The study examined relations between dimensions of mothers' scaffolding and children's academic self-regulatory behaviors in school. Mothers and their preschool children (68 dyads) were visited in their homes the summer before the child entered kindergarten. Mothers' metacognitive content and manner of instruction, emotional support, and transfer of responsibility were coded as mothers provided assistance to their children during 4 problem-solving tasks. Children's self-regulatory behaviors were assessed the following school year. Metacognitive content and manner of instruction were predictors of child behaviors related to cognitive awareness and management: metacognitive talk, monitoring, and help seeking. Emotional support and transfer of responsibility were related to children's task persistence and behavior control in school. Mothers' scaffolding appears to lay the foundation for children's subsequent academic self-regulatory competence.
Child temperament, parent openness to experience, conscientiousness, and education, and parent a priori assessments of the task were examined in relation to parenting behaviours during child problem solving. Mothers and their children (73 dyads) were visited the summer before kindergarten. Mothers' cognitive, emotional, and autonomy support were coded as they provided assistance during four child problem-solving tasks. Mothers with more education provided more metacognitive information. Before education was considered, it appeared that mothers who perceived their children as difficult and who were less open to experiences were less likely to regulate task difficulty, encourage their children's efforts, and encourage their children's active role in problem solving. However, more educated mothers regulated task difficulty, encouraged their children's efforts, and encouraged their children's active role more when they perceived their children as difficult than when they perceived their children as easy. More educated mothers also were likely to regulate task difficulty and encourage their children's active role regardless of their openness. Children perceived as difficult were most likely to be rejected and also were particularly likely to be rejected if the mother was highly conscientious. Conscientious mothers were likely to be overly controlling. When mothers perceived the task negatively they were less likely to provide metacognitive information, regulate task difficulty, and encourage the child's active role; and were more likely to be overcontrolling and rejecting.
The study examined the role of coparenting for predicting children's classroom problems after controlling for parent rejection during family interactions. Fathers, mothers, and their children (52 families) were observed in their homes the summer before the child entered third grade. The parents' rejection of their child's efforts and supportive coparenting were coded as the parents helped their child with three difficult problem-solving tasks. Children's adjustment in their third-grade classrooms was assessed the following school year using year-long observations and teacher report. Parents' rejection of their children's efforts when problem solving predicted children's social problems, attention problems, and grades the next year in third grade. After controlling for child gender and parents' rejection, supportive coparenting predicted children's later attention problems, passivity/dependence, and grades. There were significant interactions between parents' rejection and supportive coparenting for predicting children's attention, passivity/dependence, and grades. Parents' rejection played a particularly important role for predicting children's attention, passivity/dependence, and grades when supportive coparenting was low.
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