Original scientific paper
The Role of Children's Perception of Parental Behavior in Explaining Internalizing and Externalizing Problems
Ivana MACUKA
orcid.org/0000-0002-8753-8991
; University of Zadar, Zadar
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of children's
perceptions of mother's and father's parental behavior in
explaining specific psychopathological problems among children
in early adolescence. Children reported mother's and father's
parental behavior by filling the Children's Reports of Parental
Behavior Inventory (CRPBI-57, Kereste{, 1999). Their
psychopathological problems were assessed by Youth Self-
-Report (YSR, Achenbach and Rescorla, 2001). This research
shows that children's perception of parental behavior, to a large
extent, is tied to children’s externalized problems, rather than
internalized ones. Meanwhile, a mother’s psychological control
has been shown to be the most significant dimension of
parental behavior in predicting both types of children’s
problems. A child’s development is adversely affected by
subjective experience of control, that is, a mother’s psychological
control, which is associated with the internalization and
externalization of problems in children. Also, children's
perception of mother’s low emotionality predicts children's
externalizing problems. These results shows that children's
perception of mother’s psychological control turned out to be
the most significant dimension of parental behavior in prediction
of both types of children's problems, and these figures show that
the perception of personal autonomy among children, especially
by the mother, in the early adolescence period, is extremely
important in the regulation of emotions and behaviour.
Keywords
internalizing and externalizing problems; mother's and father's parental behavior; early adolescence
Hrčak ID:
31155
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2008.
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