Self‐esteem has implications for a wide variety of psychological problems. This study sought to determine whether parenting practices at ages 3 and 4 years contributed to 5‐year‐old children's ...self‐perception, a precursor to later self‐esteem. Data came from a longitudinal study in which preschool twin or triplet children were tested within a month of their birthdays; complete data were available for 263 children tested at ages 4 and 5 years and for 211 children tested at ages 3 and 5 years. As part of testing at ages 3 and 4, children and parents engaged in a puzzle task for 10 min; their behaviors were coded by trained raters. Parenting variables of verbal warmth, positive affect, permissive discipline, and sensitivity were coded. At age 5, children's self‐perception was assessed using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children. Results showed that parental positive affect and sensitivity at age 4 predicted increased maternal acceptance at age 5, and permissive discipline predicted decreased peer acceptance scores for girls, but not boys. Additionally, parental verbal warmth at age 3 predicted higher peer acceptance scores at age 5. Finally, boys who experienced increases in parent positive affect from ages 3 to 4 showed higher peer acceptance scores at age 5. This study provides evidence that parenting is an important factor in the development of preschool children's self‐perception.
This study examines children's abilities to accurately portray emotions (emotion expression; EE) and to read others' emotions (emotion recognition; ER) as possible genetically influenced behaviors ...that may increase vulnerability to victimization. In this study of 127 6–10‐year‐old multiples, children were assessed for EE accuracy by being photographed when told to display different emotions; photographs were subsequently rated for emotion accuracy. Children also were assessed for ER accuracy on a computer task by rating the emotions of displayed children's faces. Genetic likelihood scores for angry and fearful EE and ER errors were calculated. Children also completed a victimization questionnaire. Results showed that children who were poor at making angry faces (EE angry misses) were less likely to be victimized, and children who were more likely to rate faces as fearful (ER fearful biases) were more likely to be victimized. ER fearful biases were related to victimization through a shared genetic link. Finally, demonstrating gene–environment correlation, girls with a genetic likelihood for not looking fearful when they were intending to (EE fearful misses) were significantly less likely to be victimized by peers. These results show that emotion skills surrounding expressing and recognizing anger and fear are associated with peer victimization risk.
Peer victimization appears heritable, but it is unclear whether the traits that confer genetic risk require time and familiarity with a perpetrator to manifest or whether novel and brief interactions ...can lead to received aggression that demonstrates similar genetic risk. We examined 20-minute, peer-play interactions between 5-year-olds, pairing one twin at a time with an unfamiliar, same-sex peer.Received aggressionwas defined as being the target of aggression (physical or verbal) from the play partner. We found that children receiving aggression were more aggressive during the interaction and gave more commands. Results demonstrated that dominant genetic effects explained 32% of the variance in received aggression. Thus, there appears to be an underlying genetic risk for being aggressed against, even by an unfamiliar peer in a novel situation. We also provided evidence supporting evocative gene–environment correlations between genetic risk (propensity toward aggression) and the likelihood of receiving aggression. These results have implications for the importance that social skills and assertive communication skills training may have in decreasing aggressive interactions between young children.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NMLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We examined interactions among genetic, biological, and ecological variables predicting externalizing behaviors in preschool and middle childhood. Specifically, we examined prediction of ...externalizing behaviors from birth complications and negative emotionality, each moderated by genetic risk for aggression and ecological risk factors of insensitive parenting and low family income. At ages 4 and 5 years, 170 twin pairs and 5 triplet sets (
N
= 355 children) were tested; 166 of those children were tested again at middle childhood (
M
= 7.9 years). Multilevel linear modeling results showed generally that children at high genetic risk for aggression or from low-income families were likely to have high scores on externalizing, but for children not at high risk, those with increased birth complications or more negative emotionality had high scores on externalizing. This study underscores the importance of considering biological variables as moderated by both genetic and ecological variables as they predict externalizing behaviors across early childhood.
Self-esteem is an attitude about the self that predicts psychopathology and general well-being. Parenting practices have been shown to be related to self-esteem, but these estimates are confounded ...because parents and children share genes. The aim of the present study was to use the monozygotic (MZ) twin difference design to isolate the non-shared environmental impact of remembered parenting on self-esteem. In a sample of 1328 adults (345 MZ twin pairs, 319 DZ twin pairs), retrospective reports of maternal and paternal affection were related to self-esteem, all of which were significantly heritable. Using MZ difference scores, paternal affection differences, but not maternal affection differences, were significantly related to self-esteem differences. These results suggest that parenting provided by the father directly impacts self-esteem through non-shared environmental mechanisms. Maternal affection, on the other hand, impacts self-esteem through shared genes (not shared environment, as shared environment was not a significant aspect of self-esteem). This has implications for parenting intervention programs.
This update on the Southern Illinois Twins and Siblings Study (SITSS) documents some of the follow-up studies that have been conducted and results that have been obtained from this sample. At the ...current time, 283 twin pairs, 8 triplet families, 98 non-twin sibling pairs, and 287 singletons have been enrolled in SITSS. Twins and triplets are tested as young as 1 year of age and then every year on their birthday through age 5 years. A variety of follow-up studies have been conducted for SITSS children through age 20. Results thus far have demonstrated significant genetic influences on social behaviors such as aggression, victimization, and attention toward facial expressions. Interesting interactions have been documented between the dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4) and the social environment (parental sensitivity or peer aggression) as they predict children's aggressive behaviors. In addition, increased difficulty with social interactions has been noted for twins versus singletons. Thus, this multi-trait, multi-method behavior genetic data set contributes to our understanding of the etiology of social behaviors in preschoolers and to predictors of similar behaviors through adolescence.
Parenting behaviors have long been recognized as crucial to children's healthy development. However, examinations of the etiology of these behaviors are less prevalent. The current study investigated ...the driving forces behind parental warmth and discipline, particularly whether they are related more to traits within the parent or reactions to characteristics of the child. To explore this question, three robust factors of child temperament-effortful control, negative affectivity, and surgency/extraversion-and five parent personality traits were examined in association with parent behaviors through differential parenting within 185 four-year-old twin pairs (370 children; 56% girls; 90% White; predominantly middle class). Genetic analyses showed that parents tend to treat both children similarly in terms of parental warmth, but they treat children less similarly in terms of discipline, regardless of child zygosity. Multilevel linear regressions showed that within twin pairs, the child with higher effortful control received less discipline from parents than their cotwin. Analyses also showed that parent agreeableness was significantly related to parent warmth above and beyond other personality traits and child temperament. This study clarified the direction of effects and genetic contributions to parenting behaviors, supporting previous literature that discipline acts in reaction to the child, whereas warmth is more driven by parent personality. This research suggests the importance of focusing on child temperament and parent personality as they relate to parenting behaviors, allowing clinicians and parents to more effectively correct maladaptive parenting behaviors and encourage healthy and adaptive parenting behaviors, thus promoting positive outcomes for children.
Public Significance Statement
This study clarified associations of parenting behaviors, indicating that children with lower effortful control than their siblings elicit more discipline from parents, whereas parental warmth is associated with parent personality (especially higher scores on agreeableness). If clinicians assess for these temperament and personality traits, they may be better able to effectively address the parent-child relationship, thus leading to improved outcomes for families.
Biological and genetic factors, as well as contextual influences, contribute to the etiology of externalizing behaviors in children and adolescents. The current project used a longitudinal design to ...examine how individual vulnerability for externalizing behavior is influenced by the interplay among biological/genetic and environmental factors, and how this occurs across development. We investigated the influence of dopamine receptor D4 genotype (DRD4), child temperament, and household chaos on children's externalizing behaviors using a sample of twins/triplets tested at the ages of 4 and 5 years (n = 229), including a subset of these who were tested again in middle childhood (ages 7–13 years; n = 174). Multilevel linear regression modeling demonstrated that the DRD4‐7repeat genotype, 4‐year‐old negative affectivity, and household chaos at the age of 4 years were related to 5‐year‐old externalizing behaviors. Stability in externalizing behaviors from the age of 5 years to middle childhood was demonstrated. A significant interaction between DRD4 and household chaos showed that children with no 7‐repeat DRD4 alleles had significantly higher levels of externalizing in homes with extremely low levels of parent‐reported chaos, suggesting a “goodness‐of‐fit” pattern of gene–environment interaction. These findings suggest that risk for childhood externalizing behaviors is likely multifaceted and differs across developmental periods.
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