Exploring the Relationships Between Childhood Externalizing Behaviors and Parenting Domains

Decades of previous research has found childhood externalizing behaviors and parenting practices to be significantly associated. Both genetics and environment have been investigated as potential influences of child and parent behavior. Results maintain that both mechanisms influence parent and child behavior within the context of the family system. The directionality of influence between child and parent behavior is not well understood, as different studies find conflicting results. Using longitudinal data from a sample of school-aged participants from the Texas Twin Project, the study in this thesis hypothesized a reciprocal causal relationship between childhood externalizing behavior, made up of rule-breaking and aggressive behavior, and the parenting domains of warmth and control. Through structural equation modeling, correlation plots and cross-lagged panel models were made in an effort to understand and explain the patterns of correlation and covariation among the variables of interest. This study found that childhood externalizing behaviors, parental warmth, and parental control are all significantly correlated with each other. It also found that each of those variables remain stable across time. This study found significant inverse covariation between parental control and parental warmth. Increased maternal control at Time 1, led to a decrease in maternal warmth at Time 2. Similarly, increased paternal control at Time 1, led to a decrease in paternal warmth at Time 2. The study did not detect any other significant causal relationships between the child and parent variables, and thus was unable to determine the direction of influence. While clearly associated, the nature of parent-child relationships in the context of the family unit remains ambiguous.