Interparent childrearing disagreement, but not dissimilarity, predicts child problems after controlling for parenting effectiveness.

Parental differences regarding childrearing may be operationalized as actual dissimilarity in the parenting actions or goals of the parents, or as perceived conflict or disagreement related to these dissimilarities. This study tested whether these two types of parental differences are each associated with child problems, independent of the contributions of parenting effectiveness. A community sample of 160 couples with a firstborn child (ages 2-5 years) participated. Mothers and fathers independently completed measures of childrearing disagreement, parenting behaviors and goals, and child behavior. Interparent childrearing disagreement accounted for unique variance in child internalizing and externalizing problems, even after controlling for family income, marital satisfaction, and parenting effectiveness. Dissimilarity in mother and father parenting behaviors (but not goals) was associated with child problems at the bivariate level, but not after controlling for parenting effectiveness.