The Joint Contribution of Early Parental Warmth, Communication and Tracking, and Early Child Conduct Problems on Monitoring in Late Childhood

Abstract

The relationship of parental warmth, communication, and tracking (WCT), and child conduct problems in early elementary school (age 5.5 years) to monitoring in late elementary school (age 9.5 years) was longitudinally examined in a sample of 267 boys and girls. WCT in kindergarten was associated with lower kindergarten levels and less growth of conduct problems into the first grade, and was prospectively associated with effective monitoring in the third and fourth grades. Overt and covert conduct problems in kindergarten and growth in covert problems during kindergarten and first grade were associated with less effective later monitoring. Early conduct problems mediated the prospective association of WCT on later monitoring. The results are described in a transactional model of parent-child relationships and child problem behavior.