Longitudinal associations between parenting and the Big Five personality traits of children 

Collabra: Psychology (2021) 7(1): 29766

Available at: https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.29766

Commentary

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between four parenting dimensions (academic engagement, structure, cultural stimulation, and goals) and children's personality development.

According to many theories, such as social learning, attachment theory, and psychological resource principles, it is assumed that parenting practices influence children's personality development. Past research on the relationship between parenting and the Big Five traits of a child has used cross-sectional data, and some longitudinal studies have shown a small relationship between parenting and the child's personality.

We extended this research by using a bivariate latent growth model on a large longitudinal data set (N = 3,880) to examine the long-term relationship between four unexplored parenting dimensions and the child's Big Five personality traits.

The results revealed a predominance of null relationships between parenting and child personality and between changes in parenting and changes in child personality. The observed association between parenting and the child's Big Five personality is comparable in magnitude to the association between factors such as SES and birth order and the child's personality. The small association between environmental factors and personality is a small contribution to the suggested possible development of personality in childhood and adolescence.