Current literature highlights that fathers and mothers may have different perceptions about their child’s personality traits. However, discrepancies between parental and child reports may affect their present and future relationships and have implications for both emotional closeness and mutual influence. This study investigates maternal and paternal knowledge of child personality and whether it corresponds to the child’s perception. Eighty-two Italian children (42 female, aged between 7 and 9, M = 8.11, SD = .35) and their parents were recruited in a primary school. Both mothers and fathers were asked to assess their child’s personality through the Big Five Questionnaire for Children (BFQ-C) which measures the basic personality dimensions of energy/extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional instability, and intellect/openness. Each child completed the same questionnaire as well. Additionally, children completed the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue-CF) as a measure of emotional self-efficacy. Results from Regression analyses show that mother’s perception of the child emotional instability (F = 5.4, p < .01; B = .37, p < .01) and intellect/openness (F = 7.3, p < .001; B = .31, p < .05), and father’s perception of the child conscientiousness (F = 7.3, p < .001; B = .43, p < .01) significantly predict the child’s self-reported assessment of the same personality traits. Results pertaining the dimensions of energy/extraversion and agreeableness did not reach significance (p > .05). Additional results will be presented at the conference. Mothers seem to have a better knowledge of some personality dimensions of their child compared to fathers. This evidence suggests the possibility of a lack of agreement on the child's view, and supports the hypothesis that parents may have access to different knowledge domains, with mothers being particularly attuned with the emotional and communicative areas of their child.
Andrei F., M.G. (2019). Do mothers know best? A comparison between mothers and fathers perception of their child’s personality.. AIP.
Do mothers know best? A comparison between mothers and fathers perception of their child’s personality.
Andrei F.;Mancini G.
;Biolcati R.;Trombini E.
2019
Abstract
Current literature highlights that fathers and mothers may have different perceptions about their child’s personality traits. However, discrepancies between parental and child reports may affect their present and future relationships and have implications for both emotional closeness and mutual influence. This study investigates maternal and paternal knowledge of child personality and whether it corresponds to the child’s perception. Eighty-two Italian children (42 female, aged between 7 and 9, M = 8.11, SD = .35) and their parents were recruited in a primary school. Both mothers and fathers were asked to assess their child’s personality through the Big Five Questionnaire for Children (BFQ-C) which measures the basic personality dimensions of energy/extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional instability, and intellect/openness. Each child completed the same questionnaire as well. Additionally, children completed the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue-CF) as a measure of emotional self-efficacy. Results from Regression analyses show that mother’s perception of the child emotional instability (F = 5.4, p < .01; B = .37, p < .01) and intellect/openness (F = 7.3, p < .001; B = .31, p < .05), and father’s perception of the child conscientiousness (F = 7.3, p < .001; B = .43, p < .01) significantly predict the child’s self-reported assessment of the same personality traits. Results pertaining the dimensions of energy/extraversion and agreeableness did not reach significance (p > .05). Additional results will be presented at the conference. Mothers seem to have a better knowledge of some personality dimensions of their child compared to fathers. This evidence suggests the possibility of a lack of agreement on the child's view, and supports the hypothesis that parents may have access to different knowledge domains, with mothers being particularly attuned with the emotional and communicative areas of their child.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
