Heterogeneity in Developmental Trajectories of Committed Compliance: Antecedents and Outcomes

• In Event: Community and Clinical Perspectives on the Development of Children’s Committed Compliance to the Maternal Agenda

Abstract

Children’s committed compliance has important implications for children’s later social competence and adjustment (Kochanska & Kim, 2013; Laible & Thompson, 2000). Thus, it is important to understand the developmental trajectories of committed compliance across the toddler and preschool period. Although seldom investigated, in one relevant recent study, Dong et al. (2018) found three different developmental profiles of committed compliance across the first 3 years in a sample of Chinese children. The purpose of this investigation was to examine developmental trajectories of young children’s committed compliance at 30, 42, and 54 months of age in the United States. We also examined the role of internal (i.e., temperamental fear and regulation) and external factors (i.e., maternal socialization) on the growth of committed compliance. Finally, we tested if the trajectories of committed compliance had implications for children’s later pre-clinical outcomes.
Participants were 218 children (55% boys) and their mothers when children were approximately 18 (T1), 30 (T2), 42 (T3), 54 (T4), and 72 (T5) months of age. Maternal assertive control was assessed at T1 and children’s committed compliance was measured at T2, T3, and T4 during a standard clean-up task. Mothers reported children’s fearfulness and effortful control at T1 using the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ; Rothbart, 2000) and reported children’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression at T5 using the Child Symptom Inventory (Gadow & Sprafkin, 2002).

Results revealed that committed compliance linearly increased from 30 to 54 months. To examine whether children had different rates in their growth of committed compliance, we used a growth mixture model to identify different developmental trajectories. Maternal assertive control, children’s temperament (effortful control and fearfulness), and their interactions were added as predictors of the within-group slope variance and group memberships. Child sex was also a predictor of group membership (see Figure 1).
A 3-class solution was retained with a low-increasing group (18.0%), a high-stable group (34.4%), and a high-increasing group (47.6%). Maternal assertive control negatively predicted the slopes for all three groups, and the interaction was significant in two cases. Specifically, for the high-stable group, maternal assertive control negatively predicted the rate of increasing only when effortful control was low. For the high-increasing group, maternal assertive control positively predicted the rate of increasing only when fearfulness was high. There were also main effects of temperament, such that fearfulness negatively predicted the rate of increasing in the low-increasing group and high-stable group, but positively predicted the rate of increasing in the high-increasing group. Effortful control positively predicted the rate of increasing in the low-increasing group and negatively predicted the rate of increasing in the high-stable group. Further, between-subject one-way ANOVAs showed group differences for all the antecedents and outcomes (See Table 1).
Results suggest that different trajectories of children’s committed compliance exist in the development. The pattern of growth which was predicted by both parenting behavior and children’s temperament also predicted children’s later pre-clinical outcomes. Discussion focuses on the explanation and implication of internal and external predictors and outcomes of committed compliance’s developmental trajectories.

Authors

• Xiaoye Xu, University of Southern California
  Presenting Author

• Tracy L Spinrad, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Shuyang Dong, Universiteit Utrecht
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nancy Eisenberg, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author