UC Davis

Physical discipline increases children's risk of showing externalizing problems, whereas inductive discipline is negatively associated with children's risk of externalizing problems. Studies of parenting infrequently examine both positive and negative discipline techniques despite use of inductive and physical discipline being inversely related to each other and to child externalizing problems. A burgeoning literature on the biopsychosocial determinants of parenting is identifying cognitive and physiological mechanisms underlying the initiation and regulation of positive and negative parenting techniques. This cross-sectional study of parents of preschool-aged children (N = 70; 89% mothers, 43% racial-ethnic minorities) advances the parenting literature by examining predictors of parents' inductive and physical discipline use across their cognitive functioning, cardiovascular psychophysiology, children's externalizing behavior, and their interactions with one another. No main effects or interactions predicted inductive discipline, but the interaction between parents' inhibitory control and nonverbal intelligence predicted physical discipline, such that parents who scored low in both domains endorsed the most use of physical discipline in response to child misbehavior. Another interaction between parents' sympathetic activity and child externalizing behavior also predicted physical discipline. These findings are discussed in relation to parenting interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).