Temperament and parental child-rearing style: unique contributions to clinical anxiety disorders in childhood

Both temperament and parental child-rearing style are found to be associated with childhood anxiety disorders in population studies. This study investigates the contribution of not only temperament but also parental child-rearing to clinical childhood anxiety disorders. It also investigates whether the contribution of temperament is moderated by child-rearing style, as is suggested by some studies in the general population. Fifty children were included (25 with anxiety disorders and 25 non-clinical controls). Child-rearing and the child’s temperament were assessed by means of parental questionnaire (Child Rearing Practices Report (CRPR) (Block in The Child-Rearing Practices Report. Institute of Human Development. University of California, Berkely, 1965; The Child-Rearing Practices Report (CRPR): a set of Q items for the description of parental socialisation attitudes and values. Unpublished manuscript. Institute of Human Development. University of California, Berkely, 1981), EAS Temperament Survey for Children (Boer and Westenberg in J Pers Assess 62:537–551, 1994; Buss and Plomin in Temperament: early developing personality traits. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, Hillsdale, 1984s). Analysis of variance showed that anxiety-disordered children scored significantly higher on the temperamental characteristics emotionality and shyness than non-clinical control children. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses showed that temperament (emotionality and shyness) and child-rearing style (more parental negative affect, and less encouraging independence of the child) both accounted for a unique proportion of the variance of anxiety disorders. Preliminary results suggest that child-rearing style did not moderate the association between children’s temperament and childhood anxiety disorders. The limited sample size might have been underpowered to assess this interaction

Environmental and genetic influences on early attachment

Attachment theory predicts and subsequent empirical research has amply demonstrated that individual variations in patterns of early attachment behaviour are primarily influenced by differences in sensitive responsiveness of caregivers. However, meta-analyses have shown that parenting behaviour accounts for about one third of the variance in attachment security or disorganisation. The exclusively environmental explanation has been challenged by results demonstrating some, albeit inconclusive, evidence of the effect of infant temperament. In this paper, after reviewing briefly the well-demonstrated familial and wider environmental influences, the evidence is reviewed for genetic and gene-environment interaction effects on developing early attachment relationships. Studies investigating the interaction of genes of monoamine neurotransmission with parenting environment in the course of early relationship development suggest that children's differential susceptibility to the rearing environment depends partly on genetic differences. In addition to the overview of environmental and genetic contributions to infant attachment, and especially to disorganised attachment relevant to mental health issues, the few existing studies of gene-attachment interaction effects on development of childhood behavioural problems are also reviewed. A short account of the most important methodological problems to be overcome in molecular genetic studies of psychological and psychiatric phenotypes is also given. Finally, animal research focusing on brain-structural aspects related to early care and the new, conceptually important direction of studying environmental programming of early development through epigenetic modification of gene functioning is examined in brief

Raised by depressed parents: is it an environmental risk?

The mechanisms explaining how parental depression compromises healthy child development are complex and multifaceted, with genetic and environmental pathways intertwined. Reexamination of whether and how maternal and paternal depression serve as environmental risk factors is important because such an investigation can be helpful to identify modifiable mechanisms that are accessible to interventions. We review studies that have employed designs that isolate the effects of the environment from genetic influences, including adoption studies and children of twins studies. Findings indicate that maternal depression is an environmental risk factor for the emotional, behavioral, and neurobiological development of children. Although more studies are needed, preliminary findings suggest that paternal depression appears to be a weaker environmental risk as compared to maternal depression, at least during infancy and toddlerhood. Implications for theory and future research are discussed. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York

The effects of parenting on emotion and self-regulation

The capacity to regulate one’s own arousal, attention, emotion, and cognition to manage goal-directed behaviors is a crucial skill that impacts on almost every area of one’s life. The development of such self-regulatory skills during childhood is considered an early indicator for later life successes, as effective self-regulation is predictive of a multitude of short and long-term outcomes including school-readiness, relationships with peers and family, academic achievement, feelings of higher self-worth, ability to cope with stress, less substance abuse and law breaking, and better mental health. Children’s self-regulatory capacities are greatly influenced by environmental experiences, such as the quality of parenting they receive. This chapter considers ways in which parenting facilitates self-regulation in children. Following a brief overview of the normative development of self-regulation during childhood, the chapter specifically examines the impact of parenting on the development of children’s executive functions, effortful control, compliance, and emotion regulation. A range of classic theoretical models are reviewed and empirical studies showcased. As self-regulation is a broad and multidimensional construct, the chapter also discusses some of the related conceptual and methodological issues