Associations between Harsh Parenting and Children's Social Emotional Outcomes in Families Enrolled in Ohio START: The Moderating Role of Child Sex

Background and Purpose: There is an established link between parental substance use and a heightened risk for harsh parenting (e.g., spanking, hitting). Research documents poor mental health outcomes among children whose parents use substances and harsh parenting practices (Kepple, 2018), including greater behavioral challenges (Gershoff et al., 2018), higher rates of anxiety and depression (Yap & Jorm, 2015), and poor social functioning (Wong et al., 2021). Aligning with Social Role Theory (Eagly et al., 2000), parents’ attitudes towards harsh parenting may differ based on their child’s sex. Specifically, research suggests that parents may be more likely to use harsher discipline practices with boys compared to girls (Endendijk et al., 2017). Despite prior research in this area, few studies have examined the moderating effects of child sex on the relations between harsh parenting attitudes and children’s externalizing symptoms, internalizing symptoms, and prosocial behavior in a sample of child welfare-impacted families reporting both substance use and child maltreatment.

Methods: Participants were 133 parents (M_age=32.64; SD=6.76; 87.3% White) enrolled in Ohio START (Sobriety, Treatment, And Reducing Trauma), a child welfare service delivery model providing comprehensive support for families affected by co-occurring parental substance use and child maltreatment. Parents who consented to participate in the current study answered a variety of measures, including the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI; Bavolek & Keene, 2010) which assessed harsh parenting attitudes and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman & Goodman, 2009) which assessed children’s emotional and behavioral symptoms. Hierarchical regression models were used to examine the direct effects of harsh parenting and the interaction between harsh parenting and child sex on children’s externalizing symptoms, internalizing symptoms, and prosocial skills. Significant interactions were explored using simple slopes analyses.

Results: Harsh parenting (β=.33, p=.003) and child age (β= -.23, p=.014) were significantly linked with children’s externalizing symptoms only. For boys, stronger attitudes towards harsh parenting were linked with greater externalizing symptoms (t=3.62, p=<.001). Child sex significantly moderated the association between harsh parenting and children’s prosocial skills (β=.30, p=.002). For boys, stronger beliefs in harsh parenting were associated with poorer prosocial skills (t=-2.58, p=.007). For internalizing symptoms, neither harsh parenting nor the interaction term was significant.

Conclusions and implications: Results indicate that boys may be particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of harsh parenting. Parenting programs for child welfare-affected families experiencing substance use should address parents’ underlying beliefs about child discipline, with a specific focus on ways to support social emotional development in boys. For example, parents would benefit from psychoeducation about the lack of effectiveness of corporal punishment and other harsh parenting behaviors in addressing their children’s challenging behaviors. Introducing alternative parenting strategies such as engaging in positive reinforcement, modeling prosocial behaviors, employing logical or natural consequences, and focusing on parent-child quality time could address children’s externalizing symptoms (Leijten et al., 2019). Further, these approaches could contribute to children’s developing sense of self and belonging, problem-solving skills, emotion regulation, and connection to family.