The relationship between parenting and internalizing behaviours of children: a systematic review

It is well-documented that poor parenting practices result in negative emotional outcomes in children. Specifically, this review seeks to explore the relationship between parenting practices and internalization symptomology. This study utilized a systematic review and an appraisal tool was developed in order to ensure that included articles maintained high methodological rigour. Biomed Central, PsychArticles, Academic Search Complete, Eric, Sage and SocIndex databases were searched. After yielding 1002 articles in the initial search strategy, 39 articles were appraised and a total of 21 empirical studies were used for data extraction. In all, 13 articles indicated that some forms of poor parenting practices are related to internalizing behaviours. For example, over-involved parenting, spanking endorsement, over-reactive parenting, insecurely attached children, authoritarian parenting and permissive parenting are all linked to internalizing behaviours in children. Two articles reported a negative relationship between authoritative parenting and internalizing symptoms. This systematic review does indicate a relationship between parent-child relations and internalizing symptoms in children. In several studies, the complexities of this relationship remain unknown, and warrant further attention.