Overt and relational aggression in Russian nursery-school-age children: Parenting style and marital linkages.

Abstract

Maternal and paternal parenting styles and marital interactions linked to childhood aggressive behavior as described in Western psychological literature were measured in an ethnic Russian sample of 207 families of nursery-school-age children. Results corroborated and extended findings from Western samples. Maternal and paternal coercion, lack of responsiveness, and psychological control (for mothers only) were significantly correlated with children's overt aggression with peers. Less responsiveness (for mothers and fathers) and maternal coercion positively correlated with relational aggression. Some of these associations differed for boys versus girls. Marital conflict was also linked to more overt and relational aggression for boys. When entered into the same statistical model, more marital conflict (for boys only), more maternal coercion, and less paternal responsiveness were found to be the most important contributors to overt and relational aggression in younger Russian children. Children's aggression in the peer group and its relationship to parenting styles and patterns of marital and family interaction has a relatively long tradition of empirical inquiry in Western psychological literature (see Hart, Olsen, Robinson, & Mandleco, 1997, for a review). Recently, efforts to link maladaptive behaviors to a host of social-psychological outcomes in preschool-age and older children have focused on overt and relational forms of aggression (e.g., Crick, Casas, & Mosher, 1997; McNeilly-Choque, Hart, Robinson, Nelson, & Olsen, 1996). However, exploring ways that different forms of aggression are associated with family processes is a relatively new area of inquiry (Crick et al., in press). Although there is significant knowledge concerning linkages between family processes and overt forms of aggression (e.g., Crick & Dodge, 1994), little

Correspondence between maternal and paternal parenting styles in early childhood

“…Clearly the next step in a program of research intended to continue to elucidate the ways in which correspondence in parenting between both parents in the home influences child development would be to link parental (dis)agreement on actual and perceived parenting practices and specific developmental outcomes for the child. Although no links between the PSDQ and child outcomes are shown here, it is important to note that other work has clearly shown that the parenting dimensions tapped by the PSDQ are linked with theoretically relevant child outcomes (Coolahan et al, 2002;Hart et al, 1998Hart et al, , 2000Russell et al, 2003;Yang et al, 2004).…”

“…Although this measure is used frequently in the literature and has been adapted now for effective use in multiple cultural settings, including Russia (Hart, Nelson, Robinson, Olson, & NcNeilly-Choque, 1998), China (Wu et al, 2002) and African-American Head Start communities (Coolahan, McWayne, Fantuzzo, & Grim, 2002), most investigators have only used the self-report feature and have not exploited the spousal report feature. In order to reduce the total number of analyses conducted with this small sample, only the three overall scales for authoritativeness, authoritarianism, and permissiveness were used in the analyses below.…”

The Broader Context of Relational Aggression in Adolescent Romantic Relationships: Predictions from Peer Pressure and Links to Psychosocial Functioning

“…Moreover, research has consistently demonstrated associations between parental psychological control, which seeks to undermine children's autonomy, and children's aggressive behaviors within the peer context (Hart et al 2003;Nelson and Crick 2002;Rogers et al 2003). With regard to relational aggression specifically, parental enmeshment (in the form of excessive maternal coercion) has been found to be associated with greater perpetration of relational aggression in a sample of Russian nursery-school-age children (Hart et al 1998), and parental psychological control has been significantly linked to increased relational aggression in pre-school age Chinese girls (Nelson et al 2006). Such research, though limited to younger children and peer relationships, suggests that difficulties with autonomy and enmeshment in early adolescent peer relationships may also serve as precursors to the development of relational aggression in later romantic relationships.…”

The Effects of Parenting Styles on Behavioral Problems in Primary School Children: A Cross-Cultural Review

“…The findings of a number of studies reveal an association between the quality of parenting styles and children's behavioural problems (Anthony et al, 2005;Aunola & Kurmi, 2005;Chang, Schwartz, Dodge, & McBride-Chang, 2003;Hart, Nelson, Robinson, Olsen, & McNeilly-Choque, 1998;Henderson, Dakof, Schwartz, & Liddle, 2006;Mulvaney & Mebert, 2007;Raboteg-Šarić, Rijavec & Brajsa-Zganec, 2001; Russell, Hart, Robinson & Olsen, 2003;Stevens, Vollebergh, Pels, & Crijnen, 2007). More specifically, Barnes and Farrell (1992) found that parenting styles were significant predictors of behavioural problems, suggesting that positive parenting techniques such as high level of parental support and monitoring tended to have children who were less likely to exhibit drink problems, drug use, misconduct at school and deviant behaviour in general.…”