This study aims to investigate the relations between the dimensions of parental expressivity which are positivity, negative dominant expressivity, negative submissive expressivity, family environment and child&rsquo / s coping strategies, and the effect of child temperament on this relation .111 preschool children between the ages of 4 and 6 years and their families participated in the study. Family expressivity as assessed with Halberstadt&rsquo / s Self Expressivennes in the Family Questionnaire. Three subscales of Family Environment Scale which are cohesion, expressivity and conflict were utilized to measure the relation in the family. In order to determine how the child copes with situation specific stress Vignette Assessment of Preschool Children&rsquo / s Coping Strategies was used. VAPCCS consists of four stressful vignettes that are mastery challenge, peer conflict, parent&ndash / child conflict and separation situations. Child&rsquo / s coping strategies were coded as five coping strategies, problem approach and problem avoidance, passive acceptance, and emotion venting. Child&rsquo / s temperamental characteristics were assessed with Colorado Child Temperament Inventory. Results revealed that children&rsquo / s temperamental characteristics did not predict children&rsquo / s coping strategy by its own. However, child coping strategies varied in the interaction of different child temperament characteristics and dimensions of maternal emotional expressivity. Children&rsquo / s soothability moderated the relation between maternal negative submissive expressivity and children&rsquo / s problem approach coping. Moreover, children tended to use less problem avoidance coping strategy in cases where mothers expressed negative submissive emotion more frequently in the family and when children had highly sociable temperamental characteristics. Overall, the results of the study suggested that when fluctuations in the degree of expression of negative emotion in the family are taken into consideration with children&rsquo / s temperamental characteristics, they influence how the children cope with stress.

Interactional and contextual models have been conceptually proposed in understanding parental influences on children. Yet, empirical model testing has been limited. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of parenting style on child social competence using structural equation modeling in a sample of 544 Chinese families with 6-9 years old children, mainly singleton, residing in Nanjing, China. Five latent models were tested: (a) the direct model between parenting style and child social competence, (b) child temperament as a moderator, (c) parent-child relationship as a mediator, (d) the interaction model between parenting style and family functioning, and (e) bidirectional models of parenting style concurrently with parent-child relationship, and family functioning predicting child social competence. Findings showed: (a) The direct relationship between parenting style and child social competence was significant in both parents with authoritative parenting style on the positive direction, whereas authoritarian and permissive parenting styles on the negative direction; (b) child temperament did not moderate parenting style on child social competence; (c) father-child relationship mediated paternal parenting style on child social competence, whereas maternal parenting style did not; (d) family functioning neither moderated nor mediated the relationship between parenting style and child social competence for both parents; and (e) The four-factor prediction models on child social competence turned out to be unidirectional. For the mothers, the best model was from family functioning to mother-child relationship, to maternal parenting style, and finally to child social competence. Maternal parenting style was the significant proximal factor. For the fathers, it was from family functioning to paternal parenting style, to father-child relationship, and then to child social competence. Father-child relationship had the direct impact, whereas the influence of paternal parenting style was distal through father-child relationship. Findings from this study suggest that the Chinese parents should use more authoritative and less authoritarian and permissive parenting, and develop good parent-child relationships in the daily interactions with their children. Future studies need to use larger and better data to validate these models, or to extend the findings with other important child variables to explore the child's active agency.

Effective parent-child relationships contribute to the development of well-adjusted children. Taxing personal and situational factors encumber a caregiver’s capacity for responsivity with his or her child. The purpose of the present study was to identify interpersonal factors that impact child outcomes in low socioeconomic status family populations. Data was collected in northeast Florida Head Start centers from 219 low income, at-risk caregivers and their children ages one and a half through almost five. Parents completed questionnaires on parent perceived stress, child temperament, and child developmental outcomes. Hierarchical regression was used to assess the influence of child temperament and parent perceived stress independently and interactively on child developmental outcomes. Although parent stress and negative child temperament significantly influenced child developmental outcomes, there was no significant interaction effect. Policies aimed at ameliorating negative child temperaments or subjective parent stress may serve families and improve child developmental outcomes. Researchers should investigate the potential moderating influence of parent sensitive responding on the relationship between parent stress and child developmental outcomes.