Do hostile attributions and negative affect explain the association between authoritarian beliefs and harsh parenting?

Child Abuse & Neglect 67 (2017) 13–21

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Child Abuse & Neglect

Research article

Do hostile attributions and negative affect explain the association between authoritarian beliefs and harsh parenting? Julie L. Crouch ∗ , Lauren M. Irwin 1 , Joel S. Milner, John J. Skowronski, Ericka Rutledge 2 , America L. Davila Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault, Northern Illinois University, United States

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history: Received 17 August 2016 Received in revised form 3 January 2017 Accepted 13 February 2017 Keywords: Childrearing Parenting beliefs Child transgressions Vignettes

a b s t r a c t The present study examined the associations between authoritarian parenting beliefs, attributions of hostile intent, negative affect, and harsh parenting practices. General population parents (N = 183; 31.1% fathers) completed self-report measures of authoritarian parenting beliefs and read vignettes describing children engaging in transgressions. Following each vignette, parents indicated the extent to which they would attribute hostile intent to the child, feel negative affect, and respond with harsh parenting practices (e.g., yelling, hitting). As hypothesized, parents who subscribed to higher levels of authoritarian beliefs attributed more hostile intent to the child and expected to feel more negative affect in response to the transgressions. In turn, higher levels of hostile attributions and negative affect were associated with increased likelihood of harsh parenting practices. Results from a path analysis revealed that the association between authoritarian parenting beliefs and harsh parenting practices was fully explained by attributions of hostile intent and negative affect. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Parents hold a variety of beliefs about childrearing and these beliefs influence both parenting behavior and child outcomes (Azar, Reitz, & Goslin, 2008; Goodnow & Collins, 1990; Milner, 2000; Rubin et al., 2006; Sigel & McGillicuddy-De Lisi, 2002). For example, authoritarian parenting beliefs emphasize the importance of parental authority and control over children’s behavior (Baumrind, 1971; Coplan, Hastings, Lagace-Seguin, & Moulton, 2002; Damon & Smetana, 1994). Parents who endorse authoritarian parenting beliefs tend to think that children should always obey, that they need to be taught to do the “right” thing, and that teaching obedience is the most important goal of parenting (Schaefer & Edgerton, 1985). Research indicates that authoritarian parenting beliefs tend to be associated with a variety of adverse child outcomes. For example, authoritarian parenting beliefs assessed during a child’s second year of life are inversely associated with children’s behavioral, cognitive, and language development assessed at 24 and 36 months (Shears, Whiteside-Mansell, McKelvey, & Selig, 2008). Among grade school children, higher levels of authoritarian parenting beliefs are associated with higher levels

∗ Corresponding author at: Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault, 125 Presidents Boulevard, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115-2854, United States. E-mail address: [email protected] (J.L. Crouch). 1 Lauren M. Irwin is now at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. 2 Ericka Rutledge is now at the University of Florida. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.02.019 0145-2134/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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of teacher reported externalizing behavior problems, lower levels of social skills, and lower levels of academic achievement (Mulvaney & Morrissey, 2012; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2004). Results from another prospective study revealed that authoritarian parenting (as assessed during preschool years) predicted lower levels of competence and higher levels of internalizing symptoms in adolescence (Baumrind, Larzelere, & Owens, 2010). Although considerable research has linked authoritarian parenting beliefs to adverse child outcomes, the mechanisms through which authoritarian beliefs influence child outcomes warrant additional research (see Darling & Steinberg, 1993 for additional discussion of this point). According to Baumrind et al. (2010), one of the factors that distinguish authoritarian parents from other parents (e.g., authoritative parents) is their more frequent use of coercive power assertion strategies, including verbal hostility, arbitrary discipline, psychological control tactics (e.g., guilt, love withdrawal), and severe physical punishment. Interestingly, Baumrind et al. found that harsh/coercive parenting practices partially accounted for the association between authoritarian parenting style during preschool years and subsequent maladjustment in adolescence. So why is it that harsh/coercive parenting tactics are more commonly used by parents who endorse higher levels of authoritarian beliefs? One possible explanation is that authoritarian parents simply believe harsh/coercive parenting practices are the most effective ways to manage children’s misbehaviors. Such a notion is consistent with research demonstrating that, compared to parents who never spank, parents who report spanking their children are more likely to believe that spanking is an effective means of getting children to behave appropriately (Holden, Miller, & Harris, 1999). Moreover, frequent spankers (compared to parents who never spank) are more likely to believe that spanking fosters long-term socialization goals and teaches children to respect parental authority (Holden et al., 1999). These findings suggest that authoritarian parenting beliefs may be associated with more frequent selection of harsh/coercive parenting practices because such practices are expected to bring about positive outcomes (e.g., compliance, respect). Alternatively, the association between authoritarian parenting beliefs and selection of harsh parenting practices may be explained by other cognitive/emotional factors. For example, parents who subscribe to higher levels of authoritarian parenting beliefs may utilize hostile/coercive parenting strategies more often because they believe that misbehaving children are intentionally trying to be annoying. Specifically, parents who endorse higher levels of authoritarian beliefs may be more likely to attribute hostile intent to transgressing children, which in turn may trigger aggressive responses (i.e., harsh/coercive parenting practices). Indeed, attributions of hostile intent have been found to be robust precursors of aggressive behavior (Orobio de Castro, Veerman, Koops, Bosch, & Monshouwer, 2002); thus, it is plausible that hostile attributions may explain why parents who endorse higher levels of authoritarian parenting beliefs more often use harsh/coercive parenting strategies when responding to children’s misbehaviors. In an effort to demonstrate the influence of parental attributions on parenting behavior, Slep and O’Leary (1998) observed mothers interacting with their children after a brief induction procedure designed to increase the likelihood of either hostile or benign attributions. To induce hostile attributions, mothers in the experimental group were told that children intentionally misbehave in order to gain attention and control. In contrast, mothers in the control condition were told that children misbehave unintentionally because they don’t have much self-control. Mothers who were led to believe that their children were responsible for their misbehavior (compared to mothers in the control condition) were rated as significantly more overreactive in their discipline during subsequent interactions with their children. The link between authoritarian parenting beliefs and attributions of hostile intent has received only limited attention. Burchinal, Skinner, and Reznick (2010) examined the associations between authoritarian parenting beliefs, attributions of hostile intent, and maternal sensitivity in a sample of mothers of infants between the ages of 2 and 18 months. Results revealed that both authoritarian parenting beliefs and hostile attributions to infants were inversely associated with maternal sensitivity as observed during parent-child interactions. Qualitative data from a subset of parents in this study revealed that “some mothers believed that infants can misbehave intentionally and need to be punished to stop the bad behavior” (p. 79). However, the associations between authoritarian parenting beliefs, attributions of hostile intent, and harsh/coercive parenting behaviors were not directly examined in this study. Related research indicates that authoritarian mothers make more internal/fewer external attributions for children’s aggression and disobedience (Coplan et al., 2002; Hastings & Rubin, 1999) and they consider children to be more blameworthy in ambiguous situations (Dix & Reinhold, 1991). It should also be noted that attributions of hostile intent tend to be associated with negative affect, and both factors may increase the risk of reactive parent-to-child aggression (Berkowitz, 1990, 1993; Bugental, 1992; Milner, 2000; Shay & Knutson, 2008; Slep & O’Leary, 1998). Indeed, prior research suggests that negative affect is often a precursor to harsh/coercive parenting behavior (e.g., Ateah & Durrant, 2005; Holden, Coleman, & Schmidt, 1995). For example, Ateah and Durrant (2005) surveyed a sample of mothers regarding their use of physical punishment during the past two weeks and found that maternal anger was a significant predictor of use of physical discipline (even after controlling for parental belief in the value of corporal punishment and perceptions of the seriousness/intent of the child’s misbehavior). Similarly, Pidgeon and Sanders (2012) found that parents who reported clinically elevated levels of anger (compared to parents without clinically elevated anger) rated children’s negative and ambiguous behaviors as more stable, intentional, and blameworthy, and they reported engaging in higher levels of harsh/coercive parenting practices. Collectively, findings across a number of studies suggest that authoritarian parenting beliefs may function as a cognitive framework that influences interpretations of children’s behaviors, parental affect, and selection of parenting responses (Azar et al., 2008; Coplan et al., 2002; Lin, 2005). Guided by the aforementioned literature and theory, the present study was designed to examine (a) whether authoritarian parenting beliefs are associated with the selection of harsh parenting practices in response to vignettes describing child transgressions and (b) whether attributions of hostile intent and anger in response to child transgressions explain the

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association between authoritarian beliefs and selection of harsh parenting practices. Toward this end, we asked parents with varying levels of authoritarian parenting beliefs to read a series of vignettes describing children engaging in transgressions. After reading each vignette, parents were asked to indicate the extent to which they: (1) attributed hostile intent to the transgressing child, (2) expected to feel negative affect (e.g., upset, irritated, angry), and (3) would respond with harsh parenting behaviors (e.g., slap, hit, yell, scream). We predicted that at the bivariate level authoritarian beliefs would be positively associated with attributions of hostile intent, negative affect, and selection of harsh parenting responses. We also expected that the association between authoritarian beliefs and selection of harsh parenting practices would be (at least partially) explained by attributions of hostile intent and negative affect in response to child transgressions. 2. Method 2.1. Participants Participants in the present study included a convenience sample of 189 general population parents who were recruited from communities surrounding a Midwestern university. Six parents were excluded due to incomplete data (i.e., more than 10% of items missing) on one or more of the measures. Of the remaining 183 parents (31.1% fathers), approximately half (49.2%) described themselves as Black/African American, 38.3% as White/Caucasian, 5.5% as Hispanic, 0.5% as Asian, 0.5% American Indian, and 6.0% as “other.” The mean age of participants was 33.0 years (SD = 10.3). The mean highest grade completed by the parents was 13.2 years (SD = 2.2). With respect to marital status, 50.8% were single, 33.2% were married, 14.9% were divorced/separated, and 1.1% were widowed. The mean number of children currently living at home was 2.0 (SD = 1.2). Among the parents who completed the annual household income item (n = 159), the distribution of annual income was as follows: 62.9% less than $20,000, 13.2% between $20,000 and $30,000, 9.4% between $30,000 and $40,000, 6.3% between $40,000 and $50,000, and 8.2% over $50,000 a year. Responses to the income item suggest that the majority of parents in this sample were living in low income households. 2.2. Procedures The following procedures were reviewed and approved by the institutional review board at the first author’s institution. Data from this study were part of a larger study designed to examine how parents respond to child transgressions (see Irwin, Skowronski, Crouch, Milner, & Zengel, 2014). To recruit parents for the study, informational flyers were distributed through local businesses and agencies (e.g., daycares, restaurants, grocery stores, churches, social service agencies). The informational flyers stated that parents would be asked to complete a packet of questionnaires that would take approximately 50 min and that they would receive a $20 stipend. Upon arrival for the data collection session, parents were asked to read and sign consent forms that provided them with information regarding the procedures, risks, benefits, and voluntary nature of their participation. Data were collected in small groups in a classroom setting. Data collection occurred during the spring/summer months from late May to early July. After completing the questionnaires, parents were debriefed, invited to ask questions, and paid $20. 2.3. Measures 2.3.1. Parental modernity scale of child-rearing and educational beliefs. The Parental Modernity Scale (PMS; Schaefer & Edgerton, 1985) is a 30-item measure designed to assess parental beliefs regarding child-rearing and education. The scale consists of 22 items that assess authoritarian beliefs and 8 items that assess democratic parenting beliefs. The authoritarian subscale reflects parenting attitudes consistent with the belief that children should follow adult directives and not express their own ideas or opinions. Sample items include: “The most important thing to teach children is absolute obedience to parents” and “Children should not question the authority of their parents.” The democratic subscale reflects parenting attitudes consistent with the belief that children should be active learners and express their own ideas. Sample items include: “It’s all right for a child to disagree with his/her parents” and “Children learn best by doing things themselves rather than listening to others.” Participants responded to each item using a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (s trongly disagree) to 5 (s trongly agree). The authoritarian subscale scores range from 22 to 110 and the democratic subscale scores range from 8 to 40. The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) estimates for the authoritarian subscale and the democratic subscale as reported by Schaefer and Edgerton (1985) were 0.89 and 0.69, respectively. Comparable internal consistency estimates were obtained in the present sample (authoritarian subscale, 0.89; democratic subscale, 0.65). In light of the low internal consistency of the democratic subscale, only the authoritarian subscale was used in the present study. Shears et al. (2008) used a brief version of the authoritarian subscale of the PMS and found that parents’ authoritarian beliefs were inversely associated with child measures of cognitive development, language development, behavioral engagement, and emotion regulation at 24 and 36 months of age. Mulvaney and Morrissey (2012) reported that PMS authoritarian parenting scores were inversely associated with third-grade academic achievement. 2.3.2. Child transgression vignettes. Vignettes were used in order to ensure that the experimental stimuli (i.e., transgressing children) were standardized across all parents, while also allowing parents to select from standardized response options

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following each vignette. Moreover, use of vignettes does not involve the ethical, practical, and methodological challenges associated with alternative methods (e.g., deception associated with use of confederates, logistical challenges involved in direct observation of parent-child interactions, bias associated with retrospective recall of events; Evans et al., 2015). In the present study, each parent was asked to read 12 vignettes describing children engaging in various forms of transgressions. For each vignette, parents were instructed to imagine that the child depicted in the vignette was their own child at 11 years of age. For a complete description of the procedures used to develop the vignettes see Irwin (2012). The 12 vignettes described the participant’s child engaging in behaviors that were: messy, dangerous, lazy, irresponsible, rude, bossy, impatient, rebellious, cruel, dishonest, hostile, and greedy. Following each vignette, parents were asked a series of questions designed to assess the extent to which they attributed hostile intent to the child and expected to experience negative affect. Finally, parents were asked to indicate the likelihood that they would use harsh parenting practices in response to each situation. Several studies have demonstrated convergence between how parents respond to vignettes (such as those used in the present study) and how they behave during naturally occurring parent-child interactions. For instance, Haskett, Smith-Scott, Willoughby, Ahern, and Nears (2006) reported that discipline selections in response to vignettes describing aversive child behaviors were significantly correlated with self-reported use of aggressive discipline tactics. Considerable research (e.g., Caselles & Milner, 2000; Chilamkurti & Milner, 1993; De Paúl, Asla, Pérez-Albéniz, & De Cádiz, 2006; Montes, De Paúl, & Milner, 2001) also indicates that abusive and at-risk parents (compared to non-abusive and low-risk parents) select higher levels of harsh/coercive discipline in response to vignettes describing child transgressions. 2.3.3. Attribution of hostile intent index. Following each of the 12 child transgression vignettes, attributions of hostile intent were measured with two items. The first item asked, “To what extent do you think your child performed this behavior intentionally to annoy you?” The second item asked, “To what extent do you think your child performed this behavior because they were trying to be bad?” Participants responded to both of these questions on a 7-point scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 6 (extremely). The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) estimate for the attribution of hostile intent index as completed by parents in the present study was 0.94. 2.3.4. Negative affect index. Parents’ estimates of negative emotions in response to each of the child transgressions were measured using four questions. These questions asked parents to estimate how upset, irritated, angry, and ashamed the child’s behavior would make the parent feel. Specifically, participants were asked, “How upset/irritated/angry/ashamed would you be if your child performed the behavior in this scenario?” For each question, participants were instructed to respond on a 7-point scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 6 (extremely). The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) estimate for the negative affect index as completed by parents in the present study was 0.95 2.3.5. Harsh parenting practices index. To assess harsh parenting practices, parents were instructed to indicate the likelihood that they would respond with harsh verbal or harsh physical disciplinary practices. The first question asked, “In this situation, how likely is it that you would yell/shout/scream at your child because of their behavior?” The second question asked, “In this situation, how likely is it that you would slap/hit/spank your child because of their behavior?” Participants answered each question on a 7-point scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 6 (extremely). The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) estimate for the harsh parenting practices index as completed by parents in the present study was 0.91. 2.3.7. Analytic strategy. Pearson correlations (generated using SPSS version 22) were used to assess bivariate associations between demographic characteristics, parenting beliefs, and parental responses to the vignettes. Path analysis, using maximum likelihood estimation in AMOS (version 22), was used to examine the fit of the hypothesized model in which hostile attributions and negative affect explained the association between authoritarian parenting beliefs and use of harsh parenting practices. As recommended by Hu and Bentler (1998), we used the root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA) and comparative fit index (CFI) to evaluate the fit of the hypothesized model. Bootstrapping methods were used to estimate standard errors, bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals (CI), and p values. Demographic variables significantly associated with any of the main study variables were entered as control variables in the path analysis. 3. Results Descriptive statistics and correlations for demographic variables and the main study variables are presented in Table 1. Examination of the skew and kurtosis of the variables in the hypothesized path analysis revealed that each variable was normally distributed. Given that annual income data were missing for 15.9% of the sample (and these missing data were likely not randomly distributed throughout the sample; Kim, Egerter, Cubbin, Takahashi, & Braveman, 2007), this variable was dropped from subsequent analyses. As indicated in Table 1, age, race, and education were each significantly associated with one or more of the main study variables. Therefore, these variables were each entered as control variables in the model. To simplify the presentation of the model, the demographic effects are not depicted in the final model. In addition, the errors associated with attributions of hostile intent and negative affect were allowed to co-vary (␤ = 0.52). Fig. 1 presents the standardized weights for the path analysis examining the extent to which attributions of hostile intent and negative affect account for the relationship between authoritarian beliefs and harsh parenting practices. The fit of the hypothesized model was good, X2 (10) = 14.95, p = 0.134,

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Table 1 Correlations among Demographic Variables and Main Study Variables. Measure 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Age Gender Race Education Authoritarian beliefs Attributions of hostile intent Negative affect Harsh parenting practices

M

SD

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

33.0 1.69 1.49 13.2 70.0 1.32 2.58 1.21

10.3 0.46 0.50 2.20 16.1 1.19 1.15 1.00

—

−0.09 —

−0.11 0.09 —

0.02 0.00 −0.19* —

−0.15* 0.00 0.38** −0.35** —

0.05 −0.06 0.24** −0.28** 0.46** —

0.21** 0.00 0.09 −0.19* 0.33** 0.60** —

0.05 −0.02 0.39** −0.19* 0.41** 0.64** 0.62** —

Note. N = 183. Gender coded male = 1 and female = 2. Race coded White/other = 1 and African American = 2. * p < 0.05. ** p < 0.01.

.17 Negative Affect

.39*

.36*

.57

.02

Authoritarian Beliefs

.47*

Harsh Parenting Practices .22

.33*

Attribution of Hostile Intent

Fig. 1. Standardized weights for the final model. Note. N = 183. *p < 0.01. For each endogenous variable, the variance accounted for by predictors (including demographic covariates not shown here) is presented above the right corner of the endogenous variable text boxes. Table 2 Direct and Indirect Pathways for Final Model. Path Direct paths Authoritarian beliefs → attribution of hostile intent Authoritarian beliefs → negative affect Attribution of hostile intent → harsh parenting Negative affect → harsh parenting Authoritarian beliefs → harsh parenting Indirect path Authoritarian beliefs → negative affect and attribution of hostile intent → harsh parenting

␤

SE

95% CI

p

0.47 0.36 0.33 0.39 0.02

0.06 0.07 0.08 0.07 0.07

0.34–0.57 0.20–0.46 0.16–0.50 0.25–0.51 −0.12–0.16

0.002 0.004 0.002 0.002 0.767

0.29

0.04

0.21–0.38

001

Note. N = 183.

RMSEA = 0.052, and CFI = 0.985. The model (including demographic predictors) accounted for 57% (without demographics, 50%) of the variance in selection of harsh parenting practices. The direct and indirect effects observed within the model are reported in Table 2. As expected, authoritarian parenting beliefs were significantly associated with attributions of hostile intent (p = 0.002), such that higher levels of authoritarian beliefs were associated with higher levels of attribution of hostile intent to the children depicted in the vignettes (see Fig. 1 and Table 2). Also as expected, authoritarian parenting beliefs were significantly associated with anticipated negative affect in response to the vignettes (p = 0.004), such that higher levels of authoritarian beliefs were associated with higher levels of anticipated negative affect (see Fig. 1 and Table 2). As noted in Fig. 1 and Table 2, attributions of hostile intent and negative affect were significantly associated with selection of harsh parenting strategies as expected (p’s < 0.01). At the bivariate level, the association between authoritarian parenting beliefs and selection of harsh parenting practices was significant (r = 0.41, p < 0.001; see Table 1). However, when considered in the hypothesized model, which included hostile intent attributions and negative affect, the link between authoritarian parenting beliefs and selection of harsh parenting practices was not significant (p > 0.05; see Fig. 1 and Table 2). As expected, the indirect effect of authoritarian beliefs (via hostile intent attributions and negative affect) on the selection of harsh parenting practices was significant (p = 0.001; indirect effect via hostile intent attributions, ␤ = 0.15; indirect effect via negative affect, ␤ = 0.14). Overall, 92.7% of the total effect of

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authoritarian beliefs on selection of harsh parenting practices was explained indirectly through attributions of hostile intent and negative affect. 4. Discussion At the bivariate level, higher levels of authoritarian beliefs were associated with greater likelihood of selecting harsh parenting practices. As hypothesized, results of the path analysis revealed that the association between authoritarian parenting beliefs and selection of harsh parenting practices was largely explained through parental cognitive and affective reactions to the child transgressions described in the vignettes. That is, parents who reported high levels of authoritarian parenting beliefs were more likely to believe that the children depicted in the vignettes were intentionally misbehaving or trying to be annoying. In addition, parents who reported high levels of authoritarian beliefs expected to feel angrier, more irritated, more upset, and/or more ashamed in response to the transgressions. High levels of hostile intent attributions and negative affect were associated with greater likelihood of selecting harsh/coercive parenting responses, such as yelling, screaming, and/or hitting the child. These results support the proposition that the more frequent use of harsh/coercive parenting practices observed among authoritarian parents (Baumrind, 2012; Baumrind et al., 2010) is potentially explained by attributions of hostile intent and negative affect in response to child transgressions. When considered in the context of the aforementioned literature on authoritarian parenting and aggression, the present findings underscore the need for additional research examining the extent to which use of harsh practices by authoritarian parents represents a form of impulsive/emotional (as opposed to instrumental) aggression (e.g., Holden et al., 1999; Straus & Mouradian, 1998). Impulsive aggression (sometimes referred to as reactive aggression) is characterized as an angry, defensive response to frustration or perceived provocation (Straus & Mouradian, 1998). In contrast, instrumental aggression (also referred to as proactive aggression) is described as the planned, controlled use of aggressive tactics to achieve one’s goals (Holden et al., 1999). Given their tendency to respond with hostile attributions and negative affect, parents who endorse authoritarian beliefs may be at increased risk of impulsive aggression following child transgressions. Their increased risk of impulsive aggression is especially concerning given that use of harsh parenting practices (e.g., spanking or slapping) in an impulsive (as opposed to a controlled) manner is more strongly associated with development of antisocial behavior and impulsiveness in children (Straus & Mouradian, 1998). Thus, the present findings suggest the need for additional research examining the association between authoritarian parenting beliefs and use of excessive force following child transgressions. For example, spanking that begins as instrumental use of force (i.e., to teach the child to behave) may escalate (due to attributions of hostile intent and negative affect) into physically abusive behavior. According to Gershoff (2002), harsh parenting practices (e.g., spanking, slapping, hitting) and child physical abuse represent different points on a continuum of parenting behaviors, and contextual factors such as parental negative affect and hostility may facilitate the transition from controlled use of corporal punishment to excessive use of force toward the child. Although our findings suggest that the associations between authoritarian parenting beliefs and selection of harsh parenting practices may be largely explained by attributions of hostile intent and negative affect, it is possible that this model may hold true in some parenting contexts but not in others (for a discussion of the moderating role of culture/context in the study of parenting beliefs see Darling & Steinberg, 1993, and Rubin et al., 2006). Although our sample was relatively diverse, the generalizability of our findings remains an empirical question. Unfortunately, we were not able to conduct multiple group analyses (i.e., testing the fit of the model for various racial/ethnic, gender, and/or income groups) due to limited sample size. Hence, additional research is needed to examine whether the model tested in the present study is moderated by socio-demographic factors such as race/ethnicity, gender, and/or socio-economic status of the parent. In addition, it would be interesting to examine whether the age/gender of the children depicted in the vignettes influenced how authoritarian parents responded to the transgressions. In the present study, the child depicted in the vignettes was described as eleven years of age. Future research could examine whether the present findings generalize to younger/older children by simply varying the age of the child depicted in the vignettes. Moreover, it would be interesting to examine whether the age of the respondents’ own children influenced how they responded to the vignettes (Dix, Ruble, Grusec, & Nixon, 1986). It also is noteworthy that the predictor variables included in our model (i.e., demographic characteristics, parenting beliefs, attributions of hostile intent, negative affect) accounted for only 57% of the variance associated with the selection of harsh parenting behaviors. Although the model accounted for a substantial portion of the variability in selection of harsh parenting behaviors, additional variables must be considered in order to fully understand the factors that contributed to selection of harsh parenting practices. This outcome is consistent with social psychological research that contends that numerous factors influence the strength of the association between beliefs and behaviors (e.g., Ajzen, 2001). A number of additional limitations of the present study warrant consideration. First, each of the variables examined in the present study was obtained through self-report. Hence, shared method variance may partially explain the associations observed among the study variables. Second, self-report data are susceptible to response distortion (e.g., reluctance to report undesirable traits/behaviors), which may obscure the true pattern of associations among study variables. Third, it is possible that offering/paying participants a stipend for completing the study may have influenced (a) their willingness to participate and/or (b) the manner in which they responded to the questionnaires. Fourth, the cross-sectional nature of the data limits the extent to which we can draw conclusions regarding direction of effects, mediation, and/or causation. In

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light of these limitations, our findings should be viewed with caution. Research that utilizes multiple informants (e.g., both parents’ and children’s reports), mixed methods (e.g., direct observation of parenting behavior in addition to self-reports), and longitudinal designs is needed to advance our understanding of the associations between authoritarian beliefs, hostile attributions, negative affect, and harsh parenting practices. Another potential concern in the present study is the fact that parents were given unlimited time, without distraction or interruption, to read and think about how they would respond to child transgressions. The extent to which responses given under these carefully controlled conditions generalize to day-to-day interactions with children is an empirical question. Fortunately, prior research provides evidence of convergence between how parents respond to vignettes (such as those used in the present study) and how they think/feel/behave during naturally occurring parent-child interactions (e.g., Bugental, Johnston, New, & Silvester, 1998; Haskett et al., 2006; Lansford et al., 2014). For example, Haskett et al. (2006) reported that discipline selections in response to vignettes describing aversive child behaviors were significantly correlated with self-reported use of aggressive discipline strategies. As noted above, additional evidence supporting the validity of vignette methodologies is found in research that indicates that abusive and at-risk parents (compared to non-abusive and low-risk parents) select higher levels of harsh/coercive discipline in response to vignettes describing child transgressions (e.g., Caselles & Milner, 2000; Chilamkurti & Milner, 1993; De Paúl et al., 2006; Montes et al., 2001). Although this convergent validity data is encouraging, it should be noted that the correspondence between vignette responses and parenting behavior is far from perfect, and parental responses to vignettes do not necessarily translate directly into how parents behave towards their children. If replicated using more rigorous methods, findings from the present study provide insights as to why parents who endorse higher levels of authoritarian beliefs more often engage in harsh/coercive parenting practices. In addition to believing that parents should assert high levels of authority and control, authoritarian parents may more often interpret child misbehaviors as intentional and feel more anger in response to transgressions. In combination, rigid expectations regarding respect/control, hostile attributions, and negative feelings may create a context conducive to reactive aggression (Azar, 1997). Although additional research is needed, our findings highlight the potential importance of targeting attributions of hostile intent and negative affect in interventions designed to reduce use of harsh parenting practices by authoritarian parents. For example, authoritarian parents might benefit from attribution retraining exercises designed to reduce attributions of hostile intent during challenging moments in parenting (e.g., Bugental et al., 2010; Hudley & Graham, 1993). Attribution retraining exercises are designed to increase the likelihood of non-hostile (i.e., benign or positive) attributions during negative social interactions, which in turn may reduce the likelihood of reactive aggression. In some cases, hostile attributions during negative social exchanges may occur without much cognitive effort (i.e., automatically; Bugental, 1992; Milner, 2000). Thus, interventions designed to increase controlled processing during stressful/negative parent-child interactions also may prove beneficial. For example, mindfulness training encourages parents to remain alert, nonjudgmental, and accepting in their attitudes during parent-child interactions (Kabat-Zinn, 1990). Moreover, mindfulness is associated with lower levels of negative affective states, including anger, depression, anxiety, and stress (Borders, Earleywine, & Jajokia, 2010; Khoury et al., 2013). In addition to the above mentioned clinical implications, the present findings should be considered in the broader context of theories and research on harsh/abusive parenting. For example, it may be informative to consider the role of authoritarian beliefs in the context of other risk factors for harsh/abusive parenting (e.g., a childhood history of abuse, domestic violence, social isolation). According to contemporary theories of parenting/child abuse (e.g., Azar et al., 2008; Milner, 2000), cognitive models of parenting (a.k.a., pre-existing schemata, working models) may develop early in life and later serve as “road maps” that guide parenting behavior. Of particular relevance to the present study is the possibility that early socialization (e.g., being raised by an authoritarian parent) and/or adverse childhood experiences (e.g., receipt of harsh/abusive parenting) may give rise to authoritarian belief systems, which in turn may increase the likelihood of attributions of hostile intent, negative affect, and risk for harsh parenting behavior (as found in the present study). The extent to which authoritarian parenting beliefs mediate the association between childhood experiences (e.g., receipt of child abuse) and use of harsh parenting practices in adulthood remains a topic for future research. Moreover, additional research is needed to examine how authoritarian parenting beliefs fit within the complex array of factors implicated in the etiology of child maltreatment (for a review see Stith et al., 2009). To the extent that cognitive models of relationships generalize across contexts, it is possible that authoritarian beliefs may increase risk of other concurrent riskpotentiating conditions (e.g., domestic violence). For example, it is possible that authoritarian patterns of social information processing may occur in a variety of interpersonal contexts (e.g., in interactions with children, spouses/significant others, co-workers) – increasing the risk of various forms of interpersonal aggression (e.g., intimate partner violence, child abuse). It also is possible that authoritarian beliefs may interact with other risk factors for child abuse (e.g., substance abuse, social isolation), such that the risk of aggression towards children is greater when authoritarian beliefs co-occur with other risk factors. For example, risk of harsh/aggressive parenting behavior may be especially high among authoritarian parents who experience substance abuse problems and/or social isolation (both factors that may disinhibit aggressive tendencies). Although our study was not designed to address these intriguing possibilities, our findings may serve as an impetus for additional research on this topic. Collectively, results from the present study suggest that interventions designed to reduce risk of hostile/aggressive parenting behavior among authoritarian parents might benefit from a multi-faceted approach that includes: (a) parent education designed to challenge maladaptive (e.g., authoritarian) parenting beliefs, (b) parent skills training designed to reduce reliance

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on harsh/coercive parenting strategies, (c) attribution retraining designed to reduce attributions of hostile intent, and (d) strategies to reduce negative affect and increase controlled cognitive processes (e.g., mindfulness exercises). Such a multifaceted approach may be necessary to weaken authoritarian cognitive frameworks and reduce risk of hostile/aggressive parenting behavior among authoritarian parents.

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