Disciplinary Parenting Practice and Child Mental Health: Evidence From the UK Millennium Cohort Study

Objective: To investigate whether a longitudinal association exists between differential disciplinary parenting practices at 3 years of age and later child psychopathology at 11 years.

Method: Data were obtained from the Millennium Cohort Study, a UK-wide cohort. Discipline style was assessed using a validated maternal reported questionnaire at 3 years of age for which later outcome data were available. "Active" (including smacking, shouting, and telling off) and "withdrawal" (including ignoring, removal of privileges, and sending to bedroom) approaches were distinguished. Child emotional and behavioral problems were assessed at 3 and 11 years of age using the maternally completed Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The independence of associations between early discipline and later child mental health was investigated using mutually adjusted regression analyses and potential reverse causality was considered by looking at changes in SDQ subscale scores from 3 to 11 years.

Results: Differential associations with change in child psychopathology according to discipline type were observed. Active and withdrawal forms of discipline were associated with a decrease in conduct problems from 3 to 11 years (active, β = -0.28, 95% CI -0.34 to -0.21, p < .001; withdrawal, β = -0.19, 95% CI -0.24 to -014, p < .001). However, active approaches also were associated with an increase in emotional problems (β = 0.07, 95% CI 0.00-0.14, p = .03) not observed for withdrawal approaches.

Conclusion: Different approaches to discipline appear to have differential associations with later child mental health. Further research accounting for a larger number of parent and child characteristics is needed to assess whether such associations are causal.