The pathway to effortful control in adolescence: The role of parental personality, family environment, and genetic factors.

Abstract

Effortful control (EC) is the ability to intentionally inhibit a dominant response in service of goals. The intergenerational transmission of EC might represent a dynamic interaction between genetic and environmental factors, while few studies have explored this relationship in adolescence. We used a longitudinal adoption design to investigate the contributions of theoretically relevant and heritable family factors to EC from childhood to adolescence. Participants (N = 495; 42% female; 56% White) were from the Early Growth and Development Study, which began in 2002. Children's heritable predisposition was indexed by Birth Mothers' (BM) self-reported EC at 5 months. Primary and Secondary Adoptive Parents (AP1, AP2) reported their perceptions of home order/routines, parenting stress, and the APs' own EC at 4.5 years. Child EC was assessed via AP1 and AP2 reports at age 4.5 and by adolescent self-report at age 11. We found that AP1 and AP2 EC positively predicted home order/routines, which in turn predicted higher child EC at 4.5 and 11 years. AP2's EC negatively predicted parenting stress at age 4.5. Although these findings do not rule out genetic influences, they underscore the role of the home environment and distinct caregiver pathways in the intergenerational transmission of EC.