Poster #157 - The Effects of Effortful Control on Dyadic Behavioral Concordance

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Parent-child dyadic behavioral coordination (i.e., the dyadic synchronization of behavior), has been shown to impact children’s socioemotional development, including their behavioral adjustment, cognitive abilities, and self-regulation (Harrist & Waugh, 2002; Kochanska et al,. 2008). Highly coordinated (but not perfectly coordinated) dyads who experience disruptions (i.e., miscoordination) and reorganization (i.e., coordination) may provide the types of parent-child interactions that afford the opportunity to learn and practice self-regulation skills (Tronick & Reck, 2009). Previous research has also shown children’s higher self-regulation skills may contribute to better dyadic coordination (Eisenberg et al., 2005). But it is yet unknown how various components of child self-regulation influence this dynamic process as it plays out in real time. To answer this question, we examined moment-to-moment concordance in positive parenting and in negative parenting and their relation to children’s effortful control and state- and trait-based regulatory behaviors during a task.
Families were 116 mother-child dyads (Mean child age = 3.15 years). During the lab visit children completed a standardized effortful control (EC) battery (Kochanska et al, 1996). Each dyad also completed an empirically validated parent-child problem-solving task. Parent behaviors (directives, teaching statements, proactive structure, negative discipline, intrusion, and engagement/disengagement) and child behaviors [compliance, persistence, noncompliance, behavioral dysregulation (e.g., temper tantrums), and engagement/disengagement] were coded from videotaped interactions by trained and reliable coders. Differences in dyadic behavioral concordance were examined using multilevel models. Additionally, children’s behavioral variance was separated into trait (or average behavior) and state (fluctuations from their average) components.
Positive parenting was related to children's trait behaviors, b = 0.13 (SE = 0.04, p < 0.001) and state behaviors, b = 0.13 (SE = 0.01, p < 0.001). Children who had more positive trait behaviors tended to have parents who engaged in more positive parenting behaviors. More importantly, as children’s state behaviors became more positive, regardless of their trait behaviors, parents also engaged in more positive behaviors, with the extent of this positive concordance moderated by children's EC, such that children with greater EC showed greater parent-child behavioral concordance, b = 0.05 (SE = 0.02, p = 0.003). Negative parenting behavior was also coordinated with child state behaviors, b = 0.09 (SE = 0.03, p < 0.001). When children engaged in more negative behaviors parents also engaged in more negative behaviors, but the extent of this coordination was not moderated by children’s EC, b = 0.06 (SE = 0.04, p = 0.12).
Children’s EC played an important role when parents were engaged in positive but not negative behaviors. Specifically, children with greater EC showed better concordance with positive parenting behaviors. This suggests that children with greater ability to regulate their own behaviors experience better coordination with their parents around positive content, which may in turn afford more opportunities to practice self-regulation abilities and shape on-going development. Overall, these results demonstrate the continued need to model real time dyadic behavioral coordination in order to better understand how children’s own characteristics influence this coordination and subsequently how this coordination continues to shape children’s development.

Authors

• Kayla M. Brown, The Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author

• Erika Lunkenheimer, Pennsylvania State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nilam Ram, Penn State University
  Non-Presenting Author