Harsh parenting in relation to child emotion regulation and aggression

Abstract

This study presents a model of harsh parenting that has an indirect effect, as well as a direct effect, on child aggression in the school environment through the mediating process of child emotion regulation. Tested on a sample of 325 Chinese children and their parents, the model showed adequate goodness of fit. Also investigated were interaction effects between parents' and children's gender. Mothers' harsh parenting affected child emotion regulation more strongly than fathers', whereas harsh parenting emanating from fathers had a stronger effect on child aggression. Fathers' harsh parenting also affected sons more than daughters, whereas there was no gender differential effect with mothers' harsh parenting. These results are discussed with an emphasis on negative emotionality as a potentially common cause of family perturbations, including parenting and child adjustment problems.

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Figures

Figure 1

Results from structural modeling of harsh parenting. Numbers appearing in the boxes are standardized factor loadings, and numbers beside the arrows are standardized regression coefficients. M = mother; F = father; C = child. *p < .05.

Figure 2

Results from structural modeling of harsh parenting for daughters and sons separately. Numbers appearing in the boxes are standardized factor loadings, and numbers beside the arrows are standardized regression coefficients. The first number in each series (to the left of the comma) is the value for daughters (n = 145), and the latter number (to the right of the comma) is the value for sons (n = 180). M = mother; F = father; C = child. *p < .05.