University of Groningen The mediational role of parenting on the longitudinal relation between child personality and externalizing behavior Prinzie,

Building on prior cross-sectional work, this longitudinal study evaluated the proposition that maternal and paternal overreactive and authoritative parenting mediates the effect of child personality characteristics on externalizing behavior. Data from the Flemish Study on Parenting, Personality, and Problem Behavior were used in a moderated mediation analysis (N5 434). Teachers rated children’s Big Five characteristics, fathers and mothers rated their parenting, and 3 years later, children rated their externalizing behavior. Mediational analysis revealed both direct and indirect effects. Higher levels of Extraversion and lower levels of Benevolence were related directly to higher levels of child externalizing behavior. Higher levels of paternal authoritative parenting and lower levels of maternal overreactivity were related to lower scores on externalizing behavior. In addition, the relation between Benevolence, Emotional Stability, and externalizing behavior was partially mediated by parental overreactivity. Conscientiousness had an indirect effect on externalizing behavior through paternal authoritative parenting. Relations were not moderated by child gender. This study is of theoretical interest because the results demonstrate that parenting is a mediating mechanism that accounts for associations between personality and externalizing behavior. Externalizing behavior begins early in life (Patterson, DeBaryshe, & Ramsey, 1989) and is quite stable (Prinzie, Onghena, & Hellinckx, 2006), with about half of the children continuing to have behavior problems beyond school years (Campbell, 1995). Children’s externalizing behavior is a strong precursor of a variety of problems in Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Peter Prinzie, Department of Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.140, 3508TC Utrecht, The Netherlands. Email: p.prinzie@uu.nl. Journal of Personality 78:4, August 2010 r 2010, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation r 2010, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010. 00651.x adolescence and adulthood (e.g., criminality, alcoholism, and emotional problems; e.g., Caspi, Elder, & Bem, 1987). Connections between personality characteristics and externalizing behavior in children and adolescents have frequently been reported (Nigg, 2006; Tackett, 2006). However, despite the occurrence of significant relationships between personality and problem behavior, a thorough understanding of the processes that may explain these relationships is lacking. The majority of research to date has been purely correlational, seeking to identify relationships but not necessarily to understand and explain them (Tackett, 2006). Further, a lot of findings are based on a particular personality trait, rather than on multivariate approaches, hampering a more comprehensive picture of the relationships between personality characteristics and externalizing behavior. Finally, a majority of research focused on boys (e.g., Patterson, Reid, & Dishion, 1992) and is primarily based on mother ratings (e.g., Loeber, Green, Lahey, Frick, & McBurnett, 2000). In the present study, we attempt to address these limitations. The overall aim is to elucidate processes that may explain the relation between personality and externalizing behavior using a longitudinal perspective. More specifically, we tested whether the effects of child personality on externalizing behavior, measured 3 years later, are (partially) mediated by different forms of parenting (overreactive and authoritative parenting). In addition, fathers as well as mothers rated their parenting behavior. Paternal parenting has been found to contribute uniquely, that is, in addition to maternal parenting, to the development of children and adolescents (e.g., Denham et al., 2000; Neiderhiser, Reiss, Lichtenstein, Spotts, & Ganiban, 2007; Verlaan & Schwartzman, 2002). Finally, our study included boys as well as girls, which offers the possibility to test whether the relations between personality, parenting, and externalizing behavior were moderated by child gender. There is a growing consensus (Caspi & Shiner, 2006; Shiner & Caspi, 2003) that the broad spectrum of personality traits in children can be measured by the Five-Factor Model (FFM), also known as the Big Five (i.e., Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness). Researchers have examined several models linking personality and (mal)adjustment (for a review, see Shiner & Caspi, 2003; Tackett, 2006). The most investigated model, the vulnerability or predisposition model, hypothesizes that a child’s personality affects the risk for the onset and maintenance of problem 1302 Prinzie, van der Sluis, de Haan, et al.