Genetic and Environmental Influences on Self-Worth in Young Children

• In Event: The Kids will be alright: The roles of parents and children in promoting positive development

Abstract

Introduction: Positive health is defined as the attainment of a set of instrumental attributes that help one to grow and adapt to challenges throughout their lifetime. Self-worth is conceptualized as one such key attribute that helps children adapt and promote positive health. Previous research indicates that both genetics and positive parenting behaviors predict higher self-worth. However, few studies consider which child behaviors account for genetic effects nor the combined influences of parenting and child behaviors on self-worth. The current study used an adoption design to assess the independent and interactive contributions of parenting, child surgency, child negative affectivity, and heritable factors to two domains of social self-worth during early childhood: perceived peer acceptance and maternal acceptance.
Hypotheses: We hypothesized that: (1) child surgency, which captures sociability and positive affectivity, is positively related to child social self-worth; (2) child negative affectivity is negatively related to child self-worth; (3) child surgency mediates associations between heritable tendencies to seek and form positive social relationships (birth mother agreeableness and behavioral activation) and child social self-worth; (4) child negative affectivity mediates associations between birth mother negative affectivity and child social self-worth, and (5) adoptive parenting behaviors and child temperament interact to predict child social self-worth.
Study population: Participants included 561 adopted children (57% male) and their birth and adoptive families. Approximately 90% of adoptive parents and 55% of adopted children identified as White. The mean age of placement was approximately 5.6 (SD=11.3) days. The yearly household income of adoptive families ranged from $125,000 – $150,000.
Methods: Adoptive mothers reported on their own parenting (maternal involvement and positive parenting) using the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire and adoptive fathers reported on children’s temperament (surgency and negative affectivity) using the Child Behavior Questionnaire when children were ~54 months. Children rated their self-worth (perceived maternal and peer acceptance) at age ~72 months using the Harter Pictorial Scales of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance. We used birth mother personality characteristics as indices of heritable predispositions for child temperament and self-worth. Birth mothers reported on their own Agreeableness, Negative Affectivity, and Behavioral activation using composite scores created via factor analysis of the BIS/BAS Behavioral Inhibition/Behavioral Activation measure, the Adult Temperament Questionnaire, and the Harter Adult Self-Perception Scale. Path analysis was used to assess associations between child temperament, birth mother characteristics, and children’s self-worth.
Results: Maternal positivity, child negative affectivity, and birth mother negativity were not related to children’s perceived maternal acceptance and peer acceptance, and were dropped from subsequent analyses. Child surgency and maternal involvement interacted to predict children’s perceived peer acceptance (Figure 1). Child surgency was positively related to perceived peer acceptance only when children experienced average to high levels of maternal involvement (Figure 2). Similar results were found for children’s perceived maternal acceptance. Birth mother agreeableness predicted children’s perceived maternal acceptance, however these effects were not mediated by child surgency. This study highlights that child temperament and parenting jointly affect emergent self-worth, while heritable factors related to agreeableness contribute to perceived maternal acceptance.

Authors

• Minhnguyen Cao, George Washington University
  Presenting Author

• Jody M. Ganiban, George Washington University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Chang Liu, George Washington University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• David Reiss, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Misaki N. Natsuaki, University of California - Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author

• Leslie D. Leve, University of Oregon
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jenae M Neiderhiser, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Non-Presenting Author