Elucidating parent and child effects in paths to positive socialization

Developmental psychologists and psychopathologists have long been exploring the question of who has more influence in children’s socialization processes – the parent or the child. This work has evolved considerably since it began in earnest in the 1970’s, with most modern work adopting a transactional perspective in which both the parent and child are seen as influencing the socialization process. In particular, the transactional perspective involves the parent and child influencing each other over time, working either as adversaries towards negative outcomes or as a team to promote positive outcomes. Transactional perspectives can include a focus on parenting behaviors, parent-child relationships, and child temperament as factors which, in their complex interplay, influence children’s socialization outcomes. The five studies, presented in Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 respectively, aimed to contribute to this literature by highlighting various aspects of the socialization processes, examining specific roles of the parent, the child, their relationship, and child temperament. All five studies used data from two longitudinal datasets, almost exclusively based on behavioral observations, and all examined the processes of interest in mother- and father-child dyads.