Sex differences in the interaction between temperament and parenting

Abstract

Temperament and parent-child relationships were measured in a random sample of 776 children followed over a 10-year period. The goal was to determine whether temperament evolves differently for boys versus for girls, and if so, whether parenting influences gender-specific development. Gender-specific parenting effects on the evolution of difficult temperament were found: low father-daughter closeness, and high mother-son punishment and control led to an increase in difficult temperament, whereas comparable father-son and mother-daughter effects were not present. A possible explanation for these findings is proposed. The contribution of these findings to understanding biology-environment interactions in causing sex differences in development is discussed.