MOTHERING, FATHERING, AND INFANT NEGATIVITY AS ANTECEDENTS OF BOYS EXTERNALIZING PROBLEMS AND INHIBITION AT AGE 3 YEARS - DIFFERENTIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY TO REARING EXPERIENCE

To examine the effects of infant negative emotionality and of motherin g and fathering during the toddler years on 3-year-old boys' externali zing problems and inhibition, as well as explore the proposition that children vary in their susceptibility to rearing influence, 125 first- born, Caucasian boys from maritally intact families were studied. Resu lts revealed that when infant negativity is measured with objective, r eplicable, and discriminantly valid procedures, no relation obtains be tween it and externalizing problems (nor inhibition). Moreover, as hyp othesized on the basis of prior work, parenting was a stronger predict or of externalizing problems and inhibition in the case of children wh o were highly negative as infants. Mothering proved a stronger predict or of externalizing problems and fathering of inhibition, with more ne gative mothering in the 2nd and 3rd year forecasting higher CBCL-exter nalizing scores and less negative fathering in the 2nd and 3rd year an d more positive fathering in the 2nd year forecasting more inhibition at age 3. Implications of these findings for studies of parental influ ence are considered.