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. 2015 Aug;56(8):923-32.
doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12366. Epub 2014 Dec 10.

Perceived mother and father acceptance-rejection predict four unique aspects of child adjustment across nine countries

Diane L Putnick  1 , Marc H Bornstein  1 , Jennifer E Lansford  2 , Patrick S Malone  2 , Concetta Pastorelli  3 , Ann T Skinner  2 , Emma Sorbring  4 , Sombat Tapanya  5 , Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado  3   6 , Arnaldo Zelli  7 , Liane Peña Alampay  8 , Suha M Al-Hassan  9 , Dario Bacchini  10 , Anna Silvia Bombi  3 , Lei Chang  11 , Kirby Deater-Deckard  12 , Laura Di Giunta  3 , Kenneth A Dodge  2 , Paul Oburu  13
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Perceived mother and father acceptance-rejection predict four unique aspects of child adjustment across nine countries

Diane L Putnick et al. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2015 Aug.

Abstract

Background: It is generally believed that parental rejection of children leads to child maladaptation. However, the specific effects of perceived parental acceptance-rejection on diverse domains of child adjustment and development have been incompletely documented, and whether these effects hold across diverse populations and for mothers and fathers are still open questions.

Methods: This study assessed children's perceptions of mother and father acceptance-rejection in 1,247 families from China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States as antecedent predictors of later internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, school performance, prosocial behavior, and social competence.

Results: Higher perceived parental rejection predicted increases in internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and decreases in school performance and prosocial behavior across 3 years controlling for within-wave relations, stability across waves, and parental age, education, and social desirability bias. Patterns of relations were similar across mothers and fathers and, with a few exceptions, all nine countries.

Conclusions: Children's perceptions of maternal and paternal acceptance-rejection have small but nearly universal effects on multiple aspects of their adjustment and development regardless of the family's country of origin.

Keywords: Parental acceptance-rejection; behavior problems; cross-cultural; prosocial behavior; school performance; social competence.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Final model of relations of perceived acceptance-rejection from mothers and fathers with child adjustment across 9 countries Note. Standardized coefficients are presented. For ease of interpretation, within-wave covariances are not depicted on the Figure. Covariances among wave 2 variables ranged from |r| = .04 to .60, p = .04 to < .001, and among wave 3 variables ranged from |r| = .00 to .53, p = .84 to < .001. a Path was added to the a priori model. ** p < .01. *** p < .001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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