Raw, JAL;
Heron, J;
Oliver, BR;
Gilmour, J;
Midouhas, E;
(2025)
Bidirectional associations between parental negativity and child externalising problems: Social support and neighbourhood cohesion as moderators.
JCCP Advances
, Article e70054. 10.1002/jcv2.70054.
Preview |
Text
Midouhas_JCPP Advances - 2025 - Raw - Bidirectional associations between parental negativity and child externalising problems.pdf Download (642kB) | Preview |
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Externalising behaviours are among the most common childhood mental health problems and have been linked to numerous adverse psychosocial outcomes including antisocial behaviour and depression. Parental negativity (PNeg) and child behaviours have been shown to mutually influence each other, leading to coercive cycles of negative behaviour over time. Interrupting these negative cycles is a common target for clinical intervention but little is known about what factors moderate these cycles over time in the general population. METHOD: Using data on 9943 families from The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children across ages 4, 7 and 8, we explored the reciprocal associations between PNeg and externalising behaviour and tested whether they differed as a function of high versus low parent-reported interpersonal social support and neighbourhood social cohesion. RESULTS: Using random-intercept cross-lagged panel models, we found bidirectional associations between PNeg and child externalising behaviour across ages 7 to 8 (βs = 0.13–0.15) but not ages 4 to 7 (βs = 0.01–0.03). Moreover, we did not find evidence of moderation of any of the cross-lagged paths by social support or neighbourhood cohesion. CONCLUSIONS: Parent-reported interpersonal social support and neighbourhood social cohesion do not appear to play a role in interrupting negative parent–child interaction cycles in the general population.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Bidirectional associations between parental negativity and child externalising problems: Social support and neighbourhood cohesion as moderators |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1002/jcv2.70054 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.70054 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2025 The Author(s). JCPP Advances published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | ALSPAC, behaviour problems, parent–child relationships, random intercept cross‐lagged panel model, social support |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10210897 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
