Parenting Practices and Violence, Child Maltreatment

Parenting Behaviors Associated with Child Maltreatment

Child maltreatment is associated with particular patterns of parenting behavior and family interaction. Abusive and neglectful families interact differently from nonmaltreating families. They verbally interact less than typical nonmaltreating families. They have a higher proportion of negative, coercive, or conflictual verbal interactions. They have a lower proportion of positive family interactions.

Wahler, Patterson, and others have developed a conceptualization of the cycle of coercion that can lead to violence in families. The cycle begins with the low frequency and negative interaction patterns defined above. When the parent attempts to direct or control the child's behavior and the child does not comply, the parent experiences anger at the child's noncompliance and interprets it as a personal power threat. The parent responds alternatively with inaction and a sense of defeat or with accompanying anger and increasingly aggressive threats and actions, sometimes violent. The child, in turn, escalates defiance and noncompliance over time as this cycle repeats itself. Repetitions of this cycle lead to hostility between parent and child, can escalate to violence, and serve as a powerful tool to teach the child violent behavior patterns and aggression as a solution to human conflict. Families prone to the cycle of coercion are socially isolated, with few positive or constructive social relationships with neighbors or family members.

Other research supports an ecological view of parenting practices. Parenting practices are influenced by social factors such as cultural practices, economic resources or deprivation, and neighborhoods with limited social capital, that is, limited opportunities for enrichment and prosocial activities and high levels of stress due to crime and violence. Child factors include challenges such as special emotional, cognitive, or physical health conditions or behavior problems due to earlier exposure to violent and coercive parenting practices. Parental factors include isolation, marital conflict and violence, mental illness, and lack of social support. With the proper ecological supports, parents can learn prosocial, constructive, and nurturing parenting practices.

Positive Parenting Model

Baumrind's model of parenting style has been widely influential and describes parenting practices as associated with positive child outcomes from infancy through adolescence. Baumrind argues (a) that parental environmental influences as well as the child's genetic endowment are critical determinants of well socialized and -adapted children, (b) that parental discipline as well as attachment are necessary to produce well adapted and socialized offspring, and (c) that parenting styles can be successfully described on a two-dimensional, four-quadrant model of parenting. The Baumrind model describes two key parenting practices: support and demandingness. Support or nurturance includes parenting practices that produce strong parent-child attachment. These practices include empathy and sensitivity toward the child and consistent, supportive attention to the child. Demandingness includes effective limit setting and behavior controls for children at age-appropriate levels. Parental demands, when coexisting with strong support for the child, provide an environment for the child that encourages adaptation and socialization. Criticism of this model centers on whether demandingness is a positive or negative parental behavior and more recently, on the relevance of the model for families of diverse cultures.

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