The research topic explored relationship between harsh parenting, aggression and regulation of child’s emotions in school. Emotion and aggression are psychological because they are mentally perceived and controlled. Aggression and emotions are mental processes directed towards threatening stimuli.
In addition, aggression can be reactive or pro-active. Moreover, harsh parenting is characterized by anger, shouting and cursing a child, which has direct or indirect impact on child (Chang et al, 2003). In most cases, the same psychological problem is transferred to a child. The researcher’s question was: “examining children’s emotion regulation and aggression in mediating the effect of harsh parenting.”
The study was experimental because experiments were carried out to explain harsh parenting model. The experimental group consisted of kindergarten children and their parents. Six months earlier, parents had filled a questionnaire about themselves and children. In addition, teachers prepared a checklist on children and their behavior in classes.
Before the research was done, parents consent was obtained for all participating children. In addition, the study was qualitative because it targeted a particular group of persons and the topic is specific (Chang et al, 2003). However, the study did not utilize control group.
Total number of experimental subjects was 325 children and 45% of them were female. The age range was between 3 to 6 years with 65% falling between 4 to 5 years. The mean age for fathers was 34.6 and 32.0 for mothers. An average of 55.5% of parents had college education while the rest had high school education (Chang et al, 2003).
The main conclusion shows existence of a relationship between harsh parenting and aggression in a child. Children transfer acquired negative emotional responses to others in school. In addition, harsh parenting causes negative emotions to children. Anger, hatred and coldness can cause psychological aggression in a child.
Consequently, a child relates with others and the immediate environment in the same manner (Chang et al, 2003). The conclusion is significant because it identifies the gaps in parenting and the need to address them. In addition, it educates parents the importance of being mindful in order to have a sound society.
The main limitation mentioned by researcher is that, the research was done in single context: education. In future, researchers need to incorporate other contexts: social, political, economic and natural environment (Chang et al, 2003). I found out the study utilized parenting as an outward influence of child’s regulation of emotion thus internal influence of harsh parenting is not explored.
References
Chang, L., Schwartz, D., Dodge, K., & McBride-Chang, C. (2003). Harsh parenting in relation to child emotion regulation and aggression. Journal of family psychology: JFP: journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43), 17(4), 598. (Databases by subject, Social sciences, PscyARTICLES search terms: harsh parenting, child’s aggression and emotion regulation) [2013, May 24]