Parent–Child Aggression Risk in Expectant Mothers and Fathers: A Multimethod Theoretical Approach

Abstract

The current investigation evaluated whether cognitive processes characteristic of the Social Information Processing model predicted parent-child aggression (PCA) risk independent of personal vulnerabilities and resiliencies. This study utilized a multimethod approach, including analog tasks, with a diverse sample of 203 primiparous expectant mothers and 151 of their partners. Factors considered in this study included PCA approval attitudes, empathy, reactivity, negative child attributions, compliance expectations, and knowledge of non-physical discipline alternatives; additionally, vulnerabilities included psychopathology symptoms, domestic violence victimization, and substance use, whereas resiliencies included perceived social support, partner relationship satisfaction, and coping efficacy. For both mothers and fathers, findings supported the role of greater approval of PCA attitudes, lower empathy, more overreactivity, more negative attributions, and higher compliance expectations in relation to elevated risk of PCA. Moreover, personal vulnerabilities and resiliencies related to PCA risk for mothers; however, fathers and mothers differed on the nature of these relationships with respect to vulnerabilities as well as aspects of empathy and PCA approval attitudes. Findings provide evidence for commonalities in many of the factors investigated between mothers and fathers with some notable distinctions. Results are discussed in terms of how findings could inform prevention programs.

The intergenerational transmission of childhood maltreatment: Nonspecificity of maltreatment type and associations with borderline personality pathology

“…CAPI, Child Abuse Potential Inventory (Milner, 2004). CES, Compliance Expectations Scale (Rodriguez, Smith, & Silvia, 2016). CHLV, Caregiver's History of Loss and Victimization (Hunter & Everson, 1991).…”

“…DCF, Department of Children and Families. KDA, Knowledge of Discipline Alternatives (Rodriguez et al, 2016). KIDI, Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory (MacPhee, 1981).…”

How does COVID-19 impact intrafamilial child sexual abuse? Comparison analysis of reports by practitioners in Israel and the US

“…Initial reports suggest that depression is rising immediately following the rapid global spread of COVID-19 ( Wang, Pan et al, 2020 ). Such evidence of mental health challenges is likely to translate into an escalation in the risk for any type of child maltreatment ( Rodriguez, Smith, & Silvia, 2016 ; Stith et al, 2009 ). Indeed, in a recent study it was revealed that parents who lost their jobs were more depressed, and if they had previously psychologically maltreated their children they were more likely to do so again during the pandemic ( Lawson, Piel, & Simon, 2020 ).…”

Psychometric Evaluation of a Brief Assessment of Parents’ Disciplinary Alternatives

“…Parenting style.-The Expected Parental Authority Questionnaire (Expected PAQ) assesses parenting style in pre-parent or new parent samples (Boppana & Rodriguez, 2017;Rodriguez, Smith, & Silvia, 2016a, 2016b. Modified from the Parental Authority Questionnaire (Buri, 1991), the 30-item measure adjusted wording from the original by phrasing items in future tense in which parents were asked to respond how they expect to raise their child.…”