Paternal alcoholism and toddler noncompliance.

Parental dysfunction such as alcoholism often serves as a marker variable for a number of other risks associated with alcoholism, such as other psychopathologies (e.g., depression, antisociality), family conflict, problematic infant temperament, and problematic parenting behavior during parent-infant interactions (Eiden et al., 1999; Eiden and Leonard, 1996, 2000; Fitzgerald et al., 1993; Jacob et al., 1991; Jansen et al., 1995; Wong et al., 1999). Taken together, these parental and family variables have a significant influence on child functioning. As early as preschool age, children of alcoholic fathers, especially boys, have been shown to display increased levels of externalizing behavior problems compared with children of nonalcoholic fathers (Puttler et al., 1998). Indeed, it has been hypothesized that one pathway to the greater risk for alcohol problems among children of alcoholics is through the likelihood of early conduct problems among these children leading to antisocial behavior, which in turn is associated with greater substance abuse. Empirical support for this hypothesis has been established in later ages for boys of alcoholic fathers (see Zucker et al., 1995). However, the early antecedents of this pathway have not been investigated to date. Moreover, not all children with alcoholic fathers display a trajectory toward maladaptation. There is a large degree of heterogeneity in outcomes among children of alcoholics. The role of other risk and protective factors in moderating regulatory problems among children of alcoholics is an important area of investigation, because it has direct implications for potential interventions with these high-risk children. One purpose of this study was to examine the effect of fathers’ alcoholism and associated risk factors on child compliance with parental rules. Child compliance with parental rules is viewed as the first step in the gradual developmental shift from external to internal control of behavior. In this view, compliance is important as a precursor to conscience development (Kochanska et al., 1998). Researchers have established that compliance with rules of conduct emerges during the second year of life (Smetana et al., 2000). The construct of compliance has also been demonstrated as being somewhat heterogenous, with committed compliance being a predictor and an early form of internalization of rules of conduct (Kochanska and Aksan, 1995; Kochanska et al., 1995, 1998). Kochanska and her colleagues have defined committed compliance as reflecting wholehearted engagement with parental agenda and following of parental directives in an enthusiastic, self-regulated, and proactive fashion without immediate parental control (Kochanska et al., 1995, 1998). Various degrees of noncompliance have also been established, with passive noncompliance (mostly ignoring parental control) being most common in the second year of life and being negatively associated with later internalization of rules of conduct. Other forms of noncompliance have also been investigated, such as overt resistance and defiance of parental requests, although given their relatively lower occurrence during standard observational paradigms, not much is known about their precursors or developmental consequences. However, developmental shifts have been noted in all forms of compliance and noncompliance, with increases in committed compliance and general decreases in noncompliance with age, starting in the second year of life. Theoretically, two major sources of influence on compliance have been suggested: child temperament and parenting behavior. In the domain of child temperament, although specific dimensions of temperament (such as fearfulness) have been implicated (Kochanska, 1995), a generally problematic temperament may be of importance in predicting compliance, especially in interaction with parental alcoholism status. Parenting behavior and the quality of parent-child interactions have long been identified as being important for the development of behavioral regulation, with parent-child interactions characterized by high levels of positive affect associated with higher committed compliance (Kochanska, 1997). Previous studies have suggested that both of these sources of influence—temperament and parenting—are affected by parental alcoholism (Edwards et al., 2001; Eiden and Leonard, 1996; Eiden et al., 1999). Links have been established between parental alcoholism and less optimal parenting behavior. For instance, fathers’ alcoholism has been associated with higher negative affect and lower positive engagement and sensitivity among fathers, whereas maternal alcohol problems have been associated with lower maternal sensitivity (Eiden et al., 1999). The link between fathers’ alcoholism and infant temperament is less clear (see Zucker et al., 1995). However, there is some evidence that children of alcoholic fathers are perceived by their parents as having a more negative temperament (Edwards et al., 2001; Jansen et al., 1995). The extent to which these reflect actual child characteristics or influences of parental psychopathology on perceptions of the child is unclear. Other family dynamics associated with alcoholism may also play an important role in predicting children’s compliance. Primary among these are parental psychopathology and family aggression. Both parental psychopathology, such as depression and antisocial behavior, and family aggression have been associated with increased rates of behavior problems among children. For instance, mothers of clinic-referred children had higher levels of maternal depression (Griest et al., 1980; Richman, 1979), and maternal depression was associated with higher levels of behavior problems among boys in nonclinical samples (Gross et al., 1995). Maternal depression was also a significant predictor of child behavior problems among children of alcoholics (Fitzgerald et al., 1993). The data regarding the association between parental conflict or aggression and child behavior problems suggest that families with high levels of conflict have children with higher rates of behavior problems (O’Brien and Bahadur, 1998; O’Keefe, 1994). This relationship is stronger among clinic-referred children compared with general population samples and is stronger for girls compared with boys (Emery and O’Leary, 1984; O’Keefe, 1994). Taken together, current theories regarding variables that promote child compliance and available data on the development of behavior regulation among children suggest several sets of variables that may predict the development of compliance in isolation or in interaction with each other. Primary among them are infant temperament, parenting behavior, parental psychopathology, and family aggression. Although it may be of interest to examine the specific risk factors that may exacerbate negative outcomes, in reality, many of these risk factors are nested in families [see Wong et al. (1999) for a discussion]. Thus, in addition to alcoholism per se, these risk factors taken together may have a direct effect on child compliance or may have interactive effects with parental alcohol problems. The purpose of this study was 2-fold. The first was to examine whether children of alcoholic and nonalcoholic fathers exhibited differences in the development of compliance from 18 to 24 months of age. The second was to understand the role of other risk factors in predicting compliance at 24 months of age. We hypothesized that children of alcoholic fathers would be more likely to display lower levels of committed compliance and higher levels of non-compliance with their parents compared with children of nonalcoholic fathers. Given the literature on boys of alcoholic fathers exhibiting higher risk in terms of externalizing behavior problems, we explored the possibility that fathers’ alcoholism and associated risk factors would have different effects on boys compared with girls. We also hypothesized that the combination of fathers’ alcoholism and additional risk factors would increase the risk for child noncompliance at 24 months of age.