Parenting behavior and psychosocial development in elementary school children

Differential relationships between seven parenting styles (inconsistent discipline, positive parenting, involvement, poor monitoring/supervision, power and coercion, responsibility oriented parenting, and corporal punishment) and four types of children's psychosocial behaviors (social-emotional competencies, oppositional-aggressive behavior, hyperactivity, emotional instability-internalizing) are studied cross-sectionally. In a study with 373 parents of elementary school children attending first and second grades, parents rated their own parenting behavior with an extended German version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ). In addition, parents assessed the psychosocial behavior of their child on a child social behavior checklist (VBV short version). Data were analyzed separately for fathers and mothers. As expected, positive parenting was closely related to psychosocially competent behavior of children. Specifically, mothers' monitoring and fathers' refusal of corporal punishment and of inconsistent discipline added significantly to the prediction of children's social competence. Less positive parenting styles were positively related to children's behavioral problems, and negatively related to children's social competencies. Specifically, oppositional-aggressive behaviors of children were positively related to inconsistent discipline and corporal punishment by both parents, as well as to responsibility oriented parenting style of mothers and to reports of power and coercion by fathers. Hyperactive behaviors in children were related to inconsistent parenting by both parents, and additionally related to corporal punishment by mothers and the refusal of positive parenting behaviors in fathers. Internalizing behaviors of children were associated with inconsistent parenting by both parents, and with reports of power and. coercion in fathers. There were no significant interactions between parenting styles.