The relations of children's (n = 214 at Time 1; M age = 6 years at Time 1) dispositional sympathy to adult-reported and behavioral measures of effortful control (EC) and impulsivity were examined in a longitudinal study including five assessments, each two years apart. Especially for boys, relatively high levels of EC and growth in EC were related to high sympathy. Teacher-reported impulsivity was generally modestly negatively related to measures of teacher-reported sympathy for boys, and a decline in impulsivity was linked to boys' sympathy. Some findings suggested a positive association between impulsivity and children's self-reported sympathy. EC, especially when reported by teachers, was more often a unique predictor of sympathy than was impulsivity. Results generally support the argument that sympathetic individuals, especially boys, are high in EC and that EC is a more consistent predictor of sympathy than impulsivity.
In a sample of 18-, 30-, and 42-month-olds, the relations among parenting, effortful control (EC), and maladjustment were examined. Parenting was assessed with mothers' reports and observations; EC was measured with mothers' and caregivers' reports, as well as a behavioral task; and externalizing and internalizing symptoms were assessed with parents' and caregivers' reports. Although 18-month unsupportive (vs. supportive) parenting negatively predicted EC at 30 months, when the stability of these variables was taken into account, there was no evidence of additional potentially causal relations between these two constructs. Although EC was negatively related to both internalizing and externalizing problems within all three ages as well as across 1 year, EC did not predict maladjustment once the stability of the constructs and within time covariation between the constructs were taken into account. In addition, externalizing problems at 30 months negatively predicted EC at 42 months, and internalizing problems at 30 months positively predicted EC at 42 months, but only when the effects of externalizing on EC were controlled. The findings are discussed in terms of the reasons for the lack of causal relations over time.Two major issues in developmental psychopathology have been the relation of children's problem behaviors to their self-regulation and to the quality of the parenting they experience. Most of the data relevant to these issues are correlational rather than experimental; thus, in recent years, longitudinal models have been used to further test and refine assumptions regarding causal relations among these variables. In numerous studies, only direct relations of parenting and children's self-regulation to maladjustment have been examined. However, an increasing number of researchers have argued for the use of cascade and/or panel structural equation models (SEMs) to test hypotheses regarding interrelations among these variables. For example, as is discussed in more detail shortly, it has been hypothesized that the quality of parenting affects children's self-regulation, which in turn affects children's problem behavior (e.g., Eisenberg, Cumberland, & Spinrad, 1998;Gottman, Katz, & Hooven, 1997).In an ideal test of such a cascade effect, all three constructs are assessed at a minimum of three times; stability of all three constructs is taken into account, as are relations among predictors and adjustment within time, and tests of mediating paths are conducted (Cole & Maxwell, 2003;Masten et al., 2005). In the present study, using assessments at 18, 30, and 42 months of age, we examined the hypothesis that quality of parenting (e.g., punitive/ © Cambridge University Press 2010Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Nancy Eisenberg, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1004; nancy.eisenberg@asu.edu. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptDev Psychopathol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 January 11. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Autho...
Sixty-five (38 male and 27 female) preschool children (mean age = 5 years 1 month) completed measures of peers' trustworthiness (promise keeping and secret keeping). Teachers rated the preschool children's inhibitory control, trustworthiness, and preschool adjustment. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) yielded support for the hypothesized model. The expected positive paths were found from (1) gender to preschool adjustment and inhibitory control, (2) age to peer-reported trustworthiness, (3) peer-reported trustworthiness to preschool adjustment, (4) inhibitory control to peer-reported trustworthiness, and (5) inhibitory control to preschool adjustment. The findings confirmed the hypothesized development of trustworthiness with age and girls' advantage over boys in inhibitory control and preschool adjustment. The findings supported the hypotheses that trustworthiness is associated with preschool adjustment and mediates, in part, the relation between inhibitory control and preschool adjustment.
Data regarding children's shyness and emotionality were collected at three time points, two years apart (T1: N = 214, M = 6.12 years; T2: N = 185, M = 7.67 years; T3: N = 185, M = 9.70 years), and internalizing data were collected at T1 and T3. Relations among parent-rated shyness, emotionality (parent- and teacher-rated anger, sadness, and positive emotional intensity [EI]), and mother-rated internalizing were examined in panel models. In some cases, shyness predicted emotionality two years later (teacher-rated anger, parent-rated sadness, teacher-rated positive EI) and emotionality sometimes predicted shyness two years later (teacher-rated sadness, parent-rated positive EI, teacher-rated positive EI). Parent-rated shyness and/or emotionality (parent-rated anger and parent-rated sadness) predicted internalizing at T3. Results shed light on developmental relations between emotionality and shyness, as well as processes of risk for, or protection against, the development of internalizing problems.
Concurrent and longitudinal relations among parental emotional expressivity, children's sympathy, and children's prosocial behavior were assessed with correlations and structural equation modeling when the children were 55 months to 97 months old (n = 214; M age = 73 months, SD = 9.59) and 8 years later (n = 130; ages 150 to 195 months old, M = 171 months, SD = 10.01). Parent emotional expressivity (positive and negative) and children's sympathy were stable across time and early parent-reported sympathy predicted adolescents' sympathy and prosocial behavior. Parents' positive expressivity was positively related to sympathy and prosocial behavior, but in adolescence, this was likely due primarily to consistency over time. Early observed parental negative expressivity was negatively related to adolescents' prosocial behavior. Reported negative expressivity in childhood was negatively related to boys' sympathy in childhood and positively related to girls' sympathy behavior in adolescence. The later relation remained significant when controlling for the stability of parental expressivity and sympathy, suggesting an emerging positive relation between the variables for girls.Prosocial behavior and empathic reactions exhibit some stability from childhood into adolescence (e.g., Eisenberg et al., 1999); moreover, their development appears to be affected by (or at least related to) environmental influences such as parental socialization, including the socialization of emotion (see Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006). However, the bulk of the research available on processes involved in the socialization of prosocial development, or on prosocial development more generally, has been conducted with children rather than adolescents (see Eisenberg et al., 2006). Thus, the three primary purposes of this study were: 1) to examine the stability of parents' emotional expressivity (negative and positive emotions) and children's sympathy and prosocial behavior from childhood into adolescence, 2) to examine the concurrent and longitudinal relations among parents' expressivity, children's sympathy, and children's prosocial behavior (we use the word "children" when we are referring to a either younger children or the participants during both childhood and adolescence), and 3) to test the moderating effects of children's gender on these relations.Correspondence concerning this article may be addressed to Nancy Eisenberg, Dept. of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104. Phone: 480-965-7014; fax: 480-965-8544. Email: nancy.eisenberg@asu.edu. This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Mental Health (1 R01 HH55052 and 1 R01 MH 60838) to Nancy Eisenberg. The authors wish to thank the many students who assisted in this study, the parents and children involved, the principals and teachers in the Tempe, Kyrene, Mesa, and Scottsdale School Districts (and other districts with few teachers. This work was completed as partial fulfillment of the first author's Ph.D. 2 In supplemental analyses, w...
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