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Mothers' parenting and child sex differences in behavior problems among African American preschoolers

Melissa A Barnett1, Laura V Scaramella

  • 1Division of Family Studies and Human Development, Norton School of Family & Consumer Sciences, University of Arizona.

Journal of Family Psychology : JFP : Journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43)
|August 14, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Mothers use less positive parenting with sons than daughters. Parenting impacts boys and girls differently for externalizing behaviors, but not internalizing behaviors.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Psychology
  • Family Studies

Background:

  • Sex differences in behavior problems emerge in early childhood.
  • Parenting practices may explain these sex differences in child behavior.
  • Differential parenting or differential impact of parenting on boys and girls are potential factors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate sex differences in the associations between maternal parenting and child behavior problems.
  • To examine if maternal positive and negative parenting relate differently to internalizing and externalizing behaviors in sons versus daughters.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized fixed-effects within-family models.
  • Observed maternal parenting behaviors (positive and negative) and child behaviors (internalizing and externalizing).
  • Sample included 137 low-income African American families with 2- and 4-year-old siblings.

Main Results:

  • Mothers used less positive parenting with sons compared to daughters.
  • Higher negative parenting correlated with more externalizing behaviors in boys.
  • Lower positive parenting correlated with more externalizing behaviors in girls.
  • No significant sex differences were found for internalizing behaviors.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal parenting is associated with child behavior problems differently for boys and girls.
  • These sex differences are specific to externalizing behaviors.
  • Findings highlight the importance of considering child sex in understanding parenting effects on behavior.

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