Evaluación del clima familiar creado por la gestión de los problemas de conducta, desde la perspectiva de los hijos

Abstract

Introduction. Though different intervention patterns that parents use to employ for managing children behavior problems are known, it is not known whether they interact an how, configuring what can be considered as the family climate generated by the way in which children’ behavior is managed” (FCBM). Method. In this study, we developed a questionnaire that includes four kinds of patterns for coping with behavior problems: reasoning vs punishment, strategies due to parental stress, patience, and positive constructive strategies. The prevalence of and interaction among all these strategies are supposed to define the above-mentioned climate that, in this case, is assessed from the children’s perspective (FCBM-C). A total of 819 students completed the questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis and cross validation analysis, reliability, and path analysis with latent variables using children’s satisfaction as criterion were made. Results. Results support the hypotheses about the structure of the questionnaire, and about its predictive validity, and suggest the need to act on the components of FCBM-C when designing interventions to improve children behavior. Discussion and Conclusion. Results suggest that positive attitude and patience are the factors which most contribute to establish a positive family environment, in line with findings from other investigations. On the other hand, parental discipline strategies such as punishment or coercive strategies that contribute to increased stress are negatively realted to a positive family climate