Kuterovac Jagodić, G., Keresteš, G & Brković, I. Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia Predictors of parenting behavior and satisfaction among parents that transited to parenting during the war in Croatia 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Study rationale Parenting in conditions of war: disruption of parental functions and personal traumatization Studies of war and violence have found: increase in control, decrease in warmth and responsiveness, decrease in parenting satisfaction Less than optimal parenting negative effects on child development 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Determinants of parenting Belsky (1984) War 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Goals of the study 1. To assess a degree of impact of war on parents in respect to their sex, age, education and regional exposure to the war 2.To examine to what extent impact of the war and contextual variable of social support as well as parental mental health and child’s demographic characteristics explain parenting behavior and satisfaction. 3.To test for possible indirect pathway between negative effect of war and parenting behavior and parenting satisfaction, mediated by parental mental health problems 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Participants Age: Mmothers= 39 yrs. Mfathers = 42 yrs N=812 pairs of mothers and fathers War experience: 49% from more and 51% from less war affected Croatian towns Age: Mmothers= 39 yrs. Mfathers = 42 yrs Education: Mothers: elementary school 12%, high school 62.1% , faculty 25.8% Fathers: elementary school 7.1%,high school 63.4%, faculty 29% Working status: employed 70.1% mothers and 81.2% fathers Children: 368 (45.3%) boys and 444 (54.7%) girls; 10-15 yrs 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Method Instruments for self-assessment of parents Parental Behavior Questionnaire - URP (Keresteš, Kuterovac Jagodić & Brković 2006) 32 items, 4-point scale; 2 dimensions of parental behavior: Positive parenting scale (acceptance, positive discipline, monitoring) Alpha mothers =.73, alpha fathers=.78 Negative parenting scale (rejection, negative discipline) Alpha mothers =.64, alpha fathers=.67 Parenting Satisfaction Scale 4 items, 4-point scale satisfaction with parental behavior, knowledge and abilities Alpha mothers =.73, alpha fathers=.77 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Method Instruments for self-assessment of parents Impact of War Questionnaire* 5-point scale (1-no negative impact at all – 5 – very negative impact) Subscales: Life satisfaction, values and attitudes (5); Standard of living and future plans (5); Well-being and relationships (5) Alpha mothers =.90, alpha fathers=.92 Social Support Questionnaire* 10 items, 4 -point scale; self perceived social support Alpha mothers =.89, alpha fathers=.90 DASA Questionnaire* 4-point scale; Subscales: Depression (10) Aggressiveness (13), Self-esteem (5); Anxiety (11) Depression alpha mothers =.79, alpha fathers=.79 Agressivnesss alpha mothers =.85, alpha fathers=.88 * Developed by: Lugomer Armano, Kuterovac Jagodić, Keresteš & Brković, 2006 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Wilks’ Lambda = .92 F=10.1 p =.000 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Negative effects of the war on Croatian mothers and fathers Mild negative war effects, stronger for fathers than mothers Among fathers stronger impact of the war among less educated; and older Among mothers neither age or educational differences 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Descriptive statistics for study variables and parental gender differences M Range sd t Mother's Positive parenting 3,45 1-4 ,36 16,60*** Father's Positive parenting 3,18 ,44 Mother's Negative parenting 1,76 ,43 2,41* Father's Negative parenting 1,80 ,42 Mother's Parenting satisfaction 1,94 ,54 0.46 Father's Parenting satisfaction 1,92 ,55 Mother's Depression 1,48 ,30 10,20*** Fathers Depression 1.34 ,35 Mother's Aggressiveness 1,52 ,41 3,84*** Father's Aggressiveness 1,61 ,45 Mother's Social support 3,33 ,46 5,99*** Father's Social support 3,22 ,47 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

To what extent some child’s demographic characteristics, indicators of parental mental health and contextual sources of stress and support explain parenting behavior and satisfaction? HRA in 4 steps: child’s age & gender total impact of war parental depression and aggressiveness parental self perceived social support 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Hierarchical regression analysis results for Positive parenting Positive parenting Fathers Mothers ∆R2 β 1. Child’s demographic .009+ .009 Age -.10** -.09+ Sex .01 .04 2. Impact of war .042*** -.02 (-.20***) .004 .06 3. Mental health .117*** .106*** Depression -.16** -.12** Aggressivness -.17*** 4. Social support .063*** .27*** .043*** .23*** R .481 .402 R2 adj .224 .154 F 32.14*** 20.69*** *** p<.0001 ** p <.001 ** p <.01 + p <.05; boys =1 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Hierarchical multiple regression analysis results for Negative parenting Negative parenting Fathers Mothers ∆R2 β 1. Child’s demographic .004 .005 Age -.06 -.04 Sex -.05 2. Impact of war .034*** .00 (.19***) .026*** .01 (.16***) 3. Mental health .173 *** .254*** Depression .10+ .14** Aggressivness .37*** .44*** 4. Social support .001 -.03 R .461 .535 R2 adj .205 .279 F 28.84*** 42.87*** *** p<.0001 ** p <.001 ** p <.01 + p <.05; boys =1 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Parenting satisfaction Hierarchical multiple regression analysis results for Parenting satisfaction Parenting satisfaction Fathers Mothers ∆R2 β 1. Child’s demographic .004 .001 Age - .03 .01 Sex .07+ .03 2. Impact of war .081*** .07 (-.29***) .019*** (-.14***) 3. Mental health .172*** .210*** Depression -.34*** -.27*** Aggressivness -.08 (-.11+) - .20 *** 4. Social support .032*** .19*** .012** .12*** R .538 .493 R2 adj .283 .235 F 43.13*** 33.69*** *** p<.0001 ** p <.001 ** p <.01 + p <.05; boys =1 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Mediational analysis of the relation between war, parental mental health indices and positive parenting (procedure: Baron & Kenny, 1986) War Parental Mental Health Problems Positive Parenting + - War Mother’s Depression Positive Parenting .27*** .05 (.02) - .30*** (-.31***) Father’s Depression .39*** - .35*** (-.32***) -.20*** (-.08*) War Mother’s Aggressiveness Positive Parenting .28*** .05 (.02) - .30*** (-.30***) Father’s Aggressiveness .36*** - .35*** (-.33***) -.20*** (-.09*) 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Mother’s Aggressiveness Father’s Aggressivenes Mediational analysis of the relation between war, parental mental health indices and negative parenting (procedure: Baron & Kenny, 1986) War Parental Mental Health Problems Negative Parenting + War Mother’s Depression Negative Parenting .27*** .13*** (.02) .39*** (.39***) Father’s Depression .34*** (.34***) .15*** (.03) War Mother’s Aggressiveness Negative Parenting .28*** .13*** (.00) .47*** (.49***) Father’s Aggressivenes .36*** .42*** (.43***) .15*** (.02) 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Mother’s Aggressiveness Father’s Aggressiveness Mediational analysis of the relation between war, parental mental health indices and parenting satisfaction (procedure:Baron & Kenny, 1986) War Parental Mental Health Problems Parenting Satisfaction + - War Mother’s Depression Parenting Satisfaction .27*** -.12*** (.00) -.44*** (-.45***) Father’s Depression .39*** -.46*** (-.42***) -.28*** (-.12***) War Mother’s Aggressiveness Parenting Satisfaction .28*** -.12*** (.02) -.43*** (-.42***) Father’s Aggressiveness .36*** -.39*** (-.31***) -.28*** (-.16***) 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Conclusions Parents reported mild negative influence of the war mostly on their living standards and future plans, less on life satisfaction, values and attitudes and the least on personal well being and relationships with others Parental mental health is the strongest predictor of parenting behavior and satisfaction After controlling for child’s demographics war explains 2-8% of the variance of parenting behavior and satisfaction War has both direct and indirect effect on parenting via parental mental health Social support is related to positive parenting and parenting satisfaction, but not to negative parenting 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Thank you! 16/09/2018 8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference, October 2-4, 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia