A Lot of Warmth and a Bit of Control? How Parenting Mediates the Relationship Between Parental Personality and Their Children’s Mental Health Problems

Research has identified parental personality and parenting behaviour as important contributors to healthy child development. However, indirect associations are largely unknown. The current study aimed to investigate the mediating role of parenting dimension relations between parental personality and adolescent mental health problems. The cross-sectional sample included 4258 German adolescents (48.7% male, 11–17 years) and one parent who participated in a national health survey (KiGGS Wave 2). The results underline and extend previous indications of direct associations between parental personality and their children’s mental health problems by highlighting the adverse role of neuroticism. Furthermore, new insights are added regarding the mediating roles of parenting dimensions (i.e., warmth, behavioural control, and psychological control). Future efforts and parent-focused prevention programmes should be extended by parental personality to identify maladaptive parenting behaviour and thus contribute to the development of their children’s mental health.

Relationship Between Parental Big Five And Children’s Ability To Delay Gratification

The ability to delay gratification is related to success in school and other aspects of life. Genetic as well as environmental factors such as parenting style partly explain the development of delay of gratification (DoG). However, it is unclear whether parental personality impacts children’s DoG, and how maternal and paternal personalities contribute to this relationship. The present study investigates the relationship between parental personality and 45-month-old children’s DoG (N = 329). Personality was measured using the NEO-Five-Factor-Inventory-30, DoG was operationalized through waiting time in the marshmallow test. In model 1, using only maternal data to predict DoG, maternal openness to experience was associated with shorter waiting time of the child in the marshmallow test, whereas maternal agreeableness was associated with longer waiting time. In model 2, using only paternal data to predict DoG, paternal agreeableness was related to longer waiting time. In model 3, combining maternal and paternal data to predict DoG, maternal openness to experience as well as paternal agreeableness remained significant predictors of DoG. The present study underlines the influence of both parents’ personalities on the development of children’s DoG and indicates differential maternal and paternal effects. Future studies should investigate the relationship between parental personality and children’s DoG in detail and take further factors into account, such as genetic factors, other environmental factors and the personality of the child.

The Tri-Directional Framework of Parental Personality and Offspring Outcomes: A systematic review and critical synthesis of influencing factors

Parental personality has substantial implications for offspring developmental outcomes via direct and indirect pathways. We propose the Tri-Directional Framework of Parental Personality and Offspring Outcomes, an organizational framework which suggests that parental personality, offspring characteristics, and contextual factors interactively influence offspring outcomes. We apply the framework to a systematic review of literature on the relation between parental personality (e.g., Big Five and Dark Triad) and offspring outcomes (e.g., personality, temperament and behavioral problems) as well as intervening factors (e.g., parenting behaviors, family environment, socioeconomic status). We identified 52 studies that linked parental personality with offspring outcomes and included at least one additional factor. Of these studies, 26 examined the Big Five in relation to offspring outcomes, 20 examined traits beyond the Big Five, and six examined traits across several personality domains. Results indicated that (1) parental personality-offspring associations consistently align with the Tri-Directional Framework of Parental Personality and Offspring Outcomes; (2) parental interpersonal personality domains predict offspring behavior problems over and above the Big Five; and (3) certain personality traits consistently show stronger direct effects on offspring outcomes, whereas others operate indirectly. Overall, this review highlights the need to consider personality traits beyond the Big Five, and the need for a dynamic approach to the study of the parent-offspring relationship that incorporates environmental influences and situational demands upon the personality system.

Interpersonal Problems in Parents and Adolescent Borderline Personality Disorder Features

Research shows that parental personality pathology is associated with borderline personality disorder features and internalizing/externalizing symptoms in offspring. However, studies have been limited by DSM-IV–based assessments of parental personality pathology. The authors leveraged evidence that interpersonal problems described by the Interpersonal Circumplex align with Criterion A of the DSM-5 Alternative Model for Personality Disorders and therefore used a measure of interpersonal problems to capture parental personality pathology. The authors hypothesized that parental interpersonal problems would be associated with a latent variable of borderline features in adolescent offspring. They also examined whether this relation with offspring borderline features existed above and beyond relations with offspring internalizing/externalizing symptoms, age, and gender. The sample included 524 inpatient adolescents (Mage = 15.31, 62.4% female) and their parents (80.5% female). Parental interpersonal problems demonstrated unique relationships with adolescent borderline features and externalizing symptoms, but not internalizing symptoms. Implications of the results, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Parenting Style, Parental Personality, and Child Temperament in Children with Anxiety Disorders—A Clinical Study from India

Background: Anxiety disorders are common in children and contribute to adverse developmental outcomes. Although etiological models of child anxiety have identified various environmental factors, very few studies in India have examined these factors in children presenting with anxiety disorders. Therefore, the present study was designed to examine parenting styles, parental personality, and child temperament in children with anxiety disorders in an Indian outpatient setting. Methods: In total, 42 children with anxiety disorders and 42 typically developing children, matched on age and gender, were screened using Child Behavior Checklist, Color Progressive Matrices, and Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders Parent version. Their parents were screened using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview 5.0, following which they filled the questionnaires for parenting styles, parent personality, and child temperament. Results: There were significant differences between the two groups on parenting style, parent personality, and child temperament. Anxiety disorder was positively associated with the father’s permissiveness and negatively with the mother’s authoritativeness and child’s sociability. A combination of parenting styles and child temperament explained 69% of the variances in child anxiety disorders. There were significant associations between parental personality, child temperament, and parenting style. Parent and child characteristics explained 14%–46% of the variances in parenting styles. Conclusion: Results of this study are generally consistent with Western studies outlining the influence of child temperament and parenting styles on child outcome and have important implications for clinical management of anxiety disorders.

Joint associations of parental personality traits and socioeconomic position with trajectories of offspring depression: findings from up to 6925 families in a UK birth cohort.

Background: Parental personality may influence the course of offspring depression but this is unclear. It is also unknown whether the impact of parental personality on offspring depression is moderated by socioeconomic position (SEP). Our aims were to describe trajectories of depressive symptoms across adolescence for offspring of parents with and without maladaptive personality traits and to test for effect modification by SEP. Methods: A longitudinal study in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children birth cohort (ALSPAC; ns= 3054 to 7046). Exposures were binary measures of maladaptive parental personality traits and the outcome was depressive symptoms ages 11 to 24 (SMFQ; range 0 to 26). Results: Offspring of mothers with high maladaptive traits showed higher levels of depressive symptoms at all ages (SMFQ difference at age 10 = 0.66, CI 0.25, 1.28, p = 0.02; age 22 = 1.00, CI 0.51, 1.50, p < 0.001). There was weaker evidence of an association between paternal maladaptive personality traits and offspring depressive symptoms (SMFQ difference at age 10 = 0.21, CI -0.58, - 0.99, p = 0.60; age 22 = 0.02, CI -0.94, 0.90, p= 0.97). We found no consistent evidence of effect modification by SEP. Conclusions: Offspring of mothers with high levels of maladaptive personality traits show evidence of greater depressive symptoms throughout adolescence although the absolute increase in symptoms is small. Evidence for the effect of fathers personality was weaker. Socioeconomic position and maladaptive personality traits appear to be independent risk factors.