Bridging parental attachment insecurity, social cognition, parenting, and temperament to elucidate the origins of antisocial orientation in preschoolers.

Abstract

One pathway to children's antisocial orientations implicates a longitudinal sequence from parents' attachment insecurity to their hostile representations of the child (Internal Working Models, IWMs) to negative parenting. The relevant research, however, is subject to limitations. One, although parts of that path have been robustly supported, few studies have formally examined the entire longitudinal cascade. Two, the pertinent studies have rarely considered child temperament. In a study of 200 families (mothers, fathers, and children), we examined whether the path from parental insecurity in infancy, to parental hostile IWMs of the child, to negative parenting, both at toddler age, to children's antisocial orientation at preschool age was moderated by children's toddler-age temperament. For mothers and children, the path was found only for children with highly difficult temperaments. Research bridging frameworks informed by attachment theory, social cognitive representations, parenting, and temperament can enhance our understanding of early origins of antisocial outcomes.