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From Parent to Child to Parent…: Paths In and Out of Problem Behavior

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Abstract

This study used data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development to examine relations between parenting, self-control and externalizing behavior from early childhood to mid-adolescence (N = 956; 49.9 % male). Results indicated that maternal sensitivity, parental harshness and productive activity are related to externalizing problems but that patterns of relations change from early childhood to middle childhood to adolescence, with evidence suggesting that externalizing behavior influences parenting more than the reverse from middle childhood onward. Self-control measured during early adolescence partially mediated relations between maternal sensitivity and adolescent-reported externalizing behavior. Parental monitoring during adolescence was also related to externalizing behavior at age 15. Monitoring partially mediated the relation between externalizing behavior in early adolescence and externalizing at age 15.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Family & Human Dynamics Research Institute, Arizona State University, 951 S. Cady Mall, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Robert H. Bradley

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR, USA

    Robert Corwyn

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  1. Robert H. Bradley
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  2. Robert Corwyn
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Correspondence to Robert H. Bradley.

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This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Health (HD25460).

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Bradley, R.H., Corwyn, R. From Parent to Child to Parent…: Paths In and Out of Problem Behavior. J Abnorm Child Psychol 41, 515–529 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-012-9692-x

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