Parents’ Perception of Their 2–10-Year-Old Children’s Contribution to The Dyadic Parent-Child Relationship in Terms of Positive and Negative Behaviors

Wolfgang Briegel, Jan Greuel, Sanna Stroth and Nina Heinrichs
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Wolfgang Briegel: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Leopoldina Hospital, 97422 Schweinfurt, Germany
Jan Greuel: Department of Psychology, Technical University of Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Sanna Stroth: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Philipps University, 35033 Marburg, Germany
Nina Heinrichs: Department of Psychology, Technical University of Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 7, 1-26

Abstract: Parent-child relationship is developed and changed through reciprocal interactions between a child and his/her parent, and these interactions can strongly influence the child’s development across domains (e.g., emotional, physical, and intellectual). However, little is known about the parental perception of the child’s contribution to the dyadic parent-child relationship in terms of positive and negative behaviors. We therefore aimed to develop and validate an economical parent-report instrument to assess these important aspects. The validation study included 1642 mothers (M age = 37.1) and 1068 fathers (M age = 40.4) of 1712 children aged 2–10 years (M age = 6.6) who completed the new instrument, the Child Relationship Behavior Inventory (CRBI). Statistical results indicated that the CRBI is a reliable and valid measure. Mothers reported more positive child behaviors towards them, whereas fathers perceived fewer problems with problematic relationship behavior than mothers. In their parents’ perception, girls showed more positive and less problematic relationship behaviors than boys. The frequency of problematic child relationship behavior significantly decreased with increasing child age while positive relationship behavior did not show any correlation with the child’s age. To assess both positive and negative child relationship behaviors could be helpful to better understand the relevance of these different aspects for the development of the parent-child relationship.

Keywords: parent-child relationship; child behavior; parental perception; inventory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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