ABSTRACT
Certain parental characteristics make it more likely that they will engage in problem-maintaining interaction patterns with their children (Reder et al., 2000, 2004; Reder & Lucey, 1995). Where parents have a similar problem to their children they may act as a role model and so maintain their youngsters behaviour in this way. Where parents have other psychological problems, or criminality, their personal resources for coping with the demands of parenting may be compromised or they may be unavailable due to hospitalization or incarceration. Where parents have inaccurate knowledge of child development, they may misinterpret children’s problem behaviour and engage in problem-maintaining interaction patterns. For example, a child crying in distress may be interpreted as intentionally punishing the parents and they may respond with criticism, or unsocialized aggression may be misinterpreted as a sign of depression and lead the parents to respond with over-involvement. Parents who did not experience secure attachment to their own primary caregivers may lack internal working models for secure attachments and so be unable to offer their children this type of relationship. As a result, patterns of interaction based on insecure attachment may evolve and maintain children’s psychological difficulties. Where parents lack the beliefs and skills necessary for emotional self-regulation, they may find it difficult to provide an authoritative parenting environment and find that their treatment of their children is fuelled by their immediate emotional reactions rather than a planned response. Thus low self-esteem, an external locus of control, low self-efficacy, a problematic attributional style, cognitive distortions, immature defences and dysfunctional coping strategies are parental characteristics that may underpin parents’ involvement in problem-maintaining interaction patterns.
