The quality of young children's peer relationships is important for their development, and it is assumed that parenting and self-regulation skills shape children's behavior when interacting with peers. In this multi-informant-multi-method study, we examined the direct and mediated associations between preschool parenting, children's behavioral self-regulation, and peer aggression and peer relationship problems in elementary school-aged children and extended previous work by examining both positive and negative parenting of both mothers and fathers. In a large community sample (n = 698) of parents and children who were between 1 and 6 years old, we obtained information on observed maternal sensitivity, mother- and father-reported harsh discipline, observed child self-regulation, and child-reported aggression towards peers, peer rejection and victimization. Results from a structural equation model showed that maternal sensitivity was prospectively associated with children's behavioral self-regulation and that lower levels of behavioral self-regulation were associated with higher levels of children's peer aggression and peer relationship problems. However, children's behavioral self-regulation did not mediate the association between maternal sensitivity and peer relationship problems. In addition, higher levels of paternal, but not maternal, harsh discipline were directly associated with more peer relationship problems, but again no mediation was found. The results highlight the importance of maternal sensitivity for children's behavioral self-regulation and the role of paternal harsh discipline for the quality of children's later peer relationships. Our findings suggest it is important to take maternal and paternal parenting practices into account as they might have different effects on the child.

中文翻译：

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育儿、幼儿的行为自我调节和同伴关系的质量

幼儿同伴关系的质量对他们的发展很重要，据推测，养育和自我调节技能会塑造儿童与同伴互动时的行为。在这项多信息多方法研究中，我们检查了学龄前教养、儿童的行为自我调节以及小学学龄儿童的同伴攻击和同伴关系问题之间的直接和中介关联，并通过检查积极和父母双方的消极养育。在大型社区样本（n = 698) 的父母和 1 至 6 岁的孩子，我们获得了关于观察到的母亲敏感性、母亲和父亲报告的严厉管教、观察到孩子的自我调节以及孩子报告的对同伴的攻击性、同伴排斥和受害。结构方程模型的结果表明，母亲的敏感性与儿童的行为自我调节具有前瞻性相关性，而较低水平的行为自我调节与较高水平的儿童同伴攻击和同伴关系问题相关。然而，儿童的行为自我调节并未调节母亲敏感性与同伴关系问题之间的关联。此外，更高水平的父亲，但不是母亲，严厉的纪律与更多的同伴关系问题直接相关，但同样没有找到中介。结果强调了母亲敏感性对儿童行为自我调节的重要性以及父亲严厉管教对儿童后期同伴关系质量的作用。我们的研究结果表明，考虑母亲和父亲的养育方式很重要，因为它们可能对孩子产生不同的影响。