Parents anticipating misbehaviour: An observational study of strategies parents use to prevent conflict with behaviour problem children

Research on the role of parenting styles in the development of disruptive b ehaviour problems has focused primarily on how parents handle conflict once it has occurred. This home observational study examined strategies used by 52 mothers to prevent conflict with 3-year-olds. It was predicted that mot hers of children with behaviour problems would use fewer "positive" strateg ies to resolve conflict, and would use reactive rather than pre-emptive str ategies. Results showed frequency of positive strategies did not differ bet ween the groups. Mothers of children with behaviour problems were less like ly to use pre-emptive, and more likely to use reactive, strategies. Further analysis showed child conduct problems, rather than other characteristics, best discriminated pre-emptive from reactive strategy users. Follow-up of a subsample found that reactive strategies at age 3 predicted age 5 behavio ur problems, even after controlling for age 3 behaviour problems.