title: Emerging effortful control in infancy and toddlerhood and maternal support: A child driven or parent driven model?
abstract: This study examined the association between children's temperamental characteristics of rudimentary effortful control (EC) and mothers' supportive reactions to their children's negative emotions in infancy and toddler period. One hundred and fifty eight (78 girls) Taiwanese children's EC was assessed at 12 and 24 months with mothers' report on the very short-form scales of Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) and Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ) respectively. The mothers also completed questionnaires to assess their comforting behaviors at 12 months and both comforting and cognitive assistance to their children's expression of negative emotions when the child was 24 months old. A structural model was used to examine within- and across-time relations between children's EC and the maternal support. The results showed continuity of EC related temperament from infancy to toddlerhood and the 12-month rudimentary EC positively predicted mothers' comforting and cognitive assistance at 24 months, suggesting that mothers modulate their use of support in accordance with their prior knowledge of their children's regulatory capacities. The results indicated an influence of infants' temperament on adult behaviors, supporting potential evocative child effects on mothers' emotion coaching behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Care and Education, Hungkuang University, Taichung 43302, Taiwan. Electronic address: liishien@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ishien
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Care and Education, Hungkuang University, Taichung 43302, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ciwas
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pawan
authors.affiliation: Human Development and Family Studies, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States.
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stansbury
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament
keywords: Effortful control; Maternal support; Young children