Differential Parenting as a Predictor of Child Psychopathology Courtney Ficks, Whitney Guthrie, Lisa Doelger, Karina R. Horowitz, & Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona Introduction Recent research reported by the National Institute of Mental Health has stated that over a quarter of adults in the United States function with diagnosable mental disorders annually. Of the individuals facing lifelong struggles with these disorders, the onset of symptoms occurs before age 14 in an estimated fifty percent. Thus, it is important to understand the early causes of these disorders in order to develop successful methods of treatment and prevention. Although the effects of parenting techniques on a child’s developing mental health have been frequently examined across families, very few studies have examined the link between differential parenting of siblings within the same family and the development of internalizing and externalizing disorders in these children. Parents tend to report exhibiting similar levels of Differential Treatment (DT), but there is not much agreement found between parent and child reports (Daniels, Dunn, Furstenberg, & Plomin, 1985; Kowal, Krull, & Kramer, 2004). Objective measures of DT such as observer report are rarely included (Brody et al., 1987; Conger & Conger, 1994; Deater- Deckard et al., 2001), and studies utilizing observer report have not taken other measures into account. Parental DT behaviors tend to be consistently predictive of externalizing behaviors in children (Boyle et al., 2004; Kowal et al., 2002), including delinquency (Conger & Conger, 1994). Negative DT in areas such as parental control and hostility is consistently tied to negative child outcomes in the more poorly treated sibling (Boyle et al., 2004; Brody, Copeland, Sutton, Richardson, & Guyer, 1998; Conger & Conger, 1994; Deater- Deckard et al., 2001; Kowal et al., 2002). Positive DT in areas such as affection and attention is less consistently tied to negative outcomes (Boyle et al., 2004; Wolf, Fisman, Ellison, & Freeman, 1998; Kowal et al., 2004); however, some report the sibling receiving more of the positive treatment to have fewer behavioral and emotional problems (Deater-Deckard et al., 2001; Sheehan & Noller, 2002). Whether the perceived difference between the treatment of children is related to child internalizing and externalizing outcomes above mean levels of parenting behavior that each child receives is still unknown due to conflicting results (Feinberg & Hetherington, 2001; Kowal et al., 2002; Tamrouti-Makkink, Dubas, Gerris, & Van Aken 2004). The goals of this project are to 1)compare several measures of DT and determine to what extent they are in agreement, 2)examine whether or not DT relates to childhood internalizing, externalizing, and ADHD, and 3)observe whether differential parenting predicts psychopathology above and beyond mean levels of parenting behaviors. The sample consisted of monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs (M=8.1 years) from the Wisconsin Twin Project. Because we are making non- independent observations within families, one twin from each pair was randomly selected for analyses. MacArthur Health and Behavior Questionnaire (HBQ): (Armstrong et al., 2003) 689 pairs were assessed for a variety of symptoms using both mother and father reports on this measure. Parent reports were combined after analyses revealed high correlations. Composites were created for internalizing, externalizing, and ADHD. Differential Treatment Questionnaire (DTQ): Mother and father reports of their own DT were acquired for 320 twin pairs using 5 of the questionnaire’s 6 items. Separate discipline, affection, and attention scales were created for each parent. Sibling Relationship Questionnaire – Revised (Parent) (SRQ): (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985) 314 mothers reported on both mother and father partiality Items rated on a 1-5 scale, indicating which twin receives more partiality from parents Composites created for Mother Partiality and Father Partiality using 3 items each SRQ Puppet Interview: Twins were given the SRQ through individual puppet interviews reliably coded on a 1-7 scale from videotape. 127 pairs reported on both mother and father behavior Separate Mother Partiality and Father Partiality composites were created Observer Report: Mothers participated in this videotaped interaction with both twins Mothers taught twins how to play a card game: “Lily’s 3-for-All” Observed mother’s warmth, intrusiveness, and hostility toward each of the twins during the parent-child interaction were reliably coded from videotape Methods Reporter Agreement Mothers and fathers: Similar levels of differential discipline (r =.63, p<.01) and affection (r =.40, p <.01), with the same child receiving more discipline and affection from both parents. For differential attention, correlations between parent reports were significantly negative, indicating that each parent devoted more attention to a different twin (r = -.24, p <.01). Mothers and children: Reports on the SRQ did not agree on the direction of received maternal or paternal partiality. There was minor agreement on the magnitude of differential paternal partiality (r =.17, p <.01). Observers and families: Observer reports did not significantly relate to most mother or child reports of DT or partiality, but there were some exceptions. The twin that mothers reported disciplining more on the DTQ was observed receiving slightly higher levels of maternal intrusiveness (r =.16, p <.05). Differential Treatment and Psychopathology Twin symptoms of psychopathology were significantly related to both the level and direction of differential discipline reported by parents. Children receiving higher levels of parental discipline than their twins exhibited more internalizing (r =.21, p <.01), externalizing (mean r =.28, p <.01), and ADHD symptoms (mean r =.32, p <.01). INTERNALIZING Hierarchical regressions of DTQ scales revealed maternal differential discipline, β =.25, p <.001, paternal differential attention β =.12, p <.01, and paternal differential affection β =.11, p=.01 as independent predictors of internalizing. On the SRQ, mother-reported maternal partiality β =.16, p =.03 and twin-reported paternal partiality β =.38, p <.01 significantly predicted internalizing. EXTERNALIZING Levels of differential maternal and paternal discipline on the DTQ both emerged as the only significant predictors of child externalizing β =.23, p <.01 and β =.13, p <.01, respectively. No independent predictors emerged on the SRQ. ADHD Predictors showed a similar pattern on the DTQ for ADHD as with externalizing, although paternal differential discipline was only a marginally significant predictor in this case (p =.06). SRQ mother-reported maternal partiality & twin-reported maternal partiality β =.15, p =.05 and β =.17, p =.02, respectively, and mother- reported paternal partiality β =.18, p =.04 independently predicted ADHD symptoms. Differential hostility predicted ADHD symptoms in the twins beyond the mean level of observed maternal hostility during the observed interaction β =.18, p =.02. This was the only significant observation. Results SRQ Maternal Partiality Mother ReportTwin Report Mother ReportTwin Report SRQ Paternal Partiality Internalizing ADHD Internalizing ADHD SRQ Measures – Independent Predictors Internalizing Externalizing ADHD Mother’s Attention Father’s Attention Mother’s Affection Father’s Affection Mother’s Discipline Father’s Discipline DTQ Predictors Β =.12 Β =.11 Β =.25Β =.23 Β =.13 Β =.22