Does positive parenting influence the development of conduct problems in children of adolescent mothers?

Abstract

This study investigated positive parenting in adolescent mothers and its relationship to CP in early school-aged children. A new measure of positive parenting was constructed using a combination of conceptual, methodological, and empirical criteria. The conceptual basis of this work integrated research related both to normal development and socialization and to abnormal development and problems in socialization. The methodology used in this study measured positive parenting through a combination of microanalytic observation, global observer ratings, and parent self-report. The empirical approach employed preliminary internal consistency analyses for item selection, and confirmatory factor analysis in the model testing process. The confirmatory factor analysis tested whether a two-factor model of positive parenting, in which factors represented parenting practices and parenting styles separately, or a single-factor model, in which measures of parenting practices and parenting styles were combined, was a better fit to the data. Evidence for a single-factor model of positive parenting was obtained. Positive parenting was significantly related to CP in several domains (family interaction in the lab, child behavior at home, and child behavior in the school) and at several time points (grades 1, 2, and 3). Gender differences in the strength of this association were found, with CP in boys being more strongly related to positive parenting than CP in girls. Analyses also indicated that positive parenting may be related to prosocial behavior in this age group.