Pathways to conscience: early mother-child mutually responsive orientation and children's moral emotion, conduct, and cognition.

BACKGROUND Associations between early mother-child mutually responsive orientation (MRO) and children's conscience have been previously established, but the mechanisms accounting for those links are not understood. We examined three such mediational mechanisms: (a) the child's enhanced enjoyment of interactions with the mother, (b) increased committed, self-regulated compliance with the mother, and/or (c) a decreased need for maternal use of power assertion. Children's conscience was seen as a complex system encompassing moral emotion (guilt), conduct, and cognition. METHODS In a longitudinal design, MRO was observed in mothers' and children's multiple naturalistic interactions at 9, 14, and 22 months. The mediators were observed at 33 months. Children's conscience was observed at 45 months (moral emotion) and at 56 months (moral conduct and cognition). RESULTS The mediating paths were different for the three components of conscience. MRO had a direct, unmediated effect on moral emotion. MRO influenced moral conduct through two mediational paths: by promoting the child's enjoyment of interactions with the mother and by enhancing committed compliance. MRO influenced moral cognition by promoting the child's enjoyment of mother-child interactions. Maternal power assertion did not mediate the relation between MRO and conscience once the influence of the other mediators was considered. CONCLUSIONS The impact of the early mother-child relationship on future conscience appears to be a complex process that progresses along distinct paths.

[1]  Eleanor E. Maccoby,et al.  The Role of Parents in the Socialization of Children: An Historical Overview. , 1992 .

[2]  Marinus H. van IJzendoorn.  Attachment, Emergent Morality, and Aggression: Toward a Developmental Socioemotional Model of Antisocial Behaviour , 1997, International Journal of Behavioral Development.

[3]  S. Petrill,et al.  Parent-child dyadic mutuality and child behavior problems: an investigation of gene-environment processes. , 2004, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[4]  K. Keenan,et al.  Developmental Precursors of Externalizing Behavior : Ages 1 to 3 , 2004 .

[5]  H. Lytton.  Parent-Child Interaction: The Socialization Process Observed in Twin and Singleton Families , 1980 .

[6]  H. Reis,et al.  The relationship context of human behavior and development. , 2000, Psychological bulletin.

[7]  Ruth K. Chao,et al.  Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting style: understanding Chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training. , 1994, Child development.

[8]  G. Kochanska,et al.  Children's emerging regulation of conduct: restraint, compliance, and internalization from infancy to the second year. , 1998, Child development.

[9]  G. Kochanska.  Committed compliance, moral self, and internalization: a mediational model. , 2002, Developmental psychology.

[10]  Z. Biringen,et al.  The moral self of infancy: Affective core and procedural knowledge , 1991 .

[11]  W. Hartup,et al.  Relationships as developmental contexts , 1999 .

[12]  E. Waters,et al.  Learning to love: Mechanisms and milestones. , 1991 .

[13]  G R Patterson,et al.  A developmental perspective on antisocial behavior. , 1989, The American psychologist.

[14]  L. Rocissano,et al.  Dyadic synchrony and toddler compliance. , 1987 .

[15]  Edward L. Deci,et al.  Internalization within the family: The self-determination theory perspective. , 1997 .

[16]  D. Cicchetti,et al.  Child compliance/noncompliance and maternal contributors to internalization in maltreating and nonmaltreating dyads. , 2000, Child development.

[17]  S. Petrill,et al.  Nonshared environmental processes in social‐emotional development: an observational study of identical twin differences in the preschool period , 2001 .

[18]  Edward L. Deci,et al.  Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation , 2000 .

[19]  I. Bretherton,et al.  Attachment and the transmission of values. , 1997 .

[20]  G. Kochanska,et al.  Mother-child mutually responsive orientation and conscience development: from toddler to early school age. , 2000, Child development.

[21]  T. Dix,et al.  The affective organization of parenting: adaptive and maladaptive processes. , 1991, Psychological bulletin.

[22]  G. Kochanska,et al.  Mutually responsive orientation between mothers and their young children: implications for early socialization. , 1997, Child development.

[23]  D. Watson,et al.  Cross-cultural convergence in the structure of mood: A Japanese replication and a comparison with U.S. findings , 1984 .

[24]  D. Bugental,et al.  Acquisition of the algorithms of social life: a domain-based approach. , 2000, Psychological bulletin.

[25]  K. Lay,et al.  Maternal responsiveness and child compliance: the role of mood as a mediator. , 1989, Child development.

[26]  G. Kochanska,et al.  Individual differences in emotionality in infancy. , 1998, Child development.

[27]  D. Laible,et al.  Mother-child discourse, attachment security, shared positive affect, and early conscience development. , 2000, Child development.

[28]  J. Grusec,et al.  Attribution, reinforcement, and altruism: A developmental analysis. , 1980 .

[29]  E. Maccoby,et al.  Socialization In The Context Of The Family: Parent-Child Interaction , 1983 .

[30]  C. Zahn-Waxler,et al.  The origins of guilt. , 1988, Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation.

[31]  M. Westerman.  Coordination of Maternal Directives with Preschoolers' Behavior in Compliance-Problem and Healthy Dyads. , 1990 .

[32]  J. P. Rushton,et al.  Behavioral Development and Construct Validity: The Principle of Aggregation , 1983 .

[33]  R. Parke,et al.  Socialization in the Family: Ethnic and Ecological Perspectives , 2007 .

[34]  E. E. Maccoby,et al.  Maternal Responsiveness and Subsequent Child Compliance. , 1985 .

[35]  W. Hartup.  Social relationships and their developmental significance. , 1989 .

[36]  R. Blair.  Moral reasoning and the child with psychopathic tendencies , 1997 .

[37]  Ross A. Thompson,et al.  The legacy of early attachments. , 2000, Child development.

[38]  A. Harrist,et al.  Dyadic Synchrony: Its Structure and Function in Children's Development. , 2002 .

[39]  N. Miller,et al.  Positive mood and helping behavior: a test of six hypotheses. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[40]  Nazan Aksan,et al.  Mother‐Child Mutually Positive Affect, the Quality of Child Compliance to Requests and Prohibitions, and Maternal Control as Correlates of Early Internalization , 1995 .

[41]  G. Kochanska,et al.  Children's narratives about hypothetical moral dilemmas and objective measures of their conscience: mutual relations and socialization antecedents. , 1996, Child development.

[42]  G. Kochanska,et al.  Toward a synthesis of parental socialization and child temperament in early development of conscience. , 1993 .

[43]  J. C. Schwarz,et al.  Affective state and preference for immediate versus delayed reward , 1974 .

[44]  P. Fry.  Affect and Resistance to Temptation. , 1975 .

[45]  R. Sears,et al.  Identification and child rearing , 1966 .

[46]  E. E. Maccoby.  The Uniqueness of the Parent-Child Relationship , 1999 .

[47]  N. Eisenberg-Berg,et al.  The Relationship of Preschoolers' Reasoning about Prosocial Moral Conflicts to Prosocial Behavior. , 1979 .

[48]  J. Kagan.  Biology and the child. , 1998 .

[49]  G. Kochanska,et al.  A longitudinal study of the roots of preschoolers' conscience: committed compliance and emerging internalization. , 1995, Child development.

[50]  Charlotte Wilson,et al.  The Role of Mother–Child Joint Play in the Early Development of Children's Conduct Problems: A Longitudinal Observational Study , 2003 .

[51]  L. Sroufe,et al.  Continuity of Adaptation in the Second Year : The Relationship Between Quality of Attachment and Later Competence , 2005 .

[52]  John A. Martin.  A longitudinal study of the consequences of early mother–infant interaction: A microanalytic approach. , 1981 .

[53]  M. May,et al.  Studies in the nature of character, [part] 1: Studies in deceit: book 1, General methods and results; book 2, Statistical methods and results. , 1930 .

[54]  K. E. Nichols,et al.  Guilt in young children: development, determinants, and relations with a broader system of standards. , 2002, Child Development.

[55]  D. Baumrind.  Rejoinder to Lewis's reinterpretation of parental firm control effects: Are authoritative families really harmonious? , 1983 .

[56]  G. Nunner-Winkler.  The growth of moral motivation , 1993 .

[57]  G. Kochanska,et al.  The development of self-regulation in the first four years of life. , 2001, Child development.

[58]  B. K. Bryant,et al.  Correlates and dimensions of prosocial behavior: a study of female siblings with their mothers. , 1980, Child development.

[59]  R. Hogan,et al.  Infant obedience and maternal behavior: the origins of socialization reconsidered. , 1971, Child development.

[60]  M. Bornstein,et al.  Contemporary research on parenting. The case for nature and nurture. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[61]  J. Belsky.  Interactional and contextual determinants of attachment security. , 1999 .

[62]  G. Kochanska.  Mutually Responsive Orientation Between Mothers and Their Young Children: A Context for the Early Development of Conscience , 2002 .

[63]  M. Main,et al.  Security of attachment, compliance, and maternal training methods in the second year of life. , 1981 .

[64]  R. Hinde.  Towards understanding relationships , 1979 .

[65]  Hugh Lytton,et al.  Parent-Child Interaction: The Socialization Process Observed in Twin and Singleton Families , 1980 .

[66]  D. Hay,et al.  Prosocial development. , 1994, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[67]  G. Kochanska,et al.  Maternal reports of conscience development and temperament in young children. , 1994, Child development.

[68]  Daniel S. Shaw,et al.  Mother–Son Positive Synchrony in Middle Childhood: Relation to Antisocial Behavior , 2003 .

[69]  Jacqueline J. Goodnow,et al.  Impact of parental discipline methods on the child's internalization of values: A reconceptualization of current points of view. , 1994 .

[70]  M. Clark.  Record keeping in two types of relationships. , 1984, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[71]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[72]  E. Deci,et al.  Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[73]  Ross A. Thompson,et al.  Early sociopersonality development. , 1998 .

[74]  N. Darling,et al.  Parenting Style as Context: An Integrative Model , 1993 .

[75]  K. Deater-Deckard,et al.  Parent-child mutuality in early childhood: two behavioral genetic studies. , 2000, Developmental psychology.

[76]  A. Isen,et al.  Affect and Social Behavior. , 1991 .

[77]  M. Ainsworth,et al.  Individual Differences in Strange-Situational Behaviour of One-Year-Olds. , 1969 .

[78]  Marinus H. van IJzendoorn,et al.  Sensitivity and Attachment: A Meta‐Analysis on Parental Antecedents of Infant Attachment , 1997 .

[79]  M. Rothbart,et al.  Temperament and social behavior in childhood , 1994 .

[80]  C. Zahn-Waxler,et al.  Children's prosocial disposition and behavior , 1983 .

[81]  David T. Lykken,et al.  The Antisocial Personalities , 1995 .

[82]  R. Burton.  GENERALITY OF HONESTY RECONSIDERED. , 1963, Psychological review.

[83]  Christopher T. Barry,et al.  Callous-unemotional traits and developmental pathways to severe conduct problems. , 2003, Developmental Psychology.

[84]  G. Kochanska,et al.  Implications of the mother-child relationship in infancy for socialization in the second year of life , 1999 .

[85]  R. Cialdini,et al.  13 – Effects of Mood on Prosocial Behavior in Children and Adults , 1982 .

[86]  G. S. Pettit,et al.  Physical discipline among African American and European American mothers: Links to children's externalizing behaviors. , 1996 .

[87]  K. E. Nichols,et al.  Maternal power assertion in discipline and moral discourse contexts: commonalities, differences, and implications for children's moral conduct and cognition. , 2003, Developmental psychology.