Poster #58 - Interaction Between Maternal and Paternal Parenting Styles with Temperament: Predicting Emerging Behavior Problems

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

Many factors contribute to the optimal development of socioemotional behaviors in a child, ranging from child temperament (negative affect, effortful control, surgency) to parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive). Research has increasingly considered the combined influence of parenting styles and child temperament in the development of children’s externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors; however, such interaction effects have not typically incorporated permissive parenting styles and the temperament domain of surgency. Furthermore, interaction studies also often target either internalizing or externalizing problems, or consider them independently--despite their long recognized association, which warrants greater inquiry. This present study examined the interaction effects of infant temperament on the relationship between maternal and paternal parenting styles and externalizing and internalizing behaviors in a longitudinal design. A diverse sample of mothers and fathers (N = 186) reported on their infant’s temperament and their own parenting styles when their child was 6-months-old and on their toddler’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors one year later when the child was 18-month-olds.

Cross-lagged structural equation models were performed using Mplus version 7.11 with Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) estimation with robust standard errors. Path models examined the moderating effect of all temperament dimensions on the relationship between all parenting styles and toddlers’ externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors simultaneously, with age and SES as time-varying covariates. Path models were estimated for mothers and fathers separately.

An analysis of the interactive effects between maternal parenting styles and infants’ temperamental dimensions indicated model fit was good: RMSEA = .065, CI [.050, .080]; SRMR = .072; CFI = .958. A significant interaction between maternal authoritative parenting style and infants’ surgency predicted toddlers’ externalizing behaviors; specifically, at low levels of infants’ surgency, high maternal authoritative parenting predicted significantly more toddler externalizing behaviors. A significant interaction between T2 maternal authoritarian and infant surgency predicted toddlers’ internalizing behaviors; specifically, at high levels of infants’ surgency, high maternal authoritarian parenting significantly predicted toddlers’ greater internalizing behaviors.

An analysis of the interactive effects between paternal parenting styles and infants’ temperament dimensions demonstrated good model fit: RMSEA = .051, CI [.030, .070]; SRMR = .080; CFI = .950. A significant interaction between paternal authoritative and infant surgency predicted toddlers’ internalizing behaviors; specifically, at high levels of infants’ surgency, high fathers’ authoritative parenting significantly predicted lower toddlers’ internalizing behaviors. A significant interaction between paternal permissive and infants surgency predicted toddlers’ externalizing behaviors; specifically, at low levels of infants’ surgency, high paternal permissive parenting significantly predicted greater toddlers’ externalizing behaviors.

Findings suggest both high and low surgency reported during infancy were related to both internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors under certain conditions. These findings underscore the need for community-based interventions aimed at increasing parental awareness of their parenting styles and their impact on their child’s socioemotional development for both mother and fathers. Such strategies could help parents identity ways to adjust their parenting approach to fit the temperament and needs of their individual child, which would potentially reduce future externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors.

Authors

• Shannon Michelle Oram Wittig, University of Alabama at Birmingham
  Presenting Author

• Christina M. Rodriguez, University of Alabama at Birmingham
  Non-Presenting Author