Baby Development –University of Chicago Study Finds Parenting Style and Baby's Temperament Predict Challenging Behavior in Later Childhood

By Colleen Hurley, RD, Certified Kid’s Nutrition Specialist

The recurring news of late about how a mother bonds with her baby during the first year of life may begin to sound redundant, but each new study provides a bit more insight into a child’s later years.  While the first year of your baby’s life may be full of sleepless nights and a lot of hoping for the best, what you can provide as mother during those initial 12 months can lay the framework for healthy child development.

A new study has found that the way a mother interacts with her baby during the first year of life is strongly related to the child’s behaviors later in life. Researchers from the University of Chicago found that both the baby’s temperament and the mother’s parenting style can predict a child’s future challenging behavior.

The findings of the study, published this month in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, reveal that parental ratings of baby’s temperament along with parenting styles provide surprisingly accurate predictors of child conduct up through age 13.  Child conduct was reported based on maternal ratings.

The study actually worked backwards to find associations with the child’s current behaviors and their temperament as an infant.  Researchers looked at about 1,800 children aged 4-13, whose behaviors were reported by their mothers.  Baby temperaments were measured by how fearful, predictable, and fussy there were; as well as activity levels and overall general disposition.  Challenging childhood behaviors included telling lies, cheating, difficulty getting along with teachers, bullying, and being disobedient at home and/or at school.

Infants who were intellectually stimulated by their mothers during the first year of life as well as being less fussy with more predictable behaviors were at low risk of behavioral problems later in life.  An interesting observation made during the study was that early childhood spanking was another predictor of challenging child conduct in Non-Hispanic families but not in families of Hispanic descent.  The results provide additional support for the theory that focusing on parenting skills during the first year of life can help a child for several years to come.  Lastly, researchers conclude that more emphasis should be placed on increasing cognitive stimulation for babies by their mothers.