Effects of Maternal Basic Psychological Needs and Limit-Setting Parenting on Effortful Control of Their Young Child: The Moderating Effect of Child s Gender

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study is to examine whether maternal limit-setting parenting mediates the effects of their mother s basic psychological needs on the effortful control of their child aged 4 or 5. Also, moderating effects of children s gender on the paths from maternal basic psychological needs and limit-setting parenting to children s effortful control were examined. The subjects of the study were 434 mothers who participated in the on-line questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 and SPSS PROCESS macro 4.0. The results of the study are as follows. First, the PROCESS macro model 4 and 15 analyses showed that mother s basic psychological needs have a direct effect on their child s effortful control. Second, mother s limit-setting parenting behaviors partially mediate the effect of mother s basic psychological needs on their child s effortful control. Third, there was no moderating effect of child s gender on the influences of the mother s basic psychological needs and the limit-setting parenting behavior on their child s effortful control. This study shows that the mother s basic psychological needs and limit setting parenting behaviors are important in the effortful control development of young children, regardless of their gender.