CHILD TEMPERAMENT AND PARENTING BEHAVIOR AT AGE 5: DO THEY PREDICT CHILD COPING AT AGE 6?

Coping has been shown to be related to many positive outcomes in children, including better psychological adjustment, positive social relationships and higher achievement. Additionally, coping abilities in childhood and adolescence can serve as risk or protective factors for psychopathology. Both parenting and child temperament have been shown to be related to child coping; however, these variables have never been examined simultaneously. The transition from kindergarten to grammar-school is considered to be important because children must learn to adjust to this critical, more structured environment. As a result, it is important to determine what factors contribute to adaptive coping at the time when children begin formal school. The aim of this study was to: (a) examine the relationship between child negative affect (NA), effortful control (EC), parenting variables (support/scaffolding, support/engagement, and hostility/coercion), and child coping; and (b) to determine if parenting moderates the effects of temperament on adaptive coping. Participants included 796 (391 males and 405 females) children and their primary caregivers. Children were assessed at ages 5 and 6 years. NA and EC were assessed by parent-report with the Child Behavior Questionnaire. EC also was assessed with an observer-rated task, Gift Delay, which measures the child’s ability to delay a prepotent response, and with two subtests from the NEPSY; Knock and Tap, and Statue. Parenting variables (support/engagement and hostility/coercion) were assessed by parent-report with the Parenting Behavior Inventory and through an observation task, which was assessed by a factor-analyzed composite of variables rated during the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development 3-Boxes Task (support/scaffolding). Coping adaptability was assessed using the Early Childhood Coping Puppet Interview. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that NA, EC, support/scaffolding, support/engagement, and hostility/coercion were not related to child coping adaptability. There also was no evidence of moderation of the relationship between temperament and coping by parenting. Post hoc analyses indicated that for males, lower SES was related to more adaptive coping. Implications of these findings and suggestions for further research are discussed.Ph.D. in Psychology, July 201