Publication Date

2020

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Bridgett, David J.

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

Effortful control (EC), the regulatory component of temperament, has important implications for children’s emotional, behavioral, and physical health. Greater infant attention regulation, a skill which develops prior to the emergence of EC, predicts better EC later in childhood. In addition, higher socioeconomic status (e.g., greater education, higher income) predicts better infant attention regulation and child EC. Negative parenting, characterized by intrusive, insensitive interactions with expressions of negative affect, has been found to predict poorer infant attention and child EC. Given these findings, the current study examined infant attention as a mediator between socioeconomic status, negative parenting, and toddler EC. A sample of 179 mother-infant dyads participated, and maternal and child characteristics were behaviorally coded. Evidence of mediation was not supported, as neither socioeconomic status nor negative parenting predicted infant attention. Infant attention and negative parenting demonstrated a trend-level relationship with EC, and females showed better EC compared to males. A discussion of these findings, strengths, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Extent

68 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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