Testing Parenting Self-Esteem as an Indicator of Mothers and Fathers Who Are at Risk for Aversive Responses to Disruptive Child Behavior

Extensive literature demonstrates that parents of children with disruptive behaviors consistently report lower parenting self-esteem (i.e., satisfaction and efficacy) compared to parents of children without disruptive behaviors. However, little is known about whether having low parenting self-esteem results in negative parenting behavior while managing disruptive child behavior, and whether associations vary in strength depending on the clinical significance of the child's disruptive behavior. The current study examines 90 parent couples who were randomly assigned to interact with a 9- to 12-year-old confederate exhibiting either typical or disruptive behaviors. Parenting self-esteem moderated the association between disruptive child behavior and positive parenting behavior, such that mothers with low efficacy had a stronger positive association between disruptive child behavior and positive parenting behaviors. However, fathers with low efficacy had a stronger negative association between disruptive behaviors and positive parenting behavior. Exploratory analyses yielded mixed results. Specifically, mothers with low self-esteem and a child with ADHD had a stronger negative association between disruptive child behaviors and positive parenting compared to mothers who interacted with a confederate or did not have a child with ADHD. Results from the current study extend findings regarding the influence of parenting self-esteem on the association of disruptive child behavior and parenting behaviors, as moderating effects of parenting self-esteem was demonstrated for both mothers and fathers within the study.