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The influence of children's effortful control on parent-child behavioral synchrony

Kayla M Brown1, Nilam Ram1, Erika Lunkenheimer1

  • 1Department of Psychology.

Journal of Family Psychology : JFP : Journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43)
|June 16, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Children with higher effortful control (EC) exhibit greater behavioral synchrony with parents during challenging tasks. Parents' positive behaviors foster this real-time interaction, while negative behaviors do not.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Psychology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Child temperament influences parenting styles and child development.
  • The role of individual differences in children's self-regulation, specifically effortful control (EC), in shaping parent-child interaction dynamics requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the relationship between children's effortful control (EC) and the dynamic synchrony of parent and child behaviors.
  • To investigate whether parents' positive and negative behaviors moderate this relationship.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized state-trait multilevel models to analyze parent-child interactions during a challenging problem-solving task.
  • Assessed dynamic synchrony and behavioral concordance between parents and children.

Main Results:

  • Parent-child dyads showed real-time behavioral concordance during positive parental behaviors, but not negative ones.
  • Higher child EC was associated with greater behavioral concordance, particularly during both positive and negative parental behaviors.
  • Negative child behavior predicted more negative parent behavior.

Conclusions:

  • Parents' positive behaviors are more effective in promoting real-time parent-child synchrony.
  • Children with higher effortful control may facilitate or experience enhanced behavioral synchrony with their parents.
  • Individual differences in children's temperament significantly shape parent-child interaction dynamics and synchrony.

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