Contextual Specificity in the Relationship between Maternal Autonomy Support and Children’s Socio-emotional Development: A Longitudinal Study from Preschool to Preadolescence

Abstract

The benefits of an autonomy supportive environment have been established as a key component in children's development at various ages. Nonetheless, research examining the outcomes of early autonomy supportive environments has largely neglected socio-emotional development. The first objective of the present longitudinal study was to examine the socio-emotional outcomes associated with maternal autonomy support during the preschool period. Second, we explored the contextual specificity of the relationships between maternal autonomy support and children's later socio-emotional outcomes. Finally, we investigated the indirect effect of maternal autonomy support on children's later socio-emotional outcomes through earlier children's socio-emotional outcomes. Sixty-six mothers and their pre-school aged children (41 girls) were followed during preschool (Time 1), elementary school (Time 2) and preadolescence (Time 3). Maternal autonomy support (Time 1) was measured in two contexts (free-play and interference task) using observational coding. Furthermore, the children's internalizing and externalizing problems as well as their social competence were measured at Times 2 and 3. The results revealed the importance of maternal autonomy support during preschool for children's later socio-emotional development, especially during challenging contexts, and the mediating role of children's socio-emotional outcomes during elementary school in the link between maternal autonomy support during the preschool years and children's later socio-emotional outcomes during preadolescence. The results highlight the contextual specificity of the relationship between maternal autonomy support and children's later socio-emotional development and reveal one of the mechanisms through which the effect of early childhood parental autonomy support on children's later socio-emotional development is carried forward over time.

Supporting Parents: How Six Decades of Parenting Research Can Inform Policy and Best Practice

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“…Maternal sensitivity involves congruency of emotional expressions and interpreting the emotional cues of the infant appropriately, whereas maternal structuring involves sensitivity to the infant's abilities and limitations, while also creating appropriate boundaries and setting limits for inappropriate behavior (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, ; Biringen et al., ; Perry, Mackler, Calkins, & Keane, ; Smith & Pederson, ). Both dimensions play a role in supporting the infant's autonomy so that the infant is comfortable exploring the environment, and looking to the mother for support when needed (Matte‐Gagné, Harvey, Stack, & Serbin, ). In contrast, infants' development of expectations is hindered when their cues are misinterpreted or ignored (Bronson, ).…”

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