Within-Person Effects of Harsh Parenting on Adolescent Peer Acceptance via Interpersonal Accuracy: A Social Accuracy Model Based Longitudinal Study.

Abstract

While prior research has established that harsh parenting confers detrimental effects on children's peer relationships, it remains unclear how harsh parenting impaired child peer acceptance via the role of interpersonal accuracy. This three-wave longitudinal study (N = 1212; baseline M_age=13.12 ± 0.79 years; 46.29% girls) employed the social accuracy model to extract interpersonal accuracy indices and Random-Intercept Longitudinal Panel Models to disentangle within-person and between-person effects. Results showed both harsh fathering and mothering negatively predicted subsequent perceptive distinctive accuracy, expressive normative and distinctive accuracy. Child sex moderated these pathways: Harsh fathering undermined girls' perceptive distinctive accuracy, harsh mothering impaired boys'; only harsh mothering weakened girls' expressive normative accuracy. Perceptive normative accuracy predicted boys' peer acceptance, perceptive distinctive accuracy predicted girls', expressive normative accuracy benefited both, whereas expressive distinctive accuracy showed no predictive effect on either. These findings clarify the role of harsh parenting in child peer acceptance by illuminating its associations with distinct interpersonal accuracy components and the moderating effect of child sex, advancing understandings of this critical developmental relationship.