Abstract

AGUIRRE SANDOVAL, Salvador. Permissive Parenting as a Risk Factor for Violent Discipline Toward Children. Psicumex [online]. 2022, vol.12, e449.  Epub Aug 08, 2022. ISSN 2007-5936.  https://doi.org/10.36793/psicumex.v12i1.449.

Paradigmatically, there is only a negative association between permissiveness and violent discipline. The purpose of this study was to examine a positive association between types of permissiveness and violent discipline as well as the possible mediation function played by children's problem behaviors. The participants were 196 primary caregivers of preschool-age children, who in the frame of the transverse study reported on children's problem behaviors at home, and on their own parenting practices, specifically on various types of permissiveness and violent discipline. To assess the association between permissiveness and violent discipline, linear correlation tests were applied to the data, and to evaluate a possible mediating role played by childhood problem behaviors, a structural equation modeling was applied. A positive and significant correlation was found between the indulgent permissiveness exercised by caregiver 1 and the intensity of violent discipline exercised by caregiver 2. A positive and significant correlation was also found between the normative disagreements of both caregivers and their frequencies of violent discipline. A mediation model in these associations is partially confirmed, through children's problem behaviors. A causal chain of parenting phenomena is then identified: permissiveness increases problematic behaviors in children, and these behaviors in turn increase violent discipline. If these causal relationships are better established by more empirical evidence, complementary strategies could be formulated to advance the clinical and preventive tasks of nonviolent parenting.

Keywords : child maltreatment; permissiveness; violence; problem behavior; structural equation modeling.

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