Parental Psychological Control and Childhood Externalizing Problems: Indirect Effects Through Peer Victimization

Previous research has consistently shown that parental psychological control is associated with negative psychosocial outcomes, including rule-breaking behavior, aggression, and delinquency. Given the potential long-term consequences of early involvement in externalizing problems, it is important to understand pathways of risk for a child engaging in these behaviors. Therefore, the aim of the current cross-sectional study was to investigate whether peer victimization underlies the associations between parental psychological control and externalizing problems. Participants included 275 children (51.6% girls) in the third through fifth grade ( M = 9.33 years, SD = 0.99 years) and their homeroom teachers. Children provided self-reports of psychological control, peer victimization, and delinquency, and teachers provided ratings of peer victimization and forms of aggression. Rule-breaking behavior was assessed using school records. As predicted, a higher order latent externalizing problems factor was identified from indices of rule-breaking behavior, relational aggression, physical aggression, and delinquency. Further, results indicated that peer victimization served as a mechanism linking parental psychological control to a higher-order latent externalizing problems factor as well as individual indices (i.e., rule-breaking behavior, relational aggression, physical aggression, and delinquency). Findings from this study suggest that parents can have an impact on child outcomes through their impact on peer relations. Additionally, these findings may have important implications for early identification and prevention efforts addressing externalizing problems during middle childhood. Highlights There was a significant indirect effect from parental psychological control to childhood externalizing problems through peer victimization. Findings remained consistent when using child- and teacher-reported peer victimization. Rule-breaking behavior, aggression, and delinquency significantly loaded on to a latent externalizing problems factor. Links between parenting behavior and externalizing problems are evident among children in elementary school. There might be multiple points of intervention when trying to reduce youth externalizing problems.