Changes in coercive parenting and child externalizing behavior across the pre-pandemic period and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the moderating role of the parent-child attachment relationship

Using a quasi-experimental design to assess the interrelated changes in coercive parenting and changes in child externalizing behavior in the context of COVID-19, the current study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, we examine the relative salience and independence (i.e., additive), as well as the interaction between changes in maternal and paternal coercive parenting in relation to changes in child externalizing behavior across the pre-pandemic period and the onset of the first lockdown in the Netherlands. We hypothesize that changes in maternal and paternal coercive parenting will be independently and positively related to changes in child externalizing behavior (H1). We also hypothesize a significant positive interaction between maternal and paternal coercive parenting on child externalizing behavior (H2). Second, we examine whether and to what extent the linkages between changes in coercive parenting and changes in child externalizing behavior are moderated by the quality of parent-child attachment relationship. We hypothesize that the quality of the parent-child attachment relationship will moderate the associations between changes in coercive parenting and changes in child externalizing behavior across the pre-pandemic period and the onset of the lockdown. Specifically, we expect that the more secure the attachment relationship is, the weaker the association between changes in coercive parenting and changes in child externalizing behavior, and that the less secure the attachment relationship is, the stronger the abovementioned association (H3).