engleski

Problem behaviours in children: Can executive functions and parenting practices buffer the effects of problematic (psychopathic) traits?

Recently, psychopathy has gained empirical support as a useful construct for assessing a range of behaviors in young children, including problem behaviors and risky decision-making. This highlights the need to identify protective factors for children high on psychopathic traits. Past studies on problem behaviors have identified executive functions and parenting practices as factors that have a direct effect on child outcomes, as well as moderating effect on the relationship between risk factors and child outcomes. Taking the advantage of a prospective community study following children across the transition from kindergarten to school (N =175 children ; 51% boys ; Mage=8.74 years) we examined the buffering role of executive functions (i.e., inhibitory control/flexibility and working memory/planning) and parenting practices in the association between a child’s psychopathic traits and problem behaviors. Psychopathic traits, executive functions and problem behaviors were rated by both parents and teachers, whereas parents also reported on their parenting practices. Hierarchical regression analyses have shown that, in the presence of psychopathic traits, children with better inhibitory control, mental flexibility and working memory had fewer problem behaviors after controlling for gender and IQ. Similar results have been obtained for the three psychopathy dimensions. By contrast, only permissive parenting practices moderated the relationship between problem behaviors and impulsivity-need for stimulation dimension. These results suggest that executive functions may serve as a buffer against problem behaviors in young children. Thus, it may be beneficial to target executive functions in preventive programs for individuals at high-risk for problem behaviors.

children ; psychopathic traits ; parenting practices ; buffer effect

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