Child development in post-Accord Belfast: The roles of maternal control and social identity

This dissertation project examined the roles of maternal control in the links between child exposure to antisocial behavior and child internalizing and externalizing problems in a community with a history of protracted political conflict. Rooted in an ecological model, the current study also incorporated culturally relevant factors of social identity and ethnicity as moderators of relations between child exposure to antisocial behavior and parenting. Previous research has hypothesized that parental use of behavioral control is linked with less exposure to community violence for children and adolescents; however, a bulk of this research is based on cross-sectional data, limiting conclusion about causal mechanisms. An alternative hypothesis that mothers may become overwhelmed by the stress associated with their children's exposure to conflict which results in a decrease in adaptive parenting behaviors was also tested. Using two waves of data, both of these hypotheses were tested. Participants were 696 mother-child dyads drawn from a longitudinal study conducted in interfaced neighborhoods of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Questionnaire measures were used to measure the constructs of interest and structural equation modeling was used as the primary method of analysis. Results suggest partial support for both hypotheses. Mothers' use of behavioral control was linked with decreased exposure to sectarian antisocial behavior. At the same time, child exposure to non-sectarian antisocial behavior was linked with decreased behavioral and psychological control over time. For both Catholic and Protestant families mothers' social identity was linked with adaptive parenting strategies; however, for Protestant families, mothers' social identity moderated the link between exposure to nonsectarian antisocial behavior and behavioral control, making this link stronger, resulting in less behavioral control over time. Results also replicate previous research showing that behavioral and psychological control are linked with internalizing and externalizing problems in children. Overall, the results suggest that maternal control affects and is affected by child exposure to antisocial behavior and that the type of exposure and mothers' social identity have implications for these relations. Future research should further explore the dynamic links between maternal practices and characteristics in the relations between child exposure to community violence and adjustment in communities that have experienced political violence.