Transactional relations between early child temperament, structured parenting, and child outcomes: A three-wave longitudinal study
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Published on: September 19, 2019
Pan Liu1,2, Katie R Kryski1, Heather J Smith1
1Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Insights
Child temperament, like behavioral inhibition, influences parenting styles, which in turn impacts long-term child behavior problems. This highlights the bidirectional relationship in child development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Child self-regulation is influenced by parental caregiving behaviors.
- Children actively shape the care they receive, necessitating integration of individual differences into developmental models.
- Existing models often overlook the bidirectional interplay between child temperament and caregiving.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the role of child temperament in shaping parenting behaviors.
- To investigate the predictive relationship between child temperament, parenting, and later child behavior problems.
- To integrate child individual differences into models of early care and child development.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 409 children and their primary caregivers.
- Assessment of observed temperamental behavioral inhibition (BI) and effortful control (EC) at ages 3 and 5.
- Parental reports of child behavior problems at ages 3, 5, and 8; mediation analyses conducted.
Main Results:
- Child behavioral inhibition (BI) at age 3 predicted more structured parenting at age 5.
- Structured parenting at age 5 was associated with fewer internalizing and attention-academic problems at age 8.
- Early parenting did not predict child temperament (BI or EC), and early effortful control did not predict parenting.
Conclusions:
- Child temperament plays a crucial role in shaping caregiving environments.
- This shaping of the environment influences long-term child adjustment and behavior.
- Future research should incorporate child temperament into models to better understand child-environment interplay and development.
Abstract:
While child self-regulation is shaped by the environment (e.g., the parents' caregiving behaviors), children also play an active role in influencing the care they receive, indicating that children's individual differences should be integrated in models relating early care to children's development. We assessed 409 children's observed temperamental behavioral inhibition (BI), effortful control (EC), and the primary caregiver's parenting at child ages 3 and 5. Parents reported on child behavior problems at child ages 3, 5, and 8. Mediation analyses were conducted to examine relations between child temperament and parenting in predicting child problems. BI at age 3 was positively associated with structured parenting at age 5, which was negatively related to child internalizing and attention-academic problems at age 8. In contrast, parenting at child age 3 did not predict child BI or EC at age 5, nor did age 3 EC predict parenting at age 5. Findings indicate that child behavior may shape the development of caregiving and, in turn, long-term child adjustment, suggesting that studies of caregiving and child outcomes should consider the role of child temperament toward developing more informative models of child-environment interplay.
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