SORAYA LESTER NIKKI PRESTON MZWANDILE MADALANE CATHERINE L. WARD DO CONTEXTUAL STRESSORS AFFECT PARENTING BEHAVIOURS AND CHILD AGGRESSION IN SOUTH AFRICAN TOWNSHIPS?

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Lauren Baerecke All fieldworkers National Research Foundation Non-Government Organisations: 1. Etafeni 2.Beautiful Gate 3.The Parent Centre (Gugulethu, Khayelitsha & Phillipi) 4.Badisa 5.Life Choices

DO CONTEXTUAL STRESSORS AFFECT PARENTING BEHAVIOURS AND CHILD AGGRESSION IN SOUTH AFRICAN TOWNSHIPS?

VIOLENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA South African Violence Prevalence Rates Statistics -Murder rate ( ) = 30.9 per population -31.5% of the non-natural deaths recorded in 2008 from violence International Violence Prevalence Rates Statistics -United States murder rate: 15.2 per in England and Wales: 9.7 homicide offences per million population over 2011 and 2012

 Peaks between the ages of VIOLENCE/ HOMICIDE BY AGE (N= 11299) (NIMSS, 2010)

WHY? POOR PARENTING BEHAVIOURS MAY LEAD TO CHILD AGGRESSION AGGRESSION PROBLEMS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD Oppositional, Disruptive, Conduct AGGRESSION PROBLEMS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD Oppositional, Disruptive, Conduct VIOLENT CONDUCT IN ADOLESCENCE AND ADULTHOOD Criminality, Antisocial, Delinquency, VIOLENT CONDUCT IN ADOLESCENCE AND ADULTHOOD Criminality, Antisocial, Delinquency, Early antecedents? Poor Parenting behaviours

WHY PARENTING? Social Learning Theory - Observation - Reinforcement versus punishment Attachment Theory - Positive internal working models - Behavioural regulation and control

1.Inconsistent parenting 2.Poor supervision and monitoring 3.Neglectful parenting 4.Harsh discipline (e.g., corporal punishment) 5.Little involvement and interaction 6.Lack of positive parenting WHAT PARENTING BEHAVIOURS?

1) Economic hardship - Indirect cause of poor parenting - Difficult to meet children's needs + enhances distress - Associated with poor parenting 2) Single parenting -More responsibility = less energy -With economic hardship = distress -Results in reduced likelihood of effective parenting 3) Violent neighbourhoods -Poor parenting -As a result of stress and powerlessness CONTEXTUAL STRESSORS

 Contextual factors impact on parental efficacy  Parental efficacy: extent to which parents believe they can overcome the negative contexts and stressors in which they live.  Low parental efficacy=less resilient + more hopeless  Therefore, parental efficacy is a risk factor for poor parenting PARENTAL EFFICACY

 Townships  Contextual Stressors  Western Cape townships  predominantly isiXhosa-speaking  Lack of literature on this language group SAMPLE

HYPOTHESES POOR PARENTING BEHAVIOURS CHILD AGGRESSION PARENTAL EFFICACY (mediator) CONTEXTUAL STRESSORS (moderator)

DESIGN -Quantitative -Cross-sectional SETTING -NGO’s in the Western Cape PARTICIPANTS -isiXhosa speaking parents with children between 6-18 METHODS

MEASURES Child Aggression Child Behaviour Checklist Parenting Behaviours Alabama Parenting Questionnaire Mother-Child Neglect Scale Parental Efficacy Parenting Sense of Competence – Efficacy Scale Contextual Stressors Single Parenting  “Are you parenting alone?” Economic Hardship  Household Inventory; Hunger Scale Violent neighbourhoods  Perceived Neighbourhood Scale

FACTOR ANALYSIS Reliability analysis of subscales of APQ Low - only three subscales with Cronbach’s alpha values of between 0.6 and 0.7 (i.e., Positive parenting, Parental involvement and Poor parental monitoring and supervision subscales) Exploratory Factor Analysis Minimum of five up to 14 new factors identified with scree test and Kaiser criterion, respectively New five-factor solution adopted Only two new factors have significant loadings and are theoretically sound (share underlying meaning) to be grouped together Reliability analysis shows two factors as having sufficient internal consistency (i.e., have Cronbach’s alpha values greater than 0.7) (i.e., positive and involved parenting practices and inconsistent discipline and supervision)

1. Inconsistent parenting 2. Supervision and monitoring 3. Harsh discipline 4. Interaction and involvement 5. Positive parenting FACTOR ANALYSIS OF APQ OLD APQNEW APQ 1. Inconsistent discipline and supervision 2. Positive parenting + Harsh corporal punishment + Mild corporal punishment

RESULTS Biological parents (86.5%) Male (56.7%) & Female (43.3%) Ages 6-9 (60%) Rule Breaking Behaviours N (%) Aggressive Behaviours N (%) Oppositional Defiant Problems N (%) Conduct Problems N (%) Borderline clinical range (B) 27 (8.65)41 ( 13.14)19 (6.09)52 (16.67) Clinical range (C)49 (15.71)33 (10.58)13 (4.17)51 (16.35) Single parents (33.7%) Unemployed (64.4%)

BIVARIATE RESULTS

MEDIATION ANALYSES Positive parenting Parental efficacy Child aggression Inconsistent discipline and supervision Mild corporal punishment

MODERATION ANALYSES Parental efficacy Positive parentingChild aggression Perceived neighbourhood violence

SUMMARY OF RESULTS Converging FindingsDiverging Findings Inconsistent discipline and supervision Mild corporal punishment Positive Parenting Parental efficacy Harsh corporal punishment Contextual stressors (Parental efficacy)

 Parenting is central to understanding the causes of child aggression focusing in SA  Positive parenting  Inconsistent discipline and punishment  Mild corporal punishment  Minimal mediating role of parental efficacy  Design and content of parenting programs  Policy work - corporal punishment DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

LIMITATIONS Cross-sectional study Self-report Measure of stress Generalizability and external validity

FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS How contextual stressors impact on other mediating factors of parenting Effects of moderators need to be measured directly Conceptual definitions of types of parenting in South Africa Improved scales More research to replicate the findings of this study

CONCLUSIONS Early conduct problems  later violence Parenting is a predictor of child aggression : 1.Lack of positive parenting 2.Inconsistent discipline and supervision 3.Mild corporal punishment Positive parenting mediated by parental efficacy Implications for interventions (e.g. parenting programs) and future research Possibility to stem national levels of violence with this knowledge Neighbourhood violence is a predictor of child aggression