Parenting has been shown to play a crucial role in the development of child emotional and behavior problems. Typically, however researchers use “mothering” as a proxy for “parenting” and the role... Show moreParenting has been shown to play a crucial role in the development of child emotional and behavior problems. Typically, however researchers use “mothering” as a proxy for “parenting” and the role of fathers has been relatively ignored (Phares, Lopez, Fields, Kamboukos, & Duhig, 2005). Data also suggest that the gender of both the parent and child influence the relationship between parenting and children’s emotional and behavior problems. To date, however, there is no study in which both the direct effects and the 3-way interaction between paternal and maternal parenting, child gender and both internalizing and externalizing problems have been examined. The aim of this study, then, was to examine the direct and interactive relationships between maternal positive parenting, paternal positive parenting, and child gender on children’s externalizing and internalizing problems. Archival data from a subsample of the 1,103 54-month-old children and their parents who participated in wave 2 of the NICHD Study of Early Childcare were used (NICHD, 2001). Selection criteria for this subsample were that both parents participated and were co-residing. This resulted in a pool of 664 children (338 boys, 326 girls), mothers and fathers (96% married), who were predominantly (86%) White. Positive maternal and paternal parenting were assessed by a factor-analytically-derived score based on observer ratings of a semi-structured interaction paradigm, the Three Boxes Task (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1999). Child emotional and behavior problems were assessed by an averaged composite of maternal- and paternal-reported CBCL externalizing and internalizing scores (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991). Results from moderated hierarchical regression analyses indicated that there was a direct relationship between maternal parenting and child gender in predicting children’s externalizing scores. Specifically, lower levels of maternal positive parenting and being a girl predicted higher externalizing scores. No direct relationship between paternal positive parenting and externalizing scores was found. In addition, there was not a significant, direct relationship between maternal positive parenting, paternal positive parenting or child gender and internalizing scores. Results also indicate that there was a significant, but small three-way interaction between maternal positive parenting, paternal positive parenting and child gender in predicting externalizing and internalizing scores. Examination of interaction graphs suggested that for girls whose mothers display low levels of positive parenting, higher levels of positive paternal parenting may reduce the risk of internalizing and externalizing problems. For boys, having two parents with higher levels of positive parenting seems to serve as a protective factor, reducing the risk of emotional and behavior problems. These data suggest that fathers’ parenting does make a difference, and that both the gender of the parent and the child are important factors to consider when examining the relationship between parenting and children’s outcomes. Show less
