Effects of variations in parents’ control styles, especially the amount of power assertion they deploy, have long been a central question in socialization research. Although severe, harsh control is unanimously considered harmful, research on effects of far more common low-to-moderate power assertion is inconsistent. Drawing from attachment and social cognition traditions, we examined whether children’s representations of parents (Internal Working Models, IWMs) moderated associations between parental power assertion and children’s socialization (violating or embracing rules and values, responsiveness to parents). In two studies of community families (Family Study, FS, N = 102, and Children and Parents Study, CAPS, N = 200), employing observations and reports, we assessed parental power assertion at age 4.5, children’s IWMs at ages 8 in FS and 4.5 in CAPS, and socialization outcomes at ages 10 and 12 in FS and 4.5 in CAPS. In FS, children’s IWMs of the parent moderated effects of parental power assertion on socialization outcomes in mother- and father-child dyads (βs = 0.47, 0.41, respectively): Power assertion had detrimental effects only for children with negative IWMs of their parents. In CAPS, findings were replicated for mother-child dyads (β = 0.24). We highlight origins of multifinality in socialization sequelae of parental control.

Irritability, characterized by anger in response to frustration, is normative in childhood. While children typically show a decline in irritability from toddlerhood to school age, elevated irritability throughout childhood may predict later psychopathology. The current study (n = 78) examined associations between trajectories of irritability in early childhood (ages 2–7) and irritability in adolescence (age 12) and tested whether these associations are moderated by parenting behaviors. Results indicate that negative emotion socialization moderated trajectories of irritability – relative to children with low stable irritability, children who exhibited high stable irritability in early childhood and who had parents that exhibited greater negative emotion socialization behaviors had higher irritability in adolescence. Further, negative parental control behavior moderated trajectories of irritability – relative to children with low stable irritability, children who had high decreasing irritability in early childhood and who had parents who exhibited greater negative control behaviors had higher irritability in adolescence. In contrast, positive emotion socialization and control behaviors did not moderate the relations between early childhood irritability and later irritability in adolescence. These results suggest that both irritability in early childhood and negative parenting behaviors may jointly influence irritability in adolescence. The current study underscores the significance of negative parenting behaviors and could inform treatment.

Parental feeding style, as measured by the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ), may be an important influence on child feeding behaviour and weight status in early to mid childhood, but more evidence on parental feeding style is required from samples outside the USA. We aimed to use the CFQ in a sample of 117 Scottish children (boys n 53, girls n 64 mean age 4·6 (sd 0·5) years) to: characterise gender differences and changes over time (in forty of the 117 children studied over 2 years); test associations between parental feeding style, free-living energy intake (measured over 3 days using the multiple pass 24-h recall), and weight status (BMI sd score). No dimensions of parental feeding style changed significantly over 2 years in the longitudinal study (P>0·05 in all cases). No aspects of parental feeding style as measured by the CFQ differed significantly between the sexes (P>0·05 in all cases). Parental perceptions of child weight status were generally significantly positively correlated with child weight status as measured by the BMI sd score. In this sample and setting, measures of parental control over child feeding were generally not associated with child energy intake or weight status.

Two cases of school refusal are presented. From the experience of these two cases, and support from the literature, early assessment of parental control in cases of school refusal is advocated. When parental control, even with professional therapeutic support, is not sufficient to effect an early return to school, intervention in the wider systems which are organised around the problem is recommended.