Parenting Related to Child and Parental Psychopathology: A Descriptive Review of the Literature

Abstract

Two areas of recent research on parenting are examined: (i) Parenting problems in families with parental psychopathology, and (ii) parenting problems when children have psychiatric disorders. Review of literature showed that parental, as well as child, psychopathology represents major stressors for a family and substantially impacts parenting abilities. Two main dimensions of dysfunctional parenting occur in families with child or parental psychopathology: (i) Parental negativity, and (ii) various forms of ineffective discipline practices. For parents, the level of parental social functioning and responsiveness may be more crucial for parenting skills than psychiatric symptoms per se. For children, the impact of dysfunctional parenting seems to be non-specific for child outcome, related to both internalizing and externalizing disorders. However, evidence does point to links among parental negative, affectionless control and depression/anxiety in children, whereas inconsistent, disruptive parenting with insufficient monitoring is more characteristic of parents with conduct-disordered children.