Poster #89 - Examining the Relations Among Infant Temperament, Parental Warmth/Negativity in Childhood, and Teenage Social Skills

• In Event: Poster Session 14

Abstract

Infants and children high in traits like emotionality, shyness, or reactivity are at risk for developing externalizing and internalizing behaviors as early as 2 years (Eisenberg et al., 2009) as well as challenges in later social functioning (Sanson et al., 2011). In the context of family systems, research supports a transactional relation between child temperament and parenting practices (Danzig, et al., 2017). Although children with a “difficult” temperament can be more vulnerable to negative parenting, they can also profit more from positive parenting (Slagt et al., 2016). Parenting characterized as warm, responsive, and structured has been associated with better child self-regulation and diminished behavioral and emotional problems (Herbers et al., 2014). Individually, both child temperament and parenting have been associated with social skill outcomes, but most research investigating the transactional relations among these variables has focused on immediate skills needed for entry to school. There is value in understanding the role of these constructs longitudinally, particularly in relation to social competence in adolescence. Thus, the current study investigates whether positive parenting at age 5, can mediate the association between infant temperament and social skills in adolescence.

Participants took part in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (Reichman et al., 2001) that followed about 4700 children and their families from birth to age 15. The 1611 families with data at three timepoints of interest were included for analyses. Infant temperament was assessed through parent responses to the EAS Temperament Survey for Children. Mothers responded to the Maternal Description of Child at age 5, describing their children with audio-recordings later coded for positive and negative affect. Teen Social Skills were assessed through self-report on the Adaptive Social Behavior Inventory and Social Skills Rating System completed by adolescents at age 15.

Two hierarchical regressions were conducted with infant temperament entered in the first step and the mediating variable (mother’s positive or negative affect) in the second step. In the first model, infant temperament was a significant negative predictor of teen social skills (β =-.056, p=.024), but with the addition of maternal positive affect in the second step, temperament was no longer a significant predictor (p=.053). Positive maternal affect was a uniquely significant positive predictor (β = .081, p=.001), suggesting that not only did affect mediate the effect of temperament but also uniquely predicted teen social skills. In the second model, infant temperament remained a significant and negative predictor of teen social skills even after the addition of negative maternal affect in the second step (β = -.05, p=.047). Negative maternal affect also served as a uniquely significant negative predictor (β =-.063, p=.011) of teen social skills. Results from follow up Sobel tests (1982) indicated that both positive maternal affect (t = -2.47, p < .013) and negative maternal affect (t = -2.16, p < .031) at age 5 significantly mediated the relation between infant temperament and teen social skills. Findings extend previous research related to the interaction of temperament and parenting during the development of crucial social skills that cascade into adolescence.

Authors

• Alexandra R Buccelli, North Carolina State University
  Presenting Author

• Jake Augustin Leonard, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Mary Haskett, North Carolina State University