Personality Characteristics of Responsive Parents: The Relationship to Symptomatology in Children

The purpose of this study was to further define the relationship between parental responsiveness and symptomatology in children and to help elucidate qualities that might lead a parent to behave in a responsive manner toward their child. Of particular interest was the parental personality characteristic conscientiousness. The 28 Participant families were from two samples, a clinical sample taken from the University of Tennessee Psychological Clinic and a non-clinical sample taken from a local elementary school. Parents completed an assessment measure of their child's symptomatology and questionnaires designed to measure conscientiousness. Families were then observed interacting for one hour to assess for parental responsivity and child negativity, using an observational coding system. This study did not show a clear link between the personality characteristic conscientiousness and parental responsiveness. However, results did demonstrate that parental responsiveness was indeed predictive of overall symptomatology as well as both internalizing and externalizing problems in children. Additionally, it appeared that parental responsiveness was a better predictor of symptomatology than observed child negativity. This study also demonstrated that clinical and non-clinical groups differed in their level of responsivity, with parents from the clinical sample presenting as significantly less responsive. Findings are discussed in the context of the responsiveness literature. Limitations to the current study, and recommendations for further research are presented.