Temperament and Parenting

1. Temperament and Parenting Lea Rose Dougherty Social and Personality Development Fall, 2004

2. Researchers have recognized the importance of examining intrapersonal factors, such as temperament, as certain dispositional characteristics have been associated with, and predictive of, behavioral maladjustment Intrapersonal factors affect Interpersonal relationships Development of psychopathology Therapy Outcome Why Study Child Temperament?

3. The Role of Parenting in the Development of Temperament Behavioral Inhibition and Parenting Behaviors Overview of Lecture

4. Bell (1968) reconceptualized socialization as a mutually interactive process, with both child and caregiver seeking to redirect, reduce or augment the behavior of the other Researchers began to recognize that children differ in such qualities as responsiveness to parental socialization strategies, capacity to control their emotional reactivity, and capacity to bring pleasure or distress to their parents As Rothbart (1989, p. 195) put it, “the infant’s temperament regulates and is regulated by the actions of others from the earliest hours.” Influences of Parenting and Temperament on Child Development

5. Temperament and parenting are linked, but it is difficult to predict on theoretical grounds what the nature of the association should be Conceptual and Methodological Issues Genetic similarity of parent and child Nonindependence of measures (parent reports) Any association between concurrent parenting and child temperament may also be the result of childrearing history Few studies allow unambiguous interpretation of results Research on Temperament and Parenting

6. Distress-related temperament attributes (e.g., irritability, “difficultness,” negative mood) are associated with poorer parenting and general unresponsiveness (e.g., Hemphill & Sanson, 2000; Hinde, 1989; Linn & Horrowitz, 1983) Child’s positive affect and self-regulation are associated with parental responsiveness, social interaction, and use of rewards (e.g., Hinde, 1989; Kyrios & Prior, 1990) Research on Temperament and Parenting

7. It is also possible to argue for another association between parenting and child temperament There are both positive and negative parenting correlates of difficult temperament Maternal warmth and negative dominance (Rubin et al., 1998) Cognitive assistance and disapproval from mothers (Gauvain & Fagot, 1995) Thus, difficult temperament may be related to widely divergent parenting behaviors Research on Temperament and Parenting

8. Child’s age Parents may begin by investing greater amounts of time and energy in their distress-prone child, but may not be able to sustain this effort over time Child’s gender Less parental acceptance of irritability and NE in girls than boys More parental acceptance of shyness in girls and irritability in boys Intervening Variables: Inconsistency in Findings Why?

9. Parental characteristics Maternal anxiety, self-efficacy, depression, personality Social and cultural factors SES Social support Different cultures (e.g., parents greater acceptance of BI in Asian Cultures) Intervening Variables

10. Debate continues regarding the relation of temperament to attachment (whether the Strange Situation is really measuring temperament or attachment?) Some argue that if temperament is related to attachment, then some fundamental processes of attachment theory may be incorrect This need not be the case! From a transactional perspective, it is more likely that some combination of individual and contextual factors are involved in the development of attachment relationships (Cassidy, 1994) Parent and Child Factors in the Development of Attachment

11. Additive effects Toddler temperament and parental discipline were independently related to children’s antisocial and coercive behavior when they were 5-7 years old (Fisher & Fagot, 1992) Cumulative risk factors Combination of infant difficult temperament and poor mother-child relationship was the most reliable indicator in the prediction of 4-5 year old children’s INT and EXT behavior problems (Sanson et al., 1991) Resilience factor The sociable and adaptable child elicits more care and concern from those who can help protect the child from adverse outcomes Temperament and Parenting Cumulative Influences on Adjustment

12. Multiplicative combinations of temperament and parent variables in the prediction of outcomes Views of temperament as a moderator of parenting may be usefully applied to prevention programs that promote parental sensitivity to children’s temperament in the choice of socialization techniques Views of parenting as a moderator of temperament focus more specifically on how parent behavior may act as risk or protective factors in child development Temperament-Parenting Interactions and Adjustment

13. An more in-depth example of the multiplicative relation between temperament and parenting Behavioral Inhibition and Parenting Temperament-Parenting Interactions and Adjustment

14. Traditional Definition A pattern of responding or behaving, possibly biologically based, such that when unfamiliar or challenging situations are encountered, the child shows signs of anxiety, distress, and wariness (Kagan, 1989) Measurement of BI A paradigm developed by Kagan, wherein toddlers’ reactions to unfamiliar objects and adults are observed in an unfamiliar setting Employed in the very early years of childhood (later?) What is Behavioral Inhibition?

15. Later social adjustment problems BI many be an early precursor of internalizing behavior problems such as anxious and depressive symptoms Associated with right frontal EEG asymmetry and increased cortisol secretion Yet, the stability of BI is moderate at best (e.g., Broberg, 1993) Why is the Development of BI Important?

16. It is possible that different types of inhibition in very early childhood may predict different outcome Inhibition in the face of unfamiliar peers may be very different than BI in the face of unfamiliar objects and adults Key factors exogenous to the child, such as parenting, may play a role in the stability of BI Certain parenting practices may increase or decrease children’s wariness or fearfulness during peer interaction Why is the Stability of BI Only Moderate?

17. Overprotection The provision of help and physical comfort in situations in which it is not required, as well as the intrusive restriction of independence Parental Criticism and Derision Parents who are critical and derisive, especially in the company of others, may incite the development of negative thoughts and feelings of the self and withdrawal from the social world What Aspects of Parenting are Important to the Development of BI?

18. Studies primarily involved only concurrent or very short term longitudinal analyses of toddler and parenting behaviors Few, if any, investigators have examined inhibition and parenting behaviors as predictors of subsequent socially reticent behavior among both males and females There is a need to examine the extent to which BI and parenting independently and interactively predict social behavioral and psychological outcomes for young children Limitations of Research on Temperament and Parenting

19. Rubin, Burgess, and Hastings (2002) employed a prospective longitudinal design Assessments at Age 2 and 4 T1 – BI with unfamiliar objects, adults and peers; parenting behaviors T2 – Peer play session; “show and tell” speeches Tackling some of these limitations…

20. Meaningful specificity was found in the stability of behavioral patterns Early inhibition appears to be linked to specific patterns of social responsiveness underlaid with anxiety Both traditional and peer-social BI at age 2 predicted socially reticent behavior during free play at 4 years What role does parenting play in the development of children’s socially reticent behavior? Findings

21. If mothers demonstrated relatively high frequencies of intrusive control and/or derisive comments, then the association between their toddlers’ peer inhibition and 4-year social reticence was significant and positive Whereas if mothers were neither intrusive nor derisive, then toddlers’ peer inhibition and 4-year reticence were not significantly associated Thus, maternal behaviors moderated the relation between toddlers’ peer inhibition and preschoolers’ social reticence Findings: The Role of Early Parenting in Predicting Reticent Behavior in Preschoolers

22. Child’s temperament is apparent from early infancy and is an important influence on development Temperament is moderately stable over time, but is by no means immutable Temperament contributes to a wide range of child outcomes in behavioral, cognitive and social domains The task for parents in thinking about temperament is to take their child’s particular characteristics into account when choosing parenting strategies and in arranging their overall childrearing environment Conclusions: Temperament and Parenting

23. An atheoretical approach to the measurement of temperament is not likely to advance knowledge Obtain “clean” measures of both temperament and parenting Future research needs to specify the developmental models being tested and be explicit about expected direct, mediated, and moderated effects (theory..please!) Increase specificity, moving from more global measures of temperament, to more specific dimensions, along with clearly specified dimensions of parenting Don’t forget gender and fathers… Criticisms and Future Directions

24. Bell, R.Q. (1968). A reinterpretation of the direction of effects in studies of socialization. Psychological Review, 75, 81-95. Broberg, A.G. (1993). Inhibition and children’s experiences of out-of-home care. In K.H. Rubin & J. Asendorpf (Eds.), Social withdrawal, inhibition and shyness in childhood (pp. 151-176). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Cassidy, J. (1994). Emotion regulation: Influences of attachment relationships. In N.A. Fox (Ed.), The development of emotion regulation: Biological and behavioral considerations. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50, 3-35. Clark, L.A., Kochanska, G., & Ready, R. (2000). Mothers’ personality and its interaction with child temperament as predictors of parenting behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 274-285. Gauvian, M., & Fagot, B. (1995). Child temperament as mediator of mother-toddler problem solving. Social Development, 4, 257-276. Hinde, R.A. (1989). Temperament as an intervening variable. In G.A. Kohnstamm, J.E. Bates, & M.K. Rothbart (Eds.), Temperament in childhood (pp.27-34). Chichester, England: Wiley. Kagan, J. (1989). Temperamental contributions to social behavior. American Psychologist, 44, 668-674. Kyrios, M., & Prior, M. (1990). Temperament, stress and family factors in behavioral adjustment of 5-7 year old children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 13, 67-93. Prior, M., Sanson, A.V., & Oberklaid, F. (1989). The Australian Temperament Project. In G.A. Kohnstamm, J.E. Bates, & M.K. Rothbart (Eds.), Temperament in childhood (pp.537-554). Chichester, England: Wiley. Prior, M., Sanson, A.V., & Oberklaid, F. (1989). The Australian Temperament Project. In G.A. Kohnstamm, J.E. Bates, & M.K. Rothbart (Eds.), Temperament in childhood (pp.537-554). Chichester, England: Wiley. Rothbart, M.K. (1989). Temperament and development. In G.A. Kohnstamm, J.E. Bates, & M.K. Rothbart (Eds.), Temperament in childhood (pp.187-247). Chichester, England: Wiley. Putnam, S., Sanson, A., & Rothbart, M. (2002). Temperament and parenting. In M.H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Volume 1, Children and parenting (2nd Ed). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Rubin, K.H., Burgess, K.B., & Hastings, P.D. (2002). Stability and social behavioral consequences of toddlers’ inhibited temperament and parenting behaviors. Child Development, 73, 483-495. Rubin, K., Hastings, P., Chen, X., Stewart, S., & McNichol, K. (1998). Interpersonal and maternal correlates of aggression, conflict, and externalizing problems in toddlers. Child Development, 69, 1614-1629. Sanson, A., Oberklaid, F., Pedlow, R., & Prior, M. (1991). Risk indicators: Assessment of infancy predictors of preschool behavioral maladjustment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 609-626. References

25. ReviewersLisa BurckellDaniela Owen