A Behavioral Genetic Exploration of Reciprocal Influences Between Parenting and Child Affective Problems Across the Preschool Period

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Parenting styles characterized by negativity, hostility and conflict are associated with child affective problems in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (Yap, 2014). These associations are often interpreted as causal in nature: parent negativity fosters behaviors that underpin affective problems, but it is also possible that children’s genetically-influenced behaviors evoke negative parenting.
Most research examining associations between parenting and children’s affective problems over time cannot distinguish child-driven and parent-driven influences on behavior because parents and children start to influence each other from the first days of life. Second, many longitudinal studies have used standard cross-lagged analyses to explore bidirectional effects between parenting and child behavior. This approach has been criticized for confounding within-person effects with between-person effects, making it difficult to draw conclusions about causal associations between constructs over time (Berry et al., 2017).
We address both limitations by employing a twin design and using Autoregressive Latent Trajectory-Standardized Residual models (ALT-SR; Berry et al., 2017). The twin design enables us to differentiate between the contributions of children’s genetic makeup to their own and their parents’ behaviors (i.e., child-driven effects) from parent effects that are driven by environmental factors. The ALT-SR separates between- and within-person effects in cross-lagged research designs. This model captures between-person effects by estimating variations in the growth of parenting and affective problems over time. Within-person effects are estimated as time-specific changes in parenting and affective behavior problems, and assess if change in one construct is conditioned on each other (i.e., reflect the extent to which parenting and child behavior predict changes in each other over time). Thus, this study builds upon prior cross-lagged panel studies by allowing a clearer test of causal associations (i.e., within-person effects) and whether they are driven by children’s genetic makeup or by parent-driven environmental effects.
The study sample includes 310 twin pairs (MZ=123, DZ=187). Primary caregivers reported on their children’s affective problems (CBCL, Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000) and their own negativity towards their children (Deater Deckard, 1996) at ages 3-, 4-, and 5-years. After controlling for the between-person differences, we found significant bidirectional within-person associations between child affective problems and negative parenting across age, such that higher levels of child affective problems led to subsequent increases in negative parenting and vice versa (Figure 1). Although the association between parent negativity at age 3 years and child affective problems at age 4 was primarily explained by environmental factors, across ages 4 to 5, this was primarily explained by children’s genetic makeup. In contrast, the cross-lagged associations between child affective problems and subsequent parenting negativity were equally influenced by child-based genetic effects and environmental effects. This pattern of findings suggest that child-based effects on parenting increase over time, and moreover, parent’s influence on child affective problems are, in part, also driven by children’s genotype.

Authors

• Jody M. Ganiban, George Washington University
  Presenting Author

• Chang Liu, George Washington University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kimberly J Saudino, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author