The authors examined the relations of maternal supportive parenting to effortful control and internalizing problems (i.e., separation distress, inhibition to novelty), externalizing problems, and social competence when toddlers were 18 months old (n = 256) and a year later (n = 230). Mothers completed the Coping With Toddlers' Negative Emotions Scale, and their sensitivity and warmth were observed. Toddlers' effortful control was measured with a delay task and adults' reports (Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire). Toddlers' social functioning was assessed with the Infant/ Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment. Within each age, children's regulation significantly mediated the relation between supportive parenting and low levels of externalizing problems and separation distress, and high social competence. When using stronger tests of mediation, controlling for stability over time, the authors found only partial evidence for mediation. The findings suggest these relations may be set at an early age. Keywordstoddlers' effortful control; maternal socialization; social functioning; problem behaviors A major goal of current research has been to understand individual differences in young children's problem behaviors and social competence. Although researchers have identified parenting and children's temperament as factors that play an important role in children's socioemotional functioning Kochanska & Knaack, 2003;Rothbart & Bates, 2006), few efforts have been made to study these links in very young children. Despite the lack of attention to this issue, there is some evidence that internalizing and externalizing problems in toddlerhood are stable (Keenan, Shaw, Delliquadri, Giovannelli, & Walsh, 1998;Smith, Calkins, Keane, Anastopoulos, & Shelton, 2004) and may have implications for later maladjustment (Campbell, Shaw, & Gilliom, 2000;Keenan et al., 1998). The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of toddlers' temperamental effortful control and maternal socialization to social functioning at 18 months of age (Time 1 [T1]) and a year later (Time 2 [T2]). Effortful ControlThere is a growing body of research on the construct of emotion regulation as it pertains to children's social functioning. Although the definition of emotion regulation varies, some NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript researchers have conceptualized emotion regulation in terms of children's effortful or voluntary control as opposed to more reactive forms of control Rothbart & Bates, 2006). Effortful control has been defined as "the efficiency of executive attention, including the ability to inhibit a dominant response and/or to activate a subdominant response, to plan, and to detect errors" (Rothbart & Bates, 2006, p. 129). Effortful control is characterized by the ability to voluntarily focus and shift attention and to voluntarily inhibit or initiate behaviors, and includes behaviors such as delaying; these processes are integral to emotion regulation (Caspi & Shiner, 2006;Kieras, Tobin...

Abstract:Sixty-five mothers and their 24-month-old toddlers were observed in a series of laboratory procedures designed to assess relations between maternal interactive style and emotional, behavioral and physiological regulation. Emotional regulation was assessed by examining the child's behaviors (aggression, distraction, object focus) when confronted by three emotioneliciting tasks. Behavioral regulation was measured by examining children's ability to comply to maternal requests and to inhibit behavior during a delay task. Physiological regulation was derived from children's cardiac vagal tone responses to emotionally-arousing situations. Maternal interactive style was assessed by examining mothers' strategies for child behavior management (negative controlling, positive guidance) during three mother-child tasks. Maternal behavior was related to regulation in each of the three domains. Negative maternal behavior was related to poor physiological regulation, less adaptive emotion regulation, and noncompliant behavior. Positive maternal behavior was correlated with compliance, but not with any of the physiological or emotional measures. These findings are discussed in terms of the adaptive value of self-regulation in early development, and the importance of identifying the causal relations between maternal behavior and child regulation.

The relations of effortful control and ego control to children's (mean age = 137 months) resiliency, social status, and social competence were examined concurrently (Time 3) and over time. Adults reported on the constructs, and a behavioral measure of persistence was obtained. At Time 3, resiliency mediated the unique relations of both effortful and reactive control to social status, and effortful control directly predicted socially appropriate behavior. Negative emotionality moderated the relations of ego and effortful control to socially appropriate behavior. When levels of the variables 2 years prior were accounted for, all relations held at Time 3 except that effortful control did not predict resiliency (even though it was the stronger predictor at Time 3) and ego control directly predicted socially appropriate behavior.

In this study, we examined the role of negative emotionality as a moderator of the relations of effortful control and overcontrol (versus undercontrol) with children's externalizing problem behaviors; we also examined the longitudinal relations among these variables. Teachers' and parents' reports of children's negative emotionality, effortful control, overcontrol and externalizing problem behaviors were obtained at T1 (N=199; M age=89.51 months) and again 2 (T2) and 4 years (T3) later. In addition, children's effortful control was assessed with an observed measure of persistence. In a T3 concurrent structural equation model, effortful control, but not overcontrol, was negatively related to children's T3 externalizing problem behaviors. In regression analyses, the negative relation between T3 effortful control and externalizing problem behaviors was strongest at high levels of T3 negative emotionality. In the best-fitting longitudinal structural equation model, both T1 effortful control and T1 overcontrol negatively predicted externalizing problems at T1, whereas T3 effortful control (but not T3 overcontrol) was significantly negatively related to T3 externalizing problem behaviors when controlling for T1 externalizing problem behaviors.

Fifty-six mothers and their 24-month-old toddlers were observed on two occasions in a series of laboratory procedures designed to assess relations between emotional functioning (emotional reactivity and emotion regulation) in an individual assessment and social behavior with a same-sex peer. Emotional reactivity was assessed using two frustration tasks designed to elicit distress. Emotional regulation was assessed by examining the child's behaviors (venting, distraction, focal-object focus, self-orientation, and mother-orientation) when confronted by the two distress-eliciting tasks. Peer play behaviors were coded for social participation and peer-directed conflict (aggressive) behavior. The results indicated that both emotional reactivity and emotion regulation were important predictors of at least two types of social behavior: conflict and cooperation. Distress to frustration, when accompanied by high venting or high focal-object focus, was significantly related to conflict with peers but not when accompanied by distraction, mother-orientation or self-focused behaviors. These findings are discussed in terms of the adaptive value of emotion regulation skills in early development, and the importance of identifying the causal relations between child regulation and early social competence.