Understanding the Interactive Effect of Father Warmth and Sex on Adolescent Conduct Problems

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the influence of father warmth on conduct problems among adolescents in a socioeconomically diverse sample, while taking into account the moderating effect of sex and controlling for socioeconomic status (SES). We hypothesize that father warmth would have an impact on the occurrence of conduct problems in adolescents, with sex acting as a moderator in this relationship. This study uses existing data from a recent study conducted by Young et al. (2022). A total of 681 adolescents were initially recruited from a middle school and five after- school clubs, and after applying exclusion criteria, a final sample of 618 participants was included. The adolescents completed the Parental Bonding Inventory, while their respective teachers provided ratings using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to assess the children's behaviour. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find support for the proposed relationship, possibly due to a limited range of variability in the data. In addition to examining the overall score of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, which also did not support our hypothesis, we conducted a further exploratory analysis to investigate the potential buffering effect of father warmth on current stress. We found support for this relationship and propose that father warmth may serve as a protective factor against stress in unpredictable and violent environments.