Examining Genetic Influences on Reciprocal Associations between Parenting and Child Negative Emotionality: An Adoption Study

• In Event: Emotions and Parenting

Abstract

Parenting behaviors and genetic factors contribute to the development of negative emotionality (NE) during childhood (Gagne et al., 2020). Previous work also suggests that change in parenting and child behaviors occurs through their recurrent bidirectional transactions (Bell 1968). However, few studies have examined what role inherited factors play in these bidirectional processes. Furthermore, it is unclear how stable and more time-specific aspects of supportive parenting behaviors and NE contribute uniquely to their co-occurrence, despite evidence that positive dimensions of parenting (e.g., responsiveness) and child NE are only moderately stable from infancy to toddlerhood (Meins et al., 2018). Using a genetically informed sample and Trait-State-Occasion modeling (TSO; Cole et al., 2005), we examined whether the stable and time-varying components of supportive parenting and child NE are bidirectionally associated and whether children’s heritable tendency to express NE explains these associations.

The sample consisted of 561 adopted children (42.8% girls) and their birth (70% White) and adoptive parents (92% White). Adoptive mothers’ (AM) and fathers’ (AF) supportive parenting was assessed at child ages 9, 18, and 27 months using the Parental Involvement and Responsiveness subscales (i.e., supportive parenting) of the HOME inventory (Caldwell & Bradley, 1984). Child NE was measured at 9 months using adoptive parents’ reports on the Distress to Limitations and Novelty subscales of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (Rothbart, 1981) and at 18 and 27 months using parents’ reports on the Anger and Fearfulness subscales of the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (Goldsmith, 1996). Birth parent trait-level NE was used to index inherited influences on parenting behaviors and child NE. Separate multivariate TSO models were tested for AMs and AFs (Figures 1 and 2).

For children, results indicated that trait-NE comprised a larger proportion of the variance in NE (66.13%) than occasion-NE (27.71–33.87%). Conversely, only 21.81% of the variance in AM supportive parenting and 34.85% in AF parenting were due to trait-supportive parenting. Trait-NE predicted lower AM and AF occasion-supportive parenting at 18 and 27 months. Higher AM and AF trait-supportive parenting predicted lower trait-NE at 27 months. Results suggest that while persistence in child NE may tax parental resources over time and thus lead to lower supportive parenting, child NE development may be sensitive to consistent supportive parenting due to a greater reliance on parents for regulation during infancy and toddlerhood. There was also evidence for bidirectional associations between child occasion-NE and AMs’ but not AFs’ occasion-supportive parenting, suggesting that in the mother-child dyad, both the AM and child are sensitive to variations in the others’ behaviors over time. Birth parent NE predicted higher child occasion-NE at 9 months, but was unrelated to occasion-NE at 18 and 27 months and trait-NE. It could be that genetic effects on child NE are muted in the context of long-term exposure to supportive parenting. Birth parent NE predicted lower AM occasion-supportive parenting at 9 and 27 months, but was unrelated to AM trait-supportive parenting, and AF parenting. Findings highlight the role of children’s genetically influenced characteristics as key considerations when predicting supportive parenting.

Authors

• Danielle Marie Seay, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

• Jenae M Neiderhiser, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

• Jody M. Ganiban, George Washington University

• Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh

• David Reiss, Yale University

• Misaki N. Natsuaki, University of California - Riverside

• Leslie D. Leve, University of Oregon