The Contribution of Child Anger and Fear, and Parental Discipline to Early Antisocial Behavior: An Integrative Model

Abstract

(from the chapter) This chapter examines how parental discipline, child propensities to displays of anger and fear, and child frontal executive inhibition and verbal skills additively and synergistically contribute to overt (aggressive) and covert (sneaky) forms of antisocial behavior. Overt and covert forms of antisocial behavior emerge on different developmental timetables and result from both common and unique sets of variables and variable combinations. Covert antisocial behaviors such as stealing and lying are associated with harsh and angry parental discipline, good child verbal skills and their interaction. Overt antisocial behaviors such as aggression and defiance are associated with parental nattering and inconsistent discipline, especially in the context of poor child frontal inhibition, and low child fear. The chapter exemplifies models which describe development in ways that integrate children's socialization, emotion expression, and capacity for behavior and emotion regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).