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Maternal temperament and character: associations to child behavior at the age of 3 years

Sara Agnafors1, Marie Bladh2, Lisa Ekselius3

  • 1Division of Children's and Women's Health, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, SE-581 85, Linköping, Sweden. sara.agnafors@liu.se.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health
|May 7, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Maternal character traits significantly impact child behavior, reducing externalizing and internalizing problems. Parental support interventions are promising, especially considering maternal mental health and socioeconomic factors.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Psychiatry
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Maternal temperament's influence on child behavior, particularly sex differences, requires further investigation.
  • This study examines maternal temperament and character effects on child externalizing and internalizing problems at age 3.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of maternal temperament and character on child behavior at age 3.
  • To determine if maternal traits differentially affect boys' and girls' behavioral outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • A birth-cohort study followed 1723 mothers and children to age 3.
  • Maternal temperament, character (Temperament and Character Inventory), and depressive symptoms (EPDS) were assessed at 3 months.
  • Child behavior (Child Behaviour Checklist) was reported by mothers at age 3.

Main Results:

  • Maternal novelty seeking correlated with externalizing problems in girls.
  • Harm avoidance linked to externalizing problems in boys and internalizing problems in both sexes.
  • Maternal self-directedness and cooperativeness were associated with fewer child behavior problems.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal character traits showed a stronger influence on child behavior than temperamental traits.
  • Interventions targeting parental support are recommended.
  • Maternal mental health and socioeconomic status are risk factors for child behavior problems.
Abstract

Keywords:
Behavior problemsChildrenMothersSESBiCTemperament

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