The effect of the parent-adolescent emotional context on the link between positive parenting practices and adolescent behavioral adjustment

Date of Award

2012

Degree Name

M.A. in Clinical Psychology

Department

Department of Psychology

Advisor/Chair

Advisor: Jackson Goodnight

Abstract

Positive parenting and a warm parent-child emotional climate predict low levels of child antisocial behavior, but the effect of positive parenting on antisocial behavior at different levels of the parent-child emotional climate has not been investigated prior to this study. This study examined the moderating effect of the parent-adolescent emotional climate on the association between positive parenting practices and conduct problems. The study investigated the following three hypotheses: (1) Parental warmth will be inversely related to adolescent externalizing behavior, controlling for initial levels of externalizing behavior and positive parenting practices. (2) Positive parenting practices will be inversely related to adolescent externalizing behavior, controlling for initial levels of externalizing behavior and parental warmth. (3) Parental warmth will moderate the effect of positive parenting practices on adolescent externalizing behavior, controlling for initial levels of externalizing behavior and the independent main effects of parental warmth and positive parenting practices on externalizing behavior. Specifically, the inverse association between positive parenting practices and adolescent externalizing behavior was expected to be stronger at high levels of parental warmth than at low levels of parental warmth. The results indicated, first, that parental warmth and the emotional climate do not independently predict adolescent conduct problems and, second, that the emotional climate does not moderate the relationship between positive parenting practices and adolescent conduct problems.

Keywords

Behavior disorders in adolescence Longitudinal studies, Parent and child Longitudinal studies, Parenting Psychological aspects Longitudinal studies, Clinical psychology; developmental psychology; families and family life; parental warmth; emotional climate; positive parenting; parenting practices; conduct problems; antisocial behavior; externalizing problems

Rights Statement

Copyright © 2012, author

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