The development of self-regulation in the first four years of life.

This study examined longitudinally the development of self-regulation in 108 young children during the first 4 years of life. Children's committed compliance (when they eagerly embraced maternal agenda) and situational compliance (when they cooperated, but without a sincere commitment) were studied. Both forms of compliance were observed in "Do" contexts, in which the mothers requested that the children sustain unpleasant, tedious behavior, and in "Don't" contexts, in which they requested that the children suppress pleasant, attractive behavior. Children's internalization while alone in the similar contexts was also studied. Parallel assessments were conducted when the children were 14, 22, 33, and 45 months of age. At all ages, the Do context was much more challenging for children than the Don't context. Girls surpassed boys in committed compliance. Both forms of compliance were longitudinally stable, but only within a given context. Children's fearfulness and effortful control, observed and mother reported, correlated positively with committed compliance, but mostly in the Don't context. Committed, but not situational, compliance was linked to children's internalization of maternal rules, observed when the children were alone in the Do and Don't contexts. These links were both concurrent and longitudinal, context specific, and significant even after controlling for maternal power assertion. There was modest preliminary evidence that committed compliance may generalize to interactions with adults other than the mother.

Emotional development in children with different attachment histories: the first three years.

The development of fear, anger, and joy was examined in 112 children using a longitudinal design. Children were observed at 9, 14, 22, and 33 months in standard laboratory episodes designed to elicit fear, anger, or joy. At 14 months, mother-child attachment was assessed in the Strange Situation. The attachment groups (avoidant, secure, resistant, and disorganized/unclassifiable) differed in the trajectories of emotional development, with the differences first apparent at 14 months of age. Resistant children were the most fearful and least joyful, and fear was their strongest emotion. More than secure children, they responded with distress even in episodes designed to elicit joy. When examined longitudinally, over the second and third years, secure children became significantly less angry. In contrast, insecure children's negative emotions increased: Avoidant children became more fearful, resistant children became less joyful, and disorganized/unclassifiable children became more angry. Higher attachment security uniquely predicted that at 33 months, children would show less fear and anger in episodes designed to elicit fear and anger, and less distress in episodes designed to elicit joy, even in conservative regression analyses controlling for all the earlier emotion scores.

Viewing imitation as child responsiveness: a link between teaching and discipline domains of socialization.

The authors observed 106 children's imitation and responses to maternal control at 14 and 22 months. Imitation was observed in a teaching task in which mothers modeled 3 standard pretend-play sequences. Responses to control were observed in typical discipline contexts. Girls imitated more than boys. Responsive imitation measures were coherent and longitudinally stable and correlated significantly with responsiveness to maternal control. The authors propose that a young child's willingness to imitate his or her parent in a teaching context and to comply in a control context both reflect a responsive or receptive stance toward parental socialization. The consistency of children's responsiveness across contexts has implications for both sociomoral and cognitive development.

Electrodermal activity and temperament in preschool children.

This study had two objectives: To examine poorly understood patterns of young children's electrodermal reactivity and to test the hypothesis that this reactivity reflects individual differences in the behavioral inhibition system (BIS). We recorded skin conductance responses (SCRs) from 92 4-year-old children during a laboratory session that encompassed physiological and psychological stimuli. Physiological stimuli (breaths), moderately loud to loud sounds (expected and unexpected) and, to a lesser extent, stimuli with psychological significance elicited clear SCRs. Induction of psychological conflict and exposure to emotional film clips for the most part did not elicit increases in skin conductance (SC). Children's temperament dimensions of fearfulness and effortful (or inhibitory) control--two components of the BIS--were assessed using robust observational batteries at age 2 and 4 years. The theoretically expected correlations between overall SC lability (reflecting SC levels) and both dimensions of temperament were significant, albeit modest and limited to the contemporaneous measures at age 4.

Temperament as a moderator of pathways to conscience in children: the contribution of electrodermal activity.

A longitudinal study (G. K. Kochanska, 1997) showed that temperamental fearfulness, assessed at toddler age via observational data and maternal ratings, moderated pathways to internalized conscience at age 4. For fearful children, maternal gentle discipline deemphasizing power predicted conscience development; for fearless children, attachment security predicted conscience development. Electrodermal reactivity assessed at age 4 on the same children was used as a physiological reflection of fearful temperament and was substituted for the earlier fearfulness measure to test the theoretical model. As expected, for electrodermally reactive children, maternal gentle discipline predicted conscience, whereas for nonreactive children, attachment security predicted conscience. The findings support the notions of (a) electrodermal reactivity at an early age as a correlate of temperament, (b) temperament as a moderator of socialization in early moral development, and (c) lovelessness in psychopathic individuals as an index of the failure of the alternative pathway (via attachment) to conscience in fearless children.

Mothers' personality and its interaction with child temperament as predictors of parenting behavior.

In this longitudinal, multimethod investigation, the authors examined mothers' personality and its interaction with infants' negative emotionality as predictors of parenting behavior. When infants were 8-10 months old (N = 112), mothers completed personality self-reports, and the authors observed infants' negative emotionality in both standard procedures and naturalistic daily contexts. When infants were 13-15 months old (N = 108), the authors observed two aspects of parenting, power assertion and maternal responsiveness, in mother-child interactive contexts. Maternal personality alone and also in interaction with child emotionality predicted future parenting behaviors. The longitudinal links established between personality and parenting behaviors indicate the predictive utility of personality. Findings also highlight the bidirectionality of the early parent-child relationship.

Mother-child mutually responsive orientation and conscience development: from toddler to early school age.

We examined whether positive implications of mother-child mutually responsive orientation, demonstrated earlier at toddler and preschool age, extend longitudinally into early school age. The focus of the present study was on the long-term consequences of mutually responsive orientation for the development of conscience. Mutually responsive orientation encompassed shared cooperation and shared positive affect between mother and child. It was measured as a composite of those qualities observed in dyadic naturalistic interactions and reported by mothers, at toddler and preschool age. Children's conscience was assessed at early school age (N = 83) using multiple measures, including observations of moral behavior, alone and in the peer context, and moral cognition. Mother-child mutually responsive orientation at toddler and preschool ages predicted children's future conscience, even after controlling for the developmental continuity of conscience. Model-fitting analyses revealed that mutually responsive orientation at toddler age had a direct effect on future conscience, not mediated by such orientation at preschool age. The findings extend those of earlier work that revealed the importance of mother-child mutually responsive orientation for socialization, and they confirm the value of the relationship approach to social development, including long-term outcomes.

Effortful control in early childhood: continuity and change, antecedents, and implications for social development.

The course, antecedents, and implications for social development of effortful control were examined in this comprehensive longitudinal study. Behavioral multitask batteries and parental ratings assessed effortful control at 22 and 33 months (N = 106). Effortful control functions encompassed delaying, slowing down motor activity, suppressing/initiating activity to signal, effortful attention, and lowering voice. Between 22 and 33 months, effortful control improved considerably, its coherence increased, it was stable, and it was higher for girls. Behavioral and parent-rated measures converged. Children's focused attention at 9 months, mothers' responsiveness at 22 months, and mothers' self-reported socialization level all predicted children's greater effortful control. Effortful control had implications for concurrent social development. Greater effortful control at 22 months was linked to more regulated anger, and at 33 months, to more regulated anger and joy and to stronger restraint.

Children's emerging regulation of conduct: restraint, compliance, and internalization from infancy to the second year.

We examined emergent regulation of conduct from infancy to the second year. Multiple observational measures at home and in the laboratory assessed, at 8-10 months, the child's restraint and attention (N = 112), and at 13-15 months, compliance to mother, internalization of her prohibition, and quality of motivation in the mother-child teaching context (N = 108). We replicated the findings previously reported for older children that supported our view of compliance and noncompliance as heterogeneous: Committed compliance was higher to maternal "don'ts" than "dos," with the reverse true for situational compliance; girls surpassed boys in committed compliance; and committed, but not situational, compliance related positively, and passive noncompliance negatively, to children's internalization of maternal prohibition. We extended previous work into three new directions: children's committed compliance and passive noncompliance in control contexts related predictably to their motivation in mother-child teaching contexts; restraint at 8-10 months predicted higher committed compliance at 13-15 months; and focused attention at 8-10 months was associated with contemporaneous restraint and modestly with committed compliance to maternal "dos" at 13-15 months.

Mother-child relationship, child fearfulness, and emerging attachment: a short-term longitudinal study.

Mother-child relationship (maternal responsiveness and shared affective positivity), observed in naturalistic interactions, and child fearfulness, assessed in standard procedures involving exposure to unfamiliar stimuli and with parental reports, were examined at 8-10 and 13-15 months in relation to child attachment in the Strange Situation at 13-15 months (N = 108). Mother-child relationship, at 13-15 months only, predicted child security versus insecurity but not the type of insecurity. In contrast, child fearfulness was unrelated to security versus insecurity but predicted the type of insecurity and arousal in the Strange Situation. Resistant and highly aroused children (B3-C2) were more fearful than avoidant and less aroused children (A1-B2). The analyses using discrete and continuous attachment scores produced converging results. The study informs the debate on early relationships, temperament, and attachment.

Individual differences in emotionality in infancy.

In this multimethod investigation of early emotionality, we observed 112 8- to 10-month-olds' responses to standard procedures consisting of multiple brief episodes that elicited joy, fear, anger, and discomfort to aversive stimulation. We obtained parental reports about the infants' temperament and observed their emotional tone during naturalistic interactions with their mothers. Parameters of emotional response to the standard procedures (latency, discrete behaviors, and average and peak intensity across facial, vocal, and bodily channels) cohered strongly within each episode. To a lesser extent and with the exception of anger, they also cohered across episodes targeting the same emotion. The four emotions appeared orthogonal, except for the peak intensity of response, which cohered modestly across the 3 negative emotions. The emotionality measures converged to some extent: responses to the standard procedures and father-reported temperament related meaningfully to the infant's emotional tone in mother-child interactions. As predicted, infants' capacity for focused or effortful attention was modestly associated with better modulated negative emotionality.

Implications of mothers' personality for their parenting and their young children's developmental outcomes.

Using a recent model (Watson, Clark, & Harkness, 1994), we examined implications of mothers' personality (N = 103) for parenting and children's developmental outcomes, using multiple personality self-reports, lengthy, repeated naturalistic observations, and mothers' reports about parenting and their child. Mothers high in negative emotionality and disagreeableness showed more negative affect and their children were more defiant and angry; they also reported more power-assertive and less nurturant parenting, as well as less secure attachment, more behavioral problems, and lower internalization of rules in their children. Mothers high in constraint and California Psychological Inventory (CPI) socialization reported more secure attachment and better internalization of rules; CPI socialization also correlated negatively with observed maternal verbal power assertion and children's defiance and anger, and positively with compliance. Regression analyses indicated that mothers' personality, particularly negative emotionality and socialization, influenced broadly conceptualized adaptive child outcomes, even after the influence of parenting was controlled.

Inhibitory control as a contributor to conscience in childhood: from toddler to early school age.

In this article we report a longitudinal extension of previous findings about the critical role of temperamental inhibitory or effortful control as the contributor to developing conscience in young children. A comprehensive observational battery, highly internally consistent, was developed to measure inhibitory control in 83 children at early school age who had been followed since toddlerhood and had been assessed using similar batteries at toddler and preschool age. We again confirmed the findings of robust longitudinal stability of inhibitory or effortful control, now from toddler to early school age, the increase with age, and gender differences, with girls outperforming boys. We also reaffirmed strong links, both contemporaneous and in the longitudinal sense, between inhibitory control and multiple, diverse measures of children's conscience at early school age, including observations of moral conduct, moral cognition, and moral self. The findings are discussed in view of the increasingly appreciated importance of temperament for critical aspects of socialization.

Multiple pathways to conscience for children with different temperaments: from toddlerhood to age 5.

This research extends longitudinally findings on child temperament as a moderator of the impact of socialization on conscience development, reported previously for contemporaneous data at toddler age. Children's temperament and maternal socialization at Time 1 (n = 103, aged 2-3 years) were considered predictors of future conscience, assessed using new observational and narrative measures. The moderation model was supported for predicting conscience at Time 2 (n = 99, age 4), and, to a lesser extent, at Time 3 (n = 90, age 5). For children fearful as toddlers, maternal gentle discipline, presumably capitalizing on the optimal level of anxious arousal, promoted conscience at Time 2. For children fearless as toddlers, perhaps insufficiently aroused by gentle discipline, alternative socialization mechanisms, presumably capitalizing on mother-child positive orientation (secure attachment, maternal responsiveness), promoted conscience at Times 2 and 3. Developmental interplay of temperament and socialization in emerging morality is discussed.

Mutually responsive orientation between mothers and their young children: implications for early socialization.

Parent-child mutually responsive, binding, reciprocal orientation, or a system of reciprocity has been implicated as fundamental in socialization, particularly by Maccoby, but it remains poorly understood. In this study, two posited components of such orientation, mother-child shared cooperation with each other and mother-child shared positive affect, were measured in multiple contexts of daily interactions using a combination of micro- and macroscopic behavioral coding systems, and subsequently aggregated. Mothers' self-reports were also used. Two implications of thus conceptualized mutually responsive orientation were examined: mothers' use of power in disciplinary interactions and children's degree of internalization of maternal rules, both assessed using multiple observational and mother-reported measures. Mothers and children were studied twice, when children were 26-41 months (Time 1, N = 103), and when they were 43-56 months (Time 2, N = 99). In the dyads high on the mutually responsive orientation (particularly those who maintained such orientation throughout early childhood), mothers resorted to less power and children were more internalized regarding maternal values and rules, in the contemporaneous and longitudinal sense. Mothers high on empathic perspective taking were more likely to establish a system of reciprocity with their children. The importance of such systems for social development is discussed.

Children's narratives about hypothetical moral dilemmas and objective measures of their conscience: mutual relations and socialization antecedents.

We explored children's conscience using narrative measures that utilized responses to hypothetical moral dilemmas and objective measures (observed moral conduct and mothers' reports). Children and mothers were studied at Time 1 (N = 103, 26-41 months) and at Time 2 (N = 99, 43-56 months). The first goal was to examine correspondence between both sets of measures. There were meaningful links between the narratives, administered at Time 2, and children's observed and mother-reported conscience at Times 1 and 2. Children who produced many antisocial narrative themes were less internalized, whereas children who produced many themes of commitment to and concern about good behavior were more internalized on the objective measures. The second goal was to test the prediction that maternal power assertion is detrimental to conscience. Children who experienced more power-assertive maternal discipline produced fewer themes of commitment to and concern about good behavior in their narratives and were more poorly internalized on observed and mother-reported measures at Time 1 and Time 2. Girls were more internalized on the narrative and objective conscience measures.

Inhibitory control in young children and its role in emerging internalization.

We examined inhibitory control as a quality of temperament that contributes to internalization. Children were assessed twice, at 26-41 months (N = 103) and at 43-56 months (N = 99), on repeated occasions, in multiple observational contexts and using parental reports. Comprehensive behavioral batteries incorporating multiple tasks were designed to measure inhibitory control at toddler and preschool age. They had good internal consistencies, corresponded with maternal ratings, and were developmentally sensitive. Individual children's performance was significantly correlated across both assessments, indicating stable individual differences. Girls surpassed boys at both ages. Children's internalization was observed while they were alone with prohibited objects, with a mundane chore, playing games that occasioned cheating, being induced to violate standards of conduct, and assessed using maternal reports. Inhibitory control was significantly associated with internalization, both contemporaneously and as a predictor in the longitudinal sense. The implications for considering children's temperament as a significant, yet often neglected contributor to developing internalization are discussed.

A longitudinal study of the roots of preschoolers' conscience: committed compliance and emerging internalization.

The focus of this study is the complex relation between compliance and internalization in childhood. It is a replication and a longitudinal extension of earlier work, where we distinguished between 2 forms of compliance: committed, when the child eagerly embraced and endorsed the mother's agenda, and situational, when the child was cooperative, but lacked the sincere commitment and feeling of internal obligation. 99 children, seen previously at 26-41 months, were studied again at 43-56 months. Compliance and internalization were assessed in multiple observational contexts and using maternal reports. As at toddler age, the 2 forms of compliance had distinctly different developmental trajectories, and again, only committed compliance was significantly associated with measures of internalization. Moreover, committed but not situational compliance at toddler age predicted internalization at preschool age. Shared positive affect within the mother-child dyad at toddler age predicted some measures of internalization at preschool age. Further evidence of significant differences in children's compliance to maternal "dos" versus "don'ts" is reported.

Function and content of maternal demands: developmental significance of early demands for competent action.

The sources and effects of mothers' demands upon children were examined during naturalistic interactions of 70 mothers and their 1 1/2-3 1/2-year-olds. Demands were categorized in terms of immediate function (e.g., do's vs. don'ts) and content area emphasized by mothers (e.g., competent action, appropriate behavior, caretaking). Children's age and oppositional behavior influenced the nature of mothers' demands. Mothers with authoritative child-rearing attitudes emphasized proactive, competence-oriented demands and avoided regulatory controls. Maternal demands for competent action (prosocial behavior, chores, cognitive/play) predicted enhanced compliance and fewer behavior problems at age 5. Demands focused on the regulation of personal and social behavior predicted more behavior problems at age 5. We propose that children's personal and social competence emerges from pressures for instrumentally competent behavior in a harmonious interactive context.

Maternal reports of conscience development and temperament in young children.

Multiple manifestations of emerging conscience, their development, organization, and links with temperament were studied in 171 21-70-month-old children. A new parental report instrument was designed to measure conscience, with good psychometric qualities and predictive of children's behaviors in a laboratory. For most aspects of conscience, the major developmental shifts occurred around age 3.2 components of early conscience emerged in factor analyses: Affective Discomfort, significantly higher for girls, that encompassed guilt, apology, concern about good feelings with the parent following wrongdoing, and empathy with others, and Active Moral Regulation/Vigilance, which included confession and reparation following wrongdoing, internalization of rules of conduct (self-regulation), and concern about others' wrongdoing. Children's temperament, assessed by maternal reports, was associated with conscience. Low impulsivity and high inhibitory control were associated with Active Moral Regulation/Vigilance for both sexes and, for girls only, also with Affective Discomfort. For girls, temperamental reactivity related positively to Affective Discomfort and negatively to Active Moral Regulation/Vigilance.