Children's negative emotionality moderates influence of parenting styles on preschool classroom adjustment

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Child aggression Child sex Child temperament Parenting style Pre-kindergarten Teacher–child relationship quality This investigation utilized a subsample from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (N = 1101) to examine how profiles of maternal behaviors at 36-months were associated with children's classroom aggression and teacher–child relationship quality in pre-kindergarten. Based upon observed behaviors, we identified three distinct profiles of parenting categorized as sensitive, harsh, and detached. Results revealed significant main effects of the detached parenting profile on both dimensions of children's classroom functioning in pre-kindergarten. These main effects were not moderated by child sex. The main effects were moderated by child negative emo-tionality, suggesting a promotive effect of sensitive parenting for children with low negative emotionality. Children exposed to detached parenting had the poorest teacher–child relationships, regardless of emotionality. These findings demonstrate through use of a person-centered approach how parenting behaviors relate to con-textual risks and characteristics, and to children's later relationships with teachers and classmates in pre-kindergarten. The positive association between sensitive, responsive maternal par-enting behaviors and children's early socioemotional functioning is well In general, parenting that is characterized by supportive, responsive and warm in-teractional qualities, promotes optimal socioemotional development This positive parenting may be particularly instrumental for children's wellbeing in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations because the stressors associated with poverty threaten to undermine the development of healthy socioemotional functioning (Demo However, very few studies have identified the unique profiles of parent-ing behaviors utilized by mothers from low-income families, or how these profiles of parenting behaviors are linked to children's socio-emotional wellbeing in other contexts, such as the pre-kindergarten classroom. Additionally, children's biologically-based characteristics, such as sex and temperament, interact with the parenting environment To address these issues, the present study utilized data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHSRE) to examine profiles of maternal parenting behaviors at 36-months, children's subsequent socioemotional development in pre-kindergarten, and variations due to child sex and negative emotionality. The guiding framework for this study is an ecological and dynamic model of transition (EDMT; Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2000), a variation of ecological systems theory (e.g., Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) that conceptualizes the dynamic interplay between the child and his/ her multiple ecological contexts, with a focus on the transition to school. Specifically, this model proposes that children are engaged in proximal processes in both family and school contexts (as …