Associations between Arab Mothers’ Self-Efficacy and Parenting Attitudes and their children’s Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors: Gender Differences and the Mediating Role of Corporal Punishment

Michal N. Fass, Mona Khoury-Kassabri () and Hans M. Koot
Additional contact information
Michal N. Fass: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Mona Khoury-Kassabri: Hebrew University Jerusalem
Hans M. Koot: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Child Indicators Research, 2018, vol. 11, issue 4, No 15, 1369-1387

Abstract: Abstract In this study we examined the association between Arab mothers’ self-efficacy and parenting attitudes and their children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and whether these associations are mediated by the use of corporal punishment. Further, we examined whether the child’s gender moderates these associations. We included 2380 mothers of kindergartners who answered a questionnaire assessing levels of self-efficacy, attitudes on corporal punishment, use of corporal punishment, and their children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Using structural equation modeling we tested for the mediation by corporal punishment of the association between self-efficacy, attitudes on corporal punishment and children’s behaviors. We further tested possible moderation by gender of the model. Results supported the hypothesized mediation effect of corporal punishment. Results suggest that mothers’ low self-efficacy and attitudes supporting corporal punishment were associated with elevated likelihood of use of corporal punishment which, in turn was associated with elevated levels of child’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. No moderation by gender of this pathway was found, suggesting that boys and girls react similarly to the use of corporal punishment by their mothers. Interventions aimed at helping Arab mothers understand the impact of their behavior and guide them toward effective disciplinary strategies are suggested.

Keywords: Arab mothers; Children; Self-efficacy; Corporal punishment; Attitudes toward corporal punishment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12187-017-9480-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:chinre:v:11:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s12187-017-9480-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... f-life/journal/12187

DOI: 10.1007/s12187-017-9480-9

Access Statistics for this article

Child Indicators Research is currently edited by Asher Ben-Arieh

More articles in Child Indicators Research from Springer, The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().