Relations Among Positive Parenting, Children's Effortful Control, and Externalizing Problems: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study (original) (raw)
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The Relations of Parenting, Effortful Control, and Ego Control to Children's Emotional Expressivity
Child Development, 2003
The relations of observed parental warmth and positive expressivity and children's effortful control and ego control with children's high versus low emotional expressivity were examined in a 2-wave study of 180 children (M age 5 112.8 months). There were quadratic relations between adults' reports of children's emotional expressivity and effortful control; moderate expressivity was associated with high effortful control. Structural equation models supported the hypothesis that children's ego overcontrol (versus undercontrol) mediated the relation between parental warmth or positive expressivity and children's emotional expressivity, although parenting at the follow-up did not uniquely predict in children's expressivity after controlling for the relations in these constructs over time. The alternative hypothesis that children's ego overcontrol elicited positive parenting and expressivity also was supported.
Development and Psychopathology, 2015
At approximately 30, 42, and 54 months of age (N = 231), the relations among children's externalizing symptoms, intrusive maternal parenting, and children's effortful control (EC) were examined. Both intrusive parenting and low EC have been related to psychopathology, but children's externalizing problems and low EC might affect the quality of parenting and one another. Mothers’ intrusive behavior with their children was assessed with observations, children's EC was measured with mothers’ and caregivers’ reports, and children's externalizing symptoms were assessed with mothers’, fathers’, and caregivers’ reports. In a structural equation panel model, bidirectional relations between intrusive parenting and EC were found: EC at 30 and 42 months predicted low levels of intrusive parenting a year later, controlling for prior levels of parenting and vice versa. Moreover, high levels of children's externalizing problems at both 30 and 42 months negatively predicted...
Journal of abnormal child psychology, 2015
Externalizing symptoms, such as aggression, impulsivity, and inattention, represent the most common forms of childhood maladjustment (Campbell et al. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 467-488, 2000). Several dimensions of parenting behavior, including overreactive and warm parenting, have been linked to children's conduct problems. However, the majority of these studies involve biologically-related family members, thereby limiting understanding of the role of genetic and/or environmental underpinnings of parenting on child psychopathology. This study extends previous research by exploring associations between overreactive and warm parenting during toddlerhood and school-age externalizing problems, as well as the potential moderating effects of child effortful control (EC) on such associations using a longitudinal adoption design. The sample consisted of 225 adoption-linked families (adoptive parents, adopted child [124 male and 101 female] and birth parent[s]), thereby allowi...
Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy, 2015
This study investigated the associations between parenting styles (affection, behavioral control, and psychological control) and children’s emotional development (emotion expression) during the first grade of primary school, and the moderating role of children’s temperament (easy, difficult, and inhibited) in these associations. Mothers and fathers of 152 children responded to a questionnaire concerning their parenting styles and their child’s temperament at the beginning of their child’s first grade (Time 1). They also filled in a structured diary questionnaire concerning their child’s negative and positive emotions over seven successive days (diary) at the beginning (Time 1) and at the end (Time 2) of their child’s first grade. The results showed that mothers’ psychological control at Time 1 was associated with a subsequent high level of negative emotions among children, independently of the child’s temperament. Mothers’ high affection, in turn, was associated with subsequently low levels of negative emotions, particularly among children with inhibited temperament. Mothers’ behavioral control, on the other hand, was associated with low levels of negative emotions among children with difficult temperament. Fathers’ psychological control was associated with subsequently high levels of negative emotions among children with difficult temperament. No associations were found between parenting styles and children’s positive emotions.
Emotion, 2006
Longitudinal relations between mothers' expressivity, children's effortful control, and their problem behaviors were examined when children (N = 181) were 6.5–10 years old (T2) and again 2 (T3) and 4 (T4) years later. Mothers reported on their expression of positive and negative dominant emotion. Mothers and teachers reported on children's effortful control and externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors. In structural equation models, variables exhibited consistency over time. Further, the relation between mothers' expressivity (positive minus negative dominant emotion) at T2 and children's externalizing problems at T4 was mediated by T3 effortful control. The same process of mediation was significant for teacher- but not mother-reported internalizing problems. The results provide one explanation for how emotion-related socializing behaviors influence children's problem behaviors.
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 2009
This study investigated interactions between child characteristics (observed temperamental effortful control and child sex) and observed family processes (parenting and coparenting) in the prediction of externalizing problems. These relations were examined concurrently when the child was 3 years old, and longitudinally at 4.5 years. The sample included 89 two-parent families and their firstborn children. Children with a low level of effortful control were most at risk of displaying externalizing problems. However, more positive control by mothers and fathers seemed to buffer this risk. In addition, boys were at risk of displaying externalizing problems, but again this was buffered by positive control by mothers and fathers. Effortful control was more strongly related to concurrent externalizing problems in boys than in girls, but girls' effortful control had a greater long-term effect on externalizing problems.
Personality and Individual Differences, 2008
In this study, the relation between self-reported parental personality, using the five-factor model, and observed parenting was examined. In addition, we investigated the moderating role of observed preschoolers' temperamental effortful control (i.e., the ability to suppress a dominant response in order to perform a subdominant response) in this relation. The sample included 89 two-parent families and their firstborn 36month-old children. Weak to modest associations were found between personality and observed parenting. Effortful control appeared to moderate the relation between parental personality and parenting: fathers' neuroticism was positively associated with fathers' positive control and fathers' extraversion was positively associated with fathers' negative control, but only when children had a low level of effortful control. Thus, individual differences in personality appeared to be most relevant during the demanding experience of parenting a less self-regulated child.
The potential mediating roles of parental warmth and inductive discipline on the relations of parental emotion regulation strategies to children’s prosocial behavior were examined in this study. Sixty-four parents of preschoolers (50% females) completed questionnaires assessing their own regulation practices (i.e., Cognitive Reappraisal, Expressive Suppression), parenting behaviors (i.e., parental warmth/nurturance, inductive discipline), and children’s prosocial behavior (voluntary behavior intended to benefit another). We hypothesized that cognitive reappraisal would be positively, and expressive suppression, negatively related to parenting behaviors and children’s prosocial behavior. We further hypothesized that parental warmth and inductive discipline would mediate the relations between parents’ own regulation strategies and children’s prosocial behavior. Results demonstrated that parental cognitive reappraisal was positively associated with warmth, and expressive suppression was negatively associated with inductive discipline and children’s prosocial behavior. Parental warmth, but not inductive discipline, mediated the relations between cognitive reappraisal and children’s prosocial behavior. Results highlight adults’ own regulatory strategies as predictors of socialization behaviors and the potential processes for socialization of children’s moral emotions and positive social development.