Harsh parenting in relation to child emotion regulation and aggression

This study presents a model of harsh parenting that has an indirect effect, as well as a direct effect, on child aggression in the school environment through the mediating process of child emotion regulation. Tested on a sample of 325 Chinese children and their parents, the model showed adequate goodness of fit. Also investigated were interaction effects between parents ’ and children’s gender. Mothers ’ harsh parenting affected child emotion regulation more strongly than fathers’, whereas harsh parenting emanating from fathers had a stronger effect on child aggression. Fathers ’ harsh parenting also affected sons more than daughters, whereas there was no gender differential effect with mothers ’ harsh parenting. These results are discussed with an emphasis on negative emotionality as a potentially common cause of family perturbations, including parenting and child adjustment problems. Deater-Deckard and Dodge (1997) have suggested that the association between harsh parenting and child aggression depends on whether parental disciplinary actions are carried out in an emotionally controlled or an emotionally charged manner. Their findings implicate the emotional influence of harsh parenting on child aggression. Separately, other researchers hav