Associations of Mother’s and Father’s Parenting Practices with Children’s Observed Social Reticence in a Competitive Situation: A Monozygotic Twin Difference Study

This study used the monozygotic (MZ) twin difference method to examine whether the unique environmental effects of maternal
and paternal overprotection and hostility at the age of 30 months predict twins’ observed social reticence in a competitive
situation in kindergarten, while controlling for the effect of family-wide influences, including genetic and shared environmental
factors, family socio-economical status and twin’s birth weight. It was also examined whether these associations are moderated
by parental depressive symptoms. Participants were 137 MZ twin pairs who were part of an ongoing longitudinal study. Hierarchical
linear regressions revealed that differences in maternal and paternal overprotection predicted differences in twins’ social
reticence, albeit only in boys. Differences in paternal hostile parenting predicted differences in girls’ reticent behavior,
but only when fathers showed high levels of depressive symptoms. Hence, overprotected boys, as well as girls confronted with
father’s hostility and depressive symptoms, may tend to withdraw rather than face the challenge when experiencing difficult
social situations such as competition. The results from the present study suggest that targeting maladaptive maternal as well
as paternal child-rearing practices and psychopathology early on may be useful for reducing later internalizing behavior in
the offspring.