Dyadic Parenting and Children's Externalizing Symptoms

• Date: 01 July 2009
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2009.00553.x
• Published date: 01 July 2009
• Author: Karen B. Meteyer,Maureen Perry‐Jenkins

A Publication of

the National Council on

Family Relations

KAREN B. METEYER Greater Binghamton Health Center

MAUREEN PERRY-JENKINS University of Massachusetts*

Dyadic Parenting and Children’s Externalizing

Symptoms

We explore dyadic parenting styles and their

association with f‌irst-grade children’s exter-

nalizing behavior symptoms in a sample of

85 working-class, dual-earner families. Clus-

ter analysis is used to create a typology of

parenting types, ref‌lecting the parental warmth,

overreactivity, and laxness of both mothers and

fathers in two-parent families. Three distinct

groups emerged: Supportive Parents, Mixed-

Support Parents, and Unsupportive Parents.

Results indicate that dyadic parenting styles

were related to teacher-reported externalizing

symptoms for boys but not for girls.

Numerous studies have established that par-

enting has important implications for many

aspects of child development (e.g., Baum-

rind, 1996; Kaufmann etal., 2000, Lamborn,

Mounts, & Steinberg, 1991). Much research has

focused on two major dimensions of parenting,

namely, (a) parental warmth and responsiveness

and(b) demandingnessorcontrol(Amato&

Fowler, 2002; Barber, Stolz, & Olsen, 2005).

These two dimensions of parenting generally tap

into the emotional climate and parental control

Greater Binghamton Health Center, Binghamton, New York

(kmeteyer@gmail.com).

∗University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Mas-

sachusetts, USA.

Key Words: behavior problems in children, cluster analysis,

dual-earner, dyadic parenting, externalizing symptoms,

parenting styles.

of parent-child interactions and are the key

dimensions that comprise Baumrind’s parent-

ing typology of authoritative, authoritarian, and

permissive parenting styles (Baumrind, 1991).

Despite the large literature on parenting, little

research has examined the combined effects of

mothers’ and fathers’ parenting on children’s

development, although children reared in two-

parent families clearly experience the inf‌luence

of both parents (Martin, Ryan, & Brooks-Gunn,

2007). Moreover, f‌indings suggest that parents

contribute differently to children’s development

(Parke et al., 2005). For example, a mother may

employ more warmth as a compensatory mecha-

nism if her partner uses more harsh disciplinary

tactics. Martin et al. argued that, ‘‘it is incumbent

upon parenting scholars to devise ways of depict-

ing children’s parenting experiences in two-

parent families that ref‌lect the full complexity of

the family (p. 436).’’ It is also important to note

that parenting differs as a function of social class,

such that socioeconomic disadvantage is associ-

ated with less warm and more controlling parent-

ing (Conger, McCarty, Yang, Lahey, & Burgess,

1984). Thus, the purpose of the present study is

to examine how mothers’ and fathers’ parenting,

examined in combination, is related to behav-

ior problems in their f‌irst-grade children within a

unique sample of low-income, working families.

Parenting Types and Child Outcomes

One of the best known and most frequently

researched parenting typologies was developed

by Baumrind (1966, 1996) and is based on

Family Relations 58 (July 2009): 289– 302289