EXTERNALISING BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENCE PREDICTED BY PARENTAL MONITORING, PRACTICES AND ATTACHMENT: EXPLORING THE MODERATING ROLE OF GENDER

Abstract

Research suggests the differences between parenting boys and girls related to externalising behaviour problems. Self-reported measures were used on a sample of 507 Belgrade secondary school students (42.1% male) to examine the moderating effect of gender on the relationship of parental monitoring (the Scale of Parental Monitoring), parental attachment (the Inventory of Parents and Peer Attachment, IPPA), and parental practice (the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire) with externalising problems (aggressive and rule-breaking behaviour) (ASEBA, YSR). The research results show gender differences in rule-breaking behaviour, externalising problems and some parenting variables. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed significant predictors of aggressive behaviour, rule-breaking behaviour and externalising problems, whereby poor monitoring displayed the strongest relations with all of the criteria. The moderating effect of gender was identified in explaining the links between communication with the mother, positive parenting and trust in the father with rule-breaking behaviour. The research results were discussed in the context of the protective relationship in the father-son and mother-daughter dyads for rule-breaking behaviour. The practical implications of differentiation between the relevance of mothers’ and fathers’ parenting for adolescent adjustment in terms of gender are provided. Key words parenting, externalising problems, gender