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Relations Among Positive Parenting, Children's Effortful Control, and Externalizing Problems: A Three‐Wave Longitudinal Study
Author(s) -
Eisenberg Nancy,
Zhou Qing,
Spinrad Tracy L.,
Valiente Carlos,
Fabes Richard A.,
Liew Jeffrey
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00897.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , longitudinal study , persistence (discontinuity) , temperament , self control , externalization , personality , social psychology , statistics , mathematics , geotechnical engineering , engineering
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).