The additive and interactive effects of parenting and children's personality on externalizing behaviour

Abstract

Parenting practices have been previously linked to childhood externalizing behaviour. However, little attention has been given to the potential effect of individual personality differences among children on this relation. The current study assesses the additive effects of children's personality characteristics and explores the moderating effects of children's personality on relations between parenting practices and childhood externalizing behaviour using a proportional stratified sample of 599 nonclinical elementary‐school‐aged children. Multiple regression analyses reveal that in the mother data as well as in the father data, dysfunctional parenting and the children's personality characteristics Benevolence, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion were directly related to outcomes consistent with an additive model of their effects. Significant interactions indicate that children with low scores on Benevolence who were exposed to overreactive discipline practices exhibited higher levels of externalizing behaviour. Children characterized by low scores on Conscientiousness who were exposed to coercive parenting behaviour showed elevated levels of externalizing behaviour. These results suggest that integrating children's personality characteristics within parenting models can improve the understanding of the aetiology of childhood externalizing problem behaviour. The implications of such integrations for intervention are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Achenbach

T. M.

(1991). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4–18 and 1991 Profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.

Aiken

L. S.

West

S. G.

(1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Arnold

D. S.

O'Leary

S. G.

Wolff

L. S.

Acker

M. M.

(1993).The Parenting Scale: a measure of dysfunctional parenting and discipline situations. Psychological Assessment, 5,137–144.

Asendorpf

J. B.

Borkenau

Ostendorf

van Aken

M. A. G.

(2001).Carving personality description at its joints: confirmation of three replicable personality prototypes for both children and adults. European Journal of Personality, 15,169–198.

Asendorpf

J. B.

van Aken

M. A. G.

(1999).Resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled personality prototypes in childhood: replicability, predictive power, and the trait‐type issue. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77,815–832.

Bandura

Huston

A. C.

(1961).Identification as a process of incidental learning. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63,575–582.

Bates

J. E.

Pettit

G. S.

Dodge

K. A.

Ridge

(1998).Interaction of temperamental resistance to control and restrictive parenting in the development of externalizing behavior. Developmental Psychology, 34,982–995.

Bell

(1968).A reinterpretation of the direction of effects in socialization. Psychological Review, 75,81–95.

Block

J. H.

Block

(1980). The role of ego‐control and ego‐resilience in the organization of behavior. In W. A. Collins (Ed.), Development of cognition, affect, and social relations(Vol. 13, pp.39–101). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

10.

Bollen

Jackman

(1990). Regression diagnostics: an expository treatment of outliers and influential cases. In J. Fox , & J. S. Long (Eds.), Modern methods of data analysis(pp.257–291). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

11.

Buss

A. H.

Plomin

(1984). Temperament: Early developing personality traits. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

12.

Caspi

(1998). Personality development across the life course. In W. Damon (Series Ed.), & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional and personality development(5th edn, pp.311–388). New York: Wiley.

13.

Chaplin

W. F.

(1997). Personality, interactive relations and applied psychology. In R. Hogan , J. Johnson , & S. Briggs (Eds.), Handbook of personality psychology(pp.873–890). San Diego, CA: Academic.

14.

Cohen

(1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

15.

Cohen

(1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences(2nd edn). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

16.

Coie

J. D.

Dodge

K. A.

(1998). Aggression and antisocial behavior. In W. Damon (Series Ed.), & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional and personality development(5th edn, pp.779–862). New York: Wiley.

17.

Colder

C. R.

Lochman

J. E.

Wells

K. C.

(1997).The moderating effects of children's fear and activity level on relations between parenting practices and childhood symptomatology. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 25,251–263.

18.

Costa

P. T.

McCrae

R. R.

(1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO‐PI‐R) and NEO Five‐Factor Inventory (NEO‐FFI) professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

19.

De Fruyt

Mervielde

Hoekstra

H. A.

Rolland

J.‐P.

(2000).Assessing adolescents' personality with the NEO‐PI‐R. Assessment, 7,329–345.

20.

De Fruyt

Mervielde

Van Leeuwen

(2002).The consistency of personality type classification across samples and five‐factor measures. European Journal of Personality, 16,S57–S72.

21.

De Fruyt

Van Hiel

Buyst

(1998). Parental personality descriptions of boys and girls. In G. A. Kohnstamm , C. F. Halverson, Jr. , I. Mervielde , & V. L. Havill (Eds.), Parental descriptions of child personality: Developmental antecedents of the Big Five?(pp.155–167). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

22.

Digman

J. M.

(1994). Child personality and temperament: does the five‐factor model embrace both domains?In C. F. Halverson, Jr. , G. A. Kohnstamm , & R. P. Martin (Eds.), The developing structure of temperament and personality from infancy to adulthood(pp.323–338). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

23.

Dishion

T. J.

French

D. C.

Patterson

G. R.

(1995). The development and ecology of antisocial behavior. In D. Cicchetti , & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Risk, disorder, and adaptation(Vol. 2, pp.421–471). New York: Wiley.

24.

Dishion

T. J.

Patterson

G. R.

(1997). The timing and severity of antisocial behavior: three hypotheses within an ecological framework. In D. Stoff , J. Breiling , & J. Maser (Eds.), Handbook of antisocial behavior(pp.205–217). New York: Wiley.

25.

Dunn

(2001). The development of children's conflict and prosocial behaviour: lessons from research on social understanding and gender. In J. Hill , & B. Maughan (Eds.), Conduct disorders in childhood and adolescence(pp.49–66). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

26.

Eddy

J. M.

Leve

L. D.

Fagot

B. I.

(2001).Coercive family processes: a replication and extension of Patterson's coercion model. Aggressive Behavior, 27,14–25.

27.

Eisenberg

Guthrie

I. K.

Fabes

R. A.

Reiser

Murphy

B. C.

Holgren

, et al. (1997).The relations of regulation and emotionality to resiliency and competent social functioning in elementary school children. Child Development, 68,295–311.

28.

Eisenberg

Losoya

Fabes

R. A.

Guthrie

I. K.

Reiser

Murphy

B. C.

Shepard

S. A.

Poulin

Padgett

S. J.

(2001).Parental socialization of children's dysregulated expression of emotion and externalizing problems. Journal of Family Psychology, 15,183–205.

29.

Forgatch

M. S.

Patterson

G. R.

Ray

J. A.

(1996). Divorce and boys' adjustment problems: two paths with a single model. In E. M. Hetherington , & E. A. Blechman (Eds.), Stress, coping, and resiliency in children and families. Family research consortium: Advances in family research(pp.67–105). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

30.

Freund

R. J.

Littell

R. C.

(2000). SAS® System for Regression(3rd edn). Cary, NC: SAS Institute.

31.

Friedrich

R. J.

(1982).In defense of multiplicative terms in multiple regression equations. American Journal of Political Science, 26,797–833.

32.

Goldberg

L. R.

(1990).An alternative ‘description of personality’: the Big Five factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59,1216–1229.

33.

Gray

J. A.

(1982). The neuropsychology of anxiety: An enquiry into the functions of the septo‐hippocampal system. New York: Oxford University Press.

34.

Gray

J. A.

(1987). The psychology of fear and stress(2nd edn). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

35.

Gray

J. A.

(1991). The neuropsychology of temperament. In J. Strelau , & A. Angleitner (Eds.), Explorations in temperament(pp.105–128). New York: Plenum.

36.

Guerin

D. W.

Gottfried

A. W.

Thomas

C. W.

(1997).Difficult temperament and behavior problems: a longitudinal study from 1.5 to 12 years. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21,71–90.

37.

Halverson

C. F.

Kohnstamm

G. A.

Martin

R. P.

(1994). The developing structure of temperament and personality from infancy to adulthood. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

38.

Hartup

W. W.

van Lieshout

C. F. M.

(1995).Personality development in social context. Annual Review of Psychology, 46,655–687.

39.

Harvey

Danforth

J. S.

Ulaszek

W. R.

Eberhardt

T. L.

(2001).Validity of the parenting scale for parents of children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Behavior Research and Therapy, 39,731–743.

40.

Hellinckx

Prinzie

Onghena

Ghesquière

Colpin

Grietens

(2000). Het Leuvens Instrument voor Coërcief Opvoedingsgedrag (LICO). Leuven: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Section Orthopedagogics.

41.

Holmbeck

G. N.

(1997).Toward terminological, conceptual, and statistical clarity in the study of mediators and moderators: examples from the child‐clinical and pediatric psychology literatures. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65,599–610.

42.

Huey

S. J.

Weisz

J. R.

(1997).Ego control, ego resiliency, and the five‐factor model as predictors of behavioral and emotional problems in clinic‐referred children and adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106,404–415.

43.

Irvine

A. B.

Biglan

Smolkowski

Ary

D. V.

(1999).The value of the Parenting Scale for measuring the discipline practices of parents of middle school children. Behavior Research and Therapy, 37,127–142.

44.

Jaccard

Turrisi

Wan

C. K.

(1990). Interaction effects in multiple regression. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

45.

John

O. P.

Caspi

Robins

R. W.

Moffitt

T. E.

Stouthamer‐Loeber

(1994).The ‘little five’: exploring the nomological network of the five‐factor model of personality in adolescent boys. Child Development, 65,160–178.

46.

Johnson

J. H.

Sheeber

L. B.

(1999). Developmental assessment. In W. K. Silverman , & T. H. Ollendick (Eds.), Developmental issues in the clinical treatment of children(pp.44–59). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

47.

Kiesner

Dishion

T. J.

Poulin

(2001). A reinforcement model of conduct problems in children and adolescents: advances in theory and intervention. In J. Hill , & B. Maughan (Eds.), Conduct disorders in childhood and adolescence(pp.264–291). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

48.

Kohnstamm

G. A.

Halverson

C. F.

Mervielde

Havill

V. L.

(1998). Parental descriptions of child personality: Developmental antecedents of the Big Five? Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

49.

Krueger

Caspi

Moffitt

T. E.

Silva

McGee

(1996).Personality traits are differentially linked to mental disorders: a multi‐trait/multi‐diagnosis study of an adolescent birth cohort. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105,299–312.

50.

Lemery

K. S.

Essex

M. J.

Smider

N. A.

(2002).Revealing the relation between temperament and behavior problem symptoms by eliminating measurement confounding: expert ratings and factor analyses. Child Development, 73,867–882.

51.

Lengua

L. J.

Wolchik

S. A.

Sandler

I. N.

West

S. G.

(2000).The additive and interactive effects of parenting and temperament in predicting problems of children of divorce. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 29,232–244.

52.

Locke

L. M.

Prinz

R. J.

(2002).Measurement of parental discipline and nurturance. Clinical Psychology Review, 22,895–929.

53.

Loeber

Dishion

T. J.

(1983).Early predictors of male delinquency: a review. Psychological Bulletin, 94,68–98.

54.

Loeber

Hay

D. F.

(1993). Developmental approaches to aggression and conduct problems. In M. Rutter , & D. F. Hay (Eds.), Development through life: A handbook for clinicians(pp.488–516). Oxford: Blackwell.

55.

Lytton

(1990).Child and parent effects in boys' conduct disorder: a reinterpretation. Developmental Psychology, 26,683–697.

56.

McCrae

R. R.

Costa

P. T.

(1996). Toward a new generation of personality theories: theoretical contexts for the five‐factor model. In J. S. Wiggins (Ed.), The Five‐Factor Model of personality: Theoretical perspectives. New York: Guildford.

57.

McCrae

R. R.

Costa

P. T.

Busch

C. M.

(1986).Evaluating comprehensiveness in personality systems: the California Q‐set and the five‐factor model. Journal of Personality, 54,430–446.

58.

Mervielde

De Fruyt

(1999). Construction of the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children. In I. Mervielde , I. J. Deary , F. De Fruyt , & F. Ostendorf (Eds.), Personality Psychology in Europe(Vol. 7, pp.107–127). Tilburg: University Press.

59.

Mervielde

De Fruyt

(2002). Assessing children's traits with the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children. In B. De Raad , & M. Perugini (Eds.), Big Five assessment(pp.129–146). Seattle: Hogrefe and Huber.

60.

Miles

D. R.

Carey

(1997).Genetic and environmental architecture of human aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72,207–217.

61.

Moffitt

T. E.

Caspi

Rutter

Silva

P. A.

(2001). Sex differences in antisocial behaviour: Conduct disorder, delinquency and violence in the Dunedin Longitudinal Study. Cambridge: University Press.

62.

O'Leary

S. G.

Slep

A. M. S.

Reid

M. J.

(1999).A longitudinal study of mothers' overreactive discipline and toddlers' externalizing behavior. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27,331–341.

63.

Patterson

G. R.

(1982). Coercive family process. Eugene, OR: Castalia.

64.

Patterson

G. R.

(1986).Performance models for antisocial boys. American Psychologist, 41,432–444.

65.

Patterson

G. R.

(1996). Some characteristics of a developmental theory for early onset delinquency. In M. F. E. Lenzenweger , & J. J. E. Haugaard (Eds.), Frontiers of developmental psychopathology(pp.81–124). New York: Oxford University Press.

66.

Patterson

G. R.

(1997). Performance models for parenting: a social interactional perspective. In J. E. Grusec , & L. Kuczynski (Eds.), Parenting and children's socialization of values(pp.193–226). New York: Wiley.

67.

Patterson

G. R.

Reid

J. B.

Dishion

T. J.

(1992). Antisocial boys. Eugene, OR: Castalia.

68.

Patterson

G. R.

Stouthamer‐Loeber

(1984).The correlation of family management practices and delinquency. Child Development, 55,1299–1307.

69.

Patterson

G. R.

Yoerger

(1997). A developmental model for late onset delinquency. In D. W. Osgood (Ed.), Motivation and delinquency(pp.119–177). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

70.

Reiss

Neiderhiser

J. M.

(2000).The interplay of genetic influences and social processes in developmental theory: specific mechanisms are coming into view. Development and Psychopathology, 12,357–374.

71.

Reitman

Currier

R. O.

Hupp

S. D. A.

Rhode

P. C.

Murphy

M. A.

O'Callaghan

P. M.

(2001).Psychometric properties of the Parenting Scale in a Head Start Population. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30,514–524.

72.

Robins

R. W.

John

O. P.

Caspi

(1994). Major dimensions of personality in early adolescence: the Big Five and beyond. In C. F. Halverson, Jr. , G. A. Kohnstamm , & R. P. Martin (Eds.), The developing structure of temperament and personality from infancy to adulthood(pp.267–291). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

73.

Robins

R. W.

John

O. P.

Caspi

Moffitt

T. E.

Stouthamer‐Loeber

(1996).Resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled boys: three replicable personality types. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70,157–171.

74.

Romero

Luengo

M. A.

Sobral

(2001).Personality and antisocial behaviour: study of temperamental dimensions. Personality and Individual Differences, 31,329–348.

75.

Rothbart

M. K.

Ahadi

S. A.

Evans

D. E.

(2000).Temperament and personality: origins and outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78,122–135.

76.

Rothbart

M. K.

Bates

J. E.

(1998). Temperament. In W. Damon , & N. Eisenberg (Eds.), Social, emotional and personality development(Vol. 3, pp.105–176). New York: Wiley.

77.

Rothbaum

Weisz

J. R.

(1994).Parental caregiving and child externalizing behavior in non‐clinical samples: a meta‐analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 116,55–74.

78.

Rutter

M. L.

(1997).Nature–nurture integration: the example of antisocial behavior. American Psychologist, 52,390–398.

79.

Rutter

(2002).Nature, nurture and development: from evangelism through science toward police and practice. Child Development, 73,1–21.

80.

Sameroff

(1995). General systems theories and developmental psychopathology. In D. Cichetti , & D. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Theory and methods(Vol. 1, pp.659–695). New York: Wiley.

81.

Sanson

Prior

(1999). Temperament and behavioral precursors to oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder. In H. C. Quay , & A. E. Hogan (Eds.), Handbook of disruptive behavior disorders(pp.397–417). New York: Kluwer.

82.

Sanson

Prior

Smart

Oberklaid

(1993).Gender differences in aggression in childhood: implications for a peaceful world. Australian Psychologist, 28,86–92.

83.

Sanson

A. V.

Rothbart

M. K.

(1995). Child temperament and parenting. In M. H. E. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Applied and practical parenting(Vol. 4, pp.299–321). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

84.

Shaw

D. S.

Bell

R. Q.

(1993).Developmental theories of parental contributors to antisocial behavior. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 21,493–518.

85.

Shaw

D. S.

Winslow

E. G.

Owens

E. B.

Vondra

J. I.

Cohn

J. F.

Bell

R. Q.

(1998).The development of early externalizing problems among children from low‐income families: a transformational perspective. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26,95–107.

86.

Sheeber

L. B.

Johnson

J. H.

(1994).Evaluation of a temperament‐focused, parent‐training program. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 23,249–259.

87.

Sheeber

L. B.

McDevitt

S. C.

(1998). Temperament‐focused parent training. In J. M. Briesmeister , & C. E. Schaefer (Eds.), Handbook of parent training: Parents as co‐therapists for children's behavior problems(2nd edn, pp.479–507). New York: Wiley.

88.

Snyder

J. J.

(1995). Coercion: a two‐level theory of antisocial behavior. In W. T. O'Donohue (Ed.), Theories of behavior therapy: Exploring behavior change(pp.313–348). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

89.

Snyder

Schrepferman

St Peter

(1997).Origins of antisocial behavior: negative reinforcement and affect dysregulation of behavior as socialization mechanisms in family interaction. Behavior Modification, 21,187–215.

90.

Stevens

(2002). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences(4th edn). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

91.

Thomas

Chess

(1977). Temperament and development. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

92.

van den Boom

D. C.

(1994).The influence of temperament and mothering on attachment and exploration: an experimental manipulation of sensitive responsiveness among lower‐class mothers with irritable infants. Child Development, 65,1457–1477.

93.

Van Lieshout

C. F. M.

Haselager

G. T. J.

(1994). The Big Five personality factors in Q‐sort descriptions of children and adolescents. In C. F. Halverson, Jr. , G. A. Kohnstamm , & R. P. Martin (Eds.), The developing structure of temperament and personality from infancy to adulthood(pp.157–172). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

94.

Verhulst

F. C.

van der Ende

Koot

H. M.

(1996). Handleiding voor de CBCL/4–18. Rotterdam: Kinder‐ en jeugdpsychiatrie, Sophia.

95.

Vignoe

Bérubé

R. L.

Achenbach

T. M.

(2000). Bibliography of published studies using the Child Behavior Checklist and related materials(1999 edn). Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.