Poster #98 - Predicting dyadic positivity during a parent-child conflict task: Roles of economic stress, self-regulation and intrusiveness

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

There is growing evidence that parent-child communication is an important relational process that has consequences for children’s self-esteem, willingness to self-disclose, and overall well being (Kearney & Bussey, 2014; Laible et al., 2014). The quality of parent-child conversations, especially in the context of conflict, has consequences for children’s social cognitive competence and parent-child communication quality (Laursen & Collins, 2004). Yet, it is often a challenge to develop or maintain satisfactory communication as children approach adolescence. Past research demonstrates that both parent and child contributions are important for promoting open, positive dyadic communication and these contributions are influenced by the social environment and availability of family resources. However, little is known about the contextual, individual, and dyadic factors that influence parent-child discourse quality, especially surrounding areas of conflict. We tested a model that examined how SES in toddlerhood predicts children’s subsequent self-regulation and parental intrusiveness in preschool (36-months) and how these differences in self-regulation and parental intrusiveness predicted dyadic conflict conversations at grade 5.

The study utilizes archival data from Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, a randomized control experimental evaluation that followed 3001 children from 14-months to Grade 5. The sample was diverse (36.1% of families were European American, 33.9% were African American, 18.4% were U.S. Mexican, and 4.4% were of other ethnic backgrounds). Mothers completed measures of SES (including welfare receipt, income, and education) and at 36-months, research assistants completed the Bailey Behavior Rating Scales (assessing children’s self-regulation), and mothers and children participated in the 3-Bag Task, which was coded for maternal intrusiveness. At Grade 5, mothers and children discussed areas of disagreement; these were coded for parent and child positivity and negativity.

An SEM was built to test whether early parenting and self-regulation mediated links between early SES and positive dyadic communication (see Figure 1). Fit of the model was good (CFI=.98, X2=33.74, p=.01, RMSEA=.017, SRMR=.018). Early SES was negatively associated with maternal intrusiveness and child self-regulation at 36-months. In turn, higher levels of self-regulation and less intrusive parenting at 36-months predicted more positive affect/less negative affect in the Grade 5 conflict task. There were also significant indirect effects of SES on positive emotionality through maternal intrusiveness (95% CIs = .003, .022), self regulation (95% CI=.003,.022), and through self regulation to maternal intrusiveness (95% CIs = .002, .018)

The findings suggest that the stress associated with poverty promotes intrusive parenting, and that intrusive and psychologically controlling parenting undermines the child’s self-regulatory abilities. Further, children’s compromised self-regulatory capacities in early childhood in turn undermined the affective quality of mother-child communication in later childhood. Early self-regulation has been indicated as an important predictor of high quality communication between parents and children concurrently (Laible et al., 2004) and this work indicates that early childhood regulation capacities influence the development of healthy communication between parents and children later in childhood. Interestingly, SES had no direct effects on subsequent mother-child communication; its effects were mediated primarily through parenting and children’s self-regulation.

Authors

• Deborah June Laible, Lehigh University
  Presenting Author

• Jean Ispa, University of Missouri-Columbia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gustavo Carlo, University of Missouri
  Non-Presenting Author

• Meredith McGinley, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
  Non-Presenting Author

• Erin Karahuta, Lehigh University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sahitya Maiya, University of Missouri
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jihee Im, University of Missouri-Columbia
  Non-Presenting Author