CHILDHOOD TEMPERAMENT AND MOTHERS CHILD-REARING ATTITUDES - STABILITYAND INTERACTION IN A 3-YEAR FOLLOW-UP-STUDY

Stability and interactions between children's behavioural styles (i.e. the temperament dimensions sociability, negative emotionality, and ac tivity) and maternal child-rearing attitudes were studies in a random sample of 507 three-year-old children over a three-year interval. Stru ctural equation modelling indicated low to moderate stability for chil dren's temperament dimensions and mothers' child-rearing attitudes. In addition, gender-specific interactions were found. In boys, negative emotionality and low sociability potentiated a strict disciplinary sty le of the mother, whereas activity was more likely to be stimulated by a mother's low tolerance towards the child. By contrast, in girls a m other's strict disciplinary style predicted negative emotionality and low sociability, whereas the girl's activity predicted a strict discip linary style of the mother. These findings underline the close interac tion between temperament and mothering during childhood. (C) 1997 by J ohn Wiley & Sons, Ltd.