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Coercive attachment, marital distress and ineffective parenting as predictors of disruptive behavior in preschool children
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COERCIVE ATTACHMENT, ‘MARITAL DISTRESS AND INEFFECTIVE PARENTING PREDICTORS OF DISRUPTIVE BEiiAVIOR IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
AS
Crystal DeVito and Joyce Hopkins The primary aim of this study was to examine the association between mother-child attachment patterns and disruptive behavior in preschoolers. The second goal was to investigate the independent and combined effects of a coercive attachment strategy and two other known risk factors, marital distress and ineffective parenting practices, on disruptive behavior. Participants included 60 two- to four-year-olds and their mothers; of whom 30 were clinic-referred for disruptive behavior problems and 30 were community volunteers. Children were videotaped in the Ainsworth Strange Situation paradigm. The Preschool Assessment of Attachment (Crittenden, 1992) a coding system specifically designed to assess attachment patterns in the preschool years, was used to class@ children into one of three attachment patterns: balanced, (analogous to secure) coercive (analogous to ambivalent) or defended (analogous to avoidant). The Dyadic Adjustment Scale was used to assess marital satisfaction. The Parenting Practices Questionnaire was used to assess parenting style. The Externalizing Score of the Child Behavior Checklist was used as a continuous measure of disruptive behavior. Results of an ANOVA indicated that the coercive children scored significantly higher on the measure of disruptive behavior than either the balanced or secure children @ (2,55) =l 1.62, p < .OOl). Results of a hierarchical regression analysis indicated that the coercive pattern of mother-child attachment, in combination with previously identified risk factors, specifically, marital distress and ineffective parenting practices, is a powerful predictor of disruptive behavior in preschool-aged children, even after controlling for the effects of SES (see Table 1). The combination of these four variables alone accounted for 4 1% of the variance in disruptive behavior. These findings illustrate the unique contribution of a specific type of insecure attachment, the coercive pattern, in predicting disruptive behavior in preschool-aged children. Table 6. Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Disruptive Behavior; Excluding Non-correlated Predictor Variables @=60) Predictors Step 1 SES
B
SE
-4.27
1.17
P -.45**
Correlation” -.45
p <.Ol
Sten 2 SES -2.36 0.92 -.25* .45 .Ol Attachment Pattern C vs. B 3.78 1.47 .26* .54 .Ol Dyadic Adjustment Scale -0.17 0.06 -.28** -.53 c.01 Permissive Parenting 8.15 3.43 .24* .47 .02 Authoritarian Parenting 6.04 3.33 .19 .49 .08 Note. Step 1: R’= .20, F (1,52) = 13.3; Step 2: AR2 = .41, F (5,48) = 14.8, (ps < ,001). “Correlations between each predictor and CBCL externalizing score *p < .05, **p < .Ol
COERCIVE ATTACHMENT, ‘MARITAL DISTRESS AND INEFFECTIVE PARENTING PREDICTORS OF DISRUPTIVE BEiiAVIOR IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
AS
Crystal DeVito and Joyce Hopkins The primary aim of this study was to examine the association between mother-child attachment patterns and disruptive behavior in preschoolers. The second goal was to investigate the independent and combined effects of a coercive attachment strategy and two other known risk factors, marital distress and ineffective parenting practices, on disruptive behavior. Participants included 60 two- to four-year-olds and their mothers; of whom 30 were clinic-referred for disruptive behavior problems and 30 were community volunteers. Children were videotaped in the Ainsworth Strange Situation paradigm. The Preschool Assessment of Attachment (Crittenden, 1992) a coding system specifically designed to assess attachment patterns in the preschool years, was used to class@ children into one of three attachment patterns: balanced, (analogous to secure) coercive (analogous to ambivalent) or defended (analogous to avoidant). The Dyadic Adjustment Scale was used to assess marital satisfaction. The Parenting Practices Questionnaire was used to assess parenting style. The Externalizing Score of the Child Behavior Checklist was used as a continuous measure of disruptive behavior. Results of an ANOVA indicated that the coercive children scored significantly higher on the measure of disruptive behavior than either the balanced or secure children @ (2,55) =l 1.62, p < .OOl). Results of a hierarchical regression analysis indicated that the coercive pattern of mother-child attachment, in combination with previously identified risk factors, specifically, marital distress and ineffective parenting practices, is a powerful predictor of disruptive behavior in preschool-aged children, even after controlling for the effects of SES (see Table 1). The combination of these four variables alone accounted for 4 1% of the variance in disruptive behavior. These findings illustrate the unique contribution of a specific type of insecure attachment, the coercive pattern, in predicting disruptive behavior in preschool-aged children. Table 6. Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Disruptive Behavior; Excluding Non-correlated Predictor Variables @=60) Predictors Step 1 SES
B
SE
-4.27
1.17
P -.45**
Correlation” -.45
p <.Ol
Sten 2 SES -2.36 0.92 -.25* .45 .Ol Attachment Pattern C vs. B 3.78 1.47 .26* .54 .Ol Dyadic Adjustment Scale -0.17 0.06 -.28** -.53 c.01 Permissive Parenting 8.15 3.43 .24* .47 .02 Authoritarian Parenting 6.04 3.33 .19 .49 .08 Note. Step 1: R’= .20, F (1,52) = 13.3; Step 2: AR2 = .41, F (5,48) = 14.8, (ps < ,001). “Correlations between each predictor and CBCL externalizing score *p < .05, **p < .Ol