Bidirectional associations between positive and negative parenting and children behavior: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Mental health problems in childhood can be predictors of more complex problems at later ages, therefore early identification of risk and protective factors in childhood are necessary for the development of mental health prevention and intervention programs. The main objective of this research was to identify how positive and/or negative parenting practices contribute to the development of internalizing and externalizing problems in children between 3.5 years, 5 years and 7 years, from a descriptive longitudinal study with a quantitative approach. In the study, 150 Colombian families from different regions participated, whose answered the APQ (Alabama Parenting Questionnaire) and the CBCL (Children Behavior Check List) to provide information on family interactions and children's behavior respectively. Through multiple lineal regressions, it was found that there is positive significance between bidirectional associations of parenting practices and the behavior of children at 3.5 years, 5 years and 7 years, as well as carry overs have a greater predictive power of the variables. It is concluded that there is a bidirectional association between parenting practices and externalizing and internalizing behaviors in children over time which contributes to longitudinal research on early parenting practices, as parenting practices established early in a child’s life (3.5 years old) can predict themselves in later stages due tend to persist over time. Therefore, it is important to train parenting practices and develop mental health prevention and promotion programs in early childhood.