Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Harsh Parental Discipline, Parent-Child Attachment, and Peer Attachment in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Child and Family Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This research aimed to examine the relations among harsh discipline (including psychological aggression and corporal punishment), parent-child attachment, and peer attachment. More specifically, two mediation models (one for psychological aggression, one for corporal punishment) were investigated in which father-child attachment and mother-child attachment were hypothesized to mediate the relations between both paternal and maternal harsh discipline and peer attachment. In addition, differences across gender of the mediation model were examined. Participants were 668 children in grades four to eight and both their parents in China. The Chinese version of Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC) and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) were used as the main assessment tools to measure parental use of harsh discipline, parent-child attachment, and peer attachment. Findings revealed that the direct path from neither fathers’ nor mothers’ harsh discipline to peer attachment was significant. Harsh discipline by one parent was indirectly related to peer attachment through the attachment between this parent and the child, but not through the attachment between his/her spouse and the child. In addition, the direct and indirect relations between harsh parental discipline and peer attachment did not differ across child gender. The findings provided an important supplement and extension to previous examinations of the factors associated with peer attachment and its mechanisms. In addition, the results also suggested the need for intervention programs aiming at improving children’s peer relationships to take the parenting and parent-child relationships into account.

Highlights

  • The direct effects of harsh parental discipline on peer attachment were not significant.

  • Harsh discipline by one parent was indirectly related to peer attachment through the attachment between this parent and the child, but not through the attachment between his/her spouse and the child.

  • The direct and indirect relations between harsh parental discipline and peer attachment did not differ across child gender.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen, J. P. (2008). The attachment system in adolescence. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: theory, research, and clinical applications. 2nd ed. (pp. 419–435). New York, NY: Guildford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen, J. P., Porter, M., McFarland, C., McElhaney, K. B., & Marsh, P. (2007). The relation of attachment security to adolescents’ paternal and peer relationships, depression, and externalizing behavior. Child Development, 78(4), 1222–1239.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Alto, M., Handley, E., Rogosch, F., Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. (2018). Maternal relationship quality and peer social acceptance as mediators between child maltreatment and adolescent depressive symptoms: gender differences. Journal of Adolescence, 63, 19–28.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • An, E., Lee, J., & Chung, I. (2013). The effect of emotional abuse in childhood on peer attachment and teacher attachment: The moderating effect of academic achievement. Journal of Adolescent Welfare, 15(1), 201–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armsden, G. C., & Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The inventory of parent and peer attachment: individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16(5), 427–454.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barker, B., lles, J. E., & Ramchandani, P. G. (2017). Fathers, fathering and child psychopathology. Current Opinion in Psychology, 15, 87–92.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, D., Kidwell, S. L., & Leung, K. H. (1998). Parenting and preschooler attachment among low-income urban African American families. Child Development, 69(6), 1657–1671.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Black, K., & McCartney, K. (1997). Adolescent females’ security with parents predicts the quality of peer interactions. Social Development, 6(1), 91–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolger, K. E., Patterson, C. J., & Kupersmidt, J. B. (1998). Peer relationships and self-esteem among children who have been maltreated. Child Development, 69(4), 1171–1197.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: attachment (Vol. 1). London: Pimlico. 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: parent–child attachment and healthy human development. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brenning, K., Soenens, B., Braet, C., & Bal, S. (2012). The role of parenting and mother-adolescent attachment in the intergenerational similarity of internalizing symptoms. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(6), 802–816.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burchinal, M., Skinner, D., & Reznick, J. S. (2010). European American and African American mothers’ beliefs about parenting and disciplining infants: a mixed method analysis. Parenting, 10(2), 79–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cabrera, N. J., Volling, B. L., & Barr, R. (2018). Fathers are parents, too! Widening the lens on parenting for children’s development. Child Development Perspectives, 12(3), 152–157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Choon, L. J., Hasbullah, M., Ahmad, S., & Ling, W. S. (2013). Parental attachment, peer attachment, and delinquency among adolescents in Selangor, Malaysia. Asian Social Science, 9(1), 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chuang, S. S., & Su, Y. (2008). Transcending confucian teachings on fathering: A sign of the times or acculturation? In S. S. Chuang & R. P. Moreno (Eds.), On new shores: understanding immigrant fathers in North America (pp. 129–150). Lanham, MD. Lexington.

  • Collins, W. A., & Repinski, D. J. In: R. Montemayor, G. R. Adams, T. P. Gullotta (Eds.) 1994). Relationships during adolescence: continuity and change in interpersonal perspective. Personal relationships during adolescence. (pp. 7–36). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Contreras, J. M., Kerns, K. A., Weimer, B. L., Gentzler, A. L., & Tomich, P. L. (2000). Emotion regulation as a mediator of associations between mother-child attachment and peer relationships in middle childhood. Journal of Family Psychology, 14(1), 111–124.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cox, M. J., & Paley, B. (2003). Understanding families as systems. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(5), 193–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Devet, K. A. (1997). Parent-adolescent relationships, physical disciplinary history, and adjustment in adolescents. Family Process, 36(3), 311–322.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dexter, C. A., Wong, K., Stacks, A. M., Beeghly, M., & Barnett, D. (2013). Parenting and attachment among low-income African American and Caucasian preschoolers. Journal of Family Psychology, 27(4), 629–638.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Di Tommaso, E., Brannen, C., & Burgess, M. (2005). The universality of relationship characteristics: a cross-cultural comparison of different types of attachment and loneliness in Canadian and visiting Chinese students. Social Behavior and Personality, 33(1), 57–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Downey, G., & Feldman, S. (1996). Implications of rejection sensitivity for intimate relationships. Journal of Social and Personality Psychology, 70(6), 1327–1343.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elicker, J., Englund, M., & Sroufe, L. A. (1992). Predicting peer competence and peer relationships in childhood from early parent-child relationships.In R. Parke & G. W. Ladd (Eds.), Family-peer relationships: Modes of linkage (pp. 77–106). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

  • Emmanuelle, V. (2009). Inter-relationships among attachment to mother and father, self-esteem, and career indecision. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75(2), 91–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engels, R. C. M. E., & Bogt, T. T. (2001). Influences of risk behaviors on the quality of peer relations in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 30(6), 675–695.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaylord, N. K., Kitzmann, K. M., & Coleman, J. K. (2003). Parents’ and children’s perceptions of parental behavior: associations with children’s psychosocial adjustment in the classroom. Parenting, 3(1), 23–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gershoff, E. T. (2002). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: a meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 128(4), 539–579.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gorrese, A., & Ruggieri, R. (2012). Peer attachment: a meta-analytic review of gender and age differences and associations with parent attachment. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(5), 650–672.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ju, X. Y., Liu, X. W., & Fang, X. Y. (2011). Research on adolescent parents and peer attachment in relation to self-esteem and social adaptation. Psychological Development & Education, 27(2), 174–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, H. G., & Jo, H. Y. (2016). The effect of child neglect and abuse by parents on school adjustment of school-aged children: the mediating effects of self-awareness and peer attachment. Korean Journal of Childcare and Education, 12(1), 19–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laible, D. (2007). Attachment with parents and peers in late adolescence: links with emotional competence and social behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 43(5), 1185–1197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laible, D., Carlo, G., & Roesch, S. (2004). Pathways to self-esteem in late adolescence: the role of parent and peer attachment, empathy, and social behaviors. Journal of Adolescence, 27(6), 703–716.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lapsley, D. K., Rice, K. G., & FitzGerald, D. P. (1990). Adolescent attachment, identity, and adjustment to college: implications for the continuity of adaptation hypothesis. Journal of Counseling & Development, 68(5), 561–565.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larzelere, R. E., Gunnoe, M. L., Roberts, M. W., & Ferguson, C. J. (2017). Children and parents deserve better parental discipline research: critiquing the evidence for exclusively “positive” parenting. Marriage & Family Review, 53(1), 24–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lim, Y., & Lee, O. (2017). Relationships between parental maltreatment and adolescents’ school adjustment: mediating roles of self-esteem and peer attachment. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 26(2), 393–404.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindsey, E. W., Caldera, Y. M., & Tankersley, L. (2009). Marital conflict and the quality of young children’s peer play behavior: the mediating and moderating role of parent-child emotional reciprocity and attachment security. Journal of Family Psychology, 23(2), 130–145.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McDowell, D. J., & Parke, R. D. (2009). Parental correlates of children’s peer relations: an empirical test of a tripartite model. Developmental Psychology, 45(1), 224–235.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mclachlan, J., Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Mcgregor, L. (2010). Rejection sensitivity in childhood and early adolescence: peer rejection and protective effects of parents and friends. Journal of Relationships Research, 1(01), 31–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller-Perrin, C. L., Perrin, R. D., & Kocur, J. L. (2009). Parental physical and psychological aggression: psychological symptoms in young adults. Child Abuse & Neglect, 33(1), 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millings, A., Buck, R., Montgomery, A., Spears, M., & Stallard, P. (2012). School connectedness, peer attachment, and self-esteem as predictors of adolescent depression. Journal of Adolescence, 35(4), 1061–1067.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2013). Mplus user’s guide. 6th ed. Los Angeles, CA: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nickerson, A. B., & Nagle, R. J. (2004). The influence of parent and peer attachments on life satisfaction in middle childhood and early adolescence. Social Indicators Research, 66(1-2), 35–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nickerson, A. B., & Nagle, R. J. (2005). Parent and peer attachment in late childhood and early adolescence. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 25(2), 223–249.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oldfield, J., Humphrey, N., & Hebron, J. (2016). The role of parental and peer attachment relationships and school connectedness in predicting adolescent mental health outcomes. Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 21(1), 3–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramsburg, D. (1997). The debate over spanking. Champaign: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, University of Illinois.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rassart, J. U. J. C., Luyckx, K. U., Apers, S. U., Goossens, E. U., & Moons, P. U. J. (2012). Identity dynamics and peer relationship quality in adolescents with a chronic disease: the sample case of congenital heart disease. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 33(8), 625–632.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roskam, I., Meunier, J. C., & Stievenart, M. (2011). Parent attachment, childrearing behavior, and child attachment: Mediated effects predicting preschoolers’ externalizing behavior. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 32(4), 170–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sawilowsky, S. S. (2007). Real data analysis. New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Shrout, P. E., & Bolger, N. (2002). Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: new procedures and recommendations. Psychological Methods, 7(4), 422–445.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sroufe, L. A., & Waters, E. (1977). Attachment as an organizational construct. Child Development, 48(4), 1184–1199.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M. A., & Field, C. J. (2003). Psychological aggression by American parents: National data on prevalence, chronicity, and severity. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65(4), 795–808.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M. A., Hamby, S. L., Finkelhor, D., Moore, D. W., & Runyan, D. (1998). Identification of child maltreatment with the parent-child conflict tactics scales: development and psychometric data for a national sample of American parents. Child Abuse & Neglect, 22(4), 249–270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang, C. (2006). Corporal punishment and physical maltreatment against children: a community study on Chinese parents in Hong Kong. Child Abuse & Neglect, 30(8), 893–907.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, R. A. (1994). Emotion regulation: a theme in search of a definition. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(2-3), 250–283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, M., & Liu, L. (2014). Parental harsh discipline in mainland China: prevalence, frequency, and coexistence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38(6), 1128–1137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, R. B. (2004). The role of parental and peer attachment in the psychological health and self-esteem of adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 33(6), 479–493.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, M., Aoyama, I., Kamble, S., Li, Z., Soudi, S., & Lei, L., et al. (2015). Peer attachment and cyber aggression involvement among Chinese, Indian, and Japanese adolescents. Societies, 5(2), 339–353.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu, Q. X., & Wang, M. F. (2014). Relationship among parent-child attachment, peer attachment and anxiety in adolescents. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 22(4), 684–687.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, X., Zhu, L., Chen, Q., Song, P., & Wang, Z. (2016). Parent marital conflict and Internet addiction among Chinese college students: the mediating role of father-child, mother-child, and peer attachment. Computers in Human Behavior, 59, 221–229.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, J. (2010). Relationships among mother’s attachment, parenting style and preschoolers’ anxiety. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 18(6), 806–808.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zulauf, C. A., Sokolovsky, A. W., Grabell, A. S., & Olson, S. L. (2018). Early risk pathways to physical versus relational peer aggression: the interplay of externalizing behavior and corporal punishment varies by child sex. Aggressive Behavior, 44(2), 209–220.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Capacity Building for Sci-Tech Innovation Service-Fundamental Scientific Research Funds (SK2020PT04) awarded to Meifang Wang. We are grateful to all the children, parents, and teachers who participated or contributed to this project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, Research Center for Child Development, Capital Normal University, Beijing, P. R. China

    Fang Wang & Zhengyan Wang

  2. Research Center for Child Development, College of Elementary Education, Capital Normal University, Beijing, P. R. China

    Meifang Wang & Tianzi Wang

Authors
  1. Fang Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Meifang Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tianzi Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhengyan Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Meifang Wang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all parents and children included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, F., Wang, M., Wang, T. et al. Harsh Parental Discipline, Parent-Child Attachment, and Peer Attachment in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence. J Child Fam Stud 30, 196–205 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01860-9

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01860-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation