Examining the Relationships Between Parenting Practices, Children’s Temperament, and Academic and Behavioural Outcomes in Lower-Income Families

TL;DR

This study explores how parenting practices and child temperament affect academic and behavioral outcomes in low-income families.

Contribution

The study identifies how parenting practices mediate the effects of child temperament on child outcomes in diverse, low-income families.

Findings

Children's temperament is positively linked to mothers' hostile parenting and children's conduct problems.

Hostile parenting is positively associated with children's conduct problems.

Maternal responsivity is linked to better receptive vocabulary in children.

Abstract

Maternal childrearing practices play a prominent role in a child’s developmental outcomes. Difficult child temperament, specifically, negative emotionality, impacts parenting practices. The present study contributes to the existing literature by investigating the mediating role of parenting practices on associations between children’s temperament and academic and behavioural outcomes in a low-income and ethnically diverse sample. The present study consists of a sample of 163 families. The average age of the children was 32.40 months (SD = 2.61 months). The average age of the mothers was 34.35 years (SD = 5.32 years). Structural equation modelling examined the relationship between children’s temperament, parenting practices, and child outcomes. A two-step procedure was conducted to test this model: confirmatory factor analysis followed by latent path analysis. The results show that children’s temperament was significantly and positively associated with mothers’ hostile parenting and children’s conduct problems. Hostile parenting was positively associated with children’s conduct problems. While overprotective parenting was negatively associated with children’s receptive vocabulary scores, maternal responsivity was positively associated with better receptive vocabulary in children. Finally, hostile parenting was found to play a significant and positive mediating role in children’s conduct behaviour. Maternal practices are associated with outcomes in children with negative emotionality, underscoring the need for tailored interventions in diverse, low-income families.

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