Examining the Association between Severity of Child Neglect and Quality of Parenting

Child neglect is the most prevalent form of child maltreatment (CM) in the U.S. and is consistently associated with negative outcomes for children. Although some research suggests that differences in parenting exist across the spectrum of maltreatment severity, little is known about whether and how severity of neglect relates to observed parenting quality. The present study tested whether mothers who engage in documented, higher severity neglect of their children would display less warm, affiliative parenting, and more harsh, controlling parenting while interacting with their preschool child, than less severely neglectful mothers, and non-CM mothers. A sample of 121 mother-preschooler dyads [low severity neglect (n = 29), high severity neglect (n = 40), and non-CM (n = 52)] participated, and parenting behaviors were coded during a joint laboratory challenge task. This study explored associations between severity of child neglect perpetration through coding of child protective services case records; and quality of observed parenting, using observational, micro-social coding of parenting behaviors. Regression analyses showed that high severity neglecting mothers displayed significantly less warm, affiliative parenting than lower severity neglecting and non-CM mothers, and more harsh, controlling parenting relative to their non-CM peers. Further, there were no differences between low severity neglect and non-CM mothers in the amount of warm, affiliative parenting observed. These findings advance our understanding of child neglect by revealing important differences in quality of observed parenting across the spectrum of neglect severity. Implications for conceptualizing child neglect and targeted intervention strategies are discussed.