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Published on: September 19, 2019
Parental Warmth and Hostility and Child Executive Function Problems: A Longitudinal Study of Chinese Families
Chun Bun Lam1, Kevin Kien Hoa Chung1, Xiaomin Li1
1Department of Early Childhood Education, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong.
Insights
Maternal hostility increases child inhibition and cognitive flexibility issues, while paternal hostility elevates working memory problems. Targeting parental hostility is key for improving children's executive functions.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Psychology
- Family Studies
Background:
- Executive functions are crucial for children's academic and social success.
- Parenting styles, including warmth and hostility, significantly influence child development.
- Understanding the distinct roles of maternal and paternal parenting is essential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the longitudinal links between maternal/paternal warmth and hostility and child executive function problems.
- To differentiate the impact of positive (warmth) versus negative (hostility) parenting behaviors.
- To examine these associations in a Hong Kong kindergarten population.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study with 333 kindergarten children and their parents/teachers over two years.
- Parental self-ratings of parenting practices (warmth, hostility).
- Teacher ratings of child executive function problems (updating/working memory, inhibition, shifting/cognitive flexibility).
- Multilevel modeling controlling for demographic factors and child verbal abilities.
Main Results:
- Maternal hostility predicted increases in child inhibition and shifting/cognitive flexibility problems.
- Paternal hostility predicted increases in child updating/working memory problems.
- Neither maternal nor paternal warmth showed significant associations with executive function problems.
Conclusions:
- Both maternal and paternal hostility negatively impact specific aspects of child executive function development.
- Distinguishing between warmth and hostility in parenting is critical for understanding executive function outcomes.
- Interventions targeting maternal and paternal hostility may effectively reduce child executive function problems.
Abstract:
This study examined the longitudinal associations of maternal and paternal warmth and hostility with child executive function problems. Data were collected for two consecutive years from 333 kindergarten children who resided in Hong Kong, China, as well as their mothers, fathers, and class teachers. At Time 1, the average age of children was 57.73 months, and 56% of them were girls. At Time 1, mothers and fathers rated their own parenting practices with their children. At Times 1 and 2, class teachers rated children's problems in three aspects of executive functions, including updating/working memory, inhibition, and shifting/cognitive flexibility. As control variables, at Time 1, parents provided information on child and family demographic factors, and children completed verbal ability tasks. Multilevel modeling revealed that controlling for child and family demographic factors, child verbal abilities, and paternal parenting practices, maternal hostility, but not maternal warmth, was linked to increases in child inhibition and shifting/cognitive flexibility problems. Moreover, paternal hostility, but not paternal warmth, was linked to increases in updating/working memory problems. Theoretically, this study highlighted the importance of considering the contributions of both mothers and fathers, and differentiating between positive and negative aspects of parenting, when examining the development of child executive functions. Practically, this study pointed to the utility of targeting maternal and paternal hostility in family intervention and community education in order to reduce child executive function problems.
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