, G. H., Liker, J. K., & Cross, C. E. (1983). Parent-child behavior in the Great Depression: Life course and inter-generational influences. In Baltes, P. & Brim, O. (Eds.), Life span development and behavior (Vol. 6, pp. 307–322). New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Feinberg, S. E. (1980). The analysis of cross-classified categorical data. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Forgatch, M. S., Patterson, G. R., & Skinner, M. (in press). A mediational model for the effect of divorce on antisocial behavior in boys. In Hetherington, E. M. & Aresteh, J. D. (Eds.), Impact of divorce, single parenting and step-parenting on children.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, H. F., Unger, E. L., Rosen, B. M., Shambaugh, J. P., & Windle, C. D. (1975). A typological approach to doing social area analysis. National Institute of Mental Health, DHEW Publication No. (ADM) 76–262. US Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Gottman, J. M. (1980). Analyzing for sequential connection and assessing interobserver reliability for the sequential analysis of observational data. Behavioral Assessment, 2, 361–368.Google Scholar
Guilford, J. P., & Fruchter, B. (1978). Fundamental statistics in psychology and education. (6th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Kessler, R. C. (1987). The interplay of research design strategies and data analysis procedures in evaluating the effects of stress on health. In Kasl, S. & Cooper, C. (Eds.), Stress and health: Issues in research methodology (pp. 113–140). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Larzelere, R., & Patterson, G. R. (1990). Parental management: Mediator of the effect of socioeconomic status on early delinquency. Unpublished manuscript, Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene, OR.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal and coping. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Malott, R. W. (1989). The achievement of evasive goals: Control by rules describing contingencies that are not direct acting. In Hayes, S. (Ed.), Rulegoverned behavior: Cognition, contingencies, and instructional control (pp. 269–324). New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMahon, R. J., & Forehand, R. (1987). Conduct disorders. In Mash, E. J. & Terdal, L. G. (Eds.), Behavioral assessments of childhood disorders (pp. 105–156). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R. (1982). Coercive family process. Eugene, OR: Castilia.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R. (1986). Performance models for antisocial boys. American Psychologist, 41, 432–444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patterson, G. R., & Bank, L. (1986). Bootstrapping your way in the nomological thicket. Behavioral Assessment, 8, 49–76.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R., & Chamberlain, P. C. (1988). Treatment process: A problem at three levels. In Wynne, L. (Ed.), The state of the art in therapy research: Controversies and recommendations (pp. 189–223). New York: Family Process Press.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R., & Dishion, T. J. (1988). Multilevel family process models: Traits, interactions, and relationships. In Hinde, R. A. & Stevenson-Hinde, J. (Eds.), Relationships within families: Mutual influences (pp. 283–310). Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R., Reid, J. B., & Dishion, T. J. (in press). A social learning approach: 4. Antisocial boys. Eugene, OR: Castilia.Google Scholar
Peterson, P. A. (1990). Parental stress, family interaction, and child behavior problems in dualemployed families. Unpublished master's thesis, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1978). Family, area and school influences in the genesis of conduct disorders. In Hersov, L., Berger, M., & Schaffer, D. (Eds.), Aggression and antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence (pp. 95–113). Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Snyder, J. J. (1990, 11). Processes mediating the impact of parental stress and mood on child behavior problems: The use of structural equation modeling to test competing theories. Paper presented at the meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy. San Francisco, CA.Google Scholar
Snyder, J. J., & Patterson, G. R. (1986). Family interaction and delinquent behavior. In Quay, H. C. (Ed.), Handbook of juvenile delinquency. (pp. 216–243). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Snyder, J. J., & Patterson, G. R. (1990). Covariation of the relative rate of child behavior and the relative rate of maternal reinforcement in natural family interaction. Unpublished manuscript, Wichita State University, Department of Psychology, Wichita, KS.Google Scholar
Steiger, J. H. (1980). Tests for comparing elements in a correlation matrix. Psychological Bulletin, 87, 334–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tryon, W. W. (1982). A simplified time-series analysis for evaluating treatment interventions. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 15, 423–429.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wahler, R. G., & Dumas, J. E. (1987). Family factors in childhood psychology: Toward a coercion-neglect model. In Jacob, T. (Ed.), Family inter-action and psychopathology: Theories, methods and findings (pp. 581–627). New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weng, L. J., & Rentier, P. M. (1987). Linear structural equation modeling with dependent observations. Proceedings of the Social Statistics Section, American Statistical Association (pp. 498–500).Google Scholar
Zahn-Waxler, C., Mayfield, A., Radke-Yarrow, M., McKnew, D., Cytryn, L., & Davenport, Y. (1988). A follow-up investigation of offspring of parents with bipolar disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 506–509.Google ScholarPubMed
Zuckerman, M., & Lubin, B. (1965). Manual for the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist. San Diego: Edits.Google Scholar