Citation

Beckerman M, van Berkel SR, Mesman J, Alink LR. Child Abuse Negl. 2017; 64: 109-116.

Affiliation

Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands. Electronic address: alinklra@fsw.leidenuniv.nl.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.12.015

PMID

28081496

Abstract

Negative parental attributions are related to parent and family stressors and are thought to be important predictors of subsequent disciplinary actions and, potentially, abusive parenting. We examined if negative parental attributions mediate the relation between daily stressors (i.e., low SES, parenting stress, partner-related stress) parents' own history of child maltreatment, and harsh and abusive parenting. Mothers (n=53) completed a computerized attribution task and reported on daily stressors, their own history of child maltreatment and their discipline strategies. Mothers' negative parental attributions mediated the association between parenting stress (but not the other stressors) and harsh and abusive discipline. These finding implicate that interventions to decrease (the risk of) child abuse should not only focus on reducing abuse-related stressors, but also target negative parental attributions.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Child abuse; Harsh discipline; Information processing; Parental attributions; Parenting stress