Parenting Under Pressure: How Child Limited Prosocial Emotions Shape the Stress-Warmth Connection

Abstract

Parental warmth is a core intervention target for children with Limited Prosocial Emotions (LPE) whose conduct problems persist despite traditional psychosocial treatments. Research on factors uniquely influencing the capacity of parents of children with LPE to engage in warm parenting is limited but could advance treatment efforts for this persistently antisocial population. This study tested whether parents’ stress, a risk factor for disengaged, less nurturing, and sensitive parenting, uniquely influences parental warmth for youth with Conduct Disorder (CD) and LPE compared to CD alone. Participants included 126 youth (AgeMean = 15.7 years, SD = 1.3, 70% boys, 55% African American/Black) diagnosed with CD and assessed for LPE via a multi-rater clinical interview. Youth rated maternal warmth at baseline and 6 months, caregivers self-reported general stress levels. Results of hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that LPE scores significantly moderated the association between mothers’ stress and warm parenting 6 months later, after controlling for initial warmth levels. Findings suggest that the robustly established link between parents’ stress and unresponsive, insensitive parenting is most pronounced for the subset of youth with CD + LPE. These findings can inform etiological models of LPE and point to potential treatment targets for improving outcomes for this aggressive youth population.