Department of Psychology, 10 West, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK.
Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2022 Aug;31(8):1-11. doi: 10.1007/s00787-021-01759-w. Epub 2021 Mar 18.
In high-income countries, links between harsh and abusive parenting and child conduct and emotional problems are well-documented. However, less is known about these relationships in low- and middle-income countries, where harsh parenting may be more widely accepted and higher rates of conduct or emotional problems may exist which could influence the strength of these associations. We sought to investigate these relationships in a large population-based, prospective longitudinal study from Brazil, which also allowed us to test for sex differences. Using data from the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study (N = 4231) at ages 6 and 11 years, we applied cross-lagged path analysis to examine the relationships between harsh parenting (Conflict Tactics Scale Parent-Child version), and child conduct and emotional problems (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). We found reciprocal relationships between harsh parenting and child conduct problems, with harsh parenting at age 6 predicting child conduct problems at age 11, and vice versa, even after adjusting for initial levels of conduct problems and harsh parenting, respectively. For child emotional problems, only unidirectional effects were found, with harsh parenting at age 6 predicting child emotional problems at age 11, after adjusting for initial levels of emotional problems, but not vice versa. No significant sex differences were observed in these relationships. These observations based on a middle-income country birth cohort highlight the potential universality of detrimental effects of harsh parenting on child conduct and emotional problems and affirm the importance of addressing parent- and child-effects in preventive and treatment interventions, especially those targeting conduct problems.
在高收入国家，严厉和虐待性的育儿方式与儿童行为和情绪问题之间的联系已得到充分证实。然而，在中低收入国家，人们对这些关系的了解较少，在这些国家，严厉的育儿方式可能更为普遍，行为或情绪问题的发生率可能更高，这可能会影响这些关联的强度。我们试图在一项来自巴西的大型基于人群的前瞻性纵向研究中调查这些关系，该研究还允许我们检验性别差异。我们使用了 2004 年佩洛塔斯出生队列研究（N=4231）在 6 岁和 11 岁时的数据，应用交叉滞后路径分析来检验严厉的育儿方式（冲突策略量表父母-儿童版）与儿童行为和情绪问题（长处和困难问卷）之间的关系。我们发现严厉的育儿方式和儿童行为问题之间存在相互关系，6 岁时的严厉育儿方式预测 11 岁时的儿童行为问题，反之亦然，即使分别调整了行为问题和严厉育儿方式的初始水平。对于儿童情绪问题，仅发现单向影响，即 6 岁时的严厉育儿方式预测 11 岁时的儿童情绪问题，在调整了情绪问题的初始水平后，但反之则不然。在这些关系中没有观察到显著的性别差异。这些基于中低收入国家出生队列的观察结果强调了严厉育儿方式对儿童行为和情绪问题的潜在不利影响的普遍性，并肯定了在预防和治疗干预中，特别是针对行为问题的干预中，解决父母和儿童效应的重要性。
