Predicting Externalizing and Internalizing Behavior in Kindergarten: Examining the Buffering Role of Early Social Support

Abstract

Objective This study tested an ecological model predicting children’s behavior problems in kindergarten from risk and protective factors (parent psychological distress, parenting behavior, and social support) during early childhood. Method Study participants were 1161 socio-demographically diverse mother-child pairs who participated in a longitudinal birth cohort study. The predictor variables were collected at two separate time points and based on parent reports; children were an average of two years old at Time 1 and three years old at Time 2. The outcome measures were collected when children reached Kindergarten and were six years old on average. Results Our results show that early maternal psychological distress, mediated by sub-optimal parenting behavior, predicts children’s externalizing and internalizing behaviors in kindergarten. Moreover, early social support buffers the relations between psychological distress and later sub-optimal parenting behaviors and between sub-optimal parenting behavior and later depressive/withdrawn behavior. Conclusions Our findings have several implications for early intervention and prevention efforts. Of note, informal social support appears to play an important protective role in the development of externalizing and internalizing behavior problems, weakening the link between psychological distress and less optimal parenting behavior and between sub-optimal parenting behavior and children’s withdrawal/depression symptoms. Increasing social support may be a productive goal for family and community-level intervention.

Analysis of Studies on Social Support and Children of Depressed Mothers: A Systematic Review

“…Most longitudinal studies monitored young children; among these studies, five focused on the behavior of children from 6 to 7.5 years old (Anhalt, Telzrow, & Brown, 2007;Ashman, Dawson, & Panagiotides, 2008;Barker, Copeland, Maughan, Jaffee, & Uher, 2012;Campbell, Matestic, von Stauffenberg, Mohan, & Kirchner, 2007;Heberle, Krill, Briggs-Gowan, & Carter, 2014), and the other six studies examined 12-to 13-year-old children (Barker & Maughan, 2009;Criss et al, 2009;Fatori et al, 2013;Gross et al, 2009;Hart, Atkins, & Matsuba, 2008;Karevold, Roysamb, Ystrom, & Mathiesen, 2009). …”

“…Overall, however, the analyzed studies found that fewer contextual risk factors predicted fewer behavioral problems and depressive symptoms in children (Ashman et al, 2008;Barker & Maughan, 2009;Hart et al, 2008;Karevold et al, 2009;Lau et al, 2007;Lengua et al, 2008); more parental resources predicted fewer behavioral problems and psychopathologies (Allen-Meares et al, 2010;Criss et al, 2009;DuboisComtois et al, 2013;Goosby, 2007;Gross et al, 2009); more social support predicted fewer behavioral problems (Barker & Maughan, 2009;Heberle et al, 2014;Karevold et al, 2009); and greater maternal harshness correlated with more externalizing problems (Wang et al, 2013).…”

“…Regarding the informants, eight studies used the mother as the sole source of information (Anhalt et al, 2007;Barker & Maughan, 2009;Boyd & Tervo-Clemmens, 2013;Gerkensmeyer, Perkins, Day, et al, 2011;Gerkensmeyer, Perkins, Scott, et al, 2008;Goosby, 2007;Mickelson & Demmings, 2009;Zanca et al, 2013), and 13 studies did not specify the mothers' depression status at the time of data collection (Barker et al, 2012;Barker & Maughan, 2009;Brown et al, 2013;Criss et al, 2009;Dubois-Comtois et al, 2013;Goosby, 2007;Hart et al, 2008;Heberle et al, 2014;Karevold et al, 2009;Lau et al, 2007;Lengua et al, 2008;Piché et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2013). Because depressive symptoms may affect the quality of mothers' reports, implying a potential methodological problem that limits the validity of the information provided, 18 studies employed multiple respondents including not only mothers but also children, fathers, and teachers, which increased the validity of the findings.…”

Parenting as a moderator of the effects of cumulative risk on children's social–emotional adjustment and academic readiness

“…Conversely, ineffective parenting might exacerbate or worsen the effects of risk, or might present another additive risk factor. As suggested by other studies that have demonstrated the influences of environmental risk and parenting on child adjustment in children as young as 5–6 years old (Heberle, Krill, Briggs-Gowan, & Carter, 2015; Smeekens, Riksen-Walraven, & van Bakel, 2007), this may be particularly true during early developmental periods, when parents have some ability to filter and influence children’s experiences of environmental risk factors or stressful life events. Tests of parenting as a moderator are required to formally investigate this hypothesis.…”

JGZ-richtlijn Psychosociale problemen

“…Er is een aanwijzing dat sociale steun fungeert als buffer tussen stress voor de moeder, inadequaat opvoedgedrag en de ontwikkeling van internaliserend en externaliserend probleemgedrag bij het kind C (Heberle et al, 2014) 3 Er is een aanwijzing dat sociale steun de betrokkenheid van oma's een beschermende factor is tegen het ontwikkelen van externalizerende problemen, wanneer moeders een strenge opvoedstijl hanteren Barnett et al, 2010) …”