Predicting preschool effortful control from toddler temperament and parenting behavior

Abstract

This longitudinal study assessed whether maternal behavior and emotional tone moderated the relationship between toddler temperament and preschooler's effortful control. Maternal behavior and emotional tone were observed during a parent–child competing demands task when children were 2 years of age. Child temperament was also assessed at 2 years of age, and three temperament groups were formed: inhibited, exuberant, and low reactive. At 4.5 years of age, children's effortful control was measured from parent-report and observational measures. Results indicated that parental behavior and emotional tone appear to be especially influential on exuberant children's effortful control development. Exuberant children whose mothers used commands and prohibitive statements with a positive emotional tone were more likely to be rated higher on parent-reported effortful control 2.5 years later. When mothers conveyed redirections and reasoning-explanations in a neutral tone, their exuberant children showed poorer effortful control at 4.5 years.

Introduction

One of the most crucial tasks children must learn is the ability to self-regulate their behavior (Kopp, 1982, Kopp, 1989). An important aspect of self-regulation, effortful control, is essential to children's development because of its influence in multiple domains of children's functioning. According to Rothbart (Rothbart & Bates, 2006), effortful control reflects the child's ability to inhibit a prepotent behavioral response and to respond with a more appropriate, subdominant behavior. Despite the assertion that the child's ability to effortfully regulate his/her own behavior is an important developmental milestone and the evidence demonstrating that its development can be independently influenced by both parenting and characteristics of the child (e.g., Garstein & Fagot, 2003, Kochanska et al., 2000, Olson et al., 1990), little is known about how child temperament and parenting behaviors interact to influence the development of this ability. Belsky (Belsky, 1997, Belsky, 2005, Belsky et al., 2007, Belsky et al., 1998) has proposed that children of different temperaments may be differentially susceptible to the effects of caregiving behaviors, and that the interaction between children's temperament and parenting behaviors can positively or negatively impact a variety of child outcomes including those related to children's self-regulatory capacities. Hence, children with certain temperamental characteristics may be more affected by caregiver behaviors which, in turn, could influence children's ability to effortfully control their behavior.

Recent research has explored this concept of differential susceptibility by focusing on how children's level of fearfulness moderates parenting behaviors to predict developmental outcomes that require effortful control including compliance, conscience, and behavioral adjustment (e.g., Kochanska, 1995, Kochanska, 1997). However, few studies have examined effortful control specifically and more importantly, how parenting and temperament interact to predict effortful control. The goal of the present study is to examine how parental behavior and emotional tone moderate the relation between toddler temperament and effortful control in preschool.

As noted by Belsky (Belsky, 1997, Belsky, 2005, Belsky et al., 2007, Belsky et al., 1998), temperament, or biologically based differences in an individual's reactivity and regulation (Rothbart, 1986, Rothbart & Bates, 2006, Rothbart & Derryberry, 1981), is proposed to interact with parenting to influence children's behavior and subsequent development. Approach–inhibition to novelty or unfamiliar situations is one temperamental characteristic that has been the focus of research because of the impact it has on children's behavioral adjustment. Individual differences in approach–inhibition emerge during the second half the of the first year of life (Goldsmith et al., 1987, Kagan et al., 1990, Rothbart, 1988, Rothbart & Derryberry, 1981), and children continue to show variations in the ways in which they modulate their behavior when presented with unfamiliarity or novelty (Garcia-Coll et al., 1984, Kagan, 1997, Rothbart & Bates, 1998, Rothbart & Bates, 2006). Children who are high in inhibition, or behaviorally inhibited, are biologically predisposed to show wariness, fear, and distress when exposed to unfamiliar or novel situations, people, places, or objects (Fox et al., 2001, Garcia-Coll et al., 1984, Kagan, 1997, Kagan et al., 1984, Putnam & Stifter, 2005) and avoid or withdraw from novelty so as to regulate the level of their distress. On the other hand, uninhibited or exuberant children show little to no distress when presented with novelty but rather seek out and oft-times exhibit positive affect when encountering unfamiliar people or situations (Garcia-Coll et al., 1984, Kagan, 1997, Kagan et al., 1998, Kagan et al., 1984).

Research has shown that these early temperamental propensities are associated with different patterns of adjustment in later childhood. For example, inhibited children were more likely to display internalizing problems (Lemery et al., 2002, Patterson & Sanson, 1999) and anxiety disorders (Prior et al., 2000, Putnam & Stifter, 2005), whereas approach-oriented children were more likely to display externalizing problems (Eisenberg et al., 2001, Stifter et al., 2008), aggression (Rothbart, Ahadi, & Hershey, 1994) and conduct disorder (Lengua, Wolchik, Sandler, & West, 2000).

In contrast to behavioral inhibition, which is considered to be a passive form of regulation (Rothbart & Bates, 1998, Rothbart & Bates, 2006), effortful control is voluntary and involves the child's ability to inhibit prepotent cognitive, motor, or vocal behavioral responses and to respond with a more appropriate, subdominant behavior (Kochanska et al., 2000, Murray & Kochanska, 2002, Rothbart & Bates, 1998, Rothbart & Bates, 2006). Examples of how children effortfully control their behavior include delaying gratification, slowing down motor behavior, complying with parental requests, resisting temptations, or modulating vocal volume. With the maturation of early attentional networks, temperamental effortful control is believed to emerge by 12 months and continues to develop rapidly, with individual differences in this ability becoming more detectable throughout the toddler and preschool years (Kochanska et al., 2000, Kopp, 1982, Rothbart et al., 1994, Rothbart & Posner, 2000). Effortful control is central to positive development because voluntarily inhibiting behavior underlies children's ability to behave in socially desirable ways (Eisenberg et al., 2005, Kochanska & Knaack, 2003, Mischel et al., 1989, Murray & Kochanska, 2002, Olson et al., 2005). For example, children with greater effortful control have been found to exhibit more compliance and better conscience development (Kochanska & Knaack, 2003) and fewer externalizing behavior problems (Olson et al., 2005).

Recently, research has explored the direct linkage between children's early inhibition, or fearful temperament, with later effortful control. In particular, Aksan and Kochanska (2004) proposed that children's fearfulness would decrease children's speed of approach, or impulsivity, and this, in turn, would facilitate children's effortful control development. Direct and indirect linkages were found between children's fearfulness and effortful control. Infants and toddlers who were low in fear demonstrated lower effortful control in preschool, but this relation was mediated by children's high impulsivity. They also found high fearful toddlers to demonstrate more effortful control as preschoolers. As illustrated in this study, the relationship between children's fearfulness and effortful control is complex and appears to be influenced by other factors intrinsic to the child, such as impulsivity. However, the relationship between children's inhibition and later effortful control may also be influenced by environmental factors. Therefore, it is important to understand the interplay between children's temperament and environmental factors, especially parenting behavior, when investigating children's development of effortful control.

While some research has shown that children's own characteristics are related to effortful control, other research has demonstrated that parenting can also have a direct impact on this outcome. Studies have consistently found that children of parents who displayed negative behaviors such as low sensitivity, warmth, and responsiveness or high control and coercion were more likely to demonstrate low levels of effortful control (Eisenberg et al., 2003, Garstein & Fagot, 2003, Kochanska et al., 2000, Olson et al., 1990). Interestingly, although parental behavior that was controlling was associated with more negative child outcomes, when combined with warmth, such parenting was associated with improved effortful control (Feldman & Klein, 2003).

Some research has explored the impact that both child characteristics and parenting have on children's effortful control development. In particular, temperamental aspects of the child, such as negative affect, emotion regulation, and emotional expressivity, may further enhance or exacerbate the relations between parent behaviors and children's later effortful control outcomes (Eisenberg et al., 2003, Feldman & Klein, 2003). For example, when parents displayed more warm and controlling discipline during their interactions with their well-regulated children their children demonstrated more compliant behavior (Feldman & Klein, 2003). Likewise, when mothers used behaviors high in control, such as direct demands made to the child in a negative or neutral tone, and exhibited low positive affect or used less reasoning with their highly negative children, then their children displayed more noncompliance (Braungart-Rieker, Garwood, & Stifter, 1997). Whereas these findings have demonstrated the importance of considering both the characteristics of the child and the behaviors of the parent in predicting developmental outcomes, more research is needed, particularly with temperament types that may require more persistent, controlling behavior. In the present study we extend previous research by examining the effects of parenting on children's effortful control development for temperamentally inhibited and exuberant children.

There has been some research which has shown that children exposed to the same parenting behavior can have different self-regulatory outcomes depending on their level of inhibition (Dennis, 2006, Kochanska, 1991, Kochanska, 1995, Kochanska, 1997, Kochanska et al., 2007). For example, inhibited children were found to show more compliance and conscience development when their parents used gentle discipline techniques during parent–child interactions, whereas for uninhibited or fearless children, positive interactions with their mothers was more likely to lead to behavioral and moral self-regulation (Kochanska, 1991, Kochanska, 1995, Kochanska, 1997, Kochanska et al., 2007). These studies demonstrate that parenting behaviors can have a differential influence on a children's effortful control-like development depending on children's approach–inhibition behavior and thus support the concept of differential susceptibility (Belsky, 1997, Belsky, 2005, Belsky et al., 2007, Belsky et al., 1998). However, no studies have specifically examined effortful control as an outcome which is the process underlying the compliance and moral behavior examined in these studies.

Although some research has explored the effects of parenting in different contexts on children's effortful control development (Lengua, Honorado, & Bush, 2006), the majority of studies investigating how children's self-regulation development is differentially influenced by parenting behaviors depending on children's temperament has examined parental behavior within less demanding contexts such as free-play or clean-up situations (Kochanska, 1995, Rubin et al., 2002). Such contexts are generally less challenging for parents and children, eliciting low levels of negative affect and/or parent–child conflicts. To determine whether children are differentially impacted by parenting behaviors depending on the temperament of their children, contexts that elicit children's behavioral and emotional propensities would be more appropriate. Although the goals that parents have for their children are not always in line with their behavior, it is reasonable to assume that they may engage in behaviors that are in part in response to their children's temperamental characteristics. For example, because inhibited children are less likely to approach novel people and situations, it may be important for parents of these types of children to encourage them to explore new environments and engage in social activities with unfamiliar peers and adults when they encounter such situations. According to Fox and colleagues (2005), parent behaviors that encourage exploration in their inhibited children are “sensitive” because exploration provides the child with opportunities to master the environment and develop self-regulatory skills. Conversely, because exuberant children are relatively fearless and drawn to approach novelty, these children are more likely to explore without any parental encouragement. However, this eagerness to explore could have negative consequences if the context is unsafe and/or requires controlled behavior. Under these circumstances, exuberant children may need their parents to exercise more restraint and redirect them away from the source of their interest. Such parental restraint may act as a mechanism through which self-regulatory behaviors develop in exuberant children, particularly if delivered in a positive way.

A second component that may be important when parenting children with different temperaments is the emotional tone parents use when trying to guide or control their children's behavior. Parental expression of warmth toward their offspring is critical to the parent–child relationship. Most notably, Baumrind, 1971, Baumrind, 1996 proposed that parenting behaviors included components of control and warmth. Authoritative parenting, or a style that is high in both control and warmth, is believed to be the best at promoting development in children whereas authoritarian parenting, which is high on control but lacking in warmth, can hinder children's development. Warmth can serve as a powerful motivation system. When parental control does not pose a threat to children's autonomy, children may be more likely to tolerate it and comply to parental socialization tactics because the control signifies parental love and concern (Grusec & Davidov, 2007, Grusec et al., 2000, MacDonald, 1992). Furthermore, control in the context of shared positivity and secure attachment may be most effective at promoting positive development in fearless children (Kochanska, 1995). Therefore, the use of control in the context of warmth may be important toward understanding how parenting interacts with child temperament to predict developmental outcomes. In other words, children's development may not only be determined by what parents do or say in interactions with their children, but also by the emotional tone they convey while using a given behavior. In the current study, the emotional tone that accompanied parent behaviors when interacting with their children was observed.

The primary goal of the present study was to investigate whether parenting behaviors and emotional tone moderated the relationship between toddler inhibited and exuberant temperament and preschool effortful control. Because previous research has demonstrated that gentle tactics are best at fostering outcomes reflective of effortful control in fearful children (Kochanska, 1991, Kochanska et al., 2007), it was hypothesized that parents who used behaviors that redirected their children's behavior and/or explained their reasons for doing so in a positive way would be related to increased effortful control in their inhibited children. Although studies have shown that fearless children whose parents are warm and positive develop greater behavioral and moral self-regulation (e.g., Kochanska, 1997), warmth alone may be insufficient at getting exuberant children to comply in situations that are novel and interesting to the exuberant child. However, when positive emotional tone is combined with parental control behaviors, compliance and future effortful control development in exuberant children may be more readily elicited. In the present study, parental commands or prohibitive statements were hypothesized to be related to better effortful control in exuberant children, but only when commands or prohibitive statements were conveyed in a positive way. Toward this end, we assessed temperament and parenting behaviors at 2 years of age and parent-reported and observed effortful control 2.5 years later. To examine parenting in a context that pulled for the child's temperament, parenting behaviors were observed during a competing demands task in which the child was asked to play with toys while the parent was asked to complete a questionnaire. This context gave us the opportunity to observe parenting behaviors that may be more or less beneficial to children's effortful control development depending on their temperament (e.g., exploration in inhibited children, reign in exuberant children's off-task behavior).