Parental Negative Talk, Child Negative Affect, and Parent Personality in the Development of Aggression in Preschoolers

Author

Emily Catherine Pali, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

8-1-2024

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

DiLalla, Lisabeth

Abstract

The goal of this dissertation was to examine environmental and biologically-based factors in parents and children that influence child aggression in a non-clinical sample. Externalizing problems are common in childhood and can persist into adolescence and adulthood. If not addressed, externalizing problems can have lasting and costly effects on families and society. Negative parenting and child temperament, specifically negative emotionality, may play a role in the development of child aggression. This study sought to investigate the influence of parental negative talk and child negative emotionality on childhood aggression in 4- and 5-year-old children and examining parent personality as a moderating factor in this process. The sample consisted of 174 twins and triplets and their parents that were recruited from the Southern Illinois Twins/Triplets and Siblings Study (SITTS). Parent negative talk and child aggression were examined during a 10-minute parent-child interaction task, and parent personality and child temperament were assessed via parent-completed questionnaires. Data were analyzed using multilevel regression modeling. Results indicated that parental negative talk and child aggression significantly predicted one another at a single point in time, but do not predict to later levels (e.g., age 4 negative talk predicted age 4 aggression, but not age 5 aggression). Negative talk was shown to be stable between ages 4 and 5. For children low in negative affect, high levels of aggression persisted from age 4 to age 5, whereas this was not true for children high in negative affect. However, children high in negative temperament dimensions were more susceptible to parental negative talk, and children with high temperamental negativity displayed more aggression when they received high levels of negative talk at both age 4 and age 5. Further, child negative temperament and parental neuroticism were correlated. Parents high in neuroticism displayed more negative talk when their children were engaging in more aggression; however, they displayed less negative talk than parents low in neuroticism when their children were engaging in low levels of aggression. Overall, these results have implications for clinical practice in working with children and their families seeking services for aggression at young ages.