Self-control in early childhood: Individual differences in sensitivity to early parenting

Abstract

Objective: This study extends existing research on the role of infant temperament as a moderator of the association between the quality of parent–child relationships and children's self-control during the pre-school years. In particular, we focus on the potential moderating role of a dimension of early infant temperament known as behavioral inhibition. Assumptions formulated within the diathesis-stress, the vantage-sensitivity, and the differential susceptibility models of individual differences in environmental sensitivity are tested. Method: Data are from the Millennium Cohort Study, a nationally representative birth cohort of 18,552 infants born in the United Kingdom during 2000/01. Results: The results show that the quality of both mother–child and father–child relationships are associated with children's development of self-control in early childhood. Additionally, individual differences in infant temperament moderate the association between mother–child conflict and children's development of self-control. Specifically, high behavioral inhibition shows a vantage-sensitivity pattern for mother–child conflict. Conclusions: Aspects of both mothers' and fathers' relationships with their young children independently predict variations in self-control. This study also provides an initial indication that behavioral inhibition, a temperamental trait best-known for being a risk factor for anxiety, may provide small benefits in relation to young children's self-control development.