Relations among positive parenting, children's effortful control, and externalizing problems: A three-wave longitudinal study

In a 3-wave longitudinal study (with assessments 2 years apart) involving 186 early adolescents (M ages of approximately 9.3, 11.4, and 13.4), the hypothesis that parental warmth/positive expressivity predicts children's effortful control (EC) (a temperamental characteristic contributing to emotion regulation) 2 years later, which in turn predicts low levels of externalizing problems another 2 years later, was examined. The hypothesis that children's EC predicts parenting over time was also examined. Parents were observed interacting with their children; parents and teachers reported children's EC and externalizing problems; and children's persistence was assessed behaviorally. Children's EC mediated the relation between positive parenting and low levels of externalizing problems (whereas there was no evidence that children's EC predicted parenting).