Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-xlmdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-17T15:07:58.577Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The impact of children's internalizing and externalizing problems on parenting: Transactional processes and reciprocal change over time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2015

Lisa A. Serbin ,
Danielle Kingdon ,
Paula L. Ruttle  and
Dale M. Stack
Lisa A. Serbin*
Affiliation:
Concordia University
Danielle Kingdon
Affiliation:
Concordia University
Paula L. Ruttle
Affiliation:
Concordia University
Dale M. Stack
Affiliation:
Concordia University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Lisa A. Serbin, Centre for Research in Human Development and Department of Psychology, PY-170, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H4B 1R6, Canada. E-mail: Lisa.Serbin@Concordia.ca.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Most theoretical models of developmental psychopathology involve a transactional, bidirectional relation between parenting and children's behavior problems. The present study utilized a cross-lagged panel, multiple interval design to model change in bidirectional relations between child and parent behavior across successive developmental periods. Two major categories of child behavior problems, internalizing and externalizing, and two aspects of parenting, positive (use of support and structure) and harsh discipline (use of physical punishment), were modeled across three time points spaced 3 years apart. Two successive developmental intervals, from approximately age 7.5 to 10.5 and from 10.5 to 13.5, were included. Mother–child dyads (N = 138; 65 boys) from a lower income longitudinal sample of families participated, with standardized measures of mothers rating their own parenting behavior and teachers reporting on child's behavior. Results revealed different types of reciprocal relations between specific aspects of child and parent behavior, with internalizing problems predicting an increase in positive parenting over time, which subsequently led to a reduction in internalizing problems across the successive 3-year interval. In contrast, externalizing predicted reduced levels of positive parenting in a reciprocal sequence that extended across two successive intervals and predicted increased levels of externalizing over time. Implications for prevention and early intervention are discussed.

Type
Special Section Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 27 , Issue 4pt1 , November 2015 , pp. 969 - 986
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Integrative guide for the 1991 CBCL/4-18, YSR, and TRF profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. (2001). ASEBA school-age forms & profiles. Burlington, VT: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.Google Scholar
Arbuckle, J. L. (1999). AMOS 4.0 users’ guide. Chicago: Small Waters.Google Scholar
Avinun, R., & Knafo, A. (2014). Socialization, genetics, and their interplay in development. In Grusec, J. E. & Hastings, P. (Eds.), Handbook of socialization (pp. 347–371). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Bates, J. E., Goodnight, J. A., Fite, J. E., & Staples, A. D. (2009). Behavior regulation as a product of temperament and environment. In Olson, S. L. & Sameroff, A. J. (Eds.), Biopsychosocial regulatory process in the development of childhood behavior problems (pp. 116–143). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental Psychology Monograph, 4(1, Pt. 2), 1–103. doi:10.1037/h0030372 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumrind, D. (1989). Rearing competent children. In Damon, W. (Ed.), Child development today and tomorrow (pp. 349–378). San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass.Google Scholar
Bell, R. Q. (1968). A reinterpretation of the direction of effects in studies of socialization. Psychological Review, 75, 81–95. doi:10.1037/h0025583 Google Scholar
Belsky, J. (1984). The determinants of parenting: A process model. Child Development, 55, 83–96. doi:10.2307/1129836 Google Scholar
Belsky, J., Rha, J. H., & Park, S. Y. (2000). Exploring reciprocal parent and child effects in the case of child inhibition in US and Korean samples. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24, 338–347. doi:10.1080/01650250050118321 Google Scholar
Berg-Nielsen, T. S., Vikan, A., & Dahl, A. A. (2002). Parenting related to child and parental psychopathology: A descriptive review of the literature. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 7, 529–552. doi:10.1177/1359104502007004006 Google Scholar
Biringen, Z., Robinson, J. L., & Emde, R. N. (1998). The Emotional Availability Scales. Accessed at www.emotionalavailability.com Google Scholar
Blakemore, J. E. O., Berenbaum, S. A., & Liben, L. S. (2009). Gender development. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Bollen, K. A., & Curran, P. J. (2006). Latent curve models: A structural equation perspective (Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Bornstein, M. H., & Bradley, R. H. (Eds.). (2002). Socioeconomic status, parenting, and child development. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In Lerner, R. M. & Damon, W. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 793–828). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Burke, J. D., Pardini, D. A., & Loeber, R. (2008). Reciprocal relationships between parenting behavior and disruptive psychopathology from childhood through adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 679–692. doi:10.1007/s10802-008-9219-7 Google Scholar
Campbell, S. B. (2002). Behavior problems in preschool children: Clinical and developmental issues. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D. (1993). Developmental psychopathology: Reactions, reflections, projections. Developmental Review, 13, 471–502. doi:10.1006/drev.1993.1021 Google Scholar
Combs-Ronto, L. A., Olson, S. L., Lunkenheimer, E. S., & Sameroff, A. J. (2009). Interactions between maternal parenting and children's early disruptive behavior: Bidirectional associations across the transition from preschool to school entry. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 1151–1163. doi:10.1007/s10802-009-9332-2 Google Scholar
Conger, R. D., & Donnellan, M. B. (2007). An interactionist perspective on the socioeconomic context of human development. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 175–199. doi 10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085551 Google Scholar
Connell, A. M., & Goodman, S. H. (2002). The association between psychopathology in fathers versus mothers and children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 746–773. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.128.5.746 Google Scholar
Crouter, A. C., & Booth, A. (Eds.). (2003). Children's influence on family dynamics: The neglected side of family relationships. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cui, M., Donnellan, M. B., & Conger, R. D. (2007). Reciprocal influences between parents’ marital problems and adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1544–1552. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1544 Google Scholar
Cummings, E. M., Davies, P. T., & Campbell, S. B. (2002). Developmental psychopathology and family process: Theory, research, and clinical implications. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Curran, P. J. (2000). A latent curve framework for the study of developmental trajectories in adolescent substance use. In Rose, J. S., Chassin, L., Presson, C. C., & Sherman, S. J. (Eds.), Multivariate applications in substance use research: New methods for new questions (pp. 1–4). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Deater-Deckard, K., & Dodge, K. A. (1997). Externalizing behavior problems and discipline revisited: Nonlinear effects and variation by culture, context, and gender. Psychological Inquiry, 8, 161–175. doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0803_1 Google Scholar
Denham, S. A., Workman, E., Cole, P. M., Weissbrod, C., Kendziora, K. T., & Zahn-Waxler, C. (2000). Prediction of externalizing behavior problems from early to middle childhood: The role of parental socialization and emotion expression. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 23–45. doi:10.1017/S0954579400001024 Google Scholar
Ellenbogen, M. A., & Hodgins., S. (2004). The impact of high neuroticism in parents on children's psychosocial functioning in a population at high risk for major affective disorder: A family-environmental pathway of intergenerational risk. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 113–136. doi:10.1017/S0954579404044438 Google Scholar
Ellenbogen, M. A., & Hodgins., S. (2009). Structure provided by parents in middle childhood predicts cortisol reactivity in adolescence among the offspring of parents with bipolar disorder and controls. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 34, 773–785. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2008.12.011 Google Scholar
Flora, D. B., Curran, P. J., Hussong, A. M., & Edwards, M. C. (2008). Incorporating measurement nonequivalence in a cross-study latent growth curve analysis. Structural Equation Modeling, 15, 676–704. doi:10.1080/10705510802339080 Google Scholar
Ganzeboom, H. B., & Treiman, D. J. (1996). Internationally comparable measures of occupational status for the 1988 International Standard Classification of Occupations. Social Science Research, 25, 201–239. doi:10.1006/ssre.1996.0010 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ge, X., Conger, R. D., Lorenz, F. O., Shanahan, M., & Elder, G. H. Jr. (1995). Mutual influences in parent and adolescent psychological distress. Developmental Psychology, 31, 406–419. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.31.3.406 Google Scholar
Gershoff, E. T. (2002). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 539–579. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.128.4.539 Google Scholar
Graham, J. W. (2009). Missing data analysis: Making it work in the real world. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 549–576. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085530 Google Scholar
Graham, J. W., & Schafer, J. L. (1999). On the performance of multiple imputation for multivariate data with small sample size. In Hoyle, R. (Ed.), Statistical strategies for small sample research (pp. 1–29), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Greenberg, M. T., Domitrovich, C., & Bumbarger, B. (2001). The prevention of mental disorders in school-aged children: Current state of the field. Prevention & Treatment, 4, 1–62. doi:10.1037/1522-3736.4.1.41a CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hipwell, A., Keenan, K., Kasza, K., Loeber, R., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., & Bean, T. (2008). Reciprocal influences between girls’ conduct problems and depression, and parental punishment and warmth: A six year prospective analysis. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 663–677. doi:10.1007/s10802-007-9206-4 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, S. O., Power, T. G., Orlet Fisher, J., Mueller, S., & Nicklas, T. A. (2005). Revisiting a neglected construct: Parenting styles in a child-feeding context. Appetite, 44, 83–92. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2004.08.007 Google Scholar
Kawabata, Y., Alink, L. R. A., Tseng, W., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Crick, N. R. (2011). Maternal and paternal parenting styles associated with relational aggression in children and adolescents: A conceptual analysis and meta-analytic review. Developmental Review, 31, 240–278. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2011.08.001.Google Scholar
Kessler, R. C., Ruscio, A. M., Shear, K., & Wittchen, H. U. (2010). Epidemiology of anxiety disorders. In Stein, M. B. & Steckler, T. (Eds.), Neurobiology of anxiety and its treatment (pp. 21–35). Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Khoo, S. T., West, S. G., Wu, W., & Kwok, O. M. (2006). Longitudinal methods. In Eid, M. & Diener, E. (Eds.), Handbook of multimethod measurement in psychology (pp. 301–317). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Kline, R. B. (2013). Reverse arrow dynamics: Feedback loops and formative measurement. In Hancock, G. R. & Mueller, R. O. (Eds.), Structural equation modeling: A second course (2nd ed., pp. 39–76). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.Google Scholar
Kochanska, G. (2002). Committed compliance, moral self, and internalization: A mediational model. Developmental Psychology, 38, 339–351. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.38.3.339 Google Scholar
Kuczynski, L. (Ed.). (2003). Handbook of dynamics in parent-child relations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Lansford, J. E., Criss, M. M., Laird, R. D., Shaw, D. S., Pettit, G. S., Bates, J. E., et al. (2011). Reciprocal relations between parents’ physical discipline and children's externalizing behavior during middle childhood and adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 225–238. doi:10.1017/S0954579410000751 Google Scholar
Larsson, H., Viding, E., Rijsdijk, F. V., & Plomin, R. (2008). Relationships between parental negativity and childhood antisocial behavior over time: A bidirectional effects model in a longitudinal genetically informative design. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 633–645. doi:10.1007/s10802-007-9151-2 Google Scholar
Lengua, L. J., & Kovacs, E. A. (2005). Bidirectional associations between temperament and parenting and the prediction of adjustment problems in middle childhood. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 26, 21–38. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2004.10.001 Google Scholar
Lerner, R. M. (1982). Children and adolescents as producers of their own development. Developmental Review, 2, 342–370. doi:10.1016/0273-2297(82)90018-1 Google Scholar
Little, T. D., Preacher, K. J., Selig, J. P., & Card, N. A. (2007). New developments in latent variable panel analyses of longitudinal data. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31, 357–365. doi:10.1177/0165025407077757 Google Scholar
Maccoby, E. E. (2007). Historical overview of socialization research and theory. In Grusec, J. E. & Hastings, P. D. (Eds.), Handbook of socialization: Theory and research (pp. 13–41). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Maccoby, E. E., & Martin, J. A. (1983). Socialization in the context of the family: Parent–child interaction. In Hetherington, E. M. (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Socialization, personality, and social development (pp. 1–101). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
McLeod, B. D., Wood, J. J., & Weisz, J. R. (2007). Examining the association between parenting and childhood anxiety: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 155–172. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2006.09.002 Google Scholar
McLoyd, V. C. (1998). Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. American Psychologist, 53, 185–204. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.53.2.185 Google Scholar
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998). Mplus user's guide (5th ed.). Los Angeles: Author.Google Scholar
Pardini, D. A. (2008). Novel insights into longstanding theories of bidirectional parent–child influences: Introduction to the special section. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 627–631. doi:10.1007/s10802-008-9231-y Google Scholar
Pardini, D. A., Fite, P. J., & Burke, J. D. (2008). Bidirectional associations between parenting practices and conduct problems in boys from childhood to adolescence: The moderating effect of age and African-American ethnicity. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 647–662. doi:10.1007/s10802-007-9162-z Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R. (1982). Coercive family processes. Eugene, OR: Castalia.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R. (2002). The early development of coercive family process. In Reid, J. B., Patterson, G. R., & Snyder, J. J. (Eds.). (2002). Antisocial behavior in children and adolescents: A developmental analysis and the Oregon model for intervention (pp. 25–44). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Pearl, A. M., French, B. F., Dumas, J. E., Moreland, A. D., & Prinz, R. (2014). Bidirectional effects of parenting quality and child externalizing behavior in predominantly single parent, under-resourced African American families. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23, 1–12. doi:10.1007/s10826-012-9692-z Google Scholar
Pettit, G. S., & Arsiwalla, D. D. (2008). Commentary on special section on “bidirectional parent–child relationships”: The continuing evolution of dynamic, transactional models of parenting and youth behavior problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 711–718. doi:10.1007/s10802-008-9242-8 Google Scholar
Power, T. G. (2002). Parenting Dimensions Inventory—Short version (PDI-S): A research manual. Unpublished manuscript, University of Houston, TX.Google Scholar
Rothbaum, F., & Weisz, J. R. (1994). Parental caregiving and child externalizing behavior in nonclinical samples: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 55–74. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.116.1.55 Google Scholar
Sameroff, A. (1975). Transactional models in early social relations. Human Development, 18, 65–79. doi:10.1159/000271476 Google Scholar
Sameroff, A. J. (2009). Conceptual issues in studying the development of self-regulation. In Olson, S. L. & Sameroff, A. J. (Eds.), Biopsychosocial regulatory process in the development of childhood behavior problems. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sameroff, A. J., & MacKenzie, M. J. (2003). Research strategies for capturing transactional models of development: The limits of the possible. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 613–640. doi:10.1017/S0954579403000312 Google Scholar
Scarr, S., & McCartney, K. (1983). How people make their own environments: A theory of genotype-environment effects. Child Development, 54, 424–435.Google Scholar
Schwartzman, A., Bukowski, W. M., Serbin, L. A., Stack, D. M., Hastings, P. D., & Ledingham, J. (2015). Psychiatric disorder in a three-generation time frame: Genetic liability, socioecological context, and childhood behavior antecedents. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Schwartzman, A., Ledingham, J., & Serbin, L. (1985). Identification of children at risk for adult schizophrenia: A longitudinal study. International Journal of Applied Psychology, 34, 363–380. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.1985.tb01333.x Google Scholar
Serbin, L. A., Cooperman, J. M., Peters, P. L., Lehoux, P. M., Stack, D. M., & Schwartzman, A. E. (1998). Intergenerational transfer of psychosocial risk in women with childhood histories of aggression, withdrawal, or aggression and withdrawal. Developmental Psychology, 34, 1246. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.34.6.1246 Google Scholar
Serbin, L. A., Stack, D. M., Hubert, M. & Schwartzman, A. E. (2011). The transfer of health and developmental risk from women to their children: Exploring intergenerational pathways in a high risk sample [invited chapter]. In Kerr, M., Stattin, H., Rutger, C., Engles, M. E., Overbeek, G., & Andershed, A.-K. (Eds.), Understanding girls’ problem behavior (pp. 207–230). London: Wiley.Google Scholar
Shahar, G. (2006). Clinical action: Introduction to the special section on the action perspective in clinical psychology. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62, 1053–1064. doi:10.1002/jclp.20290 Google Scholar
Slater, M. A., & Power, T. G. (1987). Multidimensional assessment of parenting in single parent families. In Vincent, J. (Ed.), Advances in family, intervention assessment, and theory (Vol. 4, pp. 197–228). Greenwich, CT: JAI.Google Scholar
Stack, D. M., Serbin, L. A., Girouard, N., Enns, L. N., Bentley, V., Ledingham, J. E., et al. (2012). The quality of the mother–child relationship in high-risk dyads: Application of the emotional availability scales in an intergenerational, longitudinal study. Development and Psychopathology, 24, 93–105. doi:10.1017/S095457941100068X Google Scholar
Stanger, C., & Lewis, M. (1993). Agreement among parents, teachers, and children on internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 22, 107–116. doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp2201_11 Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. (2010). Low income lines, 2009–2010. Income Research Paper Series (Catalogue no. 75F0002M, No. 005). Ottawa: Author.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, M., Junger, M., Van Aken, C., Deković, M., & Van Aken, M. A. G. (2010). Parenting and children's externalizing behavior: Bidirectionality during toddlerhood. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31, 93–105. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2009.09.002 Google Scholar
Véronneau, M.-H., & Vitaro, F. (2007). Social experiences with peers and high school graduation: A review of theoretical and empirical research. Educational Psychology, 27, 419–445. doi:10.1080/01443410601104320 Google Scholar
Zahn-Waxler, C., Iannotti, R. J., Cummings, E. M., & Denham, S. (1990). Antecedents of problem behaviors in children of depressed mothers. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 271–291. doi:10.1017/S0954579400000778 Google Scholar
Zahn-Waxler, C., Shirtcliff, E. A., & Marceau, K. (2008). Disorders of childhood and adolescence: Gender and psychopathology. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 4, 275–303. doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.3.022806.091358 Google Scholar