Objectives: This study aimed to examine how mothers’ and fathers’ effortful control moderates the relationship between young children’s negative emotionality and mothers and fathers’ parenting behavior, and how parenting behavior moderates the relationship between young children’s negative emotionality and their problematic behavior.Methods: A survey was conducted among 143 fathers and 205 mothers of children aged 3-5 years through self-report assessments of their young children’s negative emotionality, problem behavior, and their own effortful control, and parenting behavior. Data were analyzed using correlation analysis, frequency analysis, and hierarchical regression analyses with SPSS 22.0.Results: Mothers’ effortful control significantly moderated the association between children’s negative emotionality and the mothers’ rejective parenting behaviors. Mothers’ reactive parenting behavior moderated the association between children’s negative emotionality and problematic behavior. Fathers’ rejective parenting behavior significantly moderated the effect of children’s negative emotionality on problematic behavior.Conclusion: This study is meaningful as it confirms a two-way relationship between children and their mothers or fathers according to “a process model of determinants of parenting”. Partially supported by “Differential susceptibility model”, the parenting behavior moderated the effect of children’s negative emotionality on their problematic behavior. In addition, mothers and fathers’ effortful control affected their positive parenting behavior; however only mothers’ internal factors moderated the effect of children’s negative emotionality on the parenting behavior. Finally, verifying whether mothers and fathers’ parenting behavior moderates the effect of children’s negative emotions on problem behavior differently is important.
