Over the years, parental behaviors were proved to influence children’s mental health. Rejection constitutes one of the main behaviors that affect the socioemotional adjustment of the child....Show moreOver the years, parental behaviors were proved to influence children’s mental health. Rejection constitutes one of the main behaviors that affect the socioemotional adjustment of the child. Existing literature suggests that low educated parents are more rejecting, while their children show higher levels of internalizing problems compared to their peers. Even though parents constitute the most significant others of the child, as children grow older, they become more functionally autonomous. In the current study, three analyses were conducted to examine the correlation between parental rejection and internalizing problems exclusively in observed parent-child interactions (k = 20, N = 3.689), parental educational level as a confounder of the latter correlation (k = 12, N = 1.579) and children’s age as a possible moderator (k = 19, N = 2.613). Results show positive effects for the correlation between rejection and internalizing problems (ES = .11). Both moderator analyses were insignificant. In the future, it is necessary to examine the individual effect of parental educational level on rejecting behaviors and internalizing problems. More studies are needed to examine whether the strength of the correlation between parental rejection and internalizing problems alters based on diverse developmental stages of the child.Show less
