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.
Conclusion
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.