Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
ARTICLESThe Influence of Maternal Stress and Distress on Disruptive Behavior Problems in Boys
Section snippets
Socioeconomic Disadvantage
Research shows that family income is inversely related to child disruptive behavior problems (Feldman et al., 2000, McGee and Williams, 1999). The long-term impact of socioeconomic disadvantage can be quite negative. Low SES has been linked to poor academic performance and severe disciplinary problems during adolescence (DuBois et al., 1994) and higher prevalence rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (Pineda et al., 1999) and conduct disorder (Steiner and Dunne, 1997). SES has also
Participants
Participants were part of a larger sample of a longitudinal intervention project with aggressive children (Lochman and Wells, 2002). Fourth and fifth grade teachers were asked to rate each child in their class on a 5-point Likert scale (range, 1-5) on three aggressive behaviors (verbal aggression, physical aggression, and disruptive behavior) (Lochman, 1992), with a total aggression score ranging from 3 to 15. A risk sample of 183 boys (i.e., ranked in the top 35% of all teacher ratings) and an
Correlations Among Variables
The parenting stress composite was not significantly correlated with the Hollingshead Index (SES) (r = 0.12, p = ns). Maternal depression (BDI Total) was significantly positively correlated with maternal anxiety/somatization (SCL-90-R Anxiety/Somatization Scales composite) (r = 0.70, p < .001).
Correlations among the scales of the CBCL and TRF are presented in Table 1. Correlations ranged from .22 to .67, all significant at the p < .01 or p < .001 level. Higher levels of child disruptive
DISCUSSION
Results indicate that low SES is correlated with boys' disruptive behavior problems in general, across both mother and teacher reports. In addition, high levels of parenting stress, as measured by occurrence and intensity of daily hassles, is associated with a significant amount of unique variance, over and above SES, in mother-reported child disruptive behavior problems. SES and parenting stress were not significantly correlated in this sample, suggesting that these are two distinct
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2020, Children and Youth Services ReviewCitation Excerpt :Higher maternal parenting stress could in turn decrease the quality of parents’ socioemotional interactions with children (Crnic & Low, 2002; Deater-Deckard & Scarr, 1996; McBride & Mills, 1993) and give rise to children’s behavioral problems (Anderson, Gooze, Lemeshow, & Whitaker, 2011; Bornstein, 2002; Leadbeater & Bishop, 1994; Yeung, Linver, & Brooks-Gunn, 2002). Specifically, maternal stress, depression, and anxiety predict inconsistent approaches to discipline, harsher parenting behaviors, and decreased quality time spent with children, all of which relate to children’s disruptive behavior, conduct problems, and emotion dysregulation (Barry et al., 2005; Campbell & Cohn, 1991; Goodman et al., 2011; NICHD ECCRN, 1999). This kind of disruption to parenting behavior would arguably impact infants and toddlers more than older children because that is when infants are forming foundational attachment relationships with their caregivers, attachments that are shaped in part by the quality of parental sensitivity and responsiveness (Belsky & Fearon, 2002).
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Disclosure: Ms. Cotten is an employee of SkillsNET Corporation. The other authors have no financial relationships to disclose.
This study was funded by a grant provided by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (DA-08453) to Drs. Lochman and Wells. Additional support was provided by grants from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (UR65907956, KD1SP08633) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (R49\CCR418569).
Correspondence to Dr. Barry, Department of Psychology, University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Drive, Box 5025, Hattiesburg, MS 39406; e-mail: [email protected].