The Role of Parenting Styles, Parental Stress and Children’s Executive Functions Deficits in Predicting the Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Problems

The problems of childhood can be generally divided into two large, but overlapping groups of internalizing and externalizing problems. Internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems can negatively affect the different functions of children and adolescents. Present study aimed to investigate the role of parenting styles, parental stress and children’s executive functions deficits in predicting the childrenchr('39')s internalizing and externalizing problems.

The present research was a descriptive correlational study. The study population included all the male primary school students in district 2 of Rasht city in the academic year of 2018-2019 and their parents. From this population, a sample of 375 students was selected by multistage cluster sampling. They completed Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1990), Parenting Questionnaire (Frick, 1991), Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale (Barkley, 2011), and Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient and step-wise regression method.

Findings showed that there was a significant negative correlation between positive parenting, father involvement and awareness and childrenchr('39')s internalizing and externalizing problems. It was also found that corporal punishment, poor monitoring and authority had a significant positive correlation with childrenchr('39')s internalizing and externalizing problems. Also, results showed that parental stress and childrenchr('39')s executive functions deficits (and its components) had a significant positive correlation with childrenchr('39')s internalizing and externalizing problems (P> 0.01). Results of regression indicated that executive functions, father involvement, corporal punishment, authority, awareness, positive parenting, and poor monitoring were predictors of internalizing problems, whereas father involvement, executive functions, positive parenting, stress, corporal punishment, emotional self-regulation, awareness, authority, and poor monitoring were predictors of childrenchr('39')s externalizing problems (P> 0.01).

Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that positive parenting, father involvement and awareness are negative predictors of childrenchr('39')s internalizing and externalizing problems, whereas corporal punishment, poor monitoring, authority, parental stress, and childrenchr('39')s executive functions deficits are positive predictors of childrenchr('39')s internalizing and externalizing problems. Findings of the present study can help to the development and implementation of effective preventive and therapeutic interventions for behavioral disorders in children.