sport in family as prevention of behavior problems from early childhood

In recent years, behavioral problems in early childhood have increased, conditioning the probability that problematic situations appear that compromises the personal and social adjustment of children, crystallizing in criminal behavior or harassment. In order to respond to this problem, recent studies provides scientific evidence about different interventions highlighting the influence of parenting styles in the infantile stage and the role of the sport in the promotion of prosocial conducts and self-control. Therefore, the objective of this article is, on the one hand, to know the relationship between the parenting styles, assessed form a child perspective, and preschoolers behavior problems and, on the other hand, to reflect on the benefits of family sport practice from a democratic, comprehensive and constructive perspective in preventing behavior problems in the preschool stage. The study involved 141 students (81 girls and 63 boys) aged 4 and 5 years old from Granada. Parenting styles are evaluated through PEF-H scale from Alonso y Román (2003), and behavioural problems through three BASC scales from Reynolds y Kamphaus (1992), adapted to spanish by González, Fernández, Pérez, y Santamaría (2004). The results show that the democratic style correlates significantly and negatively with attention problems. However, no significant relationship has been found between permissive style and behavioral problems. As for the authoritarian style, there is a positive and significant relationship with behavior problems. In conclusion, family democratic style is a protective factor for optimal development from an early age, being family sport practice a positive aspect to promote prosocial, respectful, entrepreneurial, self-control and critical conducts, as prevention of behavioral problems.