HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND FAMILY STUDIES
DISSERTATION DEFENSE FOR
JESSICA DOLLAR
TITLE:
CHILDREN'S POSITIVE AFFECT AND BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS: THE ROLE OF
TEMPERAMENTAL STYLES, PARENTAL BEHAVIORS, AND THE REGULATION
OF POSITIVE AFFECT
Dissertation Committee:
Cynthia A. Stifter
Professor of Human Development and Psychology
Dissertation Advisor
Chair of Committee
Douglas M. Teti
Associate Director, Social Science Research Institute
Professor of Human Development
Lisa M. Gatzke-Kopp
Assistant Professor of Human Development
Kristin A. Buss
Associate Professor of Psychology
DATE:
September 19, 2011
TIME:
9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
PLACE: S211 Henderson Building
Areas of Specialization: Individual Development (early childhood) and Family Studies
ABSTRACT
Recent developmental research from varying perspectives underscores the importance of positive
affect as a promising avenue toward a greater understanding of children’s development of
psychopathology and social adjustment. However, given that existing research has linked
positive affect to both beneficial and maladaptive childhood behaviors, the current dissertation
sought to advance the literature on the role of positive affect in the development of children’s
social and psychological adjustment. The goal of this dissertation was to investigate if the
importance of children’s intensity of positive affect and related behaviors, as well as children’s
ability to regulate positive affect, varied according to the temperamental style of the child in
predicting later social and behavioral adjustment. In addition, maternal parenting behaviors were
examined as a mechanism by which children learned to regulate positive affect. Data for both
studies was drawn from a longitudinal study of 125 children and their families. Latent profile
analysis was used to identify 3 separate subgroups of children (exuberant, inhibited, and
average), which were used as the measure of children’s temperamental styles in both studies.
The goals of the first study were to examine the role of the intensity of positive affect that 42month old children displayed in different contexts in predicting social and problem behaviors at
48-months, and to investigate the moderating role of intensity of positive affect and vigor of
activity on the relation between temperament and behavior problems/social behaviors
longitudinally. Support was found for the adaptive role of positive affect in that regardless of
children’s temperamental profile, children who displayed high intensity positive affect in a lowintensity game were less likely to be rated by their mothers as high in internalizing and
externalizing behavior problems. Evidence for the constructive role of positive affect was also
revealed for children of specific temperamental profiles. Exuberant children who showed higher
intensity of positive affect were rated as more successful in peer relations and lower in
oppositional defiant behaviors than exuberant children who displayed lower intensity of positive
affect. Evidence was also provided for the importance of considering the behavior that
accompanies exuberant children’s intense positive affect. As hypothesized, exuberant children
who displayed both high intensity of positive affect and vigor of activity were rated as higher in
conduct problems by their mothers. Collectively, these findings substantiate the protective role
of positive affect when not coupled with intense vigor of activity in lowering children’s risk of
developing maladaptive behaviors. However, exuberant children’s inability to restrain their
intense, vigorous activity when excited might represent a liability to the child.
Study 2 investigated if 42-month old children’s temperamental styles were directly related to
their ability to regulate positive affect, as well as examining if children’s ability to up- and downregulate positive affect was related to the socialization behaviors that parents employed. Further,
this study examined the role of children’s temperament and ability to regulate positive affect, as
moderated by maternal parenting behaviors, in predicting children’s later behavior problems and
social behaviors. This investigation provided support for the significance of maternal parenting
behaviors as a mechanism by which children of varying temperamental styles learn to up- and
down-regulate positive affect. In particular, exuberant children were better able to downregulate positive affect when mothers employed high levels of attention-grabbing behaviors and
positive commands. In addition, a mediated moderation analysis revealed preliminary evidence
for the role of up-regulation of positive affect as a mechanism by which inhibited children’s risk
of developing poor peer relations was lowered. However, maternal overprotective behaviors
were found to lower the likelihood that inhibited children would show up-regulation of positive
affect, which in turn, heightened their risk of having poor peer relations.
In conclusion, the results from these studies add to the existing literature by showing that the role
of positive affect in children’s social and behavioral adjustment largely depends on children’s
vigor of activity, as well as their temperamental style. Further, evidence was provided that one
mechanism by which children learn to up- and down-regulate positive affect is through the
socialization behaviors that mothers employ and children’s ability to regulate positive affect may
affect later behavioral and social adjustment.