Does ethnicity moderate the relationship between temperament and compliance?

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

Children’s compliance is related to their temperament; children who are less compliant show more negative affect (Kochanska, 1997). Parenting practices influenced by culture may also influence temperament and compliance in that children’s behaviors may be encouraged or discouraged by parents (Blandon & Volling, 2008; Kochanska & Aksan, 1995). Specifically, there may be socialization practices pertaining to collectivist (e.g., Hispanic) and individualistic cultures that lead to differences in temperament and compliance among children from these cultures (Gudino & Lau, 2010). However, little research examines the relationship between temperament, compliance, and culture, and standardized methods have not been used. This study will investigate laboratory-observed temperament (positive and negative affect) and compliance in a large community sample of Hispanic (n=128; primarily of Mexican descent) and White children (n=113). It is predicted that any relationship between temperament and compliance will be moderated by ethnicity. Emotional reactions were assessed with a structured observational task from the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB): children were repeatedly criticized while being told to draw a perfect green circle. Positive affect, fear, sadness, and anger as expressed through facial, bodily, and vocal reactions were coded using a standardized scheme. Compliance was also rated on a 0-3 scale. A moderation analysis was done using the PROCESS bootstrapping plugin for SPSS. Ethnicity and compliance did not significantly predict positive affect (ΔF =.35, p=.79, R2=.004); there was no significant interaction between ethnicity and compliance in predicting positive affect (p=.62). Compared to the intercept-only model, the model including ethnicity and compliance significantly predicted fear (ΔF=3.32, p=.02, R2=.04). Ethnicity (b=1.71, SE(b)=.61, t(237)=2.83, p=.005, 95% CI [ .52, 2.91]), but not compliance (p=.22), had a main effect on fear. Hispanic children displayed less fear (M = 2.06, SD = 3.86) than White children (M = 3.77, SD = 5.50) . There was no significant interaction between ethnicity and compliance in predicting fear (p=.72). Compared to the intercept only model, the model including ethnicity and compliance significantly predicted sadness (ΔF=6.23, p<.001, R2 =.07). Ethnicity (p=.77) did not have a main effect on sadness but compliance did have a main effect on sadness (b=-3.24, SE(b)=.77, t(237)=.28, p<.001, 95% CI [-4.78 , -1.71]). The model including ethnicity and compliance also significantly predicted anger (ΔF=7.50, p<.001, R2 =.87). Ethnicity (p=.13) did not have a main effect on anger but compliance did have a main effect on anger (b=-2.84, SE(b)=.63, t(237)=-4.51, p<.001, 95% CI [-4.08 , -1.60]). There were no significant interactions between ethnicity and compliance in predicting sadness (p=.89) or anger (p=.29). Results suggest that children who show more compliance tend to show less sadness and anger. Overall, this research may indicate Hispanic children are less likely to visibly express emotions compared to White children. The results also suggest that findings linking compliance to negative affect identified in past studies mainly using white samples may also be applicable to understudied populations such as Hispanic children.

Authors

• Elizabeth Ochoa Sierra, California state university
  Presenting Author

• Morgan Morrison, California State University San Marcos
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gillian Acedo, California State university San Marcos
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sara Bufferd, University of Louisville
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kimberly D’Anna-Hernandez, California State University San Marcos
  Non-Presenting Author