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The impact of children's internalizing and externalizing problems on parenting: Transactional processes and reciprocal change over time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2015

Lisa A. Serbin ,
Danielle Kingdon ,
Paula L. Ruttle  and
Dale M. Stack
Lisa A. Serbin*
Affiliation:
Concordia University
Danielle Kingdon
Affiliation:
Concordia University
Paula L. Ruttle
Affiliation:
Concordia University
Dale M. Stack
Affiliation:
Concordia University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Lisa A. Serbin, Centre for Research in Human Development and Department of Psychology, PY-170, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H4B 1R6, Canada. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

Most theoretical models of developmental psychopathology involve a transactional, bidirectional relation between parenting and children's behavior problems. The present study utilized a cross-lagged panel, multiple interval design to model change in bidirectional relations between child and parent behavior across successive developmental periods. Two major categories of child behavior problems, internalizing and externalizing, and two aspects of parenting, positive (use of support and structure) and harsh discipline (use of physical punishment), were modeled across three time points spaced 3 years apart. Two successive developmental intervals, from approximately age 7.5 to 10.5 and from 10.5 to 13.5, were included. Mother–child dyads (N = 138; 65 boys) from a lower income longitudinal sample of families participated, with standardized measures of mothers rating their own parenting behavior and teachers reporting on child's behavior. Results revealed different types of reciprocal relations between specific aspects of child and parent behavior, with internalizing problems predicting an increase in positive parenting over time, which subsequently led to a reduction in internalizing problems across the successive 3-year interval. In contrast, externalizing predicted reduced levels of positive parenting in a reciprocal sequence that extended across two successive intervals and predicted increased levels of externalizing over time. Implications for prevention and early intervention are discussed.

Type
Special Section Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 27 , Issue 4pt1 , November 2015 , pp. 969 - 986
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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