Infant temperament and maternal parenting self-efficacy predict child weight outcomes

Relationships between infant negative reactivity and self-regulation, parenting self-efficacy, and child weight outcomes were examined. Greater observed negative reactivity predicted more child weight gain when mothers had lower parenting self-efficacy. Lower mother-reported self-regulation predicted a greater child weight status. Results highlight potential early risk/protective factors.     

Maternal personality influences the relationship between maternal reports and laboratory measures of child temperament

Previous research has indicated that agreement between maternal reports of child temperament and laboratory measures is modest; however, it is unclear whether maternal characteristics influence convergence between methods. We examined whether mothers' personality influenced agreement between maternal reports and observational measures of child traits. A total of 64 mothers and children participated in this study. Maternal negative emotionality (NE) moderated the relationship between maternal reports and laboratory measures of child temperament: Greater convergence was found between maternal ratings of children's negative emotional traits and laboratory measures for mothers with higher NE than mothers with lower NE. Findings are consistent with the possibility that mothers' own traits influence the extent to which they successfully encode and/or report on analogous child behaviors.     

Maternal preconceptions about parenting predict child temperament, maternal sensitivity, and children's empathy

This study examined the influence of maternal preconceptions on child difficult temperament at 6 months and maternal sensitivity at 12-15 months and whether all 3 variables predicted children's empathy at 21-24 months. Within a low-income, ethnically diverse sample of 175 mother-child dyads, path models were tested with 3 empathy indices (prosocial, indifference, inquisitive) as outcomes. Results indicated that maternal preconceptions significantly predicted child difficult temperament, maternal sensitivity, and children's empathy. Temperament mediated the link between maternal preconceptions and inquisitiveness, and maternal sensitivity mediated the link between preconceptions and prosocial responses. Group modeling techniques revealed no significant differences across gender or ethnicity. Correlations suggested contextual effects based on the familiarity of the person in distress. The implications and utility of developing parenting interventions are discussed.     

多巴胺系统多基因与青少年攻击行为的U型关系：母亲消极教养的调节作用

多巴胺活性与攻击相关的脑功能活动呈倒U型关系。本研究对1044名汉族青少年(初次测评时M age=13.32±0.49岁,50.2%女生)的攻击行为进行间隔一年的两次测评,采用多基因累积分范式考察多巴胺系统的多基因功能积分与青少年攻击行为间的关系以及母亲消极教养的调节作用。结果发现,多巴胺系统多基因累积分二次项与母亲消极教养交互影响两个时间点的青少年攻击行为：在较高母亲消极教养条件下,携带较多或较少低多巴胺活性相关等位基因的青少年表现出高水平的攻击行为,呈U型关系;在较低母亲消极教养条件下,多基因累积分二次项与青少年的攻击行为关系不显著。本研究为多巴胺系统基因的联合效应与母亲消极教养调节青少年攻击行为的基因作用机制提供证据。     

The interactive effects of temperament and maternal parenting on toddlers' externalizing behaviours

The present study aimed to determine the potential moderating effects of temperamental traits on the relation between parenting and toddlers' externalizing behaviours. For that purpose, this study examined the interplay between temperament and maternal parenting behaviours in predicting the level as well as the development of toddlers' externalizing behaviours. Participants were 115 boys (wave 1, M=16.9 months; wave 2, M=23.2 months) and their mothers, who were observed in a 13‐min structured play session at home. With regard to the prediction of the level of externalizing behaviours at wave 1, main effects were found for children's temperamental characteristics. In addition, maternal negative control interacted significantly with children's inhibitory control in predicting this level of externalizing behaviours. The findings with regard to the development of externalizing behaviours showed that the effects of maternal negative control and lack of maternal sensitivity were stronger for toddlers with a difficult temperament: maternal negative control and lack of maternal sensitivity were related to an increase in externalizing behaviours for temperamentally difficult children only. These results offer support for the goodness‐of‐fit hypothesis, stressing the idea that the effects of temperament and the social environment depend to a large extent on their interplay. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interaction between maternal and paternal parenting styles with infant temperament in emerging behavior problems

This study examined the interaction effects of infant temperament (negative affect, orienting/regulatory capacity, surgency) on the relationship between maternal and paternal parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive) and externalizing and internalizing behaviors simultaneously. A diverse sample of mothers (N = 186) and fathers (N = 142) reported on infant temperament of their 6-month-olds and their children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors one year later. Significant interactions revealed: (a) surgency moderated maternal authoritative and paternal permissive parenting style and externalizing behaviors; and (b) surgency moderated maternal authoritarian and paternal authoritative parenting style and internalizing behaviors. No significant interactions were found between maternal and paternal parenting styles and their report of their infants’ orienting/regulatory capacity and negative affect. Findings suggest interaction effects may appear beginning in infancy.     

The linkage between infant negative temperament and parenting self‐efficacy: The role of resilience against negative performance feedback

Caring for infants with negative reactive temperament may tax parents' confidence in their caregiving ability, or parenting self‐efficacy (PSE). This may happen in particular in parents who interpret these signals as negative feedback on their performance. To test this hypothesis, 179 first‐time pregnant women were presented a caregiving simulation that provided positive and negative feedback on their attempts to comfort a crying baby. According to their PSE resilience to negative feedback during the task, they were grouped in a high resilient and low resilient group. PSE was followed up at 32 weeks of pregnancy and 3 and 12 months after birth, while perceived temperament of the child was assessed at 3 and 12 months after birth. Results showed that among women with low resilience against negative feedback, perceived negative temperament was negatively associated with PSE at 3 months, whereas no such association was observed among women with high resilience against negative feedback. Implications of the concept of resilience for the study of PSE are discussed.     

Relations between child temperament and adolescent negative urgency in a high-risk sample

Negative urgency, rash action during negative mood states, is a strong predictor of risky behavior. However, its developmental antecedents remain largely unstudied. The current study tested whether childhood temperament served as a developmental antecedent to adolescent negative urgency. Participants (N = 239) were from a longitudinal study oversampled for a family history of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Negative emotionality (anger and sadness reactivity) and effortful control were measured in childhood (5–8) and negative urgency in adolescence (13–18). Childhood anger reactivity was uniquely related to later negative urgency above and beyond sadness reactivity. Effortful control was not related to later negative urgency; however, a latent variable capturing the shared variance between childhood effortful control and anger reactivity was related to later negative urgency.     

气质与眼动控制的关系

本研究采用眼动追踪和问卷测量相结合的方法,对气质类型和眼动控制的关系进行了探讨。眼动实验为2（眼跳方向：朝向眼跳和反向眼跳）X 2（任务类型：重复眼跳和转换眼跳）组内设计;气质分数用陈会昌编制的《气质类型测试量表》测量。结果表明,气质分数与眼动特性之间存在显著的相关性,不同气质类型（神经活动类型）在抑制过程和任务重置过程中表现出不同的相互作用模式。具体而言,神经活动强度是一个基本维度,它与认知控制的抑制功能和转换功能都有着密切联系;而神经活动的灵活性和平衡性则分别是转换功能和抑制功能的重要条件。     

Mothers' personality and its interaction with child temperament as predictors of parenting behavior

In this longitudinal, multimethod investigation, the authors examined mothers' personality and its interaction with infants' negative emotionality as predictors of parenting behavior. When infants were 8-10 months old (N = 112), mothers completed personality self-reports, and the authors observed infants' negative emotionality in both standard procedures and naturalistic daily contexts. When infants were 13-15 months old (N = 108), the authors observed two aspects of parenting, power assertion and maternal responsiveness, in mother-child interactive contexts. Maternal personality alone and also in interaction with child emotionality predicted future parenting behaviors. The longitudinal links established between personality and parenting behaviors indicate the predictive utility of personality. Findings also highlight the bidirectionality of the early parent-child relationship.     

The prospective relationship between child personality and perceived parenting: Mediation by parental sense of competence

This study examined the prospective relationship between childhood Big Five personality characteristics and perceived parenting in adolescence. In addition, we investigated whether this relationship was mediated by parental sense of competence, and whether associations were different for mothers and fathers. For 274 children, teachers reported on children’s Big Five personality characteristics at Time 1, mothers and fathers reported on their sense of competence at Time 2, and the children (who had now become adolescents) rated their parents’ warmth, overreactivity and psychological control at Time 3. Mediation analysis revealed both direct and indirect effects. No differences in associations were found for perceived parenting of mothers and fathers. This study demonstrates that child personality in late childhood is significantly related to perceived parental warmth, overreactivity and psychological control in adolescence. In addition, parental sense of competence mediates the relationship between child conscientiousness and perceived parental warmth, overreactivity and psychological control.     

The relationship between temperament and personality: An exploratory study

Although the terms temperament and personality are often used interchangeably in the literature and clearly are conceptually related, there is little empirical data to illuminate their relationship. In this exploratory study we measured temperament (using the Dimensions of Temperament Survey), and personality (using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire), in young adolescents and in adults. Some age and sex differences in relationships between the measures and their correlations were found. The temperament dimension of adaptability was clearly related to Eysenck's Extraversion factor and reactivity to Neuroticism in females. More substantial relationships emerged in the adult sample than in the adolescent group, Our data, combined with that of a 1984 Australian study using different techniques, provides substantial support for measurable overlap between some dimensions of temperament derived largely from the developmental literature, and Eysenck's personality theory.     

气质与父母养育对儿童社会适应的交互作用:代表性理论及其证据

最佳适配理论、素质-压力模型、差别易感模型从不同视角阐述了气质、养育方式在儿童社会适应行为中的交互作用机制。最佳适配理论强调气质特质与父母养育方式的良好匹配能促进儿童的社会适应,而不良匹配则会带来适应问题。素质-压力模型强调在不利父母养育条件下,具有"风险"气质特质的儿童更容易出现适应不良,而对"弹性"气质的儿童影响不大。差别易感模型则认为儿童"易感"的气质特质在良好的抚养条件下表现得"更好",而在不利的抚养环境中表现得"更差"。围绕三种代表性理论及其实证研究结果,对当前最新研究结果进行了分析和总结,进一步细分了儿童社会化过程中的风险因素和保护性因素。从气质与积极养育方式的交互作用、养育过程中父母角色分工的差异,以及气质与养育方式动态作用机制三个方面指出了将来进一步探索的方向。     

The effect of child negative affect on maternal discipline behavior

The effect of children's negative affect on maternal discipline behavior was evaluated in a sample of 39 children (19 to 41 months old) and their mothers. Mothers were randomly assigned to view a videotape that contained either a high level of child negative affect (NA) or no negative affect (NNA). After viewing the videotape, mothers were observed interacting with their own children in three tasks designed to elicit child misbehavior. Mothers in the NA condition displayed significantly greater overreactivity to child misbehavior; no significant difference in laxness was observed between the two groups of mothers. Children of mothers in the NA condition tended to display more misbehavior during the last two tasks of the interaction. Maternal negative affect received mixed support as one possible mediator of this effect.These data were presented at the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy in Atlanta, Georgia in November 1993.     

Warmth and contingency and their relationship to maternal attitudes toward parenting

In this study, the authors addressed the question of whether maternal parenting behaviors in terms of sensitivity, warmth, and contingency with respect to small infants were equally represented in attitudes toward parenting. Sixty mothers from central Germany with middle-class socioeconomic backgrounds were videotaped with their 1st born 3-month-old infant in a free-play and a caregiving episode in their home. The different maternal parenting components were behaviorally analyzed. Maternal attitudes toward parenting were assessed with self-report measures. The results showed that behavioral sensitivity was significantly associated with attitudes related to contingency, whereas behavioral warmth and contingency were not associated with maternal attitudes. The authors interpreted differential associations as a reflection of intuitive and explicit parenting strategies, with only sensitivity being explicitly represented.     

Reconsidering the relationship between parenting and religiosity

This study examined the relation between religiosity and parenting. 311 parents from the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium completed the Post-critical Belief Scale and reported on their style of parenting. Scores for religiosity (as measured by the Exclusion vs Inclusion of Transcendence dimension) were not significantly correlated with parenting styles. In contrast, the way in which religious contents are processed (as measured by the Literal vs Symbolic dimension) was significantly correlated with dimensions of parenting style.     

Cumulative parenting stress across the preschool period: relations to maternal parenting and child behaviour at age 5

Despite increasing interest in the effects of parenting stress on children and families, many questions remain regarding the nature of parenting stress and the mechanism through which stress exerts its influence across time. In this study, cumulative parenting stress was assessed across the preschool period in a sample of 125 typically developing children and their mothers. Indices of parenting stress included both major life events stress‐assessed annually from age 3 to 5, and parenting daily hassles assessed every 6 months across the same period. Naturalistic home observations were conducted when children were age 5, during which measures of parent and child interactive behaviour as well as dyadic pleasure and dyadic conflict were obtained. Mothers also completed the CBCL to assess children's behaviour problems. Results indicated that parenting daily hassles and major life stress are relatively stable across the preschool period. Both cumulative stress indices also proved to be important predictors of parent and child behaviour and dyadic interaction, although the predictions were somewhat differential. Despite meaningful relations between the stress factors and child well being, no evidence was found to support the premise that parent behaviour mediates the association between parenting stress and child outcomes. Results are discussed within a developmental framework to understand the stability and complexity of cumulative stress associations to early parent–child relationships. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.