Relationship between Parental Behaviors and Affective Well-being in Primary School Children

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived maternal and paternal parental behaviors (support and restrictive control) and affective well-being (positive and negative affect) in children. The study involved 166 primary school children (75 girls, 91 boys), aged 8 to 12 years (M = 10.15, SD = 0.86), who completed the Parental Behavior Questionnaire and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children. The results showed that both maternal and paternal support and restrictive control were significantly correlated with children’s positive and negative affect. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for the child’s age and gender, maternal support and restrictive control significantly predicted children’s positive affect and only maternal restrictive control predicted negative affect. However, when paternal behaviors were included in the analyses, significant predictors of children’s positive affect were maternal and paternal support and paternal restrictive control, while significant predictors of negative affect were only paternal parental behaviors.