Poster #97 - Predicting Children’s Adaptive Skills: Parent-Child Relationship Quality Versus Dyadic Parent-Child Interactions

• In Event: Poster Session 14

Abstract

Background: Parenting is salient for many development domains including adaptive skills (AS), which begin to take root in early childhood. Parent-child interactions (PCI) provide a foundation for children to learn how to adaptively navigate their environment successfully through the development of adaptive skills (AS; Daunhauer et al., 2017). During clean-up tasks, dyadic dimensions of parent-child interactions (PCI) with fathers (not mothers) in toddlerhood predict AS one year later (Cook, 2015). Whether these dyadic dimensions of PCI predict AS during other tasks and beyond toddlerhood remains unclear. Additionally, high-quality parent-child relationships are integral to positive child development through the promotion of socioemotional outcomes, such as social competence (Groh et al., 2017). However, it is not known if parent-child relationship quality predicts later AS and whether it does so more than dyadic dimensions of PCI.
Purpose: We examined whether (1) observer-rated dyadic dimensions of PCI and (2) parent-reported aspects of the parent-child relationship in toddlerhood predict parental ratings of AS in kindergarten.
Method: Data from 100 families (mother, father, child) were employed. Child mean age was 3.79 years at Time 1 (T1; 2015-2016) and 5.76 years at Time 3 (T3; 2017-2018). At T1, each parent-child dyad was asked to discuss 12 emotion images. These PCIs were later coded for Reciprocity, Cooperation, and Conflict (Parent Child Interaction System; PARCHISY: Deater-Deckard et al., 1997). Parents also reported on Attachment, Discipline Practices, Involvement, Parenting Confidence, and Relational Frustration within their relationship (Parenting Relationship Questionnaire; PRQ; Kamphaus & Reynolds, 2006). At T3, parents rated their child’s AS using the Behavior Assessment System for Children - Second Edition (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004).
Results: Separate multiple regression analyses for mothers and fathers were conducted with AS as the outcome variable. The three PARCHISY scores were predictor variables in the first set of analyses. Together, the three predictors explained a significant proportion of variance in AS for mothers but not fathers (see Table 1 for all statistics). For mothers, Reciprocity significantly predicted AS. No other individual predictors were significant. In the second set of analyses, the five PRQ scores served as predictor variables. Together, the five predictors explained a significant proportion of variance in AS for both mothers and fathers. Only Attachment, Involvement, and Relational Frustration significantly predicted AS. To examine whether observed Reciprocity significantly improved upon the PRQ predictors with mothers, a hierarchical multiple regression was conducted. Attachment, Involvement, and Relational Frustration were included as predictors in the first block. The addition of Reciprocity in the second block did not significantly increase the amount of variance explained by the model (ΔR2 = .02, ΔF = 3.52, p = .064).
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that parent perceptions of parent-child relationship quality predict later parent-rated AS more than observed dyadic dimensions of PCI. These results have implications for child development researchers and practitioners. In studying and promoting children’s AS, researchers and practitioners should focus on gathering information on attachment, involvement, and relational frustration using parent-report data rather than reciprocity, cooperation, and conflict using observational data.

Authors

• Kirsty Keys, University of Alberta

• Alicia R. Orr, University of Alberta
  Presenting Author

• Christina Rinaldi, University of Alberta

• Rebecca Gokiert

• Nina Howe, Concordia University