Cool and hot effortful control moderate how parenting predicts child internalization in Chinese families

Abstract

Internalization of external rules is a behavioral manifestation of moral development during childhood, and its development has come to be understood from the view of a complex parenting-by-temperament process. To examine this developmental process, the current research investigated how maternal parenting behaviors and child effortful control foretell internalization throughout early to middle childhood with two longitudinal samples of Chinese mother–child dyads. In Study 1 (N = 226), maternal respect for autonomy and negative control during free plays at 15 months of age were observed. At 25 months, child cool and hot effortful control were measured with a Stroop-like categorization task and an externally imposed delay task. At 37 months, observed internalization of maternal rules was assessed. Results showed that for toddlers with high levels of cool effortful control, maternal respect for autonomy positively predicted later internalization. In Study 2 (N = 88), maternal respect for autonomy and negative control during free plays at 38 months of age were coded. At 60 months, child cool and hot effortful control were measured with a Stroop-like inhibition task and a delay-of-gratification task. Observed internalization of maternal and experimenter rules and mother-reported internalization in everyday life were assessed at 60 and 84 months. Results showed that for children low on either cool or hot effortful control, maternal respect for autonomy negatively predicted later internalization during childhood. Together, the current findings support an age-relevant goodness-of-fit model for internalization development in Chinese children throughout the first 7 years of life.