Interactive Effects Between Maternal Parenting and Negative Emotionality on Social Functioning Among Very Young Chinese Children

Research Findings: This study examined how child negative emotionality interacted with mothers’ self-reported parenting in predicting different aspects of social functioning among very young Chinese children. A total of 109 Chinese nursery children in Hong Kong participated with their parents. Maternal supportive and aversive parenting practices were reported by mothers, and child negative emotionality and social functioning were reported by both mothers and fathers. The results revealed interaction effects between child negative emotionality and mothers’ self-reported parenting on children’s internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and social-emotional skill deficiency. Specifically, children with high negative emotionality were more susceptible to the negative effects of aversive parenting (i.e., showing more internalizing and externalizing problems when exposed to aversive parenting) than their peers with low negative emotionality. Negative emotionality also placed young children at risk for social-emotional skill deficiency, especially when they received less support from their mothers compared to their peers. Practice or Policy: Special attention should be paid to the social functioning of Chinese children with higher levels of negative emotionality, because these children are more vulnerable to poor-quality parenting at a very young age.