Parental Neuroticism and Negative Discipline: The Role of Household Chaos and Parental Perspective Taking

Understanding effects of parental negative discipline is critical for promoting positive child development. Research has increasingly investigated how individual characteristics and contextual factors affect parents' negative discipline. The present study was aimed to explain the association between parental neuroticism and negative discipline by examining the mediating role of household chaos and the moderating role of parental cognitive perspective taking. In a longitudinal design, the study assessed parents' self-report of negative discipline at two time points 1 year apart. One hundred and thirty-four parents of children aged 4-7 years were recruited in Hong Kong. Data were analyzed using Bayesian estimation. The findings revealed that parent-rated household chaos mediated the association between parental neuroticism and negative discipline. Parental perspective taking alleviated the mediational pathway but not the directional association. Specifically, when parents displayed a higher level of cognitive perspective taking, the indirect association between parental neuroticism and negative discipline was no longer significant. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings for negative discipline were discussed.