Disciplinering en opvoedstress, bepaalt door de opvoeder of door het kind?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of externalizing behavior problems in children on parenting stress and parental discipline. Additionally, it was investigated whether this relationship differs between fathers and mothers. Data for this study were gathered from a sample consisting of 401 families with a child aged 5 to 66 months old. Results indicate that a higher level of externalising behavior problem predicts a higher level of parenting stress in both mothers and fathers. It was also found that externalising behavior problems increases the use of negative discipline techniques in both mothers and fathers. Whereas fathers tend to use more negative discipline techniques in comparison to mothers, mothers tend to use more positive discipline techniques relative to fathers. These findings highlight the existence of a correlation between externalizing behavior problems, parenting stress and discipline techniques used by parents and the differences in these correlations between fathers and mothers. However, the selective sampling method used to collect the data and the instrument used to determine the discipline techniques used by parents, limit the validity of the results in this study. These factors should be taken into account in future research. Another limitation is the study design. In the current study conclusions where based on the correlation between variables. Therefore it is not possible to determine any cause of effect. To determine cause of effect, it is suggested that future research uses an experimental design.