Associations Between Parenting Style and Child Temperament Across Developmental Stages
Location
D.P. Culp Center Ballroom
Start Date
4-5-2024 9:00 AM
End Date
4-5-2024 11:30 AM
Poster Number
182
Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor
Wallace Dixon
Faculty Sponsor's Department
Psychology
Competition Type
Competitive
Type
Poster Presentation
Presentation Category
Social Sciences
Abstract or Artist's Statement
Research suggests that different parenting styles are differentially correlated with developmental outcomes in children. For example, authoritative parenting predicts children’s emotional resilience, academic performance, and overall success, whereas authoritarian parenting correlates negatively with these same outcomes. Children’s temperament is also associated with children’s developmental outcomes. Temperamental effortful control tends to be correlated with positive outcomes such as cognitive and language development whereas temperamental negative affectivity typically exhibits an opposite relationship. However, there appears to be a lack of research examining how these variables relate to one another. It makes sense to look for associations between children’s temperament and parenting styles to the extent that the former may influence the latter. For example, parenting may be easier when children high in effort control are involved and more difficult when children are high in negative affectivity. There is also evidence that harsh and uncaring parenting styles can exacerbate negative aspects of temperament such as negative affectivity. Using a cross-sectional design and anonymous survey methodology, data were collected on caregiver parenting style (using the Parental Authority Questionnaire) and child temperament (using the Rothbart family of instruments, depending on child age) across three child age groups: infancy (3 – 13 months, N 91), toddler (14 – 36 months, N 117), and early childhood (3 – 7 years, N 87). Basic demographic information was also collected. REDCap survey links were distributed across various social media outlets and relevant listservs. Across all datasets, respondents indicated living primarily in the United States and identified as white, well-educated, middle-class, female, and married. Child gender distribution was approximately equal between boys and girls. Results were generally consistent with expectations, but only among the two older groups. Specifically, a positive correlation was found between negative affectivity and authoritarian style in the toddler group, r(118) = .20, p = .029. In the early childhood group, surgency was predictive of an authoritarian style, r(86) = .25, p = .019, and effortful control was positively predictive of an authoritative style, r(86) = .28, p < .01 and negatively predictive of an authoritarian style, r(86) = -.23, p = .036. Surprisingly, and to the best of our knowledge, these results may be among the first to document an association between child temperament and caregiver parenting in early childhood. It is not possible, of course, to determine directions of effect between child temperament and caregiver parenting based on correlational data alone; but longitudinal research using cross-lagged modeling may help to isolate directions of effect in future investigations. Future researchers should also endeavor to recruit more racially and ethnically diverse participants to explore the extent of the ecological validity of the present findings.
Associations Between Parenting Style and Child Temperament Across Developmental Stages
D.P. Culp Center Ballroom
Research suggests that different parenting styles are differentially correlated with developmental outcomes in children. For example, authoritative parenting predicts children’s emotional resilience, academic performance, and overall success, whereas authoritarian parenting correlates negatively with these same outcomes. Children’s temperament is also associated with children’s developmental outcomes. Temperamental effortful control tends to be correlated with positive outcomes such as cognitive and language development whereas temperamental negative affectivity typically exhibits an opposite relationship. However, there appears to be a lack of research examining how these variables relate to one another. It makes sense to look for associations between children’s temperament and parenting styles to the extent that the former may influence the latter. For example, parenting may be easier when children high in effort control are involved and more difficult when children are high in negative affectivity. There is also evidence that harsh and uncaring parenting styles can exacerbate negative aspects of temperament such as negative affectivity. Using a cross-sectional design and anonymous survey methodology, data were collected on caregiver parenting style (using the Parental Authority Questionnaire) and child temperament (using the Rothbart family of instruments, depending on child age) across three child age groups: infancy (3 – 13 months, N 91), toddler (14 – 36 months, N 117), and early childhood (3 – 7 years, N 87). Basic demographic information was also collected. REDCap survey links were distributed across various social media outlets and relevant listservs. Across all datasets, respondents indicated living primarily in the United States and identified as white, well-educated, middle-class, female, and married. Child gender distribution was approximately equal between boys and girls. Results were generally consistent with expectations, but only among the two older groups. Specifically, a positive correlation was found between negative affectivity and authoritarian style in the toddler group, r(118) = .20, p = .029. In the early childhood group, surgency was predictive of an authoritarian style, r(86) = .25, p = .019, and effortful control was positively predictive of an authoritative style, r(86) = .28, p < .01 and negatively predictive of an authoritarian style, r(86) = -.23, p = .036. Surprisingly, and to the best of our knowledge, these results may be among the first to document an association between child temperament and caregiver parenting in early childhood. It is not possible, of course, to determine directions of effect between child temperament and caregiver parenting based on correlational data alone; but longitudinal research using cross-lagged modeling may help to isolate directions of effect in future investigations. Future researchers should also endeavor to recruit more racially and ethnically diverse participants to explore the extent of the ecological validity of the present findings.