Transactional Links Between Parenting and Big Two Personality Traits Across Early Adolescence: Between- and Within-Family Effects.

Abstract

It is well established that parenting bears a strong link with the development of personality traits among adolescents. However, studies that examine the reciprocal associations between changes in parenting and the Big Two personality traits (i.e., extraversion and neuroticism) of adolescence are lacking. The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal transactional links between three dimensions of parenting (i.e., parental support, psychological control, and harsh punishment) and the Big Two personality traits during early adolescence. The study applied a four-wave longitudinal approach with each wave being 12 months apart. Participants were 3307 Chinese youth (43.6% girls, Mage = 11.30 years, SD = 0.24). The results of cross-lagged panel modeling supported the significant bidirectional relations between these three parenting practices and adolescent extraversion and neuroticism at the between-family level. The within-person level analysis of random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling found that parental harsh punishment significantly predicted youth neuroticism (but not vice versa) and psychological control significantly predicted both extraversion (but not vice versa) and neuroticism (and vice versa). Sex differences were observed in the bidirectional relation between harsh punishment and neuroticism at the between-family level and in the longitudinal relation between psychological control and neuroticism at the within-family level. These results suggest that the linkages between parenting and adolescent personality traits can be understood to be advanced by both the between-family and within-family approaches that may provide greater support for causal inferences.