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Although the trait of Agreeableness is broadly considered a key facet of adjustment, mental health, and socioemotional competence, surprisingly little is known about its developmental origins. Laursen and Richmond (2014) proposed that children's early difficulty poses a challenge for their future social relationships, ultimately leading to low Agreeableness. Drawing from that model, we examined a path to Agreeableness in adolescence, originating in children's early temperamental difficulty and involving bidirectional effects of parenting and children's self-regulation. In a community sample of 102 mothers, fathers, and children, we assessed children's difficulty at age 3, and parental power-assertive discipline and children's self-regulation at ages 4.5 and 5.5, using behavioral observations in lengthy interactive contexts and in standard laboratory paradigms. Agreeableness at age 14 was modeled as a latent construct, derived from mothers', fathers', and teachers' ratings. Model-fitting analyses, testing the unfolding developmental path from child difficulty to Agreeableness while controlling for continuity of parental power assertion and child self-regulation, supported a process linking early difficulty with Agreeableness at age 14 through transactions over time between the child's self-regulation and power-assertive parenting. The findings highlight the early dynamics of children's temperament characteristics and parenting in the origins of Agreeableness.

Rapidly growing research on parental mind-mindedness, a tendency to treat one's young child as a psychological agent and an individual with a mind, internal mental states, and emotions, has demonstrated significant links among parents' mind-mindedness, their parenting, and multiple aspects of children's development. This prospective longitudinal study of 102 community mothers, fathers, and infants, followed from 7 months to 10 years, contributes to research on mind-mindedness by addressing several existing gaps and limitations. We examine mechanisms that account for associations between parents' early mind-mindedness and children's future attachment security, using robust behavioral measures. Teams of trained observers coded parents' mind-minded comments to their infants at 7 months during naturalistic interactions, parents' responsiveness in naturalistic interactions and in elicited imitation tasks at 15 months, and children's security, using Attachment Q-Set at 2 years and Iowa Attachment Behavioral Coding at 10 years. Sequential mediation analyses supported a model of a developmental path from parents' appropriate mind-minded comments in infancy to children's security at age 10. For mothers and children, the path was mediated first through responsiveness at 15 months and then security at 2 years. For fathers and children, the path was mediated through attachment security at 2 years. Parents' nonattuned mind-minded comments had no effects on responsiveness or security.

We tested empirically a theoretical model of early origins of conscientiousness proposed by Eisenberg, Duckworth, Spinrad, and Valiente (2014). The model posited a developmental interplay between children's early effortful control (EC) and internalized or committed compliance with parents as leading to future conscientiousness. We followed a community sample of 102 community mothers, fathers, and children from toddlerhood to adolescence. Observers coded children's EC in batteries of behavioral tasks (at ages 2 and 3) and committed compliance in lengthy discipline interactions with each parent, observed from preschool to early school age (at ages 4.5, 5.5, and 6.5). Parents rated adolescents' conscientiousness using an established personality questionnaire (at age 14). We supported several components of the theoretical model. Mediation analyses, conducted at the family level (across mother-child and father-child dyads) and separate analyses for mother-child and father-child dyads all supported the mediated path, from child EC to committed compliance to conscientiousness. Analyses for mother-child dyads additionally revealed that the indirect effect was present only for children with relatively low EC scores but not those with relatively high EC scores (moderated mediation), also as anticipated in the theoretical model.

We propose a model linking the early parent-child mutually responsive orientation (MRO), children's temperament trait of effortful control, and their internalization of conduct rules. In a developmental chain, effortful control was posited as a mediator of the links between MRO and children's internalization. MRO was further posited as a moderator of the links between effortful control and internalization (i.e., moderated mediation): Variations in effortful control were expected to be more consequential for internalization in suboptimal relationships, with low MRO, than in optimal ones, with high MRO. The model was tested in 2 studies that employed comparable observational measures. In Family Study (N = 102 community mothers, fathers, and children), MRO was assessed at 25 months, effortful control at 38 months, and children's internalization at 67 months. In Play Study (N = 186 low-income, diverse mothers and children), MRO was assessed at 30 months, effortful control at 33 months, and children's internalization at 40 months. MRO was observed in lengthy naturalistic interactions, effortful control in standardized tasks, and internalized, rule-compatible conduct in parent-child interactions and in standardized paradigms without surveillance. Structural equation modeling analyses, with internalized, rule-compatible conduct modeled as a latent variable, supported moderated mediation across mother- and father-child relationships and both studies. In optimal, mutually responsive relationships, multiple mechanisms other than capacity for effortful control may also operate effectively to promote internalization, thus reducing the relative importance of variations in child temperament.

Background: Growing research on children's traits as moderators of links between parenting and developmental outcomes has shown that variations in positivity, warmth, or responsiveness in parent-child relationships are particularly consequential for temperamentally difficult or biologically vulnerable children. But very few studies have addressed the moderating role of children's callous-unemotional (CU) traits, a known serious risk factor for antisocial cascades. We examined children's CU traits as moderators of links between parent-child Mutually Responsive Orientation (MRO) and shared positive affect and future externalizing behavior problems. Methods: Participants included 100 two-parent community families of normally developing children, followed longitudinally. MRO and shared positive affect in mother-child and father-child dyads were observed in lengthy, diverse naturalistic contexts when children were 38 and 52 months. Both parents rated children's CU traits at 67 months and their externalizing behavior problems (Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder) at 67, 80, and 100 months. Results: Children's CU traits moderated links between early positive parent-child relationships and children's future externalizing behavior problems, even after controlling for strong continuity of those problems. For children with elevated CU traits, higher mother-child MRO and father-child shared positive affect predicted a decrease in mother-reported future behavior problems. There were no significant associations for children with relatively lower CU scores. Conclusions: Positive qualities for early relationships, potentially different for mother-child and father-child dyads, can serve as potent factors that decrease probability of antisocial developmental cascades for children who are at risk due to elevated CU traits.

Background: Research has shown that interactions between young children's temperament and the quality of care they receive predict the emergence of positive and negative socioemotional developmental outcomes. This multimethod study addresses such interactions, using observed and mother-rated measures of difficult temperament, children's committed, self-regulated compliance and externalizing problems, and mothers' responsiveness in a low-income sample. Methods: In 186 thirty-month-old children, difficult temperament was observed in the laboratory (as poor effortful control and high anger proneness), and rated by mothers. Mothers' responsiveness was observed in lengthy naturalistic interactions at 30 and 33 months. At 40 months, children's committed compliance and externalizing behavior problems were assessed using observations and several well-established maternal report instruments. Results: Parallel significant interactions between child difficult temperament and maternal responsiveness were found across both observed and mother-rated measures of temperament. For difficult children, responsiveness had a significant effect such that those children were more compliant and had fewer externalizing problems when they received responsive care, but were less compliant and had more behavior problems when they received unresponsive care. For children with easy temperaments, maternal responsiveness and developmental outcomes were unrelated. All significant interactions reflected the diathesis-stress model. There was no evidence of differential susceptibility, perhaps due to the pervasive stress present in the ecology of the studied families. Conclusions: Those findings add to the growing body of evidence that for temperamentally difficult children, unresponsive parenting exacerbates risks for behavior problems, but responsive parenting can effectively buffer risks conferred by temperament. (Contains 2 tables and 3 figures.)

Links between children's attachment security with mothers and fathers, assessed in Strange Situation with each parent at 15 months ("N" = 101), and their future behavior problems were examined. Mothers and fathers rated children's behavior problems, and children reported their own behavior problems at age 8 ("N" = 86). Teachers rated behavior problems at age 6 1/2 ("N" = 86). Insecurity with both parents had a robust effect: "Double-insecure" children reported more overall problems, and were rated by teachers as having more externalizing problems than those secure with at least 1 parent. Security with either parent could offset such risks, and security with both conferred no additional benefits. High resistance toward both parents in Strange Situation may confer "dual risk" for future externalizing behavior. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)

Effortful control (EC), the capacity to deliberately suppress a dominant response and perform a subdominant response, rapidly developing in toddler and preschool age, has been shown to be a robust predictor of children's adjustment. Not settled, however, is whether a view of EC as a heterogeneous rather than unidimensional construct may offer advantages in the context of predicting diverse developmental outcomes. This study focused on the potential distinction between "hot" EC function (delay-of-gratification tasks that called for suppressing an emotionally charged response) and more abstract "cool" EC functions (motor inhibition tasks, suppressing-initiating response or Go-No Go tasks, and effortful attention or Stroop-like tasks). Children (N = 100) were observed performing EC tasks at 38 and 52 months. Mothers, fathers, and teachers rated children's behavior problems and academic performance at 67, 80, and 100 months, and children participated in a clinical interview at 100 months. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses with latent variables produced consistent findings across all informants: Children's scores in "hot" EC tasks, presumably engaging emotion regulation skills, predicted behavior problems but not academic performance, whereas their scores in "cool" EC tasks, specifically those engaging effortful attention, predicted academic performance but not behavior problems. The models of EC as a heterogeneous construct offered some advantages over the unidimensional models. Methodological and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

This study examined infants' negative emotionality as moderating the effect of parent-child mutually responsive orientation (MRO) on children's self-regulation (n = 102). Negative emotionality was observed in anger-eliciting episodes and in interactions with parents at 7 months. MRO was coded in naturalistic interactions at 15 months. Self-regulation was measured at 25 months in effortful control battery and as self-regulated compliance to parental requests and prohibitions. Negative emotionality moderated the effects of mother-child, but not father-child, MRO. Highly negative infants were less self-regulated when they were in unresponsive relationships (low MRO), but more self-regulated when in responsive relationships (high MRO). For infants not prone to negative emotionality, there was no link between MRO and self-regulation. The "regions of significance" analysis supported the differential susceptibility model not the diathesis-stress model. (Contains 4 figures and 1 table.)

Background: Implications of early attachment have been extensively studied, but little is known about its long-term indirect sequelae, where early security organization moderates future parent-child relationships, serving as a catalyst for adaptive and maladaptive processes. Two longitudinal multi-trait multi-method studies examined whether early security amplified beneficial effects of children's willing, receptive stance toward the parent on socialization outcomes. Methods: We examined parent-child early attachment organization, assessed in the Strange Situation at 14-15 months, as moderating links between children's willing stance toward parents and socialization outcomes in Study 1 (108 mothers and children, followed to 73 months) and Study 2 (101 mothers, fathers, and children, followed to 80 months). Children's willing stance was observed as committed compliance at 14 and 22 months in Study 1, and as responsiveness to the parent in naturalistic interactions and teaching contexts at 25 and 67 months in Study 2. Socialization outcomes included children's internalization of maternal prohibition, observed at 33, 45, and 56 months, and maternal ratings of children's externalizing problems at 73 months in Study 1, and mothers' and fathers' ratings of children's oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder symptoms at 80 months in Study 2. Results: Indirect effects of attachment were replicated across both studies and diverse measures: Attachment security significantly amplified the links between children's willing stance to mothers and all outcomes. Secure children's willing, cooperative stance to mothers predicted future successful socialization outcomes. Insecure children's willing stance conferred no beneficial effects. Conclusions: Implications of early attachment extend to long-term, indirect developmental sequelae. Security in the first year serves as a catalyst for future positive socialization processes.

We investigated whether children's robust conscience, formed during early family socialization, promotes their future adaptive and competent functioning in expanded ecologies. We assessed two dimensions of conscience in young children (N = 100) at 25, 38, and 52 months in scripted laboratory contexts: internalization of their mothers' and fathers' rules, observed when the child was alone, and empathic concern toward each parent, observed in simulated distress paradigms. We also assessed the child's self-perception on moral dimensions (the moral self), using a puppet interview at 67 months. At 80 months, parents and teachers produced an overall measure of competent, adaptive functioning by rating children on multiple scales of competent, prosocial, rule-abiding behavior and antisocial behavior. As expected, children with histories of a stronger internalization of both parents' rules were more competent and better socialized; for maternal rules, that link was mediated by the child's moral self. The link between the child's history of empathy toward the mother and future socialization was also significant, but it was not mediated by the moral self. This study elucidates the roles of classic components of morality--moral conduct, affect, and self--as antecedents of an adaptive developmental trajectory from toddler to early school age. Keywords: early conscience, moral self, competence, antisocial behavior, longitudinal studies DOI: 10.1037/a0020381

Research inspired by ecological perspectives has amply documented broad effects of the family's sociodemographic resources on children's outcomes, with parents' young age, low education, and low income considered risk factors. Typically, sociodemographic characteristics have been studied as influencing child outcomes either directly or indirectly through parenting. We tested a more nuanced longitudinal model in a community sample of 102 infants, mothers, and fathers. We conceptualized family sociodemographic resources, measured as a composite of parents' ages, education, and income, as moderating developmental cascades from children's hard-to-manage temperament to parental power-assertive control to children's disruptive behavior problems. Children's temperament measures encompassed proneness to anger and inability to delay, observed at 2 and 3 years in standard laboratory episodes. We observed parents' control at 4.5 and 5.5 years in lengthy naturalistic prohibition paradigms, and obtained parental ratings of children's disruptive behavior at 6.5 and 8 years. As expected, moderated mediation analyses, covarying stability of children's difficulty and parental control, revealed that the cascade from hard-to-manage temperament to child behavior problems, mediated by parental power-assertive control, was present in families with relatively more disadvantaged sociodemographic characteristics, or fewer resources, but absent in families with more advantageous sociodemographic features, or more resources. The findings were parallel for mother– and father–child dyads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensive mothering ideology emphasizes mothers' sacrifice for their children. Despite the increase in women's social and economic participation, mothers continue to experience conflicts between career and family obligations due to the conventional idea of "good mothers." Do all mothers prioritize their children's needs? This study focuses on whether mothers are willing to sacrifice their happiness and whether such beliefs change over time. We explore the factors contributing to mothers' intention to sacrifice and its change from two theoretical perspectives, rational choice model and linked lives perspective. Using the first three waves of the Panel Study on Korean Children, the findings show that almost half of all mothers are not willing to sacrifice their own happiness for their children at each wave. Both rational choice and linked lives perspectives contribute to explaining mothers' view of sacrifice in the baseline year. The change in mothers' view on sacrifice over time is significantly influenced by a subset of variables including their spouse's positions on sacrifice and social exchange experience with their children (the linked lives perspective), and the emotional values that mothers place on babies (the rational choice model). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We followed 100 community families from toddler age to preadolescence. Each mother- and father-child dyad was observed at 25, 38, 52, 67, and 80 months (10 hr/child) to assess positive and power-assertive parenting. At age 10 (N = 82), we obtained parent- and child-reported outcome measures of children's acceptance of parental socialization: cooperation with parental monitoring, negative attitude toward substance use, internalization of adult values, and callous-unemotional tendencies. Children who carried a short serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region gene (5-HTTLPR) allele and were highly anger prone, based on anger observed in laboratory from 25 to 80 months, were classified as high in biobehavioral risk. The remaining children were classified as low in biobehavioral risk. Biobehavioral risk moderated links between parenting history and outcomes. For low-risk children, parenting measures were unrelated to outcomes. For children high in biobehavioral risk, variations in positive parenting predicted cooperation with monitoring and negative attitude toward substance use, and variations in power-assertive parenting predicted internalization of adult values and callous-unemotional tendencies. Suboptimal parenting combined with high biobehavioral risk resulted in the poorest outcomes. The effect for attitude toward substance use supported differential susceptibility: children high in biobehavioral risk who received optimal parenting had a more adaptive outcome than their low-risk peers. The remaining effects were consistent with diathesis-stress.

Parent-child relationships are critical in development, but much remains to be learned about the mechanisms of their impact. We examined the early parent-child relationship as a moderator of the developmental trajectory from children's affective and behavioral responses to transgressions to future antisocial, externalizing behavior problems in the Family Study (102 community mothers, fathers, and infants, followed through age 8) and the Play Study (186 low-income, diverse mothers and toddlers, followed for 10 months). The relationship quality was indexed by attachment security in the Family Study and maternal responsiveness in the Play Study. Responses to transgressions (tense discomfort and reparation) were observed in laboratory mishaps wherein children believed they had damaged a valued object. Antisocial outcomes were rated by parents. In both studies, early relationships moderated the future developmental trajectory: diminished tense discomfort predicted more antisocial outcomes, but only in insecure or unresponsive relationships. That risk was defused in secure or responsive relationships. Moderated mediation analyses in the Family Study indicated that the links between diminished tense discomfort and future antisocial behavior in insecure parent-child dyads were mediated by stronger discipline pressure from parents. By indirectly influencing future developmental sequelae, early relationships may increase or decrease the probability that the parent-child dyad will embark on a path toward antisocial outcomes.