Personality Profiles as a Determinant of Parenting Behaviors Observed with Preschool-Aged Children

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

Parent personality has long been conceptualized as a primary predictor of parent behavior with Belsky’s (1986) process model of determinants of parenting considering parent personality as a key factor to understanding individual differences in parenting behaviors. Further, Abidin (1992) asserted the need to develop comprehensive and integrative models of the determinants of parenting that consider parent personality characteristics. In theories of determinants of parenting and empirical findings, each personality factor (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) is typically considered as independent predictors of parenting; however, considering a person-centered approach with the big five factors as clusters within individuals, rather than as separate and independent predictors (Hernandez et al., 2018), is necessary to fully understand how personality traits potentially relate to other determinants of parenting. Previous researchers have considered clusters of related traits (openness, extraversion, and neuroticism) as they related to parenting types (Metsäpelto & Pulkkinen, 2002). However, the literature supports links between agreeableness and conscientiousness with parenting as well (Prinzie et al., 2009). Thus, our first goal was to examine if all five factors would meaningfully cluster together within mothers in our study. Our second goal was to examine how the within-person personality profiles related to other determinants of parenting, specifically parenting stress, parent emotional expression, parent emotion regulation, and parent perceptions of social support.
Participants were 116 mothers and their preschool-aged children (M=59.03 months, SD=3.58 months, 63 girls). One participant had missing data and was not included in analyses. Caregivers completed the Big Five Inventory (John, Donahue, & Kentle, 1991), the Parental Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF, Abidin, 1983), the Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire (SEFQ; Halberstadt et al., 1995), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John, 2003), and a measure of social support (Crnic et al., 1983).
Cluster analyses were conducted to create groups by parent personality profiles. Four clusters emerged (see Table 1). Cluster 1 had average scores on all five factors; Cluster 2 had high scores on Agreeableness, average scores on Openness and Conscientiousness, and low scores on Neuroticism and Extraversion; Cluster 3 had high scores on all factors except for average scores on Neuroticism, and Cluster 4 had high scores on Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness, average scores on Openness, and low scores on Neuroticism. A series of Analyses of Variance were conducted to assess group differences in parenting characteristics by personality profiles. Parent personality profiles showed significant differences in total parenting stress, the positive and negative subscales of the SEFQ, the cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression subscales of the ERQ, and total social support. Figure 1 depicts the means of each cluster group and compares group differences.
These initial analyses introduce the notion of personality profiles to be considered in models of determinants of parenting, rather than considering dimensions of parent personality separately. This comprehensive approach to parent personality can give a more inclusive understanding to determinants of parenting. Future analyses can consider the ways that these differences in personality profiles and parent characteristics relate to parent-child interactions and child outcomes.

Authors

• Diana Devine, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  Presenting Author

• Cynthia L. Smith, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  Non-Presenting Author