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Josh Zollman 4/11/13 Article Paper #2: Parenting and Emotional Development

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Emotional development is a key part of the overall development of children and is connected to a wide variety of other developmental processes. It has ties to self-understanding and the understanding of others, childrens abilities to evaluate people and their external environment, maturation on a psychobiological level, selfcontrol, social interaction, and awareness of social rules (Borstein, 2011). Emotional development is also highly related to the development of temperament, as temperament is predictive of future personality characteristics relating to emotion. For example, studies have demonstrated that infants temperamental reactions to stimuli can predict their emotional tendencies later in life (Borstein, 2011). While temperament characteristics such as behavioral inhibition, positive emotionality, effortful control, and activity are all fairly stable over months or even years, they do have the capacity to change fairly dramatically in certain circumstances (Borstein, 2011). One study, conducted by Jay Belsky, Sam Putnam, and Keith Crnic, shows that the quality and type of parenting can have significant effects on the temperament and emotional development of children (Belsky et. al., 1996). This study, called Coparenting, Parenting, and Early Emotional Development demonstrated that the extent to which the parents of children supported or undermined each other in parenting situations had significant implications on the behavioral inhibition of children later in life (Belsky et. al., 1996). In the introduction of the article, the authors discuss a prior study in which researchers investigated positive and negative emotionality and behavioral inhibition of one and three year-olds. The results of this study showed that infants

Zollman 3 who scored highest in negative emotionality and lowest in positive emotionality were the most inhibited at age three (Belsky et. al., 1996) The researchers wanted to build upon these findings to determine the role that parents played in the development of behaviorally inhibited characteristics. They carried out further studies, and contrary to their hypotheses, found that boys ended up less inhibited than they otherwise would have if they had fathers that displayed negative parenting practices including being insensitive and intrusive (Belsky et. al., 1996). These findings didnt surprise me a whole lot, since it seems intuitive that negative parenting practices would lead towards children being less inhibited (and consequently more aggressive). The researchers then hypothesized that copartenting, or the extent to which parents work together, would have an effect on inhibition later on (Belsky et. al., 1996). In order to test this hypothesis, the researchers divided children into three groups. The researchers assigned children that were significantly less inhibited than their temperament at age one would have predicted to one group, children who were significantly more inhibited than would have been expected to another group, and a control group of children whose temperament measured as expected. The researchers then observed and coded the child and parent interactions at home for eight-hour periods to measure the amount of coparenting processes taking place at home. The results showed that less cooperation between parents while in the presence of the child made it less likely for the child to be as inhibited by age three as would have been expected based on their emotionality measured in infancy (Belsky et. al., 1996).

Zollman 4 While I found that the study was well designed, it seems fairly possible that a confounding variable other than coparenting could have lead children to become more or less behaviorally inhibited. For example, in households where coparenting is low, it seems likely that more arguing between parents could be taking place. It could actually be this arguingand the emotional distress that comes with itthat leads to lower levels of behavioral inhibition, not levels of coparenting itself. I think that these potential confounding variables should have been emphasized in the discussion section of the article. It is worth noting, however, that the researchers did acknowledge that this study only demonstrated a correlational relationshipnot a causal one. The results of this study are important because it is one of the first studies demonstrating the relationship parenting processes and changing trajectories in the development of behavioral inhibition (Belsky et. al., 1996). Behavioral inhibition is also a concept that we discussed fairly extensively in lecture. We watched and discussed a video clip in class that discussed a study showing that infants exhibiting motor tension are more likely to develop inhibited and shy characteristics. In contrast, calm infants were found to be less behaviorally inhibited. These findings complement the findings of the coparenting study well, as both studies demonstrate that high levels of behavioral inhibition can be predicted from a wide variety of factors, starting from infancy. Uncovering the varying ways that parenting practices effect childrens emotional development is a key step for determining which parenting practices should be used with children. This study provided evidence that coparenting

Zollman 5 processes are beneficial for the emotional development of children. Our textbook also argues for the importance of parent-child relationships, as it states that troubled parent-child relationships can lead to significant emotional turmoil and negative effects on emotional development (Borstein, 2011). While our discussion on emotional development during lecture was cut short, I read over the lecture notes and found that they offered extensive information about parenting practices and their effects on emotional development. According to the lecture notes, being aware of the childs emotions, using emotion as an opportunity for learning, assisting the child in his or her labeling of emotions, empathizing with confirming the childs emotions, and helping the child problem solve are all forms of emotion coaching that promote healthy emotional development. Furthermore other research has shown that negative reinforcement, physically harsh discipline practices, and physical abuse can negatively affect emotional development and are risk factors for aggressive conduct problems later in later years (Dodge and Pettit 2003). As a whole, this article revealed important findings about the effects of parenting techniques on the emotional development of children. This study, as well as the others that recognize parents as key role-players in the emotional development of children, go a long way towards ensuring that the parent-child relationship is one that facilitates healthy development.

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Belsky, J., Putnam, S., Crnic, K. (1996). Coparenting, parenting, and early emotional development. 74. 45-55. Bornstein, M.H., Lamb, M.E. (2011) Developmental Science, An Advanced Textbook. Psychology Press. Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. A. (2003). A Biopsychosocial Model of the Development of Chronic Conduct Problems in Adolescence. American Psychological Association. 39. 349-371.