The purpose of the study was to test a hypothesis that there would be differential prediction of parenting for children who scored high and low in negative emotionality as infants on the development of delay of gratification. Toward this end, 53 infan...
The purpose of the study was to test a hypothesis that there would be differential prediction of parenting for children who scored high and low in negative emotionality as infants on the development of delay of gratification. Toward this end, 53 infants were observed at one year of age with their mothers and fathers during the laboratory assessments in order to obtain measures of parenting and infant negative emotionality. Then at 18 months of age children's capacity to delay touching attractive object were measured. As results, differential effects of parenting on children's delay of gratification for infants with low or high negative emotionality were detected as anticipated. In the case of infants with higher negative emotionality, the more positive fathering children received, the longer they could delay gratification in the laboratory six months later but in the case of infants with lower negative emotionality no significant parental influence on delay of gratification was detected.