| There has been considerable interest over the past 30 years in early childhood temperament as it relates to personality development and the occurrence of behavioral problems. Additionally, researchers have focused on parenting style as a way to understand the environmental factors which affect the developing child. Although much has been discovered about the impact of child temperament characteristics and parenting style as independent variables, little research has been done on the interaction between child temperament and parenting style. This study investigated a sample of 51 preschool aged children for whom longitudinal temperament data was available. The focus of the study was on how parenting style affects child temperament in the years between infancy and toddlerhood as well as what effect parenting style has on the development of behavioral difficulties in the preschool years. Change scores were computed for temperament at 4 and 18 months and found to be related to parenting style. Results indicate that 'Authoritarian' parents had infants who became less extreme in their energy level as toddlers. Additionally, it was found that children whose energy escalated from infancy to toddlerhood and those who became less adaptable over this time period, evidenced more problematic behavior issues at the preschool age level. Differences between fast- and slow-adjusting toddlers were found on both the Externalizing and Internalizing factors of the Child Adaptive Behavior Inventory (CABI) with slow-adjusting toddlers tending to become more aggressive than fast-adjusters, especially if their parents were 'Authoritarian.' Slow-adjusting toddlers also evidenced higher scores than fast-adjusting toddlers on the Externalizing-hyperactive factor as well as the Internalizing-anxious and depressed factor of the CABI, suggesting that differences in temperament at the toddler period has an effect on subsequent behavioral difficulties at the preschool period. In addition, parenting style was found to have a differential effect on the Internalizing factor of the CABI: for both low and high energy toddlers, scores on the Internalizing-anxious and depressed factor were significantly higher when they had 'Permissive' parents, as compared to toddlers with 'Authoritarian' or 'Other' parents. |