African American, low‐income mothers’ negative emotional reactivity, punishment, and children's externalizing and internalizing behavior

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• Author: Justin K. Scott,Cassandra Simons,Brenda Jones Harden
• Date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12821

RESEARCH

African American, low-income mothers’negative

emotional reactivity, punishment, and children’s

externalizing and internalizing behavior

Justin K. Scott

1,2

|Cassandra Simons

2

|Brenda Jones Harden

1,2

1

School of Social Work, University of

Maryland, Baltimore, MD

2

Human Development and Quantitative

Methodology Department, University of

Maryland, MD

Correspondence

Justin K. Scott, School of Social Work,

University of Maryland, Baltimore, 525 W

Redwood St., Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.

Email: justin.scott@ssw.umaryland.edu

Funding information

This work was supported in part by awards

from the Maryland State Department of

Education to E. Klein and B. Jones Harden

and from the Brady Education Fund to

B. Jones Harden.

Abstract

Objective: In this study, we examined African American,

low-income mothers’emotional reactivity and use of

punishment in relation to determinants of parenting and

children’s behavior.

Background: More research is needed examining within-

group variation in parenting processes, including discipline,

of African American parents. Parents’negative emotion may

have implications for children’s behavior independent of

punishment as a disciplinary strategy.

Method: Participants were 157 African American, low-

income mothers and their 4- to 7-year-old children.

Mothers responded verbally to a questionnaire and were

observed interacting in their natural home environment.

Direct and indirect relations were examined from three

determinants of parenting (i.e., depression, household dis-

organization, child difficulty) to negative emotional reac-

tivity, punishment, sensitivity, and children’s behavior.

Results: Depressive symptoms, household disorganiza-

tion, and child difficulty were associated with children’s

externalizing andinternalizing behavior indirectly through

negative emotional reactivity. Household disorganization

predicted externalizing behavior through verbal punish-

ment. Physical punishment was not related to children’s

behavior above and beyond negative emotional reactivity.

Conclusion: This study supports the proposal that par-

ents’ability to regulate negative emotional reactivity in

stressful contexts may have important implications for

parenting and children’s development above and beyond

punishment.

Author note: An earlier version of this project was presented as a poster at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial

Meeting, April 2021.

Received: 1 June 2021Revised: 23 August 2022Accepted: 25 November 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12821

© 2023 National Council on Family Relations.

1656 Family Relations. 2023;72:1656–1674.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

Implications: Intervention and preventative parent educa-

tion programs should consider adding components that

help parents with emotion regulation during stressful

parenting situations.

KEYWORDS

African Americans, negative emotional reactivity, parenting, punishment

At the intersection of gender and race in determining social class positions, African American

mothers are placed at an increased risk for experiencing stressors related to adversity, such as

reduced economic opportunities, neighborhood safety, and access to affordable quality health

care (Franco et al., 2010; García Coll et al., 1996; Murry et al., 2018; Schmitt et al., 2014), all

of which are detrimental to mothers’emotional functioning (Perry et al., 2013) and increase

parenting stress (Barnhart & Maguire-Jack, 2016; Franco et al., 2010). As Murry et al. (2018)

conceptualize, African American families are resilient and their parenting often reflects cultural

strength-based adaptations to cope with poverty, including being vigilant to protect their

children (Varner et al., 2021) and fulfilling expectations for strength and invulnerability from

African American mothers to protect, provide, and care for their families in the oppressive

social context of the United States, despite the tremendous energy required to face those adver-

sities and stressors (Black & Peacock, 2011; Woods-Giscombé, 2010). The unique experiences,

strengths, and needs of African American families highlight the need for culturally adapted

research that expands the fields’current perspectives of modern parenting difficulties and can

better inform family programs and policy.

Researchers have long held their lens to African American families to better understand

how coping assets have influenced their parenting processes, often taking a comparative

approach to European American families and other racial/ethnic groups (García Coll

et al., 1996; Murry et al., 2018). For example, much debate has occurred over whether verbal

punishment (e.g., yelling, scolding, threatening) and physical punishment (e.g., spanking, slap-

ping) are beneficial for African American children in a low-income context (Deater-Deckard

et al., 1996), and when perceived as culturally normative (Dodge et al., 2005; Ispa &

Halgunseth, 2004). Although punishment is typically reported more often by African American

families than their European American peers (Berlin et al., 2009; Regalado, 2004), its use has

been identified as a byproduct of a long history of racial trauma (Patton, 2017a). Many African

American mothers report using punishment as a means of protecting and caring for their chil-

dren, keeping them out of the streets and away from police, and preparing them to face the

harsh realities of racial discrimination in the United States (Patton, 2017b). Studies often

neglect the individual needs of African American mothers in a low-income context, including

the significant burdens they endure that have implications for their emotional functioning as

well as their children’s emotional and behavioral development. Additionally, policies and pro-

grams that ban or explicitly state that punishment is inappropriate may not resonate with some

African American parents if they are perceived as discriminatory or criminalizing (Gross

et al., 2007; Gross et al., 2009). Programs and policies designed to serve or govern African

American families must be sensitive to and align with their beliefs, values, and culture (Gross

et al., 2007).

Rather than efforts to identify when and where punishment of young African American

children is effective or useful, or developing parenting programs to reduce punishment in low-

income African American families, more efforts should be made to identify and address the

needs of African American mothers to navigate their stress effectively, acknowledging that par-

enting in the context of limited resources is difficult and emotionally depleting for many. Given

the enormous expectations, stress, and burden placed on African American mothers within a

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