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Soraya Lester Nikki Preston Mzwandile Madalane Catherine L. Ward

DO CONTEXTUAL STRESSORS AFFECT PARENTING BEHAVIOURS AND CHILD AGGRESSION IN SOUTH AFRICAN TOWNSHIPS? . Soraya Lester Nikki Preston Mzwandile Madalane Catherine L. Ward. Acknowledgements . Lauren Baerecke All fieldworkers National Research Foundation Non-Government Organisation s :

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Soraya Lester Nikki Preston Mzwandile Madalane Catherine L. Ward

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  1. DO CONTEXTUAL STRESSORS AFFECT PARENTING BEHAVIOURS AND CHILD AGGRESSION IN SOUTH AFRICAN TOWNSHIPS? Soraya Lester Nikki PrestonMzwandileMadalaneCatherine L. Ward

  2. Acknowledgements • Lauren Baerecke • All fieldworkers • National Research Foundation • Non-Government Organisations: • Etafeni • Beautiful Gate • The Parent Centre (Gugulethu, Khayelitsha & Phillipi) • Badisa • Life Choices

  3. Do contextual stressors Affect parenting behaviours and child aggression in South African townships?

  4. Violence in South Africa • South African Violence Prevalence Rates Statistics • Murder rate (2011-2012) = 30.9 per 100 000 population • 31.5% of the 31.177 non-natural deaths recorded in 2008 from violence • International Violence Prevalence Rates Statistics • United States murder rate: 15.2 per 100 000 in 2009 • England and Wales: 9.7 homicide offences per million population over 2011 and 2012

  5. Violence/ Homicide by age (N= 11299) • Peaks between the ages of15-29 (NIMSS, 2010)

  6. Why?Poor parenting behaviours may lead to Child aggression • AGGRESSION Problems in early childhood • Oppositional, • Disruptive, • Conduct • Violent Conduct in adolescence and adulthood • Criminality, • Antisocial, • Delinquency, Early antecedents? Poor Parenting behaviours

  7. Why Parenting? • Social Learning Theory • -Observation • - Reinforcement versus punishment • Attachment Theory • - Positive internal working models • - Behavioural regulation and control

  8. What Parenting behaviours? • Inconsistent parenting • Poor supervision and monitoring • Neglectful parenting • Harsh discipline (e.g., corporal punishment) • Little involvement and interaction • Lack of positive parenting

  9. Contextual stressors 1) Economic hardship - Indirect cause of poor parenting -Difficult to meet children's needs + enhances distress - Associated with poor parenting 2) Single parenting • More responsibility = less energy • With economic hardship = distress • Results in reduced likelihood of effective parenting 3) Violent neighbourhoods • Poor parenting • As a result of stress and powerlessness

  10. Parental efficacy • Contextual factors impact on parental efficacy • Parental efficacy: extent to which parents believe they can overcome the negative contexts and stressors in which they live. • Low parental efficacy=less resilient + more hopeless • Therefore,parental efficacy is a risk factor for poor parenting

  11. Sample • Townships  Contextual Stressors • Western Cape townships  predominantly isiXhosa-speaking • Lack of literature on this language group

  12. Hypotheses CONTEXTUAL STRESSORS (moderator) POOR PARENTING BEHAVIOURS PARENTAL EFFICACY (mediator) Child aggression

  13. Methods Design • Quantitative • Cross-sectional Setting • NGO’s in the Western Cape Participants • isiXhosa speaking parents with children between 6-18

  14. Methods MEASURES Child Aggression Child Behaviour Checklist Parenting Behaviours Alabama Parenting Questionnaire Mother-Child Neglect Scale Parental Efficacy Parenting Sense of Competence – Efficacy Scale Contextual Stressors Single Parenting “Are you parenting alone?” Economic Hardship  Household Inventory; Hunger Scale Violent neighbourhoods  Perceived Neighbourhood Scale

  15. FACTOR anaLysis • Reliability analysis of subscales of APQ • Low - only three subscales with Cronbach’s alpha values of between 0.6 and 0.7 (i.e., Positive parenting, Parental involvement and Poor parental monitoring and supervision subscales) • Exploratory Factor Analysis • Minimum of five up to 14 new factors identified with scree test and Kaiser criterion, respectively • New five-factor solution adopted • Only two new factors have significant loadings and are theoretically sound (share underlying meaning) to be grouped together • Reliability analysis shows two factors as having sufficient internal consistency (i.e., have Cronbach’s alpha values greater than 0.7) (i.e., positive and involved parenting practices and inconsistent discipline and supervision)

  16. FACTOR ANALYSIS OF APQ 1. Inconsistent parenting 2. Supervision and monitoring 3. Harsh discipline 4. Interaction and involvement 5. Positive parenting OLD APQ NEW APQ 1. Inconsistent discipline and supervision 2. Positive parenting + Harsh corporal punishment + Mild corporal punishment

  17. Results • Biological parents (86.5%) • Male (56.7%) & Female (43.3%) • Ages 6-9 (60%) • Single parents (33.7%) • Unemployed (64.4%)

  18. Bivariate RESULTS Non-Significant Significant • Age and gender • Neglect • Harsh corporal punishment • Economic hardship • Single parenting • Positive parenting • Inconsistent discipline and supervision • Mild corporal punishment • Parental efficacy • Perceived neighbourhood violence

  19. Mediation Analyses Inconsistent discipline and supervision Child aggression Parental efficacy Positive parenting Mild corporal punishment

  20. Moderation analyses Perceived neighbourhood violence Parental efficacy Positive parenting Child aggression

  21. Summary of results Diverging Findings Converging Findings • Harsh corporal punishment • Contextual stressors • (Parental efficacy) • Inconsistent discipline and supervision • Mild corporal punishment • Positive Parenting • Parental efficacy

  22. Discussion and Implications • Parenting is central to understanding the causes of child aggression focusing in SA • Positive parenting • Inconsistent discipline and punishment • Mild corporal punishment • Minimal mediating role of parental efficacy • Design and content of parenting programs • Policy work - corporal punishment

  23. Limitations • Cross-sectional study • Self-report • Measure of stress • Generalizability and external validity

  24. Future Recommendations • How contextual stressors impact on other mediating factors of parenting • Effects of moderators need to be measured directly • Conceptual definitions of types of parenting in South Africa • Improved scales • More research to replicate the findings of this study

  25. Conclusions • Early conduct problems  later violence • Parenting is a predictor of child aggression : Lack of positive parenting Inconsistent discipline and supervision Mild corporal punishment • Positive parenting mediated by parental efficacy • Neighbourhood violence is a predictor of child aggression • Implications for interventions (e.g. parenting programs) and future research • Possibility to stem national levels of violence with this knowledge

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