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Positive Parenting Moderates the Association between Temperament and Self-Regulation in Low-Income Toddlers

Ju-Hyun Song1, Alison L Miller2, Christy Y Y Leung3

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada.

Journal of Child and Family Studies
|October 3, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Positive parenting buffers toddlers

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Development
  • Socioemotional Development

Background:

  • Self-regulation is crucial for social-emotional competence and academic achievement, developing rapidly in toddlerhood.
  • Understanding factors influencing self-regulation in at-risk toddlers, such as those from low-income families, is vital.
  • Poverty-related risks can impact adjustment and the development of early self-regulation skills.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine how child temperament and maternal parenting influence toddler self-regulation.
  • To investigate the roles of negative affect, effortful control, and parenting styles in self-regulation.
  • To explore the moderating effect of positive parenting on temperament-self-regulation links.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of 198 toddlers (mean age 27 months) and their mothers from low-income families.
  • Assessment of child temperament (negative affect, effortful control) and observed maternal parenting (positive and negative).
  • Measurement of toddler self-regulation via delay of gratification tasks at 27 and 33 months.

Main Results:

  • Mothers' negative parenting was associated with poorer toddler self-regulation.
  • Lower toddler negative affect and higher effortful control predicted better self-regulation at 33 months.
  • Positive parenting buffered temperamental risks and mitigated negative effects of low positive parenting.

Conclusions:

  • Positive parenting is essential for fostering self-regulation in toddlers facing poverty-related and child-level risks.
  • Maternal parenting and child temperament interact to influence self-regulation development.
  • Interventions supporting positive parenting may enhance self-regulation in vulnerable toddler populations.

Keywords:
low-incomeobservational methodparentingself-regulationtemperamenttoddlerhood

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