Parent Stress, Physical Discipline, and Child Behavior Problems in Kindergarten

Background: In 2006, nearly 80% of births to black women under the age of 30 were to single mothers. For black children, more than half are in families headed by single-parent mothers, and children in these families have extraordinarily high rates of poverty. Differences in discipline practices may account for some of the variation in child behavior in poor and single-parent black families. While the effects of discipline on mainly white samples have received a great deal of research, the literature on differences in discipline practices among single black mothers raising young child in poverty is sparse.

This study examined the presence and impact of nonresident fathers on preschoolers' early school adjustment as a buffer of the negative consequences of single mothers' parent stress and harsh discipline practices. More frequent father-child contact was expected to moderate the negative effects of parent stress and spanking on child behavior problems in kindergarten.

Methods: At times 1 and 2, 89 single mothers with a 3-year-old child were interviewed in their homes. For each interview, mothers completed a questionnaire focusing on parenting and family life. Then, teachers completed an assessment of the children's subsequent adjustment in kindergarten at time 2.

Analyses: The principal statistical procedure was ordinary least squares regression analyses. First, teacher-reported child behavior problems were regressed additively on scales assessing parenting stress, frequency of spanking, frequency of father-child contact, mothers' satisfaction with the father's presence in the child's life, with controls for mothers' education, child's gender, and family income.

Then, to determine whether father-child contact was a buffering factor for children in the context of mothers' frequent spanking and parenting stress, two interaction terms (spanking x father-child contact and parent stress x father-child contact) were tested.

Results: Greater parenting stress, less frequent father-child contact, mothers' diminished satisfaction with the father's relationship with the child, and more frequent spanking were significant predictors of increased behavior problems in kindergarten, after controlling for mothers' education, child's gender, and income-to-needs, accounting for 21% of the variance in behavior problems. The interaction between father-child contact and mothers' spanking frequency achieved significance in the interaction model, suggesting that more contact between fathers and their children at time 1 reduced the effect of harsh discipline practices by mothers on subsequent child behavior problems at time 2. This step increased the explained variance in behavior problems to 24%.

Conclusions and Implications: Single mothers' parenting stress may have serious consequences for the well-being of poor and near-poor black children, especially if emotionally stressed mothers are more likely than others to rely on aversive, coercive discipline techniques. If nonresident biological fathers' contacts with their children serve a buffering or “protective” function in such circumstances, then evidence-based interventions might focus on honing relationship skills between these fathers and the mothers of their children. Future research might also investigate models reflecting mediation effects among the predictor and outcome variables investigated in the present study. Such models would shed greater light on the mechanisms involved in poor and near-poor black children's early adjustments to school.