Discipline Practices Among Biological and Foster Parents

Abstract

In a sample of 124 parents (62 pairs of biological and foster parents) of children who were maltreated (M age = 6.2 years), this study compared self-reports of discipline practices between biological and foster parents toward a target child and explored the role of child, parent, and foster care ecology factors on discipline practices. Controlling for parental age, psychological distress, and marital status, biological and foster parents reported using similar levels of positive, appropriate, and harsh discipline. For biological and foster parents, child characteristics (being female, younger, and having more conduct problems) were associated with parental self-reports of less effective discipline. The study also found a positive association between parent-to-parent cooperation and effective discipline. These findings suggest that parenting interventions may need to move beyond simple presumption of deficits in parenting knowledge, and that children could benefit from enhancement of supportive relationships between biological and foster parents involved in the foster care system.

Foster Parents’ Perceptions of Factors Needed for Successful Foster Placements

“…Foster homes with the highest relationship satisfaction (Orme et al 2004) lowest relationship stress (Lipscombe et al 2004) and highest ratings of parent-to-parent cooperation were the most successful (Linares et al 2006b).…”

Maternal Characteristics and Child Problem Behaviors: A Comparison of Foster and Biological Mothers

“…It is difficult to determine whether the differences obtained in this study reflect response bias (i.e., under reporting of behavior) or actual disciplinary practices of foster parents. The literature is inconsistent in its findings regarding foster mother discipline practices, with some studies reporting greater use of harsh discipline by foster mothers (Linares et al, 2006) and others reporting the use of noncorporal disciplinary practices with their foster children, though the same foster mother produced harsh disciplinary responses to hypothetical situations (Tripp De Robertis & Litrownik, 2004). However, foster mother responses on the other parenting behavior scales (i.e., nurturing and expectations) provide some evidence that the data reflect actual behavior rather than a response bias.…”

“…As the authors noted, the foster mothers indicated they preferred to use teaching and limit setting as their primary disciplinary practices when dealing with their foster child's problematic behavior. In an interesting study comparing biological and foster mothers' discipline practices (Linares, Montalto, Rosbruch, & Li, 2006), there were no differences found between biological and foster mothers in their use of positive, appropriate, and harsh discipline; however, foster mothers reported higher expectations than did biological mothers. The authors also found a significant relationship between foster mother's harsh discipline, high expectations, and child behavior problems, which the authors noted may reflect the foster mother's response to the difficult characteristics of the foster child.…”

De invloed van gedragsproblemen van pleegkinderen op het opvoedgedrag van pleegmoeders

“…Onderzoek naar het opvoedgedrag van pleegouders en de effecten ervan op de ontwikkeling van de pleegkinderen is nauwelijks voorhanden (Linares, Montalto, Rosbruch & Li, 2006). Onderzoek toont wel dat pleegouders kunnen leren om op een positieve manier met het probleemgedrag van hun pleegkind om te gaan en dat dit resulteert in een afname van het probleemgedrag (Fisher, Gunnar, Chamberlain & Reid, 2000;Linares e.a., 2006) en/of minder breakdowns (Fisher, Burraston & Pears, 2005;Kalland & Sinkkonen, 2001).…”