Harsh Parenting Behaviors: Links to Instigations and Parent Trait Aggression
Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Northern Illinois University Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault
Abstract
Objective: Four studies (total N = 1,847 parents) examined whether harsh parenting behaviors would increase when parents experienced an instigation and whether this increase would be especially strong for parents who were high in trait aggression. Method: These predictions were tested both when parents’ experience of an instigation was manipulated (Studies 1, 2, and 4) and when parents’ perceptions of their child’s instigating behavior was reported (Study 3). Further, these predictions were tested across a variety of measures of parents’ harsh behaviors: (1) Asking parents to report their likelihood of behaving harshly (Study 1); (2) using proxy tasks for parents’ harsh behaviors (Studies 2 and 4); and (3) having parents report their past behaviors (Study 3). Further, harsh parenting behaviors were assessed both within samples of parents who completed a study online and within a sample of parents who completed a study in-person. Results: Child instigations and parents’ trait aggression was consistently associated with parents’ child-directed harsh behaviors. However, parents’ trait aggression only moderated the extent to which the instigation was associated with their harsh parenting for self-reported physical harsh behaviors (Study 1) and their sound blast selections towards a non-child competitor (Study 4). Conclusion: The results of the current studies demonstrate that both situational factors, such as experiencing an instigation, and individual difference variables, such as trait aggression, affect parents’ likelihood to exhibit harsh behaviors. (Author Abstract)
Description
item.page.type
Article
item.page.format
Keywords
child abuse, corporal punishment, risk factors, research
Citation
McCarthy, R. J., Crouch, J. L., Skowronski, J. J., Milner, J. S., & Coley, S. L. (2016). Harsh Parenting Behaviors: Links to Instigations and Parent Trait Aggression. Dekalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault.