Mediational models of risk and protection were tested to predict longitudinally both externalizing and internalizing behaviors in young children, with conflicted marital attitude and transgenerational, authoritarian vs. authoritative parenting as predictors. Drawn from two private and one public schools, the sample consisted of 25 boys and 25 girls with 4 and 5 years of age, and their respective mothers. Bivariate Pearson correlations and multiple regressions showed intergenerational transmission for the authoritarian style, but not for the authoritative style, mediated by a conflicted attitude toward marriage. The maternal authoritarian style predicted both externalizing and internalizing behaviors, whereas the conflicted marital attitude predicted only externalizing behavior. Although significant, the additive model did not yield significant effects for each factor on externalizing behavior. But when the relation between authoritarian parenting and conflicted marital attitude were taken into account, significant main effects were found for both factors on externalizing behavior. The finding of significant results only in the risk model is discussed from both theoretical and methodological standpoints.
Mediation; risk; protection; parenting styles; intergenerational transmission
