title: Maternal personality, parenting cognitions, and parenting practices.
abstract: A community sample of 262 European American mothers of firstborn 20-month-olds completed a personality inventory and measures of parenting cognitions (knowledge, self-perceptions, and reports about behavior) and was observed in interaction with their children from which measures of parenting practices (language, sensitivity, affection, and play) were independently coded. Factor analyses of the personality inventory replicated extraction of the 5-factor model of personality (Openness, Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness). When controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, the 5 personality factors qua variables and in patterns qua clusters related differently to diverse parenting cognitions and practices, supporting the multidimensional, modular, and specific nature of parenting. Maternal personality in the normal range, a theoretically important but empirically neglected factor in everyday parenting, has meaning in studies of parenting, child development, and family process.
authors: Child and Family Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda,MD20892-7971, USA. Marc_H_Bornstein@nih.gov
authors: Marc H
authors: MH
authors: Bornstein
authors: Chun-Shin
authors: CS
authors: Hahn
authors: O Maurice
authors: OM
authors: Haynes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002657:Child Development; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010553:Personality Development; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012494:Sampling Studies; D055815:Young Adult