EARLY PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS AND LATER PROBLEM BEHAVIOR - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

Attachment security with mothers and fathers, parental behavior, and c hild behavior with parents were assessed when children were ages 18-24 months, and parent and teacher reports of problem behavior were compl eted when the children were in the first grade, ages 6 years, 4 months to 7 years, 5 months. Findings indicated that the mother-child relati onship predicted later problem behavior; the father-child relationship did not. Different patterns of association emerged for the three aspe cts of the mother-child relationship: attachment security predicted lo w total problem scores at home; maternal acceptance predicted low tota l problem scores at home and school; and children's sharing behavior p redicted low externalizing scores at home and school. Multiple regress ions indicated that attachment security, maternal acceptance, and chil d behavior contribute unique variance in predicting problem behavior, thereby suggesting that these aspects of the parent-child relationship , and their developmental consequences, are partly distinct from one a nother.