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Reciprocal Relations Between Parenting Behaviors and Conduct Disorder Symptoms in Preschool Children

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Abstract

Reciprocal relations between children’s conduct disorder (CD) symptoms and parenting behaviors were examined across the preschool years. Participants were 199 children (M = 44.26 months, SD = 3.37; 92 girls) and their 199 mothers and 158 fathers. CD symptoms were assessed via structured interviews; parenting was assessed via observational and self-report measures. Fixed effects models were used to assess within-individual changes and traditional cross-lagged models were used to assess between-individual changes; comparisons by sex were also carried out. Increases in maternal overreactivity predicted increases in CD symptoms. During the later preschool years, decreases in maternal warmth predicted increases in CD symptoms and increases in CD symptoms predicted increases in paternal overreactivity. Reciprocal effects were found between girls’ CD symptoms and paternal negative affect. Findings suggest maternal and paternal influence on the development of CD symptoms and suggest that CD symptoms influence fathers’ parenting during the preschool years.

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Notes

  1. The term behavior problems is used for purposes of consistency when referring to broadly defined measures of behavior problems, such as conduct problems, antisocial behavior, externalizing behavior, disruptive behaviors, etc.

  2. Response rates could not be calculated for sites where packets were presented in a display for interested parents to take. At sites where packets were delivered directly to parents of 3-year-olds (e.g., via mail and through some pediatric practices), 20% of packets were completed and returned. However, this likely underestimates the response rate because many parents may have received more than one packet.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant R01MH60132. We are grateful to the families who participated in this study. Thanks also to the many graduate and undergraduate research assistants who assisted with data collection.

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  1. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 135 Hicks Way Tobin Hall, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

    Benjamin Rolon-Arroyo, David H. Arnold, Rosanna P. Breaux & Elizabeth A. Harvey

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Correspondence to Elizabeth A. Harvey.

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Rolon-Arroyo, B., Arnold, D.H., Breaux, R.P. et al. Reciprocal Relations Between Parenting Behaviors and Conduct Disorder Symptoms in Preschool Children. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 49, 786–799 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-018-0794-8

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