van Prooijen Dionne L, Hutteman Roos, Mulder Hanna, van Aken Marcel A G, Laceulle Odilia M
Department of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Department of Cognitive Development, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Infant Behav Dev. 2018 Feb;50:28-41. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2017.11.001. Epub 2017 Nov 7.
Early childhood self-control and parenting are suggested to play key roles in the development of child problem behavior. The current study aims to 1) replicate earlier work by examining the unique and combined effects of child self-control and parenting on child problem behavior and 2) extend earlier work by including both mother and father reports.
Data were used from 107 Dutch families: mothers, fathers, and their two-year old child. Child self-control was measured using both father's and mother's reports of effortful control and with an observed behavioral task (i.e., gift-in-bag task). Similarly, parenting (i.e., emotional availability and discipline) and child problem behavior (i.e., externalizing and internalizing problems) were measured by using both father's and mother's reports.
Child self-control reported by fathers and mothers, but not observed self-control, was related to fewer externalizing and (mother-reported) internalizing problems. Paternal emotional availability showed a modest association with fewer child externalizing problems, maternal emotional availability was related to fewer internalizing problems. Finally, there was an interaction between father- (but not mother) reported self-control and paternal emotional availability in the prediction of child internalizing problems. No main or interaction effect was revealed for discipline.
Findings confirm prior work on self-control, parenting, and child problem behavior. Most importantly however, the current study adds to the literature by highlighting the need for additional research including maternal as well as paternal data. Specifically, insight in the unique role of fathers may shed light on aspects of child adjustment not covered by mother reports alone.
幼儿自我控制能力和养育方式被认为在儿童问题行为的发展中起关键作用。本研究旨在：1）通过考察儿童自我控制能力和养育方式对儿童问题行为的独特影响及综合影响，复制早期的研究工作；2）通过纳入父亲和母亲的报告来扩展早期的研究。
使用了来自107个荷兰家庭的数据，包括母亲、父亲及其两岁的孩子。儿童自我控制能力通过父亲和母亲对努力控制的报告以及一项观察性的行为任务（即袋中礼物任务）来衡量。同样，养育方式（即情感支持和纪律约束）以及儿童问题行为（即外化问题和内化问题）通过父亲和母亲的报告来衡量。
父亲和母亲报告的儿童自我控制能力，而非观察到的自我控制能力，与较少的外化问题以及（母亲报告的）内化问题相关。父亲的情感支持与较少的儿童外化问题有适度关联，母亲的情感支持与较少的内化问题相关。最后，在预测儿童内化问题时，父亲（而非母亲）报告的自我控制能力与父亲的情感支持之间存在交互作用。纪律约束方面未显示出主要效应或交互作用。
研究结果证实了先前关于自我控制、养育方式和儿童问题行为的研究。然而，最重要的是，本研究通过强调需要包括母亲和父亲数据的更多研究，为该文献增添了内容。具体而言，对父亲独特作用的洞察可能有助于揭示仅靠母亲报告无法涵盖的儿童适应方面的问题。
