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. 2006 Feb;35(1):34-45.
doi: 10.1207/s15374424jccp3501_4.

Parenting behavior dimensions and child psychopathology: specificity, task dependency, and interactive relations

Annalise Caron  1 , Bahr Weiss, Vicki Harris, Tom Catron
Affiliations

Parenting behavior dimensions and child psychopathology: specificity, task dependency, and interactive relations

Annalise Caron et al. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2006 Feb.

Abstract

This study examined the specificity of relations between parent or caregiver behaviors and childhood internalizing and externalizing problems in a sample of 70 fourth-grade children (64% boys, M age = 9.7 years). Specificity was assessed via (a) unique effects, (b) differential effects, and (c) interactive effects. When measured as unique and differential effects, specificity was not found for warmth or psychological control but was found for caregiver's use of behavior control. Higher levels of behavior control were uniquely related to lower levels of externalizing problems and higher levels of internalizing problems; differential effects analyses indicated that higher levels of behavior control were related to decreases in the within-child difference in relative levels of level of internalizing versus externalizing problems. Interactive relations among the 3 parenting behavior dimensions also were identified. Although caregivers emphasized different parenting behavior dimensions across 2 separate caregiver-child interaction tasks, relations between parenting behavior dimensions and child psychopathology did not vary as a function of task. These findings indicate the importance of assessing and simultaneously analyzing multiple parenting behavior dimensions and multiple child psychopathology domains.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Child internalizing problems as a function of parental warmth (WM) and parental psychological control.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Child externalizing problems as a function of parental warmth (WM) and parental psychological control.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Child internalizing problems as a function of parental behavior control (BC) and parental psychological control.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Child externalizing problems as a function of parental behavior control (BC) and parental psychological control.
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