Acceso usuarios
Santiago de Compostela, España
Family is underlined by several theoretical models as a main source of risk and protection for externalizing conduct problems. This study was aimed to study the relationships between conduct problems and an array of family factors suggested by previous research: parenting practices, involvement between parents and children, and parent personality (anger/aggression, emotional self-control, problem-solving and communication skills). The sample was composed by 253 families which provided information through questionnaires and rating scales. Results showed that, when compared with non-problem children, externalizing children are subjected to punitive parent practices, with limited use of social reinforcement; in addition, parents provide them with weak supervision and poorly defined norms. Parents of externalizing children consider involvement with siblings as less important, and, in general terms, family atmosphere is more tense and conflictive. Moreover, these parents are more anger-prone, show difficulties in emotional self-control, solve their problems in an impulsive way and display a self-defensive communication style. These characteristics are particularly associated to a co-morbid group of children, which combines symptoms of ADHD and conduct problems. Results suggest the importance of developing family interventions suited to this group, which, according to the previous research, seems to have a particularly poor prognosis.
