Researchers have been studying the family relationships of children with externalizing behavior problems owing to the latter’s implications on human development during their lives. Risk factors that contribute towards the rise and establishment of such behaviors are associated to children’s personal characteristics, family processes, the influence of peers, communities, and schools. The influence of parental and marital relationships in families of children with externalizing behavior problems is discussed. Parental practices and level of parental stress are first emphasized; second, the patterns of interaction in married and re-married families and its implications on parental relationships are highlighted. Finally, the role of the culture in the development of externalizing behavior problems and the necessity of investigating these problems from the human development perspective are debated.
Parental relationships; marital relationships; externalizing behavior problems