Relations among positive parenting, children's effortful control, and externalizing problems: a three-wave longitudinal study.
In a 3-wave longitudinal study (with assessments 2 years apart) involving 186 early adolescents (M ages of approximately 9.3, 11.4, and 13.4), the hypothesis that parental warmth/positive expressivity predicts children's effortful control (EC) (a temperamental characteristic contributing to emotion regulation) 2 years later, which in turn predicts low levels of externalizing problems another 2 years later, was examined. The hypothesis that children's EC predicts parenting over time was also examined. Parents were observed interacting with their children; parents and teachers reported children's EC and externalizing problems; and children's persistence was assessed behaviorally. Children's EC mediated the relation between positive parenting and low levels of externalizing problems (whereas there was no evidence that children's EC predicted parenting).
Eisenberg
Nancy
N
Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA. nancy.eisenberg@asu.edu
Zhou
Qing
Q
Spinrad
Tracy L
TL
Valiente
Carlos
C
Fabes
Richard A
RA
Liew
Jeffrey
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires