Maternal Characteristics Predicting Young Girls' Disruptive Behavior

Abstract

Little is known about the relative predictive utility of maternal characteristics and parenting skills on the development of girls' disruptive behavior. The current study used five waves of parent- and child-report data from the ongoing Pittsburgh Girls Study to examine these relationships in a sample of 1,942 girls from age 7 to 12 years. Multivariate generalized estimating equation analyses indicated that European American race, mother's prenatal nicotine use, maternal depression, maternal conduct problems prior to age 15, and low maternal warmth explained unique variance. Maladaptive parenting partly mediated the effects of maternal depression and maternal conduct problems. Both current and early maternal risk factors have an impact on young girls' disruptive behavior, providing support for the timing and focus of the prevention of girls' disruptive behavior.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 56630, MH071790) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA012237). In addition, it was supported by travel grants from the Leiden University Fund and the foundation “Stichting de Drie Lichten.” Point of views or opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. We thank Deena Battista, Jeffrey Burke, and Jos Twisk for help with statistical analyses.

Notes

Note: N = 1,942.

*p < .01.

Note: Predictor effects are each accounted for earlier disruptive behavior at time T-1. CI = confidence interval.

^a Incidence rate ratio (IRR) represent the amount of change in girls disruptive behavior across ages 7 to 12 per unit change in maternal factor.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Note: CI = confidence interval.

^a Incidence rate ratio (IRR) represent the amount of change in girls' disruptive behavior across ages 7 to 12 per unit change in maternal factor.

^b Girls' disruptive behavior T-1, cohort, and minority race status are included in Block 1 as control variables.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001. Predictors measured at Time T-1.