心理科学 ›› 2024, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (3): 598-605.DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240311

• 发展与教育 • 上一篇    下一篇

消极情绪对学前儿童问题行为的影响:父母严厉管教的中介作用*

刘亚鹏**1, 邓慧华2, 梁宗保2, 张光珍2   

  1. 1上南京晓庄学院幼儿师范学院学前弱势儿童研究所, 南京, 211171;
    2 东南大学儿童发展与学习科学教育部重点实验室, 南京, 210096
  • 出版日期:2024-05-20 发布日期:2024-05-15
  • 通讯作者: **刘亚鹏,E-mail:liuyp0824@163.com
  • 基金资助:
    *本研究得到教育部人文社会科学研究项目(20JYCZH101)和国家社科基金教育学一般项目(BHA170130)的资助

The Mediating Role of Harsh Parenting in the Association between Child Negative Emotionality and Behavioral Problems

Liu Yapeng1, Deng Huihua2, Liang Zongbao2, Zhang Guangzhen2   

  1. 1Research Group of Early Education of Disadvantaged Children, School for Preschool Education, Nanjing XiaoZhuang University, Nanjing, 211171;
    2Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science, Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096
  • Online:2024-05-20 Published:2024-05-15

摘要: 本研究以358名学步儿为被试,探讨儿童早期不同消极情绪表现是否会通过父母严厉管教影响学前期的问题行为。结果显示:(1)母亲严厉管教在受限后沮丧和学前儿童外化问题行为之间起部分中介作用,即受限后沮丧不仅直接正向预测外化问题行为,还会通过母亲严厉管教影响外化问题行为。(2)恐惧对学前儿童内化问题行为的直接作用显著,但父母严厉管教在其中的中介作用不显著。研究结果揭示了早期受限后沮丧和恐惧对学前期问题行为的作用机制存在差异。

关键词: 受限后沮丧, 恐惧, 问题行为, 严厉管教

Abstract: Behavioral problems are prevalent in preschoolers. Thus, exploring the developmental mechanisms of preschoolers’ behavioral problems is necessary and significant. As two core different characteristics of negative emotionality, distress to limitations and fearfulness are associated with child externalizing and internalizing problems, respectively. However, the possible mechanisms accounting for these relations remains an open question. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate whether maternal and paternal harsh parenting mediated the impact of toddlers’ distress to limitations and fearfulness on externalizing and internalizing problems at preschool age.
A diverse sample of 358 mother-father dyads with their 14-month-old toddlers participated in this study. They were randomly recruited from a Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Nanjing, Jiangsu. When children were 14 months old, mothers rated on child negative emotionality and the demographic information concerning age, gender, and parental education level. At 24 months, the mother and father reported their harsh parenting, respectively. Two years later, both parents reported preschoolers’ externalizing and internalizing problems. Initially, the study used SPSS 21.0 to analyze data. This study conducted the analyses of descriptive statistics to calculate the mean and standard deviation of main variables and the Pearson product-moment correlation to analyze inter-correlation coefficients among those variables. Finally, a structural equation model was conducted in the Mplus 8.70 to examine the mediating role of parental harsh parenting in the relationship between child negative emotionality and behavioral problems after controlling demographic information.
Findings were as follows: (1) The distress to limitations positively and significantly predicted maternal rather than paternal harsh parenting (βm= .17, pm < .01; βf = .12, pf > .05). However, fearfulness showed no significant correlation with both maternal and paternal harsh parenting (βm= .07, βf= .01, ps > .05). (2) Maternal harsh parenting positively and significantly predicted preschoolers’ externalizing problems (β= .23, p < .05), while paternal harsh parenting positively and significantly predicted preschoolers’ internalizing problems (β = .13, p < .05). (3) Maternal harsh parenting played partly mediating effect in the associations of distress to limitations with externalizing problems. More specifically, the distress to limitations not only influenced externalizing problems directly (β = .13, t = 2.11, p < .05), but also by relating to maternal harsh parenting ( .17× .23= .04, Sobel Z=2.03, p < .05). Moreover, although the mediating effect of parents’ harsh parenting in the association between fearfulness and internalizing problems was not significant (γ = .01, t = .73, p > .05), the fearfulness influenced internalizing problems directly (β = .12, t = 2.03, p < .05).
In sum, the finding that maternal but not paternal harsh parenting mediated the impact of distress to limitations on externalizing problems revealed that if mothers can react to toddlers’ distress to limitations in an appropriate way, the incidences of later externalizing problems of children will decrease. It corroborates the importance of furnishing mothers who have difficulties in dealing with their toddlers’ distress to limitations in daily life with effective guidance for family education. It also underscored the relation between child and maternal parenting in influencing preschoolers’ behavioral development is bilateral and interactive. Moreover, the results also revealed that the mechanism of fearfulness on internalizing problems is distinct from that of distress to limitations on externalizing problems.

Key words: distress to limitations, fearfulness, behavioral problems, harsh parenting