The Mediating Role of Maternal Warmth in the Associations Between Harsh Parental Practices and Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors in Hispanic American, African American, and European American Families

• Published in: Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology Vol. 21; no. 3; pp. 430 - 439
• Main Authors: Dede Yildirim, Elif, Roopnarine, Jaipaul L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Educational Publishing Foundation 01-07-2015
• Subjects: African Americans - psychology; Black People; Child Behavior - ethnology; Child Behavior - psychology; Child, Preschool; Childrearing Practices; European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Externalization; Family; Family - ethnology; Family - psychology; Female; Hispanic Americans - psychology; Human; Humans; Internalization; Latinos/Latinas; Longitudinal Studies; Lower Income Level; Male; Maternal Behavior - ethnology; Maternal Behavior - psychology; Mother Child Relations; Mother-Child Relations - ethnology; Mother-Child Relations - psychology; Parenting - ethnology; Parenting - psychology; Poverty - ethnology; Racial and Ethnic Differences; United States; White People; externalizing behaviors; harsh treatment; ethnicity; internalizing
• ISSN: 1099-9809; 1939-0106
• DOI: 10.1037/a0038210

Using data from the add-on 5-year cohort of In-Home Longitudinal Study of preschool aged Children of the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (FFCWS), we examined the mediating role of maternal warmth in the associations between positive and harsh maternal practices and children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors. The sample consisted of 1,922 low-income Hispanic American, African American, and European American families. For European Americans, the links between maternal psychological aggression and hostility and children's externalizing behaviors were direct. Similarly, for Hispanic Americans, the links between maternal psychological aggression, physical assault, and hostility and externalizing behaviors were direct, as was the link between maternal physical assault and internalizing behaviors. For African Americans, maternal warmth partially mediated the links between maternal hostility and physical assault and externalizing behaviors. However, the associations between psychological aggression and externalizing and internalizing behaviors were direct. The data are discussed with respect to similarities in cultural pathways of influence between harsh maternal treatment and children's behavioral difficulties across ethnic groups.