The relation between early frustration reactivity, parental responsiveness and later externalizing symptoms

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Melanie A. Maddox (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Susan P. Keane

Abstract: Children with higher frustration reactivity are at elevated risk for developing externalizing problems. Prior research has also indicated that certain parenting factors (e.g., hostility, rejection), are associated with risk for child psychopathology while others (e.g., warmth, responsiveness), are associated with positive child outcomes. Responsiveness (i.e., prompt, appropriate response to children’s bids/distress) is a feature of authoritative parenting that has been linked to the development of adaptive skills in children. The goal of the present study was to examine the effect of child frustration reactivity (FR) and parental responsiveness (PR) on risk for increase in externalizing symptoms (ES) in a longitudinal design. A sample of 106 boys and 137 girls was assessed at five years of age for ES, FR and PR. They were again assessed at ten years of age for ES. It was hypothesized that higher FR at age five would predict an increase in ES at age ten, and higher PR at age five would be associated a decrease ES at age ten. Further, it was hypothesized that PR would moderate the relation between FR and later ES such that higher PR would mitigate this relation for children higher in FR. As hypothesized, there was a significant main effect found between early PR and later ES. When early ES was included as a covariate there was also a significant main effect between early FR and later ES. Contrary to hypotheses, there was no moderation effect of PR found. However, exploratory analyses revealed a significant interaction effect of PR and FR predicting concurrent ES at age 5. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2018
Keywords
Children, Externalizing, Frustration, Parenting
Subjects
Frustration in children
Parent and child $x Psychological aspects
Behavior disorders in children

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