Parenting practices, aggressive response evaluation and decision, and social difficulties in kindergarten children: The role of fathers

Abstract

The association between fathers' parenting characteristics and their preschool children's social information processing (SIP) patterns is an understudied research topic. Hence, the current study aims to bridge this gap by examining whether there are differences between mothers' and fathers' parenting characteristics and their children's SIP patterns as well as their social functioning in school, with a specific focus on children's aggressive response evaluation and decision (RED) and social difficulties in kindergarten. Using a multimethod (self‐reports and direct assessments) multi‐informant (mother, father, child, and teacher) design, we collected data from 115 kindergarten children, their mothers, and their fathers, tapping the parents' perceptions of the relationships with the child and parenting style; the child's aggressively biased RED, and the child's social difficulties in kindergarten. We found that fathers' parenting capacities are associated with children's aggressively biased RED, whereas no such associations were found for mothers. In addition, aggressively biased RED mediated the association between fathers' authoritative parenting style and the child's maladaptive behavior in kindergarten. There were no differences between fathers and mothers in relation to social difficulties in kindergarten, with both parents' authoritative parenting style associated with less social difficulties. However, sex moderated this association in mothers as their authoritative style was associated with social difficulties in boys but not in girls. This difference was not found in fathers. On the other hand, fathers' authoritarian parenting style was associated with aggressive RED in boys but not in girls. The tentative nature of these findings and the need for replications are discussed.

Families, Parenting and Aggressive Preschoolers: A Scoping Review of Studies Examining Family Variables Related to Preschool Aggression

“…Jia et al [ 66 ] found that hostile/coercive parenting was an independent risk factor for both proactive and reactive aggression in the preschool environment. However, other studies have not found a significant direct or indirect association between parenting styles and aggressive behaviour in preschoolers [ 80 , 85 , 87 ]. In the case of victimisation, only one study analysed this relationship.…”

“…Six studies (15.38%), two longitudinal ones [ 71 , 85 ] and four cross-sectional ones [ 66 , 80 , 86 , 87 ], examined the relationship between parenting styles and preschool aggression. With regard to perpetration, Casas et al [ 86 ] found that authoritative and permissive parenting styles were positively related to the children’s relational aggression, and an authoritative parenting style was associated with lower levels of physical aggression in children.…”

“…Self-reports have the advantage of capturing an overall picture of parenting, but they may also be vulnerable to social desirability and recall biases [ 91 ]. The literature suggests that supplementing these measures with direct evaluations of parenting is likely to increase the predictive power of these constructs [ 87 ]. Alternatively, as suggested by Nelson et al [ 61 ], it would be appropriate to supplement them with the information provided by the children about their parents’ behaviour, and whenever possible, to find out the spouse/partner’s view.…”

“…The findings of the studies contained in this review suggest that intervention programmes aimed at reducing the children’s personal risk factors should be combined with counselling and training programmes for the parents. In general, training programmes can help the parents to develop healthier relationship patterns with their children, with the goal of making the parents aware that their relationship with their child is the basis for the child’s psychosocial development [ 87 ]. The programmes should aim to promote positive parenting practices, foster the children’s perceived support and affection, and establish patterns promoting intrafamilial communication and closeness [ 108 ].…”

Are there any changes in mothers' attitudes? Analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 quarantine on child-rearing attitudes

“…It was stated in various studies ( Altafim et al, 2021 , Hu and Feng, 2021 ) that the gender of the children was not determinant in the attitudes of mothers towards their children, and mothers displayed similar child-rearing attitudes towards both their sons and their daughters. On the other hand, studies have found that mothers' child-rearing attitudes were more moderate in relation to the gender of their children, while fathers had different child-rearing attitudes, in that they were more authoritarian towards boys ( Ziv & Arbel, 2021 ).…”