Cross-cultural effects of parent warmth and control on aggression and rule-breaking from ages 8 to 13

Abstract

We investigated whether bidirectional associations between parental warmth and behavioral control and child aggression and rule-breaking behavior emerged in 12 cultural groups. Study participants included 1,298 children (M = 8.29 years, standard deviation [SD] = 0.66, 51% girls) from Shanghai, China (n = 121); Medellín, Colombia (n = 108); Naples (n = 100) and Rome (n = 103), Italy; Zarqa, Jordan (n = 114); Kisumu, Kenya (n = 100); Manila, Philippines (n = 120); Trollhättan/Vänersborg, Sweden (n = 101); Chiang Mai, Thailand (n = 120); and Durham, NC, United States (n = 111 White, n = 103 Black, n = 97 Latino) followed over 5 years (i.e., ages 8-13). Warmth and control were measured using the Parental Acceptance-Rejection/Control Questionnaire, child aggression and rule-breaking were measured using the Achenbach System of Empirically-Based Assessment. Multiple-group structural equation modeling was conducted. Associations between parent warmth and subsequent rule-breaking behavior were found to be more common across ontogeny and demonstrate greater variability across different cultures than associations between warmth and subsequent aggressive behavior. In contrast, the evocative effects of child aggressive behavior on subsequent parent warmth and behavioral control were more common, especially before age 10, than those of rule-breaking behavior. Considering the type of externalizing behavior, developmental time point, and cultural context is essential to understanding how parenting and child behavior reciprocally affect one another.

Keywords: aggression; cultural differences; parent behavioral control; parent warmth; rule-breaking.

Figure 1.

Model depicting pathways between parental warmth and control and child aggressive behavior. Larger bold lines indicate significant (p <. 05) cross-lagged paths. Range of significant standardized effects estimates across all 12 cultural groups reported. Autoregressive paths and within time correlations are depicted here to provide more complete picture of model framework, but results for these paths are not reported due to space. Covariates (child age, child gender, mother/father education) also controlled for at every time point, but not depicted here due to space.

Figure 2.

Model depicting pathways between parental warmth and control and child rule-breaking behavior. Larger bold lines indicate significant (p <. 05) cross-lagged paths. Range of significant standardized effects estimates across all 12 cultural groups reported. Autoregressive paths and within time correlations are depicted here to provide more complete picture of model framework, but results for these paths are not reported due to space. Covariates (child age, child gender, mother/father education) also controlled for at every time point, but not depicted here due to space. USB = US Black sample, USL = US Latino sample