Poster #53 - Parenting profiles and children’s social emotional development: The role of emotional insecurity

• In Event: Poster Session 19

Abstract

Research suggests that parenting exerts a direct influence on children’s social emotional development (Taraban & Shaw, 2018), and recent efforts have been directed to exploring possible mechanisms that explain this path. The goal of this study was to test parts of the emotional security theory (EST; Davies & Martin, 2013) by focusing on parenting, children’s emotional insecurity, and child adjustment, which included internalizing (INT) and externalizing (EXT) behavior problems, and effortful control (EC). Through latent profile analysis, we determined the extent to which parenting behaviors (warmth, harsh control, and involvement) co-occur for mothers and fathers. Consistent with EST, we further examined the effect of parenting profiles on (a) child emotional insecurity, (b) child adjustment: INT, EXT, and EC, and (c) explored child emotional insecurity as a mechanism through which parenting affects INT, EXT, and EC.

We used data from the Building Strong Families project, the goal of which was to provide relationship-strengthening education to low-income couples who were expectant or new parents. Analyses were based on data (N=1,551 mothers and N=1,104 fathers) when children were approximately 36 months of age. Parenting was measured through observational data. Children’s emotional insecurity, INT, and EXT were measured through mothers’ reports, and EC was based on observations of four interviewer-rated items: task persistence, attention span, body movement, and attention to directions.

The findings yielded five profiles that can be categorized as positive, negative, and neutral, for both mothers and fathers (see Figure 1). These profiles were differentially linked to children’s outcomes. For mothers, child emotional insecurity related to EXT and INT, but not EC. Consistent with general consensus in the field, this finding suggests that EC can be learned through parenting (Spinrad & Eisenberg, 2015). Mother parenting related only to INT and EC, but in different ways. For example, while P2 (high positive) related to increased INT, children showed greater levels of EC (see Table 1). These findings suggest that parenting behaviors may be conducive to some aspects of children’s development, but not to others. Regarding paternal parenting, we found that the influence of parenting on child INT and EXT was dependent on child emotional insecurity; when emotional insecurity was high, INT and EXT were also high, regardless of parenting. This suggests the critical role the relationship between parents may play in child development. However, when children were emotionally secure, parenting profiles were related to different levels of INT and EXT. We also found that highly positive behaviors can undermine children’s development. When fathers were moderately positive or neutral, their children were less likely to exhibit INT. Children were most likely to exhibit EXT when fathers were in the harsh negative or the high positive profiles. An important implication of this study is that exaggerated positivity may be harmful to children’s development, but being a good parent (neutral or moderately positive) is a useful strategy. Considering the cross-sectional nature of this analysis, we cannot rule out the possibility that children’s own development was eliciting specific parenting, and future research should explore this possibility.

Authors

• Olena Kopystynska, Southern Utah University
  Presenting Author

• J. Scott Crapo, Utah State University

• Kay Bradford, Utah State University

• Brian Higginbotham, Utah State University