Parenting behaviors and child psychopathy: A regression mixture analysis

Abstract

The current study examined the associations between the profile of parenting behaviors and child psychopathy using a person-centered approach. Regression mixture modeling (RMM) was employed to explore the predictive ability of parenting behavior profiles on child psychopathy in a sample (N = 361, 51.9 % female) of 9 to 13-year-old Chinese children (M = 10.42, SD = 0.94). Results demonstrated that two subgroups were identified which best characterized the mother-reported parenting behaviors (positive 40%, negative 60%) and three subtypes were identified to characterize the father-reported parenting behaviors (positive 20%, negative 18%, mixture 62%). Children with a higher level of psychopathic traits were more often subjected to the negative parenting behavior profile than they were to positive or mixture parenting behavior profiles. The findings of this study advance the understanding of different parenting behaviors in predicting child psychopathy in non-Western cultural context. We also discuss the implications these findings have for clinicians working to decrease the risk of children psychopathy.