Citation

Pelton J, Steele RG, Chance MW, Forehand R. J. Fam. Violence 2001; 16(1): 17-35.

Affiliation

Institute for Behavior Research, University of Georgia, 111 Barrow Hall, Athens, GA, 30602

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1023/A:1026572325078

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Discrepancies between parent and child perceptions of parenting have been well established. The current study addressed whether discrepancies in one dimension of parenting, the parent-child relationship, are associated with child adjustment difficulties concurrently and longitudinally. In particular, it was hypothesized that greater discrepancies in mother and child perceptions of parenting would be associated with child adjustment difficulties. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that families experiencing a stressor?in this case, maternal infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)?would experience larger discrepancies than families in which the mother is noninfected and that maternal HIV infection would moderate the association between discrepant views and child adjustment. Participants were 183 African-American women (61 HIV infected; 122 noninfected) and one of their noninfected children. All participants were from the inner-city area of New Orleans. Results indicated that discrepancies in mother and child perceptions of their relationship was associated with mother and child reports of externalizing behavior problems concurrently and longitudinally. In addition, discrepancies were significantly higher in families experiencing maternal HIV infection than in the noninfected group. However, with one exception, maternal HIV status failed to moderate the relationship between discrepancies in perception and child adjustment, indicating that discrepancies play a similar role in both types of families. Clinical implications of the present results are discussed.
parent-child relationship - maternal physical illness.