Parental Personality, Stress Generation, and Infant Temperament in Emergent Parent-Child Relationships: Evidence for a Moderated Mediation Model

There is increasing research evidence supporting the assumption that transactional associations between parent and child characteristics need to be taken into account in order to more fully understand the dynamics within emergent parent-child relationships. This study focuses on transactional associations among parental self-criticism and dependency, parenting stress, child temperament, and emotional availability. Data from a two-wave, 1-year longitudinal study in a community sample of 79 first-time parents and their children, followed-up from infancy to toddlerhood, were analyzed within a multilevel moderated mediation framework. Results showed that parental self-criticism and dependency assessed in infancy predicted emotional availability in toddlerhood. Stress generation processes associated with self-criticism and dependency played a central role in these associations. In addition, findings suggested that child extraversion and orienting/regulation capacities may buffer against the negative impact of parental self-critical vulnerability on dyadic emotional availability, whereas child negative affectivity seems to amplify stress generation processes associated with parental dependency. These findings are discussed in light of the burgeoning literature on personality, child temperament, and parent-child relationships, and suggestions for further research and clinical interventions focusing on parent-child relationships are summarized. © 2014 Guilford Publications, Inc.

Publication year:2014

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Authors:International

Authors from:Higher Education