Parenting style as a moderator of associations between maternal disciplinary strategies and child well-being

Abstract

The authors investigate whether parental use of punitive discipline and yielding to coercion varies in levels and associated child outcomes for mothers with different parenting styles. Participants were fourth-grade children (N = 370) and their mothers. Maternal parenting style was determined based on levels of responsiveness and demandingness. Authoritative mothers used less punitive discipline than indifferent mothers. Authoritative and authoritarian mothers engaged in less yielding to coercion than indifferent or indulgent mothers. More punitive discipline and yielding to coercion were associated with lower academic grades and more punitive discipline was associated with more social problems, with these effects not moderated by parenting style. Negative effects of yielding to coercion in terms of internalizing, externalizing, and social problems were observed only within authoritarian families. Greater use of punitive discipline was associated with more externalizing problems within the indulgent and authoritarian parenting style groups and more internalizing problems within the authoritarian group. © 2008 Sage Publications.