Infant Emotionality, Parenting, and 3-Year Inhibition

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association 1998;36(4):19-34.

논문 : 영아기 정서성 및 부모의 양육행동에 따른 3세 아동의 행동억제

박성연

이화여자대학교 가정대학 소비자.인간발달학과

Infant Emotionality, Parenting, and 3-Year Inhibition

박성연

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine early emotionality and mothering and fathering antecedents of inhibition of children at age 3 years in a sample of 100 children(51 boys; 49 girls). In order to assess child's behavioral inhibition and mothering, the behaviors of each child-mother dyad was videotaped in a structured lab situation. Data on Fathering behavior were gathered through questionnaires. 2X2ANOVA, Hierachical Regression Analyses and Fisher's Z test were conducted for the statistical analyses. The main results were as follows; 1) Only small portion of the variance in subsequent inhibition could be explained by early emotionality(i.e.negative, positive, and the interaction of both emotionality). 2) High negativity coupled with low positivity in infancy predicted high inhibition especially for girls. 3) In general, sensitive mothering and appropriateness of mothers' response were related to child's low inhibition, while parental intrusiveness and negative affect increased child's inhibition. 4) Mothering appeared more influential in the case of children who showed low positivity during infancy. The importance of distinguishing positive and negative emotionality in infancy and studying parental behavior to predict child's inhibition were discussed.