Susan G. O'Leary

The Parenting Scale: a measure of dysfunctional parenting in discipline situations

A rating scale was designed to measure dysfunctional discipline practices in parents of young children. Three stable factors of dysfunctional discipline style were identified: (a) Laxness, (b) Overreactivity, and (c) Verbosity. The Parenting Scale exhibited adequate internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Mothers of clinic children reported more dysfunctional parenting than did mothers of nonclinic children. Parenting Scale scores were related to maternal ratings of child behavior and marital discord. Most important, Parenting Scale scores correlated significantly with observational measures of dysfunctional discipline and child misbehavior.

Multivariate models of men's and women's partner aggression.

This exploratory study was designed to address how multiple factors drawn from varying focal models and ecological levels of influence might operate relative to each other to predict partner aggression, using data from 453 representatively sampled couples. The resulting cross-validated models predicted approximately 50% of the variance in mens and womens partner aggression. The 3 strongest direct predictors of partner aggression for men and women were dominance/jealousy, marital adjustment, and partner responsibility attributions. Three additional direct paths to aggression for men were exposure to family-of-origin aggression, anger expression, and perceived social support. The 1 additional direct path for women was a history of their own aggression as a child or teenager. Implications for more integrative theories and intervention are discussed.

Factor Structure and Validity of the Parenting Scale

Confirmatory factor analyses based on the scoring derived from 5 prior studies of the Parenting Scale were conducted using a representatively recruited sample of 453 couples parenting 3-to 7-year-old children. Comparative analyses favored the Reitman et al. (2001) 2-factor scoring system as well as a 3-factor solution, including Lax, Overreactive, and Hostile discipline. This 3-factor solution demonstrated good fit across parent gender and child age and gender. Mothers rated themselves as more overreactive than fathers. The factor scores correlated significantly with several validity measures, including child behavior problems. The Hostile factor contributed significantly to the prediction of child behavior problems after controlling for Lax and Overreactive discipline. Both parents reported using more dysfunctional discipline than they thought they should.

The importance of prudent negative consequences for maintaining the appropriate behavior of hyperactive students

Teachers use both positive and negative consequences to influence classroom behaviors. Four experiments were conducted to examine the differential affects of these two types of consequences on the maintenance of appropriate behaviors of hyperactive children. Results of Experiment 1 showed that the use of both positive and negative consequences (combined) was associated with high levels of on-task behaviors. Withdrawal of negative consequences caused a significant and dramatic decrease in on-task performance. The withdrawal of positive consequences produced no change in the rate of on-task behaviors. In Experiments 2, 3, and 4, the on-task results of Experiment 1 were replicated using a different teacher, different children, a counterbalanced design, longer phases, and different types of negative consequences. The withdrawal of negative consequences led to decreases in productivity in Experiment 2. The results of Experiment 3 also suggested that a prudent (e.g., calm, concrete, and consistent) approach to discipline was more effective than an imprudent (e.g., loud, emotional, and inconsistent) approach. Some level of mild negative consequences for inappropriate behavior is an important ingredient in effective classroom management, and qualitatively different negative consequences may have drastically different effects on the behavior of hyperactive students.

Treatment of Young Children's Bedtime Refusal and Nighttime Wakings: A Comparison of "Standard" and Graduated Ignoring Procedures

Young children with sleep problems received either “standard” or graduated ignoring treatment. Both brief treatments were superior to a wait-list control condition and resulted in comparable improvements in bedtime and nighttime sleep problems. At bedtime, the treatments did not differ with respect to maternal compliance and stress. For nighttime wakings, mothers in the graduated ignoring group reported higher rates of compliance and less treatment-related stress. Maternal characteristics predicted treatment outcome in the standard ignoring condition. Following treatment, only positive side effects were observed. When compared to the wait-list group, mothers in the standard ignoring group reported less verbose discipline and decreased stress in parenting, while mothers in the graduated ignoring group reported improved parent–child relationships. Treatment gains were maintained over a 2-month follow-up period.

Dating Aggression among High School Students

Links were examined among physical aggression toward a dating partner, parental aggression, and justification of physical aggression during an argument in a sample of 228 (122 male and 106 female) high school students. Forty-four percent of females and 16% of males reported engaging in at least one physically aggressive behavior toward a dating partner during a disagreement, with the modal form of aggression being push, grab or shove for both males and females. The probability that a male, but not a female, would aggress was significantly predicted by parental aggression and justification of aggression. Among aggressive students, the extent of males’ aggression was strongly predicted by their justification of aggression; the extent of females’ aggression was not predictable. Implications for prevention and intervention programs are discussed.

Mediated paths to overreactive discipline : Mothers' experienced emotion, appraisals, and physiological responses

Harsh or overreactive discipline is a replicated correlate of early childhood conduct problems (e.g., Belsky, Hsieh, & Crnic, 1998; Denham et al., 2000; O’Leary, Slep, & Reid, 1999). Although definitions vary somewhat, the common core of such parenting includes behavior directed at the child that is excessively angry, irritated, and physically rough (D. S. Arnold, O’Leary, Wolff, & Acker, 1993). A better understanding of why parents are overreactive should improve the ability to help parents in their efforts to alter the problematic trajectories of children with conduct problems (Kendziora & O’Leary, 1992) and could reveal new treatment targets. Understanding overreactive discipline in families of toddlers is of particular importance because early onset externalizing problems appear to be especially stable (Campbell, 1995; O’Leary et al., 1999) and because parents have considerable influence on the socialization of young children (Reid, 1993). Effective discipline must be organized around the well-being of the child. However, the challenging nature of discipline-oriented interactions holds great potential for eliciting negatively valenced thoughts and emotions in parents, reactions that may interfere with optimal socialization practices. A growing body of research has shown that mothers’ negative emotional states and negatively toned child-related cognitions are associated with overreactive discipline (e.g., Lorber & Slep, 2005; Slep & O’Leary, 1998). The theoretical premise behind this work is that mothers’ responses to their children are influenced not only by what their children do but also by how mothers interpret and emotionally respond to their children. In this vein, the focus of the present investigation was on previously unstudied relations among self-report and autonomic indicators of mothers’ emotion, mothers’ negatively biased appraisals of their toddlers’ behavior, and toddlers’ actual rates of misbehavior in predicting overreactive discipline.

Examining Partner and Child Abuse: Are We Ready for a More Integrated Approach to Family Violence?

Research and treatment for partner abuse and child abuse are relatively distinct enterprises, yet when the theoretical and research literatures related to these two forms of family violence are examined together, the likelihood of meaningful associations is strikingly apparent. Partner abuse and child abuse co-occur more often than one might expect by chance, and in the context of overlapping theories and risk factors, this suggests that a more integrated conceptualization might be fruitful. We summarize and provide a framework for describing the large number of similar predictors of partner and child abuse, identify some potentially interesting dyadic differences, comment on how our research methodologies could address an integrated area of family violence, and suggest some directions for future research and treatment.

Training parents of hyperactive children in child management: A comparative outcome study

Parents of 44 hyperactive children were assigned to either a behavior modification group (PA T), a comunications group (PET), or a delayedtreatment control group. Parents in the treatment groups participated in 9-week training workshops. Parents and their children were assessed before and after the workshops on measures that included ratings of hyperactivity and severity of problems, a daily checklist of problem occurrence, parental attitudes, and direct observations in a laboratory situation. Both treatment methods were more effective than a no-treatment control condition in reducing hyperactivity ratings, problem severity ratings, and daily problem occurrence. Additionally, parents receiving behavior modification training rated their children as more improved than did PET parents, were more willing to recommend the program to a friend, felt the program was more applicable to them, and were less likely to drop out of the program. Nine-month followup assessments indicated that treatment parents continued to view their childrens behavior more positively than did control group parents. Results are discussed with respect to the implications that an educational approach to teaching child management can be an effective means of reducing behavioral itproblems in children, that methods differing in theoretical background and actual skills taught may result in similar outcomes, and that a “psychological,” as opposed to a medical, approach to the treatment of hyperactive children can have considerable merit.

Effects of reprimands and praise on appropriate behavior in the classroom

The effects of positive consequences on appropriate behavior at the beginning of a classroom experience were examined during an academic program for students with behavioral and academic difficulties. The results showed that the use of reprimands alone was associated with high levels of on-task behaviors during the initial days of the class. The addition of praise produced no change in the rate of on-task behaviors or the level of academic performance. The withdrawal of all consequences caused significant decreases in on-task behavior and academic productivity. The subsequent use of praise alone led to an initial increase followed by a dramatic decline in on-task performance, resulting in no change in the average rate of on-task behavior relative to the use of no consequences. These results are consistent with previous findings indicating the importance of reprimands for maintaining appropriate classroom behavior. Speculations regarding potential roles of praise are briefly discussed.