Family Risk and Externalizing Problems in Chilean Children: Mediation by Harsh Parenting and Emotional Support

• Published in: Child development Vol. 92; no. 3; pp. 871 - 888
• Main Authors: Ugarte, Elisa, Narea, Marigen, Aldoney, Daniela, Weissman, David G., Hastings, Paul D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ann Arbor Wiley 01.05.2021; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Absent fathers; At Risk Persons; Behavior Problems; Child Development; Child Rearing; Children; Depression (Psychology); Educational Attainment; Emotional Response; Emotional support; Emotions; Externalizing problems; Family Structure; Foreign Countries; Latent class analysis; Maternal depression; Mediation; Mothers; Parenting Styles; Parents & parenting; Poverty; Predictor Variables; Preschool Children; Risk; Risk groups; Socialization; Socioeconomic Status; Chile
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13464

Latent class analysis and multigroup mediation were used with 8,860 families in Chile to identify risk groups varying in socioeconomic status, family structure, and maternal depression, to determine whether profiles differed in children’s development of externalizing problems (EP) from 35 to 61 months, and maternal parenting that predicted EP. Four groups were identified: one no‐risk profile and three risk profiles, impoverished and undereducated, depressed and impoverished, and father‐absent and impoverished. All classes differed in EP. Maternal emotional support and harsh parenting were differentially associated with the development of EP across the three risk groups, relative to the low‐risk group. Thus, specific constellations of adversities differentially predicted children’s EP and socialization processes mediating links between risk and EP. Implications are discussed.