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The Role of Parenting in Affecting the Behavior and Adaptive Functioning of Young Children of HIV-Infected Mothers in South Africa

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Abstract

Prior investigations suggest that maternal HIV/AIDS poses significant challenges to young children. This study investigates the relationships between mothers’ psychological functioning, parenting, and children’s behavioral outcomes and functioning in a population of women living with HIV (N = 361) with a child between the ages of 6 and 10 years in Tshwane, South Africa. Utilizing path analysis, findings revealed that maternal depression is related to increased parenting stress and parent–child dysfunction, maternal coping is related to parenting style, and maternal coping, parenting style and stress, and parent–child dysfunction are associated with children’s behavior and functioning, with parenting emerging as an important mediator. These findings suggest that interventions for women living with HIV and their children should not only address maternal psychological functioning (depression and coping), but should also focus on parenting, promoting a positive approach.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Alexandra Boeving Allen

  2. Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa

    Michelle Finestone, Irma Eloff, Liesel Ebersöhn & Ronél Ferreira

  3. Department of Health Policy and Administration, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA

    Heather Sipsma

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Jennifer Makin

  5. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA

    Kelli Triplett

  6. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Kathleen Sikkema

  7. Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Kathleen Sikkema

  8. Department of Psychology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Maretha Visser

  9. Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Brian W. C. Forsyth

  10. University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA

    Margaret Briggs-Gowan

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  1. Alexandra Boeving Allen
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Correspondence to Irma Eloff.

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Allen, A.B., Finestone, M., Eloff, I. et al. The Role of Parenting in Affecting the Behavior and Adaptive Functioning of Young Children of HIV-Infected Mothers in South Africa. AIDS Behav 18, 605–616 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-013-0544-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-013-0544-7

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