DISENTANGLING FATHERING AND MOTHERING: THE ROLE OF YOUTH PERSONALITY

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the possibility that mothers’ and fathers’ support are differentially moderated by personality-informed latent classes in predicting youth social initiative, therefore making contingent the previously detected pattern of fathers’ support being more impactful than mothers’ support with regard to this outcome. To test this, we conducted mixture model regression analyses (separately for boys and girls). Guided by prior research, we used the youth personality scales activity, openness, and fearlessness, along with mothers’ and fathers’ support, to index the latent class assignments from the mixture model. Results for both boys and girls suggested three classes of youth—apprehensive, easy-going, and spontaneous—that moderate the relationship between mothers’ and/or fathers’ support with social initiative.