The association between parenting and child antisocial behaviour: A role for moderating factors?

Among all the child psychopathologies, the literature on the study of child and adolescent antisocial behaviour is perhaps the most abundant and historically rich. The present paper adds to this literature by reviewing and summarising recent research that advances our understanding into the development of severe antisocial behaviour. This review is separated into four main areas. Firstly, the topic of antisocial behaviour and conduct disorder is introduced, with reference to the political, economic, and social reasons why research in this area is becoming so relevant. This is followed by brief discussion of definitions of antisocial behaviour and their descriptive features, prognostic subtypes, and epidemiology. Secondly, a developmental model of conduct disorder is presented that attempts to integrate and synthesise the vast research that has been conducted in this area. Such a model aims to provide a coherent understanding as to how multiple factors operate together and lead to conduct problems. Thirdly, the review focuses specifically on studies that investigate the association between parenting and antisocial behaviour. It summarises the evidence as to which dimensions and features of parenting are most commonly linked to, and how they are hypothesised to operate on, antisocial behaviour. Finally, the review considers recent evidence for factors that moderate the link between parenting and antisocial behaviour (i.e. is a particular parenting behaviour always associated with child antisocial behaviour, or only under certain conditions).