Research paper-How parenting style affect child development

ORIGINAL PAPER

Differences in Perceived Parenting Style Between Mothers and Fathers: Implications for Child Outcomes and Marital Conflict

T. Tavassolie1 • S. Dudding1 • A. L. Madigan1 • E. Thorvardarson1 •

A. Winsler1

Published online: 25 February 2016

� Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Abstract The current study focused on relations between

maternal and paternal perceived parenting style, marital

conflict, and child behavior outcomes. Child participants

(N = 152) ranged in age from 3 to 9 years old. Reports

from both parents on perceived parenting style, marital

conflict, and child behavior problems were collected.

Results indicated that (a) parenting styles of mothers and

fathers were related, (b) mothers’ and fathers’ authoritari-

anism and permissiveness were associated with increased

child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems,

(c) marital conflict was significantly related to child

behavior problems, (d) when mother and father reported

parenting styles differed, increased marital conflict was

reported, (e) increased differences between mothers and

fathers in self- and spouse-perceived permissiveness were

related to increased child externalizing behavior problems,

and (f) the direction of the differences between parents (i.e.

whether a particular parent reported being more permissive

than the other) was linked with marital conflict and child

behavior problems. Namely, marital and child outcomes

were poorer when mothers saw themselves as more

authoritative than fathers and when fathers were more

authoritarian than mothers, and outcomes were better when

fathers saw themselves as more permissive than mothers

and when mothers were more authoritarian than fathers.

Implications for marital and family therapy are discussed.

Keywords Parenting � Parenting style � Child behavior � Marital conflict � Perception

Introduction

Parents each have their own parenting styles and beliefs,

and often these styles differ between parents, which can

lead to conflict (O’Leary and Vidair 2005). Marital con-

flict, defined as the presentation of negative hostile emo-

tions from parents and poor conflict-resolution strategies

between parents, has negative effects on child well being

(O’Leary and Vidair 2005). Examining mothers’ and

fathers’ perceptions of their own and their partners’ par-

enting styles as they relate to parental marital conflict and

child behavior problems is beneficial to understanding the

relationship between these constructs.

Baumrind’s classic model of parenting styles delineates

two trait axes: demandingness and responsiveness. Baum-

rind (1991) proposed four parenting styles, namely, author-

itative, authoritarian, permissive, and rejecting-neglectful.

These parenting styles relate to child outcomes (Aunola and

Nurmi 2005; Darling and Steinberg 1993; Milvesky et al.

2008; Roopnarine et al. 2006). Generally, when mothers and

fathers use more democratic, authoritative techniques of

parenting, their children tend to experience more positive

outcomes (Roopnarine et al. 2006), however parents who are

more permissive in their parenting styles tend to raise chil-

dren who are typically lower in social skills and maturity

(Baumrind and Black 1967; Milvesky et al. 2008). From

previous research, we also know that when mothers and

fathers have similar supportive parenting styles, child out-

comes tend to be more beneficial and the quality of overall

parenting tends to be better (Meteyer and Perry-Jenkins

2009; Martin et al. 2007). For example, when both parents

are supportive at age two, children’s skills in language and

math are stronger at age five (Martin et al. 2007).

Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model, which focuses on

proximal processes, can be applied within family dynamics.

& T. Tavassolie [email protected]

1 Department of Psychology 3F5, George Mason University,

Fairfax, VA 22030, USA

123

J Child Fam Stud (2016) 25:2055–2068

DOI 10.1007/s10826-016-0376-y

Parents become part of the microsystem, and have the ability

to affect their children’s outcomes (Bronfenbrenner and

Morris 2006). More positive parenting styles, coupled with

higher parental monitoring tends to lead to better outcomes

for children across social and behavioral domains. Parenting

styles are also related to more specific parenting practices

that are linked with positive and negative outcomes. For

example, authoritative parents are more likely to engage in

effective scaffolding of their child’s problem solving and

foster age-appropriate autonomy in children (Berk and

Winlser 1995; Bernier et al. 2010); which from both

Vygotskian (Carr and Pike 2012) and self-determination

theoretical perspectives (Ryan and Deci 2000) are thought to

lead to increased behavioral competence and self-regulation

in children. Permissive parents are unlikely to have clear,

consistent expectations rules and consequences for chil-

dren’s behavior (Milvesky et al. 2008), which is known from

behavioral and social learning theoretical perspectives

(Granic and Patterson 2006) to lead to externalizing behavior

problems. Similarly, authoritarian parents are more likely to

use overly strict, harsh, and punitive disciplinary practices

(Milvesky et al. 2008), which can encourage child aggres-

sion according to social learning theory (Chang et al. 2003).

Although there are clearly bidirectional transactional

relations between the parent and child, with child behavior

and characteristics eliciting certain type of parenting

behaviors (Pearl et al. 2014; Zadeh et al. 2010), both lon-

gitudinal research and parenting intervention studies show

that the direction of parental behavior affecting child

behavior is stronger than child effects on parenting style

(Choe et al. 2013). Margolin et al. (2001) found that when

parenting was characterized by misperception of the part-

ner’s parental styles this led to more marital conflict and

poorer parenting. A number of other studies suggest that

child behavioral outcomes are driven by parental behavior,

be it marital conflict (Schoppe-Sullivan et al. 2007), child

rearing disagreements (Chen and Johnston 2012), or dif-

ferences in parenting styles (Martin et al. 2010).

An important aspect of parenting is the relationship

between parents. Children are often exposed to marital

conflict and this can dramatically impact their parenting

style, parenting behaviors, and the parent–child relation-

ship (Shamir et al. 2001). Marital conflict has been pro-

posed to increase instability in the socioemotional context

of the family, resulting in ineffective and inconsistent

parenting practices, which in turn leads to child behavior

problems (Linville et al. 2010). Children tend to process

marital conflict in two ways: they evaluate threat in the

environment and attempt to resolve the reason behind the

conflict. Ineffective parenting styles can also serve as a

mediator between marital conflict and maladaptive child

outcomes. That is, the stress and emotional disruption of

inter-parental conflict taps parents’ emotional resources,

not allowing them to engage in the effective parenting and

disciplinary strategies that they would have otherwise

implemented, which then leads to child behavior problems

(Schoppe-Sullivan et al. 2007).

The Emotional Security theory proposed by Cummings

and Davies (2002) suggests that when a child is exposed to

destructive parental conflict, this leads to feelings of emo-

tional insecurity, which threatens the child’s confidence and

increases the risk for child psychological problems. This

insecure parental relationship is hypothesized to mediate the

relation between a child’s exposure to marital conflict and

child behavior problems (Cummings and Davies 2002).

Chen and Johnston (2012) argued that child rearing dis-

agreements (which reflect the mother’s and father’s per-

ceptions of their disagreement) among parents uniquely

predicted child behavior problems, even after controlling for

parenting effectiveness. Parenting disagreements on child

rearing goals were a stronger predictor of child externalizing

behavior problems than child rearing behaviors (Chen and

Johnston 2012). Higher levels of parenting conflict also

relate to higher levels of externalizing behaviors in children

(Schoppe et al. 2001). O’Leary and Vidair (2005) found that

parent disagreement over childrearing and over-reactive

parenting are mediators between marital adjustment and

child behavior problems (O’Leary and Vidair 2005).

Unfortunately, most of the research in this area has been

conducted with only mother report, neglecting the important

role of fathers. Clearly, to fully understand links between

parenting styles, marital conflict, and child behavior, the

perceptions of fathers need to be included. Milvesky et al.

(2008) found an effect of paternal authoritative parenting

style on self-esteem and life-satisfaction in their children.

Vera et al. (2012) determined paternal psychopathology was

positively associated with their children’s antisocial behav-

ior with parenting style serving a mediating role. Roopnarine

et al. (2006) showed that fathers who were more authorita-

tive tended to have children who had more positive social

and behavioral outcomes. When mothers score low on

supportiveness, and fathers score high on supportiveness,

children tend to perform better on school readiness measures

(Martin et al. 2010). Father’s supportiveness generally

contributed to child’s social competence, but only when

maternal supportiveness was slightly below average (Martin

et al. 2010). These authors explained that an important

contribution of fathers is compensating for what mother’s

are lacking in their supportive parenting skills.

Rinaldi and Howe (2012) examined how parenting

styles jointly and uniquely predict child behavioral out-

comes. Authoritative parents tended to have spouses who

were fairly authoritative themselves, and parents’ rating of

themselves and their spouses were usually similar. Simi-

larity in parenting style may be a key component of having

healthy family relationships (Acitelli et al. 1993) by

2056 J Child Fam Stud (2016) 25:2055–2068

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encouraging marital harmony and supporting and rein-

forcing similar parenting decisions. Additionally, the

combination of maternal permissiveness and paternal

authoritarianism was particularly predictive of children’s

externalizing behavior problems (Rinaldi and Howe 2012).

They conclude that certain pairings of parenting styles by

mothers and fathers may result in better or worse child

outcomes. Rinaldi and Howe, however, did not include a

measure of marital conflict and they did not consider

directionality of differences between parents (i.e. when

mothers are more authoritative than fathers, and vice

versa).

A few studies have assessed both parents’ styles and their

perceptions of their partner. Winsler et al. (2005) studied

similarities and differences of parenting styles as perceived

by spouses. Mothers and fathers of preschool-age children

completed the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Question-

naire (PSDQ; Robinson et al. 2001) and they found that

parents who self-reported as permissive or authoritarian

were likely to be in a relationship with a partner who shared

their same parenting style, and they also found that spouses

were fairly good at rating each other’s parenting styles

(Winsler et al. 2005). While mothers rated themselves as

more authoritative than fathers, fathers reported their wives

to be more authoritative and permissive but less authoritar-

ian than themselves. Gamble et al. (2007) conducted a

similar study with Mexican–American mothers and fathers.

They examined similarities and differences between parents

on various parenting dimensions using the same instrument

(PSDQ). In contrast to the Winsler et al. study, Gamble et al.

found more associations between parents on self-reported

authoritativeness than on authoritarianism and permissive-

ness with their Mexican–American sample. These two

studies examining perceptions of each other’s parenting

styles, however, did not include measures of child behavior

or marital conflict as outcomes of parenting styles/patterns.

Understanding perceptions of one’s own and one’s partner’s

parenting style and how that might differ from the percep-

tions of one’s partner is important not only for effective

parenting, but also for effective marital therapy and couple

counseling when couples seek help for marital dissatisfac-

tion (Blais and Renshaw 2014).

The current study evaluates relations between parents’

perceivedparentingstyles,maritalconflict,andchildbehavior

problems. It was expected that increased disagreement in

perceived parenting styles would relate to increased marital

conflict and child behavior problems. The following research

questions were addressed: (1) To what extent are parents self-

perceived parenting stylescorrelated? Are perceptions oftheir

spouses’ style associated with their own self-reported styles?

(2) Are disparities between one’s self-reported parenting

style(s) and one’s perception of their spouse’s style(s) related

to marital conflict and child behavior problems? (3) In the

context of disparities between spouse’s perceptions of par-

enting styles, does directionality matter for marital conflict

and child behavior? That is, does it matter, in terms of child

behavior and marital conflict, whether the mother or the father

is higher or lower than their spouse on a particular style?

Method

Participants

The current study aggregated data from three different

samples that contained similar parent self-report data on

parenting styles, marital conflict, and child behavior

(Madigan 2005; Thorvardarson 2000; Winsler et al. 2005).

Merging these three samples was done in order to increase

sample size, improve the power of our analyses, and yield

better parameter estimates. Since the same or very similar

measures were used across the three samples, we combined

them to strengthen our analyses.

Sample 1 (Winsler et al. 2005)

The participants of this study were 27 couples (i.e. 27 fathers

and27mothers)respondingaboutonetargetchild.Thechildren

(50 % female, age M = 48 months, SD = 1.71) attended a

university-affiliated laboratory preschool in the South that

enrolled students from the community, university faculty/staff,

and students. Accordingly, a range of socioeconomic levels

were represented (Hollingshead M = 49.85, range = 25–66).

Families had an average of 2.07 children in the home. The

fathers’ age was, M = 37.23 years (SD = 5.22) with an edu-

cation of M = 17.48 years (SD = 3.0). The mothers’ age was

M = 33.57 years (SD = 5.34), with an education of

M = 16.26 years (SD = 2.45). As reported in parental reports

on preschool enrollment forms, the ethnicity of children was

74.1 % Caucasian, 22.2 % Asian-American, and 3.7 % Afri-

can-American.

Sample 2 (Thorvardarson 2000)

Participants were 36 fathers and 39 mothers (35 were cou-

ples) from an urban and suburban mid-Atlantic region. Par-

ticipants were included in the study if they met three criteria:

(1) Two parents were working full-time, or at least 20 h a

week per parent with a total number of hours worked at or

above 60 per week, (2) both parents were married or living

with a partner of the opposite sex, and (3) there was at least

one child and no more than four children living in the home.

Adult participants ranged in age from 25 to 50 (M = 39,

SD = 6.0 for fathers; M = 36.8, SD = 5.7 for mothers).

Ninety percent of participants reported being married while

the other 10 % reported living with a partner for an average

J Child Fam Stud (2016) 25:2055–2068 2057

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of 10.8 years (SD = 5.3). Eighty-three percent of the par-

ticipants reported being a college graduate, and 28 % of

those also reported holding a graduate degree or higher. The

average number of children between 3 and 10 years old per

household was 2 (SD = .64). The children’s average age was

7.2 (SD = 1.4) and 60 % were boys. Couples worked a

combined average of 80.1 h per week (SD = 20.3) and had

an average income between $101,000 and $125,000.

Sample 3 (Madigan 2005)

The participants of this study were 89 mothers responding

about a target child. Participants were recruited from local

preschools, community music and movement programs for

children, and other child/family organizations in an urban and

suburban mid-Atlantic area. Inclusion criteria for participants

were: (1) parents were required to be the child’s primary

caregiver and must live with the child for the majority of the

year; (2) parents did not have to be the child’s biological

parent,(3)ifpreviouslydivorced,parentswereineligibleifthe

divorce had occurred within the last year, and (4) parents and

child had to be fluent in English. After screening 100 inter-

ested participants for eligibility criteria, four participants were

shown to be ineligible due to a child language problem, a

developmental disorder, or coming from a single-parent

family. Six other families who were eligible either changed

their minds or were unable to schedule a time to meet with the

researcher for the study. Thus, 89 of the 100 interested fami-

lies, participated. Children were, on average, 48.47 months

old (SD = 7.29), and were 53 % female and 47 % male.

Mothers’ age ranged from 29 to 49 years old (M = 36.54,

SD = 4.25). Fathers ranged in age from 28 to 50 years old

(M = 38.52, SD = 5.15). As indicated by participants, 81 %

of the children were White/Caucasian, 3 % African-Ameri-

can, 3 % Hispanic/Latino, 3 % Asian, and 10 % identified as

‘‘other.’’ All parents were married to the child’s biological

father (with the exception of one adoptive mother) for an

average of 9.41 years (SD = 3.37). Parents’ income was

measured on a 9-point Likert scale ranging from 1

($0–20,000) to 9 (more than $300,000). The families partici-

patinghadanaverage incomeof$81,000–100,000 per year.In

this study, 84 % of mothers had completed a bachelor’s

degree and 82 % of fathers reported the same. It was reported

that 95 % of fathers were employed full time while 62 % of

mothers were unemployed at the time of the study.

Procedure

For sample 1, each parent received the questionnaires from

school, and each parent completed the surveys independently

(Winsler et al. 2005). Upon completion, parents sent the

questionnaires back to school with their child. For sample 2,

participants were brought onto a University campus and

parents were asked to complete questionnaires in a separate

room while their child participated in the rest of the study and

completed tasks with an experimenter (Madigan 2005). For

sample 3, participants were sent a package of questionnaires

(each parent received a separate set of similar questionnaires)

and were asked to complete them independently from their

spouse (Thorvardarson 2000).

Measures

PSDQ

The Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire

(Robinson et al. 1995) is a 62-item survey of self- and

spouse-reported parenting practices for parents of preado-

lescent children and this was used with all three samples.

Each item used a 5-point Likert scale ranging from never

(1) to always (5). The PSDQ examines the three parenting

dimensions of Baumrind (authoritativeness, authoritarian-

ism, and permissiveness; Robinson et al. 1995). Results of

the measure are based on a continuous scale for each

dimension of parenting. Large numbers for each parenting

style indicate a greater use of that style.

The PSDQ has been praised as one of a few instruments

available that are psychometrically sound for assessing

parenting style (Locke and Prinz 2002; Olivari et al. 2013),

and has been used in multiple cultural settings (Daglar

et al. 2011; Wu et al. 2002). Typically these multi-cultural

studies focus only on the self-report feature, and very rarely

use the measure of parents’ perception of their spouse

(Porter et al. 2005). In a recent review of the PSDQ, it was

determined that the most valuable aspect of this question-

naire is its adaptability (Olivari et al. 2013). It can be

administered to parents as a self-report, spousal-report,

retrospective report, or given to a child to report on his/her

parents; this flexibility increases the validity of the measure

(Olivari et al. 2013). Parenting styles and the relationship

between parents and children seems to be relatively

stable across time (Dallaire and Weinraub 2005). Sensitive

and more positive parenting practices are especially con-

sistent across the early years of children’s lives (Dallaire

and Weinraub 2005).

The current study used the PSDQ as a self-report and

spouse-report measure. Four ratings, thus, are possible. Each

parent rated his and her own parenting styles, and also rated

their perception of their spouses’ parenting styles on the same

items. Therefore,there was a measure ofmothers’ and fathers’

self-perceived parenting style, respectively. Additionally,

there was a measure of mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of

their spouses’ styles, respectively. For example, a mother

would rate her perception of her spouse’s parenting style, as

well as her perception of her own parenting style. The father

when available would then do the same. Robinson et al.

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(1995), with a larger (n = 1251 total parents) sample of

school-age children measured internal consistency reliabili-

ties(Cronbach alphas) for bothmothersand fathers self-report

and reported them to be .91, .86, and .75 for the authoritative,

authoritarian, and permissive scales, respectively. For the

present,smallersampleincludingyoungerchildren,Cronbach

alphas were acceptable and ranged from .73 to .89.

For analyses, several new variables were created. First,

we took the absolute value of the difference among self-

perceived parenting styles of each parent (i.e., mother self-

reported permissiveness minus father self-reported permis-

siveness). These new variables were continuous with higher

numbers meaning there were bigger differences in self-

perceived parenting styles between the mother and the

father. The same absolute value difference scores were

calculated between parent’s report of their own style and

their perception of their partner’s style (i.e., mother self-

reported authoritativeness minus mother’s perception of her

spouse’s authoritativeness). For analyses asking about the

directionality of the differences between parents, similar

difference score variables were calculated but without taking

the absolute value. Thus, the values indicated which parent

was higher than the other on each parenting dimension.

PKBS

The measure of child behavior problems used in samples 1

and 3 was the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales

(PKBS; Merrell 1994). The PKBS can be used to assess the

behavior problems of children between three and 6 years

old. Parents were asked to complete the questionnaire which

consists of 76 items about the same target child. The items

are designed to identify three dimensions of children’s social

skills and five dimensions of behavior problems. Items are

answered with a 4-point scale ranging from never (0) to

often (3). The five dimensions of behavior problems are then

calculated to fall into two broad categories (internalizing and

externalizing behavior problems). The internalizing scale is

computed with a possible range of 0–45, with a higher

number indicating more internalizing behavior problems.

The externalizing scale is computed with a possible range of

0–81, with higher numbers indicating more externalizing

problems. The PKBS is a frequently used measure with

exceptional psychometric properties and construct validity

that is sensitive to specific differences relating social skills

with behavior problems (Merrell 1994). The Cronbach

alphas of these subscales are .90 with a test–retest reliability

of .80 for the internalizing subscale and .97 with a test–retest

reliability of .87 for the externalizing subscale (Merrell

1994). In the original published work, the construct validity

of the problem behavior subscale scales ranged from .46 to

.80 when correlated with other similar measures, and cor-

relations between the subscales and the total behavior

problems score ranging from .90 to .95 (Merrell 1994).

Within our sample, Cronbach alphas were .90 for the

internalizing subscale and .97 for the externalizing subscale.

CBCL

The Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach and Edelbrock

1991; Heflinger et al. 2000) was completed by parents in

sample 2, referring to a specific target child. There were a

total 13 mothers and 12 fathers (12 couples, one mother’s

husband did not respond) who completed the CBCL. The

CBCL is a very widely used measure of child externalizing

and internalizing behavior problems with excellent psy-

chometric properties, validity, and test–retest reliability

(Achenbach and Rescorla 2000; Skovgaard et al. 2004;

Warnick et al. 2008). Items are rated from not true (0), to

very true/often (2). Test–retest reliabilities are .87 and .89

for the Competence and Behavior Problems scales,

respectively (Achenbach 1991). For the eight categories,

Cronbach’s alphas ranged from .62 to .92 for 4–11 year old

boys, and from .66 to .92 for 4–11 year old girls (Achen-

bach 1991). For our sample, Cronbach alphas, averaged

across boys and girls, were .90 for the internalizing sub-

scale, .93 for the externalizing subscale, and .96 for total

behavior problems. Overall internalizing and externalizing

behavior subscales were used.

When both mothers and fathers reported on child behav-

ior, the two standard scores were averaged. When only

mother or father reports were available for a child, that parent

report was used. Using combined mother-father reports of

child behavior problems increases reliability and reduces the

problem of single-source bias (using the same individual to

provide both parenting style and child behavior data). Other

studies often use one parent’s report with questionnaire data

when the other parent report is unavailable (Martin et al.

2007). For the purpose of the current study given that a

different scale was used for sample 2, we combined the

CBCL and PKBS into master internalizing, externalizing and

total behavior problem scores. T-scores from the CBCL were

converted to standard scores in order to be easily compatible

with standard scores from the PKBS). When both mothers

and fathers reported on child behavior, the two standardized

scores were averaged and put into a master internalizing,

externalizing, and total behavior problems score. When both

parents’ reports were not available, either the mother or

father report was included in the master internalizing,

externalizing, and total behavior problems variable. Com-

bining the PKBS and CBCL is justified given that these two

measures of child behavior problems have been shown to be

highly correlated (Brassard and Boehm 2007). The CBCL

and PKBS measure the same constructs (internalizing,

externalizing, and total behavior problems) according to their

manuals, and use the same type of standardization

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procedures, and are highly correlated with one another,

lending support to our decision to combine them.

CPS

The Conflicts and Problem-Solving (CPS; Kerig 1996) scale

was used to measure marital and interparental conflict for

sample 3 (n = 89 mothers). The CPS is a reliable and

commonly used measure of marital conflict that is especially

accurate in measuring marital conflict through self-report or

spousal report (Kerig 1996). The measure consists of 84

items which are comprised by four conflict dimensions

(frequency/severity, degree, efficacy, and outcome) and six

strategy subscales (cooperation, avoidance/capitulation,

stonewalling, verbal aggression, physical aggression, and

child involvement). Parents rated the items on a scale from

not a problem at all (0) to a severe problem (100). They were

then asked to rate the amount of time (percentage) that dis-

agreements were resolved from never (0) to always (100).

Furthermore, parents were asked to rate how often they use

strategies such as ‘‘Talk it out with partner’’ using a scale

ranging from never (0) to often (3). Lastly, parents were

asked to rate on a scale from never (0) to usually (3) how

often outcomes of disagreements such as ‘‘The whole family

ends up feeling upset’’ occur. For the four conflict dimen-

sions, Kerig (1996) found alphas ranging from .75 to .98.

Further, the current sample found alphas of .76 to .91. Alphas

for the six strategy subscales ranged from .70 to .87

according to Kerig (1996), and .73–.89 in the current sample.

SMAT

The Short Marital Adjustment Test is a 15-item question-

naire measuring martial satisfaction and conflict. It was only

used in sample 2 (n = 39 mothers and n = 36 fathers

completed the survey, this totals 35 couples, with a few

more mother only, and one additional father only, who

completed the questionnaire). This measure combines the

score of all 15 items resulting in a possible 2–158 points

(higher numbers indicating more adjustment/satisfaction

with minimal conflict, and lower numbers indicating mal-

adjustment/dissatisfaction within a marriage and higher

levels of conflict). Locke and Wallace (1959) found .90 test–

retest reliability. Further, Klitzmann (2000) found alphas of

.75 for women and .73 for men. Sample Cronbach alphas for

this study were .85 for women and .91 for men. As with the

child behavior problem measures, we combined the two

similar measures of marital conflict across samples. Each of

the scores for the CPS and SMAT were converted to stan-

dardized Z-scores. Although both measure aspects of satis-

faction and conflict, the CPS is scaled as a measure of

conflict (with bigger numbers meaning more conflict), and

the SMAT is scaled as a satisfaction scale (with bigger

numbers meaning more satisfaction/less conflict). So, we

reverse coded the SMAT so bigger numbers meant more

conflict. Then, we combined the Z scores into one variable.

Since this study combined across multiple samples and

measures, it is important to clarify where the data come from

for analyses. All three samples used the PSDQ to measure

parenting style, so analyses on just the PSDQ include all

participants. Since the CBCL and PKBS were combined into

one master score, and all three samples used either the

PKBS or the CBCL, analyses involving child behavior

include all children. However, only samples 2 and 3 had a

measure of marital conflict (the SMAT or the CPS), there-

fore the composite score that combines these two measures

was used for these analyses meaning that only samples 2 and

3 are included in analyses involving parental conflict.

Results

Parenting Style, Marital Conflict, and Child

Behavior

Before addressing the main research questions, preliminary

analyses replicated previous findings that establish rela-

tions between parenting styles, marital conflict, and child

behavior. Correlations between self-reported parenting

styles and child outcomes and marital conflict are found in

Table 1. Marital conflict was positively associated with

both internalizing and externalizing behavior problems.

Authoritarian and permissive parenting in both mother and

father were positively associated with child behavior

problems. Multiple regressions predicting child behavior

problems from self-perceived parenting styles for both

mothers and fathers, with control variables (gender and

age) included in step 1 are found in Table 2. Externalizing

behavior problems were more common among younger

children and the combination of child gender and age in

step 1 was significant [F(2, 123) = 3.76, p \ .05]. We also examined whether child age was associated with parents’

self-reported parenting styles. Fathers’ parenting styles

were never associated with child age, and mothers’

authoritative and permissive parenting did not vary by

child age. However, there was a small positive association

between mothers’ authoritarian parenting and age of target

child (r = .25). As to be expected given this, mothers’

authoritarianism was slightly higher in sample 2 with older

children than in the other samples with preschool children.

To see if this was a problem in our analyses, we also ran

partial correlations between maternal authoritarianism and

the other child and family outcomes, controlling for child

age—all relationships remained the same. Therefore, we

are confident that child age did not influence the conclu-

sions made in this paper.

2060 J Child Fam Stud (2016) 25:2055–2068

123

The addition of mothers’ three self-reported parenting

styles in step 2 explained 10 % additional variance in child

externalizing problems [F(5, 120) = 4.58, p\ .01], with specifically maternal authoritarian parenting significantly

relating to increased child externalizing problems. Similarly,

for child internalizing behavior problems, maternal self

report of permissive and authoritarian parenting styles were

significant [F(5, 120) = 3.76, p \ .01]. Finally, similar results were found for total child behavior problems, with

17 % of the variance in child overall problem behavior

being predicted by the control variables and maternal par-

enting styles [F(5, 120) = 4.93, p \ .01]. Controlling for child age and gender, increased maternal self-reported

authoritarian and permissive parenting styles were related to

increased total child behavior problems (b = .31, t = 3.53, p \ .05; b = .21, t = 2.41, p \ .05, respectively).

Identical regression models were run for fathers’ self-

reported parenting styles predicting child externalizing,

Table 1 Mothers’ and fathers’ parenting style, conflict/satisfaction and child behavior correlations

Externalizing behavior

problems

Internalizing behavior

problems

Total behavior

problems

Marital conflict/satisfaction

Maternal perception of conflict (N = 128) .22* .21* .28*

Mothers’ self-perception of parenting style

Authoritative (N = 128) -.08 -.01 -.07

Authoritarian (N = 128) .23* .19* .30*

Permissive (N = 128) .19* .29* .25*

Fathers’ self-perception of parenting style

Authoritative (N = 37) -.08 -.22 -.23

Authoritarian (N = 37) .40* .32 ?

.35*

Permissive (N = 37) .46* .23 .34*

The marital conflict/satisfaction measure is the combination of SMAT and CPS, parenting style was measured through the PSDQ, and child

behavior was measured through combining the PKBS and CBCL

* p \ .05; ? p \ .10

Table 2 Parenting style predicting behavior problems regression

Externalizing behavior problems Internalizing behavior problems Total behavior problems

b t P b t p b t P

Mothers’ self perceptions (N = 155)

Step 1

Gender -.09 -1.02 .31 -.17 -1.89 .06 ?

-.14 -1.57 .12

Age -.23 -2.60 .01* -.12 -1.30 .20 -.10 -1.11 .27

Step 2

Authoritative .01 .11 .92 .09 .97 .33 .04 .44 .66

Authoritarian .29 3.23 .002* .17 1.86 .07 ?

.31 3.53 .001*

Permissive .14 1.56 .12 .26 2.98 .004* .21 2.41 .02*

Fathers’ self perceptions (N = 63)

Step 1

Gender .02 .11 .92 -.12 -.74 .46 -.04 -.26 .80

Age -.41 -2.57 .02* -.28 -1.68 .10 -.24 -1.44 .16

Step 2

Authoritative -.15 -.81 .43 -.37 -1.87 .07 ?

-.28 -1.40 .17

Authoritarian .19 1.07 .29 .27 1.42 .17 .29 1.54 .13

Permissive .18 .88 .39 -.19 -.89 .38 -.01 -.06 .95

Age and gender values are from step one. For final age and gender values see paper

These measures include the PSDQ and the CBCL/PKBS

* p \ .05; ? p \ .10

J Child Fam Stud (2016) 25:2055–2068 2061

123

internalizing, and total behavior problems. Although similar

patterns were seen as reported above for mothers, due to the

smaller size of the father sample, the regression models were

typically only marginally statistically significant. Of note in

Table 2 was that paternal authoritative parenting was mar-

ginally negatively related to child internalizing problems

when all parenting styles and the control variables of gender

and age were included in model 2.

Parenting Style Inter-correlations

Using bivariate correlations, the associations between the

three self-reported parenting styles of mothers and fathers

(authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive) were examined

and are listed in Table 3. For example, mothers’ self-per-

ceived authoritative parenting style was correlated with

fathers’ self-perceived authoritative parenting style (top

panel of Table 3). Further, mothers’ self-perceived authori-

tative parenting style was correlated with mothers’ percep-

tion of fathers’ authoritative parenting style (second panel of

Table 3) and fathers’ self-perceived authoritative parenting

style was correlated with fathers’ perception of mothers’

authoritative parenting style (bottom panel of Table 3).

An overall pattern was that spouses tended to share

parenting styles (r’s between mother and father styles

between .31 and .43). Interestingly, informant perspectives

of their spouse’s parenting style were more correlated with

their own style than were their spouse’s self report, perhaps

indicating that parents perceive themselves to be more

similar to each other than they actually are. Mothers’ self-

reported parenting styles were strongly associated with

mothers’ report of their spouses’ style (r = .70, r = .77,

r = .61 for authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive,

respectively, p \ .05). The same was true for fathers’ self- report being associated with fathers’ report of their spouse

(r = .77, r = .51 r = .64 for authoritative, authoritarian,

and permissive styles respectively, p \ .05).

Differences in Perceptions of Parenting Styles

Related to Marital Conflict and Child Behavior

Problems

To analyze whether differences in self-perceived parenting

style between mother and father were associated with child

behavior, six bivariate correlations were conducted (three

for the absolute value of the difference in style and

mothers’ perceptions of marital conflict, and three for the

absolute value of the difference in style and fathers’ per-

ceptions of marital conflict). Further, analyses were con-

ducted to examine the relationships between parents’ self-

perceived parenting style absolute value differences and

child internalizing, externalizing, and total behavior prob-

lems. Overall, lower levels of marital conflict were asso-

ciated with smaller differences in self-reported parenting

styles and better child behavior (see Table 4).

Parenting Style Differences and Marital Conflict

In general, as mothers’ and fathers’ self-reported parenting

styles differed more from each other, marital conflict increased.

Results showed that greater differences in self-reported

authoritativeness were significantly correlated with greater

mother-reported marital conflict (r = .38, p\ .05), and mar- ginally correlated with father-reported marital conflict

(r = .31, p\ .10). For both mother and father-reported con- flict, differences in authoritarianism and permissiveness did not

Table 3 Self- and spouse- perceived parenting style

correlations

Self-perceived (N = 61) Mothers’ authoritative Mothers’ authoritarian Mothers’ permissive

Fathers’ authoritative .39*

Fathers’ authoritarian .31*

Fathers’ permissive .43*

Mothers’-perceived (N = 153) Self-perceived

authoritative

Self-perceived

authoritarian

Self-perceived

permissive

Perception of fathers’ authoritative .70*

Perception of fathers’ authoritarian .77*

Perception of fathers’ permissive .61*

Fathers’-perceived (N = 62) Self-perceived

authoritative

Self-perceived

authoritarian

Self-perceived

permissive

Perception of mothers’ authoritative .77*

Perception of mothers’ authoritarian .51*

Perception of mothers’ permissive .64*

* p \ .05

2062 J Child Fam Stud (2016) 25:2055–2068

123

significantly relate to marital conflict, however, the difference

between parents in authoritativeness was marginally related to

increased marital conflict reported by mothers (see Table 4).

Parenting Style Differences and Child Behavior Problems

Correlations between the absolute value differences

between mothers’ and fathers’ self-reported parenting styles

and child behavior problems are also found in Table 4. As

the difference in parents’ self-perceived permissiveness

increased, child externalizing behaviors also increased

(r = .35, p \ .05). There were no other statistically sig- nificant relationships between differences in self-perceived

styles and behavior. All of the above analyses (Table 4)

had to do with self-perceived differences in parenting style

(i.e., mother’s perception of her style compared to father’s

perception of his). Similar correlational analyses were also

run to examine differences within the individual parent in

their perception of themselves compared to their perception

of their spouse (i.e., mother’s perception of her permis-

siveness compared to her perception of her spouse’s per-

missiveness). These analyses are discussed next and

summarized in Table 5.

Conflict

Overall,similar towhatwas seen in Table 4 for self-perceived

differences, as mothers’ perceived differences between her

parenting styles and her spouses’ parenting styles increased

(for example, the absolute value of mothers’ self-perceived

authoritarianism minus mothers’ perception of the fathers’

authoritarianism), her rating of marital conflict increased

(Table 5). This relationship was significant for authoritative-

ness and permissiveness (r = .64 and r = .40, p \ .05) for maternal perceptions. Thus, as the difference in how the

mother rated her own authoritativeness and how she rated her

spouse’s authoritativeness increases (and the same for per-

missiveness), her perception of marital conflict increased.The

overall trend was similar for fathers’ perceived differences.

Child Behavior Problems

Associations between perceived differences in parenting

styles and child behavior problems are also found in

Table 5. In general, as reported differences between the

perception of one’s own parenting style and the perception

of the spouse’s style increase, so do most behavior

Table 4 Differences in mothers’ and fathers’ self-perceived parenting style associated with marital conflict and child behavior problems

Diff. between partners

in authoritativeness

Diff. between partners

in authoritarianism

Diff. between partners

in permissiveness

Mothers’ perception of marital conflict (N = 35) .38* .31 ?

.19

Fathers’ perception of marital conflict (N = 35) .31 ?

.19 .22

Child externalizing behavior problems (N = 37) -.09 .27 .35*

Child internalizing behavior problems (N = 37) -.04 .12 -.02

Child total behavior problems (N = 37) -.08 .22 .25

* p \ .05; ? p \ .10

Table 5 Differences in mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of self and other predicting marital conflict and child behavior

Diff. between partners’

authoritativeness

Diff. between partners’

authoritarianism

Diff. between partners’

permissiveness

Mothers’ perception of Diff.

Mothers’ perception of marital conflict (N = 39) .64* .03 .40*

Child externalizing behavior problems (N = 126) .11 .15 ?

-.03

Child internalizing behavior problems (N = 126) .20* .12 .04

Child total behavior problems (N = 126) .21* .14 .05

Fathers’ perception of Diff.

Fathers’ perception of marital conflict (N = 36) .15 .15 .39*

Child externalizing behavior problems (N = 37) .20 .31 ?

.35*

Child internalizing behavior problems (N = 37) .25 .26 .23

Child total behavior problems (N = 37) .22 .29 ?

.38*

Analyses involving parenting style and child behavior used all three samples, but analyses involving marital conflict and parenting style only

used samples 2 and 3

* p \ .05; ? p \ .10

J Child Fam Stud (2016) 25:2055–2068 2063

123

problems. For mothers, a greater difference in how she

rates her authoritativeness and how she rates her partner’s

authoritativeness was significantly related to internalizing

and total behavior problems in children (r = .20 and

r = .21, p \ .05, respectively). For fathers, there was a significant association between the difference in how

fathers rate their own permissiveness and their spouse’s

permissiveness and child externalizing and total behavior

problems (r = .35 and r = .38, p \ .05, respectively).

Does Directionality of Parenting Style Differences

Matter for Marital Conflict and Child Behavior?

Until now, all analyses related to differences in parenting

style have been conducted with absolute value difference

scores which ignore the direction of which parent is higher

than the other on that particular parenting dimension. The

last set of analyses was conducted on the directional dif-

ference scores within informant (mother’s perception of

herself minus mother’s perception of the father, with pos-

itive scores indicating that the mother was higher on that

dimension than the father and negative scores meaning that

the father was higher on that dimension than the mother).

Conflict

Table 6 shows the correlations between these directional

scores and marital conflict for mothers. When mothers’

self-reported greater authoritative parenting than perceived

in their partners, maternal perception of marital conflict

was higher (r = .64, p \ .05). Interestingly, when mothers reported themselves as more authoritarian than their per-

ception of their spouse, the mother reported less marital

conflict (r = -.40, p \ .05).

Child Behavior

Table 6 also includes correlations with child behavior

problems. In terms of child behavior, when mothers saw

themselves as being more authoritative than she saw fathers,

there were increased total child behavior problems (r = .20,

p \ .05) and increased child internalizing behavior prob- lems (r = .16, p = .08). Table 7 reports these same direc-

tional differences in parenting style perceptions and links to

marital conflict and child behavior but from the father’s

perspective, that is, father’s perception of himself minus

father’s perception of the mother. So a large positive number

signifies that the father sees himself as being greater on this

dimension than the mother and negative scores mean he sees

his spouse as being higher on that dimension than himself.

For fathers’ reports, there were no statistically significant

correlations between directional perceptions of differences

in parenting style and father’s reported marital conflict due

to the smaller sample size of fathers, however there was a

marginal (p = .056) relation for permissiveness, indicating

that when fathers saw themselves as more permissive than

their partner, they perceived less conflict in the marriage. As

for child behavior, when a father reported himself to be

more authoritarian than his perception of the spouse, chil-

dren displayed more externalizing and total behavior prob-

lems (r = .34, p \ .05; r = .28, p \ .10, respectively). Alternatively, when fathers rated themselves as being more

permissive than they rated their spouses, the child displayed

fewer internalizing and total behavior problems (r = -.30,

p \ .10; r = -.33, p\ .05).

Discussion

The current study examined maternal and paternal per-

ceptions of their own and their partners’ parenting styles,

and linked those perceptions to self-reported marital con-

flict and child behavior problems. As an advantage over

much of the previous research, the current study (a) ex-

amined fathers’ perspectives in addition to mothers’,

(b) examined not only parental self-reports of parenting

style but also their perceptions of their partners’ styles,

(c) explored whether directional differences in parenting

styles (i.e., mom being higher than dad on permissiveness)

mattered for child problems beyond just absolute value

Table 6 Directionality of mothers’ perceptions of self and her perceptions of spouse predicting marital conflict/satisfaction and child behavior problems

Diff. between partners’

authoritativeness

Diff. between partners’

authoritarianism

Diff. between partners’

permissiveness

Mothers’ perception of marital conflict (N = 39) .64* -.40* -.23

Child externalizing behavior (N = 126) .11 -.08 .003

Child internalizing behavior (N = 126) .16 ?

-.12 .08

Child total behavior problems (N = 126) .20* -.12 .04

Analyses involving marital conflict and parenting style used samples 2 and 3, where analyses involving child behavior and parenting style used

all three samples

* p \ .05; ? p \ .10

2064 J Child Fam Stud (2016) 25:2055–2068

123

differences, and (d) combined the constructs of parenting

style, marital conflict, and child behavior problems in the

same study. Results were consistent with prior findings that

the authoritative style of parenting was linked to the best

child behavior outcomes overall while authoritarian and

permissive parenting styles were correlated with increased

behavior problems (Baumrind 1967, 1991; Cohen and Rice

1997). Also consistent with prior research, we found evi-

dence that mothers’ perception of increased marital conflict

was associated with increased child behavior problems

(Dadds and Powell 1991; Smith and Jenkins 1991). How-

ever, this study went further by taking into consideration

both parents’ perceptions of their own parenting styles and

of their spouses’ parenting styles.

Consistent with Winsler et al. (2005) and Gamble et al.

(2007), we showed that parents tend to be in relationships

with people who have similar parenting styles, and they tend

to rate their partners as having similar styles as themselves.

Interestingly, parents perceive themselves to be more similar

to their partners in parenting styles than they actually are

according to both parents’ self reports. Acitelli et al. (1993)

found that perceived similarity in behavior is typically

higher for both wives and husbands compared to actual

similarity, and perceived similarity is related to marital well

being. The authors argue that perceiving oneself as similar to

another provides a sense of security and assurance that

allows and protects self-esteem. This, in turn, can create a

more harmonious and healthy relationship between the wife

and husband (Acitelli et al. 1993). Extending this logic to a

counseling setting, when counseling couples, it is important

to address perceptions of the other, rather than (or in addi-

tion to) focusing on the actual behaviors of the other.

Building on Rinaldi and Howe’s work (2012), we focused

on how certain combinations of parenting styles are asso-

ciated with marital conflict and child outcomes. In addition

to mothers’ and fathers’ parenting styles being individually

associated with child behavior problems, we found that

differences between mother and father parenting styles were

also uniquely associated with child behavior problems. Our

findings suggest that when the father saw himself as more

permissive than the mother this was associated with less

paternal-perceived marital conflict and fewer behavior

problems in children. These findings suggest that marital

conflict and perceived parenting differences is associated

with child behavior problems, which supports the longitu-

dinal literature proposing that relationship instability and

disagreement among parents can lead to increased child

behavior problems (Linville et al. 2010).

Also, although absolute value differences between par-

ents in authoritarianism were not associated with child

behavior problems, the particular direction of the difference

seemed to matter—when mothers were more authoritarian

than fathers within the family, mothers experienced less

marital conflict, and when fathers were more authoritarian

than mothers within the home, children experienced more

behavior problems. Finally, the more different parents were

in their authoritativeness, the more marital conflict was

experienced, especially by the mother, and the more inter-

nalizing (and total) behavior problems were present among

the children. Direction seemed to be important here as

well—it was specifically the situation where mothers saw

themselves as more authoritative than their partner that was

associated with higher marital conflict and child behavior

problems. Existing models of parenting have argued that

mothers are more likely to be authoritative than fathers

(Winsler et al. 2005) and having at least one parent who is

authoritative can help child outcomes when the other parent

is not particularly authoritative (Milvesky et al. 2008;

Simons and Conger 2007). Father’s supportiveness also

seems to have the greatest influence on child behavior when

mothers are lower on the supportive scale (Martin et al.

2010). Our findings fall in line with this prior research with

older children and builds on it by incorporating marital

conflict, examining child outcomes among young children,

and exploring agreement between parents on parenting style.

The above results have important implications for pre-

vention/intervention efforts and for marriage and family

counseling. Therapists should assess both parents’ parent-

ing styles as well as their perception of each others’ par-

enting to look for the particular patterns identified here that

are associated with problems (fathers being very authori-

tarian relative to mothers, mothers being more permissive

relative to fathers, and mothers being more authoritative

than fathers) and/or strengths (fathers more permissive

Table 7 Directionality of fathers’ perceptions of self and his perceptions of spouse predicting marital satisfaction and child behavior problems

Diff. between partners’

authoritativeness

Diff. between partners’

authoritarianism

Diff. between partners’

permissiveness

Fathers’ perception of marital conflict (N = 36) -.18 -.09 -.32 ?

Child externalizing behavior (N = 37) -.14 .34* -.23

Child internalizing behavior (N = 37) -.19 .19 -.30 ?

Child total behavior problems (N = 37) -.17 .28 ?

-.33*

This table uses the PSDQ and PKBS/CBCL measures

* p \ .05; ? p \ .10

J Child Fam Stud (2016) 25:2055–2068 2065

123

relative to mothers, mothers more authoritarian than

fathers). Applied in a different way, when husbands and

wives share similar opinions and beliefs about parenting,

wives tend to report increased feelings of intimacy over

time (O’Brien and Peyton 2002). These results can have

clinical applications as agreement in parenting beliefs

could be targeted and addressed in therapeutic settings. It

also may be good for parents to understand and be aware of

their own styles and how their spouse’s parenting style

might differ from their own, and how they can work

together and collaborate with their parenting styles, rather

than having them clash. For therapists who work with

families, these results could help point toward potential

areas of disagreement that parents would have not thought

of before (such as perceived authoritative parenting style

disagreements). When parents understand the source of

their disagreement, they may be able to adjust in a way that

leads to more effective collaborative parenting and this

could lead to better child behavior and decreased couple

conflict. Accurate perceptions and expectations of the self

and partner when it comes to parenting can lead to more

effective collaboration and parenting together, which can

lead to less disagreement, more marital satisfaction, and

better child outcomes (Feinberg 2002). Often, in families,

parent perceptions of each other are more important than

their actual behaviors. For example, satisfaction with one’s

partner is more related to one’s perception of the partner’s

behavior than that person’s actual behavior (Cohen et al.

2012). If one parent perceives the other as being more

permissive compared to his or herself, and this has been

causing problems in the marriage, then this might be a

potential target focus for intervention in improving martial

satisfaction and decreasing conflict. This is an area in the

literature that has not been explored.

Limitations

Although the current study has made some advances over

previous research in the area, there are limitations that must

be considered. First is the fact that we had a relatively small

sample size (and we combined several different samples into

one and in some cases not all participants filled out all of the

same measures), making it difficult in some cases to find

statistically significant effects. However, the fact that we did

find reasonable effects sizes and statistical significance even

with our small sample suggests that this is an important area

for future research with larger and more systematic samples.

Also the current study only used parent reports via surveys

for all measures. Observational measures and/or teacher

reports of child behavior in the future would help avoid

single-source bias. We did include combined mother and

father reports of child behavior problems when possible in

order to have it not always be reported by the exact same

single parent, but the data were still limited to parental self-

reports. Other studies (Modry-Mandell et al. 2007) have

used more direct assessments of child behavior, family

emotional expressions, and parental agreement/disagreement

using in-home personal interviews and questionnaires

administered by researchers, while other studies have used

more laboratory based semi-structured assessments of par-

ent–child interactions (Martin et al. 2010); this kind of

methodology provides a deeper understanding of these

constructs. Since our study was examining individual per-

ceptions of the other’s parenting style, this can perhaps best

be completed through self-report instead of direct assess-

ments or observations. Future research should incorporate

self-report with direct observations of behavior.

This sample was fairly homogenous in its ethnic makeup

and made up of two-parents (one biological mother, one

biological father). More studies are needed to examine these

questions concerning perceived parenting styles across a

variety of different demographic groups including those

from different ethnic backgrounds, those in poverty, and

those in more diverse types of families (i.e., step families,

adopted families, gay/lesbian parents, extended families).

Relations between parenting styles and child behavioral

outcomes, for example, are known to vary somewhat across

different ethnic groups (Chao 2001; Ispa et al. 2004). Thus,

it is important to replicate the work done in the present paper

with larger and more diverse samples.

Finally, our single point in time, correlational design is

not able to inform about direction of effect. Although

empirical research and theory support the direction of

causality moving from parental behavior to child behavior

problems (Chen and Johnston 2012; Martin et al. 2010;

Schoppe-Sullivan et al. 2007) which is what we are

assuming, it clearly works both ways, with parenting

behavior also being affected by child behavior and child

characteristics over time (Zadeh et al. 2010). Child behavior

can certainly be an important contributor to marital conflict

as well (Manning et al. 2014). Also, parenting style interacts

with child temperament and personality, with certain types

of parenting leading to better outcomes for children

depending on the temperament/type of child (Fay-Stamm-

bach et al. 2014). Future work should examine the active

role the child herself plays in determining parenting styles

and parenting style disagreements between parents.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Statement The procedures and methods that were used in this study are in compliance with ethical standards given by the

American Psychological Association (APA).

2066 J Child Fam Stud (2016) 25:2055–2068

123

Informed Consent Informed consent was obtained from all indi- vidual participants included in the study.

Human and Animal Rights Statement This article does not con- tain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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