Growth in Temperament and Parenting as Predictors of Adjustment During Children���s Transition to Adolescence Liliana J. Lengua University of Washington The author examined relations among demographic risk (income, maternal education, single-parent status), growth in temperament (fear, irritability, effortful control), and parenting (rejection, inconsistent discipline) across 3 years and the prediction of children���s adjustment problems in a community sample (N 190 ages 8���12 years at Time 1). Family income was related to higher initial levels of fear, irritability, rejection, and inconsistency and lower effortful control but was not related to changes in these variables. Higher initial rejection predicted increases in child fear and irritability. Higher initial fear predicted decreases in rejection and inconsistency. Higher initial irritability predicted increases in inconsistency, and higher initial effortful control predicted decreases in rejection. When growth of parenting and temperament were considered simultaneously, increases in effortful control and decreases in fear and irritability predicted lower Time 3 internalizing and externalizing problems. Increases in rejection and inconsistent discipline predicted higher Time 3 externalizing, although sometimes the effect appeared to be indirect through temperament. The findings suggest that temperament and parenting predict changes in each other and predict adjustment during the transition to adolescence. Keywords: demographic risk, temperament, parenting, adjustment problems, early adolescence Both parenting (Frick, 1994 Loeber & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1986 Maccoby & Martin, 1993) and temperament (Rothbart & Bates, 1998 Sanson, Hemphill, & Smart, 2004) are important predictors of children���s adjustment, and their effects are additive, with each contributing unique variance above the other (e.g., Bates, Pettit, Dodge, & Ridge, 1998 Halpern, Garcia Coll, Meyer, & Bendersky, 2001 Rubin, Hastings, Chen, Stewart, & McNichol, 1998 Smith & Prior, 1995). Moreover, transactional models in which parenting and child characteristics are mutually influential have been suggested to explain the development of adjustment problems (e.g., Halpern et al., 2001 Maccoby, 1992 Reiss & Price, 1996 Rothbart & Bates, 1998 Sanson et al., 2004). How- ever, few studies have examined the relations between tempera- ment and parenting during the transition to adolescence using longitudinal, growth analyses. In fact, data on the development of temperament and parenting during this transitional period are sparse (e.g., Conger, Lorenz, & Wickrama, 2004). This study examines changes in parenting and temperament as predictors of children���s adjustment problems during middle childhood and early adolescence. Temperament is believed to play an important role in children���s social and personality development and psychological adjustment (Bates, 1989 Hartup & van Lieshout, 1995 Prior, 1992). It is thought to directly affect children���s social, personality, and psy- chological development and influence or moderate key socializa- tion experiences, such as parent���child relationships and stressful life events (Rothbart, Ahadi, & Evans, 2000 Rothbart & Bates, 1998). There are numerous approaches to conceptualizing temper- ament. However, temperament is generally defined as the physi- ological basis for the motivational, affective, and regulation com- ponents of personality (Goldsmith et al., 1987). Temperament is characterized as physiologically based, relatively consistent over time, and modifiable by the environment and socialization expe- riences (Rothbart & Bates, 1998). This study includes dimensions reflecting Rothbart���s (1989) theoretical model of temperament, in which temperament is viewed as individual differences in reactiv- ity and self-regulation. Reactivity involves individual differences in the arousal of negative emotions, including fear and frustration (Rothbart, 1989 Rothbart & Bates, 1998). Self-regulation is de- fined as processes that modulate reactivity, facilitating or inhibit- ing affective and behavioral responses. Those processes include attention regulation and inhibitory control, which are the primary components of effortful control (Rothbart, Ahadi, Hershey, & Fisher, 2001). Effortful control has been defined as the ability to inhibit a dominant response to produce a nondominant response (Rothbart et al., 2000). There is substantial evidence that negative reactivity and self-regulation contribute to the development of internalizing and externalizing problems (Rothbart & Bates, 1989). In this study, it was hypothesized that changes in child fear, irritability, and effortful control would be related to changes in parenting behaviors and that both would predict children���s adjust- ment problems. Parental warmth and control are frequently identified as impor- tant dimensions of parenting (e.g., Grusec, 1997) and are consis- tently found to relate to children���s externalizing and internalizing problems (e.g., Galambos, Barker, & Almeida, 2003 Loeber & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1986 Maccoby & Martin, 1983 Patterson, Support for this research was provided by National Institute of Mental Health Grant R29MH57703. I thank the families who participated in this study and Nicole Bush, Erica Kovacs, Anna Long, and Anika Trancik for their contribution to this article. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Liliana J. Lengua, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Box 351525, Seattle, WA 98195. E-mail: liliana@u.washington.edu Developmental Psychology Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association 2006, Vol. 42, No. 5, 819���832 0012-1649/06/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.42.5.819 819

Reid, & Dishion, 1992 Rothbaum & Weisz, 1994). Parenting behaviors related to warmth and control have been shown to shape infant and child characteristics, as well (e.g., Eisenberg et al., 1999 Lerner & Galambos, 1985 Steinberg, Lamborn, Darling, Mounts, & Dornbusch, 1994). Parent behaviors are related to changes in child negative emotionality. For example, maternal negative emotionality predicted increases in negativity in infants over time (Malatesta & Haviland, 1986), and inconsistently ap- plied reprimands and reinforcement predicted increases in child negative affect (Acker & O���Leary, 1996). Also, complementary, responsive, and sensitive maternal parenting was more common among high-reactive infants who changed to being low in reactiv- ity compared with those who remained high in reactivity (Belsky, Fish, & Isabella, 1991). Parent behaviors have also been linked with self-regulation. Early maternal responsiveness predicted lower child impulsivity (Olson, Bates, & Bayles, 1990) and higher effortful control (Kochanska, Murray, & Harlan, 2000). In a lon- gitudinal study, positive parenting attributes were related to in- creases in persistence in children from ages 4 to 7 years (Halverson & Deal, 2001). Thus, parenting behaviors may shape child nega- tive emotionality and self-regulation. However, child characteristics also predict parenting behaviors (Lerner, 1993). For example, studies show that infant and toddler negative affect and difficult temperament predict maternal respon- siveness, guidance, control, involvement, social interaction, and conflict interactions (e.g., Bates, Pettit, & Dodge, 1995 Braungart- Rieker, Garwood, & Stifter, 1997 Campbell, 1979 Crockenberg & Acredolo, 1983 Linn & Horowitz, 1983 Maccoby, Snow, & Jacklin, 1984 Malatesta, Grigoryev, Lamb, Albin, & Culver, 1986 van den Boom, 1989). These studies have consistently shown that difficult temperament and negative affect, particularly irritability, are related to less optimal parenting behaviors, such as unresponsiveness, lack of contingent responding, and harsh con- trol. Child fearfulness might operate differently than irritability or difficulty. For example, fearfulness predicts more compliance in toddlers (e.g., Kochanska, Coy, & Murray, 2001 van der Mark, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van Ijzendoorn, 2002), which may make fearful children easier to discipline. Also, in middle child- hood, dispositional internalizing emotions, which included fear and anxiety, were related differently to parent reactions than were dispositional externalizing emotions, which included anger and irritability. Dispositional externalizing emotions were related to parental punitive and minimizing reactions, whereas internalizing emotions were not (Eisenberg et al., 1999). Thus, fear and irrita- bility are examined separately in this study. Many of the studies reviewed posit a direction of effect between parenting and temperament, with one expected to predict the other. However, the relation between parenting and child behaviors is thought to be bidirectional (Wachs, 1991). Several studies have provided support for bidirectional relations between parenting and temperament, most using samples of infants and young children (e.g., Maccoby et al., 1984 Rubin, Nelson, Hastings, & Asen- dorpf, 1999 van den Boom, 1989). For example, using cross- lagged panel models, Rubin et al. (1999) demonstrated that shy- ness in 2-year-olds predicted less encouragement of independence by parents 2 years later, controlling for prior levels of encourage- ment whereas parents��� encouragement of independence at 2 years did not predict later shyness. Few studies have examined bidirectional relations between tem- perament and parenting after early childhood. The transactional relation between parenting and temperament is expected to con- tinue from early childhood into middle childhood and to affect children���s psychological adjustment into adolescence. The transi- tion from middle childhood to adolescence is marked for some children by increases in behavioral and emotional problems, such as conduct problems, depression, and substance use (Angold & Rutter, 1992 Costello et al., 1988 Fleming, Offord, & Boyle, 1989). Changes in both children���s (Brody & Ge, 2001 Spring, Rosen, & Matheson, 2002) and parents��� (e.g., Brody & Ge, 2001 Freeman & Newland, 2002 Holmbeck, Paikoff, & Brooks-Gunn, 1995) behaviors may contribute to the development of adjustment problems during this period. Therefore, it is useful to consider the interrelations of parenting and temperament and their combined contribution to the development of adjustment problems during the transition to adolescence. One study examined a model of mutual influence in middle childhood in which parents��� negative reactions to children���s negative emotionality and self-regulation were inves- tigated (Eisenberg et al., 1999). Children���s dispositional external- izing emotions (anger and irritability) at 6���8 years of age pre- dicted greater parental distress reactions 2 years later, which, in turn, predicted greater child externalizing emotions 2 years after that. Similarly, children���s self-regulation at 6���8 years of age predicted fewer parental punitive reactions to children���s emotions 2 years later, and parents��� punitive reactions predicted lower child self-regulation 2 years after that. There was no evidence of cross- lagged associations between dispositional internalizing emotions (fear and anxiety) and parent negative reactions. In another study, parents��� harsh and responsive practices and children���s self- regulation were examined as predicting each other and adjustment outcomes across 3 years of early adolescence (Brody & Ge, 2001). Children���s self-regulation predicted lower levels of harsh��� conflicted parenting practices, which, together with self- regulation, predicted poorer psychological functioning. Another study demonstrated support for bidirectional relations of temper- ament and parenting during middle childhood. Controlling for prior levels of both temperament and parenting, the authors found that child fear predicted increases in maternal acceptance, whereas child irritability predicted increases in inconsistent discipline. Ma- ternal inconsistent discipline predicted increases in both fear and irritability (Lengua & Kovacs, 2005). Although these studies used analyses that clarified the direction of relations between parenting and temperament, few studies have examined whether changes in parenting and temperament are interrelated and uniquely predict child adjustment. Transactional models of mutual influence between temperament and parenting have been proposed to explain the development of adjustment problems in children (e.g., Halpern et al., 2001 Reiss & Price, 1996). Parenting and temperament may shape each other, promot- ing more positive qualities or behaviors or exacerbating more negative ones. Child behavior may have an evocative influence on parenting behavior, such that child behaviors elicit specific parent responses (e.g., Ge et al., 1996 Lytton, 1990 Plomin, DeFries, & Loehlin, 1977 Reiss, 1995 Scarr & McCartney, 1983). In turn, parenting behaviors may reinforce, exacerbate, or evoke child behaviors, shaping children���s temperamental characteristics. For example, a child���s high levels of irritability may engender difficult or negative interactions with his or her parent, who might respond 820 LENGUA