3-176 - The Interplay of Early Parenting and Temperament on the Development of Later Problem Behaviors

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Individual differences in temperament relating to self-regulation and approach have been linked with increased risk for later behavior problems. However, few studies have examined how parenting interacts with indices of early self-regulation on child adjustment beyond the early school-age years. This symposium will present findings from three papers that examine the interaction between early parenting and cognitive, affective, and/or behavioral dimensions of self-regulation on adjustment in late childhood through early adulthood. The first paper examines how multiple parenting practices interact with children’s effortful control at age 3 in predicting school-age behavior problems, demonstrating that high use of physical discipline, but not parental warmth or inductive discipline, was associated with increases in externalizing problems for children low in effortful control. The second paper examines how toddler-age observed child fearlessness interacts with low positive parenting in predicting preschool-age callous-unemotional behavior, which in turn, was associated with callous-unemotional behavior in early adolescence. The third paper extends some of these findings into the adolescent and early adulthood years by finding that impulsivity at age 2 predicted increased aggression at ages 10, 15, and 22, but only in the context of early rejecting parenting. In addition, the interaction between toddler-age impulsivity and parenting predicted increased drug use at age 15. Together, these papers suggest that children at risk for later problem behavior based on different but related dimensions of self-regulation can be moderated based on the quality of early caregiving, and that such early child x parenting interactions have long-term implications for youth’s long-term adjustment.

Sub Unit

• Social, Emotional, Personality

Chair

• Rochelle F. Hentges, University of Pittsburgh

Discussant

• Stephen P. Hinshaw, University of California - Berkeley

Individual Presentations

• Child effortful control as a moderator of the effects of parenting on children’s behavioral adjustment from ages 3 to 10 - Presenting Author: Hyein Chang, Sungkyunkwan University; Sheryl Olson, University of Michigan

• Observed fearlessness and positive parenting interact to predict childhood callous-unemotional behaviors among low-income boys - Presenting Author: Rebecca Waller, University of Michigan; Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh; Luke W Hyde, University of Michigan

• Early childhood parenting and child impulsivity as precursors to aggression, substance use, and risky sexual behavior - Presenting Author: Rochelle F. Hentges, University of Pittsburgh; Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh; Ming-Te Wang, University of Pittsburgh