Abstract
The current study aimed to examine the mediation role of parenting styles (i.e., authoritative and authoritarian) in the relationship between maternal psychopathic traits and child callous-unemotional (CU) traits. A longitudinal research design was adopted using a sample of 486 Chinese mothers and child dyads in which children were between the ages of 8 and 11 years. The data was collected at three time points: mother-reported maternal psychopathy traits at Time One (T1), and parenting at Time 2 (T2), and at Time 3 (T3). Both the mother and the child reported on the child’s CU traits. The structural equation modeling (SEM) results revealed that the relation between maternal psychopathic traits and mother-reported child CU traits was fully mediated by maternal authoritarian and authoritative parenting, however, the mediation of maternal authoritarian was on the edge of significance and authoritative parenting was not significant with the child-reported outcome. These findings indicate that maternal psychopathic traits influence child CU traits through authoritarian parenting styles, while the mediation of authoritative parenting styles on child CU traits exists only in mother-reported measures. The different findings in cross-informant results between mother and child provide implications for future interventions in that the multiple informant approach is effective in comprehensively assessing child CU traits.
Highlights
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We investigated the mediation effect of authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles in the relationship between maternal psychopathic traits and child callous-unemotional (CU) traits using a longitudinal design.
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Our findings indicate that maternal psychopathic traits influence child CU traits through authoritarian parenting styles, while the mediation of authoritative parenting styles on child CU traits exists only in mother-reported measures.
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These results reinforce the importance of the roles of the mother’s personality and parenting style in the development and maintenance of child behaviors.
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This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31400904), China Scholarship Council (Grant No. CSC201808440626) and Australian Research Council Australian Discovery Early Career Award (DE180100015). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
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Zhong, C., Wang, MC., Shou, Y. et al. Maternal Parenting Mediate the Relationship between Maternal Psychopathic Traits and Child Callous-Unemotional Traits: A Longitudinal Multiple Mediation Model. J Child Fam Stud 29, 3142–3152 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01814-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01814-1