The Relationship between Parental Discipline Style and Preschoolers' Conscience : The Moderating Role of Fearfulness

The study examined the moderating role of fearfulness on the relation between parental discipline styles and preschoolers' conscience. It also investigated the relationship between parental discipline styles and conscience and the relationship between a child's fearfulness and conscience. A sample of 250 parents of children aged between three and six (126 boys and 124 girls) completed the questionnaires on parental discipline style, preschoolers' conscience, and their fearfulness. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficients and hierarchical regression analysis. Results showed that young children displayed greater actions of reparation and apology when mothers did not neglect and practiced reasoning. The more coercive punishment mothers practiced, the less internalized conduct children showed. In addition, the neglecting discipline style of fathers and the reasoning style of mothers had a significant negative and positive influence, respectively, on children's guilt. The results also showed that fearfulness of children had significant positive effects on their actions of reparation and apology and guilt. Finally, fearfulness moderated influences of mothers' coercive punishment on actions of reparation and apology and fathers' reasoning on internalized conducts. Only fearful children showed not only more actions of reparation and apology when fathers had coercive discipline style but also more internalized behavior when mothers had reasoning discipline style. These results emphasize mutual influences between parental roles and children's personal traits on conscience development in early childhood.