Household chaos and parenting: The effect of household chaos does not depend on sensory‐processing sensitivity and self‐regulation

Abstract

AbstractPrevious studies have found evidence for a causal effect of household chaos on parenting and suggest that this effect may be stronger for parents with higher sensory‐processing sensitivity (SPS) or lower self‐regulation. This study investigates whether primary caregivers of children around age 1.5–2 years show greater improvement in parenting after a decrease in household chaos if parents have higher SPS or lower self‐regulation. The study employs a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design with an intervention aimed at reducing household chaos. A total of 125 parents of toddlers participated in the study. All participants were living in the Netherlands at the time of the study, 89% identified with the Dutch ethnicity and 11% with a non‐Dutch ethnicity. Self‐report as well as objective measures were used, including videotaped parent‐child interactions and home observations. The effect of the intervention on parenting did not depend on SPS or self‐regulation. When studying the relation between change in measures of household chaos and posttest parenting, decreased self‐reported household chaos was related to less harsh discipline in parents with higher self‐regulation, and to more harsh discipline in parents with lower self‐regulation. However, this is a tentative finding that should be further explored in future research.