Journal of Adolescence 41 (2015) 109e120

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Parenting and social competence in school: The role of preadolescents' personality traits* Panayiotis G. Lianos University of Athens, Greece

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Available online

In a study of 230 preadolescent students (mean age 11.3 years) from the wider area of Athens, Greece, the role of Big Five personality traits (i.e. Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and Extraversion) in the relation between parenting dimensions (overprotection, emotional warmth, rejection, anxious rearing) and social competence in school was examined. Multiple sets of regression analyses were performed. Main effects of Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience were identified. Limited evidence for moderation and some support of gender-specific parenting was found. Agreeableness and Extraversion interacted with paternal overprotection, whereas Neuroticism interacted with maternal and paternal rejection in predicting social competence. Mean differences in gender and educational grade were reported. The relationship between environmental effects (such as parenting during early adolescence) and social adjustment in school is discussed in terms of the plasticity and malleability of the preadolescents' personality characteristics. © 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Social competence Personality traits Parenting Preadolescence Differential susceptibility

Social competence has been a diverse concept in psychological thinking. It is considered a part of psychosocial adjustment or in other cases almost synonymous to it (Goldfried & D'Zurilla, 1973; Trower, 1982, cited in Campbell, Hansen, & Nangle, 2010). Several theoretical models have been proposed in the attempt to conceptualize social competence. The Social Information Processing Model outlines the cognitive processes underlying social interactions (Crick & Dodge, 1994). In any given social situation, six steps of thought are involved. The mental operations that are considered include paying selective attention to social cues, mentally representing and interpreting the cues (attribution of intent), selecting desired outcomes by clarifying goals, accessing the behavioral scripts from memory (in order to produce possible social responses), decision making (evaluating the possibilities and selecting an appropriate response) and behavioral enactment and evaluation of the selected response (Dodge & Rabiner, 2004). In a similar perspective, Rose-Krasnor (1997) proposed a theoretical framework (“Prism Model”) in which social competence is “generally recognized as effectiveness in interaction, considered from both self and other perspectives” and stressed out its transactional, context-dependent, performance-oriented and goal specific characteristics. Gresham (1981) identified three subdomains of social competence. Adaptive behavior represents the degree to which a person has achieved independent and responsible behavior. Social skills are social behaviors that enable a person to interact with others eliciting positive responses and avoiding negative ones. Peer acceptance describes peer relations, namely the degree to which a person is accepted or rejected by others. Katz and McClellan (1997) included such elements as

*

Research conducted by Panayiotis G. Lianos, University of Athens, Greece, for the completion of doctoral thesis. E-mail address: [email protected].

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2015.03.006 0140-1971/© 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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the ability to regulate emotions, the knowledge and experience of social interactions and the understanding of social situations and customs. A vast body of literature has examined the relationship between adjustment, parenting and the child's personality, relying mostly on main effects models. Most studies on psychosocial adjustment hypothesize that consistent responsive and demanding parenting create a sufficient disciplinary environment for the development of psychosocial well-being of children and adolescents (e.g. Lamborn, Mounts, Steinberg, & Dornbusch, 1991; Slicker, 1998), whereas, a demanding parenting style alone correlates to several negative outcomes, such as dysfunctional peer relations, insecurity, aggression and fear (e.g. Kaufmann, Gesten, & Santa Lucia, 2000). Further research on demanding parenting practices associates overprotection, especially on the part of the mother, with experiences of victimization in school (Georgiou, 2008) and, even, with social phobia (Arrindell et al., 1989). Muris (2006) reports evidence for the relation of anxious rearing practices and the neuroticism trait to the development and adoption of maladjustment schemas, such as impaired autonomy and performance, low orientation towards others, excessive control, disconnection, rejection and impaired boundaries. Responsive parenting, exhibited as emotional warmth and acceptance is, also, a significant variable in relation to social adjustment. Parents who are considered emotionally warmer and less likely to resort to punishment would bring up more emotionally stable, extraverted, sociable and empathic adolescents (Aluja, del Barrio, & Garcia, 2005). Moreover, children's and adolescents' perception of parental support/acceptance is positively correlated to the sense of self-value and social efficiency (Rubin et al., 2004), as well as interpersonal communication, decision making, maintaining a healthy way of life and identity development (Slicker, Picklesimer, Guzak, & Fuller, 2005). Evidence for the association of parental rejection with psychological maladjustment of children with specific personality dispositions is manifested in several studies all over the world (Khaleque & Rohner, 2005). In general, the connection between the exertion of parental control and psychological adjustment is less consistently indicated in the literature, than the relation between parental emotional warmth and psychosocial adjustment (Bradley et al., 2001 cited in Zupan
ci
c & Kav
ci
c, 2011). The differential role of parents' gender in the relationship between adolescent social adjustment and the provision of parental support and control is highlighted in several studies. For instance, Laible and Carlo (2004) found that high levels of perceived maternal support and low levels of maternal rigid control (but not paternal) were related to adolescents' reports of sympathy, social competence and self-worth. Hall and Bracken (1996) reported that adolescents, who perceived their mothers as more receptive and warm, related more efficiently with other people. Those who perceived their mothers as receptive and, at the same time, demanding showed the best results in interpersonal relations (Slicker et al., 2005) and prosocial behavior (Campbell, 2002 cited in Zupan
ci
c & Kav
ci
c, 2011). Moreover, in a study by Drozdz and Pokorski (2007) maternal control exerted through responsive practices fostered more their sons' interpersonal behavior than their daughters'. Contrariwise, in a study of Chinese early adolescents only paternal warmth predicted social and school achievement, while maternal warmth predicted emotional adjustment (Chen, Liu, & Li, 2000). The role of paternal acceptance during childhood and adolescence in women developing healthy interpersonal relations was identified, also, in a study by Dresner and Grolnick (1996). The research on the main effects of temperament/personality on social competence environment is, also, dominant in psychological thinking. Although controversy exists as to the distinct differences between personality and temperament e the latter being defined in terms of differences in habits and skills based in perception, while the former in terms of individual differences in concept-based goals and values (e.g. Cloninger, 1994), recent publications consider the distinction as nonsubstantive (De Pauw, Mervielde, & Van Leeuwen, 2009; Kav
ci
c, Podlesek, & Zupan
ci
c, 2012). Furthermore, research has demonstrated that the five-factor model (FFM) of personality, proposed by McCrae and John (1992), adequately represents the personality structure of adults (McCrae & Costa, 1999) and also of children and adolescents (John, Caspi, Robins, Moffitt, & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1994). According to this formulation, neuroticism is considered a tendency towards negative emotional reactions, vulnerability to stress and hopeless frustration. Conscientiousness is the ability for self-discipline, dutifulness and self-regulation of impulses, remaining focused on achievement. Openness to experience is a tendency towards intellectual curiosity, openness to emotion and eagerness to attempt new things. Agreeableness characterizes individuals that get along with others, are kind, trusting and willing to collaborate. Extraversion delineates the tendency towards interaction with others, assertiveness, liveliness and action-orientation (McCrae & Costa, 1999). Many studies examine the role of personality as a predictive factor for the adjustment of children and its relation to parenting. Agreeableness and extraversion have been related to social competence (Kav
ci
c et al., 2012), while neuroticism (negatively), extraversion and conscientiousness (positively) have been associated with peer adjustment and peer cooperation (Lamb, Chuang, Wessels, Broberg, & Hwang, 2002). Children with high levels of conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to experience and low levels of neuroticism are prone to be more resilient and perform better in their adult life (Shiner & Masten, 2012). Self-absorbed youths, on the other hand, seem more susceptible to avoiding relations and feeling lonely (Wei, Russell, & Zakalik, 2005). Furthermore, personality is associated with parenting in many ways. Prinzie et al. (2003) and van Leeuwen, Mervielde, Braet, and Bosmans (2004) report that less conscientious children attract more demanding parenting practices, such as shouts, pressure and monitoring. Children exhibiting signs of vulnerability, such as hyperactive behavior or neurotic characteristics are associated with more overprotective parenting (Kendler, Sham, & MacLean, 1997). On the contrary, other studies have failed to identify a significant contribution of child characteristics to parenting dimensions (e.g. Verhoeven, Junger, van Aken, Dekovic, & van Aken, 2007). Over the years, a shift in the understanding of parenting influence on the psychosocial adjustment of children has occurred from the parent-oriented unidirectional approach to the bidirectional parentechild approach, emphasizing both the parent's

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111

and the child's roles in interactions, along with the interdependent relationships between parent and child (Kuczynski, 2003). The development of psychosocial adjustment in children is delineated primarily by the “dual-risk” model (Sameroff, 1983), focusing upon the influence of inherent characteristics (e.g. the child's temperament or personality) combined with environmental stressors, such as rearing practices. Furthermore, Bronfenbrenner and Morris (1998) theorize that the combined effect of parenting and child's characteristics on adjustment is greater than their separate contributions. Based on these theoretical contributions and extending them even further, Belsky's differential susceptibility proposition and Boyce and Ellis's biological-sensitivity-to-context thesis, each from its own perspective, anticipate that some individuals will be more vulnerable than others to contextual adverse and beneficial effects (Belsky & Pluess, 2009). In other words, individual traits may vary in their developmental plasticity; more plastic or malleable individuals are more susceptible than others to environmental influences (e.g. parenting), denoting the need for studying human functioning and development beyond the linear and deterministic scope of dual-risk model. For instance, non-reactive children may be less susceptible to changes in rearing practices than highly-reactive ones, whose social competence may depend upon the variation of parenting (Gallagher, 2003). However, most empirical research on this hypothesis derives from early childhood, leaving the question open, as to whether the same evidence can be obtained in later childhood or adolescence, where important changes occur (Pluess & Belsky, 2010). Developmental changes in adolescence Adolescence is often described as a turbulent and stressful period in the life of the individual. Especially, preadolescent and early adolescent years are considered crucial for psychosocial adjustment. During this phase, young teenagers experience various biological, psychological and social transformations and are submitted to important developmental ordeals (Windle et al., 2010). Peer relations become increasing influential (Reitz, Dekovic, Meijer, & Engels, 2006), as teenagers begin to spend more time with their friends away from their parents (Laird, Pettit, Bates, & Dodge, 2003). As the child evolves into adolescence, self-evaluation guides behavior, taking control over parenting (Harter, 1999). Levels of parental demandingness and permissiveness seem to change throughout developmental stages, from early childhood to late adolescence, however, parents remain a strong support resource, determining the psychosocial adjustment of the youth adolescent (Simons, Chao, & Conger, 2001). As far as the school context is concerned, compared to parents of younger children, parents of adolescents are getting less involved. This could be attributed partly to the limited capacity of most parents to contributing actively in their children's lessons with their own knowledge (Stevenson & Baker, 1987) and partly to the need of the adolescents for greater independency and self-sufficiency (Gaylord, Kitzmann, & Coleman, 2003). Conflicts are expected to arise due to these changes, either among the parents or between parents and the adolescent. Teenager students report larger incongruence in parenting practices among their parents than younger children (one parent being stricter/more demanding than the other), mainly due to parental differences in the ability to respond and adapt to the critical changes of adolescence (Johnson, Shulman, & Collins, 1991). Some studies (e.g. Holmbeck, 1996), however, argue that in less than 10% of the families parenteteenage interactions are dominated by constant and escalating tension. Conclusively, dissension existing between the teenager and the parents can be considered to some extent healthy and certainly not as pervasive as earlier accounts contended (Steinberg, 2001). Several gender differences have been indicated in the literature of preadolescence and early adolescence. Boys and girls tend to feel closer and become more involved in activities with the parent of the same gender (Pinquart & Silbereisen, 2002). Girls are reported to being submitted to greater activity monitoring by their parents than boys, while they tend to attach strongly to their mothers (Windle et al., 2010). Boys spend more time arguing about behavioral issues with their parents, while they debate about material issues with their fathers (Renk, Liljequist, Simpson, & Phares, 2005). As adolescence progresses, teenagers spend less time with the parent of the opposite gender and forge a more reciprocal and supportive relationship with the one of the same, a procedure that fosters psychosocial adjustment (McKinney & Renk, 2008). The current study A vast body of literature exists exploring the bivariate relation of personality, social competence and parenting. However, there have been fewer studies that view the combined association of parenting and preadolescents' personality with social competence dimensions. Most of them focus upon preschool (e.g. Smith, 2010; Zupan
ci
c & Kav
ci
c, 2011). The importance of studying preadolescents of 10e12 years lies to the fact that, at least in the Greek educational system, this age group coincides with the last two classes of elementary education, which are considered as preparatory and transitional for high school. In this perspective, such findings can function preventively for adjustment problems in adolescence. The separate consideration of the influences of maternal and paternal parenting dimensions on preadolescent adjustment is also important in this study. The utilization of only one score for both parents (by either summing or averaging scores) eliminates the possibility of exploring differences between parents in exerting parenting practices and influencing diversely the psychosocial adjustment of their offspring (Laible & Carlo, 2004). Furthermore, appointing preadolescents as informants for the parenting data covers the need for actual and current assessment of parental behavior (Markus, Lindhout, Boer, Hoogendijk, & Arrindell, 2003). Parents were considered an adequate source of information about the personality of their offspring (Tackett, 2011), as were teachers about the social competence in the school setting.

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The following hypotheses concerning the three psychological variables of the study were tested: (1) Personality is hypothesized to produce positive associations with social competence. Conscientious, agreeable and extraverted preadolescents are expected to be more assertive and prone to interpersonal relations; whereas neurotic preadolescents are expected to score lower in communication and peer cooperation; (2) personality is hypothesized to associate with parenting. Responsive parenting is expected to associate positively with attractive personality traits, whereas less desired ones are expected to associate with demanding practices; (3) parenting is hypothesized to relate to the social competence of preadolescents, in a way that “high quality” parenting associates positively with social competence. Specifically, preadolescents whose parents exert demanding practices are expected to score lower in social competence than preadolescents whose parents exhibit warm and accepting behavior; (4) based on the differential-susceptibility proposition, preadolescents' personality is expected to moderate the relationship between parenting and their social competence in the school setting (Fig. 1). Differences in gender and in educational grade are also tested. Method Sample Overall, 230 fifth and sixth grade middle-class students (mean age 11.3 years) from thirty elementary schools in the wider area of Athens participated. Schools from diverse socioeconomic areas were selected, in order to obtain a representative distribution of socioeconomic factors. Fifty-four percent of the participant students were girls (N ¼ 125) and 46% boys (N ¼ 105). One hundred eight (47%) attended fifth grade and 122 (53%) sixth. Most of the preadolescents were of Greek origin (Greek ¼ 88%, foreign ¼ 12%), living mostly in intact families (N ¼ 209). Sixty-two percent of the teachers were female and 38% male. The parents who participated were mostly mothers (83.5%). Procedure With the aid of their teachers, five students from each class were randomly picked (every fifth student starting from the top of the students' list, i.e. the first, the fifth, the tenth, the fifteenth, the twentieth and the twenty-fifth) and were asked to answer questionnaires in their classrooms. Recruitment letters were sent to the parents of these students prior to the procedure, explaining the nature of the survey and asking them to participate. Teachers filled out a questionnaire concerning the specific five students of their class (almost 20%). This specific amendment was made, in order to reduce the workload on the teachers, as it would be more difficult to ask them to fill out 20 or 25 questionnaires (the whole class). Furthermore, it enhanced the randomness of the sampling procedure. The choice of collecting data from three different informants augmented the difficulty of the research procedure, but increased theoretically the level of validity of the results. A code was given to each student, so that all the forms could be effectively matched. Instruments €ffande Uppfostran» (Memories from my upbringing)] questionnaire (for children The 40-item EMBU-C [Egna Minnen Betra age 7e16) (Muris, Meesters, & van Brakel, 2003), a modified version of the EMBU (Castro, Toro, Van der Ende, & Arrindell, 1993) was used to assess parenting behavior. Factorial analysis provided four factors: Control/Overprotection, Emotional Warmth, Rejection, Anxious Rearing. Originally, Castro et al. (1993) developed this scale, assessing children's and adolescents' perceptions of parenting practices. Muris et al. (2003) simplified the items and reduced them to 40 (10 for each factor). For each item children are asked to answer first for their mother's and then for their father's parenting behavior on a four-grade Likert scale (1 ¼ No, never, 2 ¼ Yes, but infrequently, 3 ¼ Yes, often, 4 ¼ Yes, all the time). Reliability indices were estimated for this study and were found similar to the ones reported by the developers, ranging from .66 to .84 (Table 1).

Parental views of preadolescents' Personality

M

Preadolescentassessed Parenting Practices

Teacher-assessed Social Competence Y

X

Fig. 1. Conceptual model of the moderation by preadolescents' personality.

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Table 1 Initial and study scale internal consistency indices (Cronbach alphas). Cronbach alpha Initial scale Personality factors Neuroticism Conscientiousness Openness Agreeableness Extraversion Parenting factors Maternal overprotection Maternal emotional warmth Maternal rejection Maternal anxious rearing Paternal overprotection Paternal emotional warmth Paternal rejection Paternal anxious rearing Social competence Assertiveness Communication skills Peer cooperation

Study scale

.93 .94 .90 .91 .86 .66 .77 .77 .79 .67 .81 .78 .78 .96 e e e

.92 .92 .88 .88 .84 .67 82 .77 .81 .68 .84 .79 .81 .96 .81 .94 .88

Social competence in school was assessed with the Social Competence Scale (SCS), a modified version of Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliott, 1990), adapted and standardized for the Greek school population. SCS is a part of the Psychosocial Adjustment Test (for children age 7e12, teachers' version) (Hatzichristou, Polychroni, Besevegis, & Mylonas, 2008), a 112-item scale designed to identify social, emotional and school adjustment skills and deficits, as well as detect intrapersonal and interpersonal behavior difficulties, constructed within the scope of a country-wide project titled “Construction and Standardization of 12 Learning Difficulties Screening Devises-Criteria” led by the Universities of Patrai and Athens in Greece. Classroom teachers were asked to evaluate the preadolescent's behavior of the last two to three months, rating on a five-point Likert-type scale (1 ¼ not at all; 3 ¼ moderately; 5 ¼ very much) to what extent each sentence delineates the student's social behavior. The 28 items of the Social Competence Scale indicated very high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's a ¼ .96), yielding three dimensions: assertive skills (e.g. Maintains his/her own opinion on many matters and expresses it, Often chosen as leader), communication skills (e.g. Pays attention during a conversation/good listener, Understands and responds accordingly in positive and negative situations) and peer cooperation (e.g. Responds positively when called upon by other children to participate in activities, Invites other children to participate in activities). Reliability indices ranged from a ¼ .81 to a ¼ .94, as shown in Table 1. A total score of the three dimensions was obtained for the measurement of social competence. To evaluate personality the questionnaire “Dimensions of Personality for Children and Adolescents (ages 11e13)” (Besevegis & Pavlopoulos, 1998) was administered to the parents of the students, who were asked to describe the present state of their child on a five-point Likert-type scale (1 ¼ not at all; 3 ¼ moderately; 5 ¼ very much). The questionnaire consists of 99 items that obtain five factors: neuroticism/emotional instability (23 items), conscientiousness (19 items), openness to experience (18 items), agreeableness/interpersonal sensitivity (22 items) and extraversion-introversion (17 items). This device is based upon the Five Factor Model (FFM) (McCrae & John, 1992). The concurrence with the Big Five factors (neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness to experience, agreeableness, extraversion) indicates strongly that the device has a good content validity. The developers of the questionnaire have reported internal consistency reliability indices almost identical with the ones estimated for the present study (Table 1). Results Descriptive data and bivariate relations Primarily, the discriminant role of the adult informants' gender was tested. A number of Students-t tests were conducted for both teachers and parents and no statistically significant difference was produced (p > .05). Male and female teachers rated their students equally. Similarly, mothers' and fathers' ratings of preadolescents' personality showed insignificant mean differences. Furthermore, two-sample KolmogorovSmirnov tests [teacher gender-social competence and parent genderpersonality] determined whether the samples (namely the answers of male and female teachers, as well as mothers and fathers) are drawn from the same distribution. The null hypothesis was verified in all of the comparisons, with the exception of parents' ratings of preadolescents' conscientiousness (z ¼ 1.49, p < .05). Thus, uniform teachers' and parents' ratings could be estimated. Gender and grade of the preadolescents were also tested. Means and standard deviations of the main variables are presented in Table 2 for parenting and in Table 3 for personality dimensions. All means tests were performed with the Student's-t

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Table 2 Means and standard deviations for parenting. Parenting Mother Overprotection Boys (n ¼ 105) Means 2.54 SD .47 Girls (n ¼ 125) Means 2.56 SD .46 5th grade (n ¼ 108) Means 2.63 SD .46 6th grade (n ¼ 122) Means 2.48b SD .50 Overall (N ¼ 230) Means 2.55 SD .47 a b

Father Emotional warmth

Rejection

Anxious rearing

Overprotection

Emotional warmth

Rejection

Anxious rearing

3.30 .49

1.47 .44

2.86 .61

2.36 .41

3.28 .48

1.43 .39

2.74 .60

3.47a .44

1.38 .37

2.91 .59

2.32 .45

3.35 .49

1.36 .36

2.73 .59

3.46 .44

1.39 .37

2.91 .55

2.42 .45

3.41 .47

1.37 .37

2.79 .55

3.34b .49

1.44 .44

2.87 .63

2.28b .43

3.27b .49

1.41 .38

2.70 .63

3.39 .47

1.42 .41

2.89 .59

2.34 .44

3.32 .50

1.40 .39

2.74 .59

p < .05. significant gender difference. p < .01. significant grade difference.

criterion. Girls reported higher maternal emotional warmth than boys [t(228) ¼ 2.87, p < .01] and sixth graders less maternal overprotection [t(228) ¼ 2.15, p < .05] and emotional warmth than fifth graders [t(228) ¼ 2.02, p < .05]. Moreover, fathers were reported as less overprotective [t(228) ¼ 2.36, p < .05] and less emotionally warm by the sixth graders [t(228) ¼ 2.03, p < .05]. Girls were considered by their parents to be more conscientious than boys [t(228) ¼ 2.06, p < .05] and fifth graders more agreeable than students from the sixth grade [t(228) ¼ 2.34, p < .05]. No significant difference in social competence was reported for gender and class. Table 4 presents the correlations between the dimensions of the three variables of the study e social competence, personality and parenting. A closer inspection shows correlations of personality with social competence, as well as with parenting dimensions. More specifically, maternal emotional warmth correlated positively with conscientiousness, openness and extraversion, while rejection correlated positively with neuroticism and negatively with conscientiousness, openness and agreeableness. Preadolescents who were reported to exhibit high levels of conscientiousness, openness and extraversion perceived their mothers as warm and caring, whereas preadolescents who were reported as more neurotic, less conscientious, less open to experience and less agreeable felt more rejected by their mothers. Correspondingly, paternal emotional warmth correlated positively with conscientiousness, openness and extraversion, while rejection correlated positively with neuroticism and negatively with conscientiousness and openness. Preadolescents who were reported to exhibit high levels of conscientiousness, openness and extraversion perceived their fathers as warm and caring, whereas preadolescents who were reported as more neurotic and less conscientious and open to experience felt more rejected by their fathers.

Table 3 Means and standard deviations for personality and social competence. Social competence

Boys (n ¼ 105) Means 3.66 SD .57 Girls (n ¼ 125) Means 3.57 SD .71 5th grade (n ¼ 108) Means 3.58 SD .59 6th grade (n ¼ 122) Means 3.64 SD .71 Overall (N ¼ 230) Means 3.61 SD .65 a b

p < .05. significant gender difference. p < .05. significant grade difference.

Personality Neuroticism

Conscientiousness

Openness

Agreeableness

Extraversion

2.34 .64

3.64 .70

3.91 .52

3.82 .53

3.90 .51

2.32 .70

3.82a .62

3.83 .60

3.85 .52

3.84 .57

2.32 .65

3.74 .71

3.88 .58

3.92 .51

3.89 .57

2.34 .70

3.73 .62

3.85 .55

3.76b .52

3.85 .52

2.33 .67

3.73 .66

3.87 .56

3.84 .53

3.87 .54

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Table 4 Correlations between social competence in school, personality traits and parenting dimensions. (SC)

Personality (N)

Social competence (SC) Personality Neuroticism (N) Conscientiousness (C) Openness (O) Agreeableness (A) Extraversion (E) Mothering Overprotection (OPm) Emotional warmth (EWm) Rejection (Rm) Anxious rearing (ARm) Fathering Overprotection (OPf) Emotional warmth (EWf) Rejection (Rf) Anxious rearing (ARf)

.03 .22** .28** .06 .19**

.32** .23** .17** .07

(C)

Mothering (O)

.35** .43** .07

.24** .42**

(A)

(E)

(OPm)

(EWm)

Fathering (Rm)

(ARm)

(OPf)

(EWf)

(Rf)

.43** .13* .20** .85**

.31** .10 .54**

.50** .36**

.04

(ARf)

.27**

.05 .03 .04 .05

.02 .07 .17* .11

.08 .18** .24** .04

.01 .16** .19** .04

.09 .10 .13* .03

.08 .18** .11 .10

.23** .23** .55**

.48** .19**

.26**

.04 .02 .03 .09

.01 .11 .15* .08

.01 .17* .29** .08

.03 .13* .16* .08

.08 .07 .10 .05

.09 .14* .10 .10

.74** .19** .15* .48**

.27** .83** .42** .27**

.11 .41** .85** .10

*p < .05. **p < .01.

Social competence associated to three personality dimensions, i.e. conscientiousness openness, extraversion. Preadolescents who were perceived by their parents as extraverted, conscientious and open to experience were rated with higher levels of social competence (assertive skills, interpersonal communication skills and peer cooperation) by their teachers. No significant relation was found between social competence and the other two personality dimensions (neuroticism and agreeableness). Finally, no association was indicated between parenting and social competence dimensions. Moderation by personality Regression analyses were performed to assess whether preadolescents' personality traits interact with parenting to predict social competence in school. For the analyses the macro PROCESS Procedure for SPSS (v. 2.04) was used (model 1), written by Hayes (2013). The scores of both predictors were mean-centered. Parenting dimensions separately for mothers and fathers and the five personality traits were entered in the first step of the regression analysis. In the second step, the interaction term between personality traits and parenting dimensions was entered. Four interactions explained significant increases in explained variance in social competence of preadolescents in school. A significant increase in explained social competence variance was identified, due to the interaction between neuroticism and maternal rejection, R2 ¼ .05, F(3,226) ¼ 5.66, p < .001. Thus, neuroticism was a significant moderator of the relationship between maternal rejection and social competence. The unstandardized simple slope for preadolescents 1 SD below the mean of neuroticism was .58 [t(227) ¼ 3.27, p < .01], the unstandardized simple slope for preadolescents with a mean level of neuroticism was .13 [t(227) ¼ 1.35, p > .05], and the unstandardized simple slope for preadolescents 1 SD above the mean of neuroticism was .32 [t(227) ¼ 2.29, p < .05] (see Fig. 2). The statistically significant interaction between neuroticism and maternal rejection indicated that the association between rejection and social competence was stronger at lower and higher levels of neuroticism. Similarly, the interaction between neuroticism and paternal rejection increased significantly the explained social competence variance, R2 ¼ .04, F(3,226) ¼ 3.17, p < .05. Neuroticism was a significant moderator of the relationship between paternal rejection and social competence. The unstandardized simple slope for preadolescents 1 SD below the mean of neuroticism was .46 [t(227) ¼ 2.78, p < .01], the unstandardized simple slope for preadolescents with a mean level of neuroticism was .09 [t(227) ¼ .82, p > .05], and the unstandardized simple slope for preadolescents 1 SD above the mean of neuroticism was .43 [t(227) ¼ 1.97, p < .05] (see Fig. 3). Preadolescents with low and high levels of neuroticism, who experienced low and high paternal rejection, were reported to be more competent in their social adjustment. Conscientiousness positively predicted social competence (B ¼ .22, p < .01), however, the interaction of conscientiousness and parenting dimensions did not add to the prediction of preadolescents' social competence. Likewise, openness to experience predicted social competence (B ¼ .32, p < .01), however, the interaction of openness and parenting dimensions did not add to the prediction of preadolescents' social competence. Agreeableness interacted with paternal overprotection, increasing significantly the explained social competence variance, R2 ¼ .03, F(3,226) ¼ 2.85, p < .05. Therefore, agreeableness could be considered a significant moderator of the relationship between paternal overprotection and social competence. The unstandardized simple slope for preadolescents 1 SD below the mean of agreeableness was .33 [t(227) ¼ 2.41, p < .05], the unstandardized simple slope for preadolescents with a mean level of agreeableness was .10 [t(227) ¼ 1.95, p > .05], and the unstandardized simple slope for preadolescents 1 SD above the mean of agreeableness was .12 [t(227) ¼ 1.09, p > .05] (see Fig. 4). High levels of social competence were reported for the

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Fig. 2. Simple slope of Maternal Rejection predicting Social Competence for 1 SD below the mean of neuroticism, the mean of neuroticism and 1 SD above the mean of neuroticism.

less agreeable preadolescents, who experienced low paternal overprotection. Contrariwise, those, who perceived their fathers as highly overprotective, were considered less socially competent. Extraversion, also, positively predicted social competence (B ¼ .22, p < .01). In addition, the interaction term between extraversion and paternal overprotection accounted for a significant increase in the explained preadolescents' social competence variance, R2 ¼ .04, F(3,226) ¼ 2.73, p < .05. Extraversion was a significant moderator of the relationship between paternal overprotection and social competence. The unstandardized simple slope for preadolescents 1 SD below the mean of extraversion was .35 [t(227) ¼ 3.05, p < .01], the unstandardized simple slope for preadolescents with a mean level of extraversion was .10 [t(227) ¼ 4.65, p < .001], and the unstandardized simple slope for preadolescents 1 SD above the mean of extraversion was .14 [t(227) ¼ 2.03, p < .05] (see Fig. 5). Introverted preadolescents, who experienced low paternal overprotection, were reported to be more socially competent in school than introverted preadolescents, who experienced high paternal overprotection. Preadolescents at the mean level of extraversion that reported low levels of paternal overprotection elicited higher teacher ratings in social competence than mildly extraverted reporting high levels of paternal overprotection. Extraverted students, who considered their fathers to be less overprotective, received slightly less teacher ratings in social competence, whereas extraverted preadolescents, who perceived their fathers as overprotective, were considered more competent in their social adjustment. Discussion This study examined the significance of preadolescents' Big Five personality traits and their perception of parenting for social competence in school. Social competence was defined in terms of assertive, communicative and cooperative skills. Parenting dimensions were examined separately for mothers and fathers. Parental views of preadolescents' personality and

Fig. 3. Simple slope of Paternal Rejection predicting Social Competence for 1 SD below the mean of neuroticism, the mean of neuroticism and 1 SD above the mean of neuroticism.

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Fig. 4. Simple slope of Paternal Overprotection predicting Social Competence for 1 SD below the mean of agreeableness, the mean of agreeableness and 1 SD above the mean of agreeableness.

parenting were associated, whereas no association between parenting and social competence was found. Regression analyses showed significant main effects and four interaction effects for preadolescents' personality and parenting predicting social competence. Based on the differential susceptibility proposition for the development of psychosocial adjustment, part of the findings corroborated the theory in that both inherent (personality) and environmental (parenting) effects interacted in the prediction of preadolescents' adjustment, exhibiting variations in adjustment outcomes for different levels of the interaction variables. The first hypothesis examined the association between preadolescents' personality traits and their social competence in school assessed by their teachers. Results corroborated the initial hypothesis that conscientious and open to new experiences preadolescents would be considered more socially competent. Organized, attentive and intellectual students are considered by their teachers to be more socially efficient in class, exhibiting such behavior as tolerance, co-operation, positive negotiation skills and avoidance of conflicts within the peer group (Lamb et al., 2002; Zupan
ci
c & Kav
ci
c, 2011). Furthermore, extraversion provided a main effect on social competence, which constitutes a consistent finding in the personality literature. Students, who are more prone to express their feelings and thoughts openly and be friendly towards others, are seen as more capable of maintaining social relationships efficiently. These findings correspond in part with those of Asendorpf and van Aken (2003), who reported correlations of neuroticism and low extraversion with social inhibition in both early childhood (ages 4e6) and preadolescence (age 12) and those of Shiner (2000), who found that agreeableness and extraversion was related to social competence. However, in the present study a direct association between social competence, on one hand, and neuroticism and agreeableness, on the other, was not produced. The second hypothesis concerned the association between preadolescents' personality traits and their perception of parenting behavior. Specifically, the hypothesis that “positive” traits would associate with responsive parenting was verified. Conscientiousness, openness to experience and extraversion were found to associate with both maternal and paternal emotional warmth and rejection. This finding agrees with existing personality literature in that less attractive individual

Fig. 5. Simple slope of Paternal Overprotection predicting Social Competence for 1 SD below the mean of extraversion, the mean of extraversion and 1 SD above the mean of extraversion.

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characteristics are associated with negative parenting practices (e.g. Khaleque & Rohner, 2005) and vice versa (e.g. Knight et al., 2000). The attractive qualities and skills of conscientious and intellectual preadolescents seem to instigate more positive parenting practices, such as emotional warmth and less negative (i.e. rejection). Furthermore, extraverted preadolescents reported that they received more emotional warmth by both their parents. This finding agrees with Belsky, Crnic, and Woodworth (1995), who indicated that extraverted children receive more support by their parents. However, there were no findings to support the hypothesis, that negative traits associate with demanding parenting practices, suggested by Prinzie et al. (2003), van Leeuwen et al. (2004) and Kendler et al. (1997) among others. It would seem that in the delicate, transitive years of preadolescence, children with more positive personality traits value highly the responsive behavior of their parents. On the other hand, parents tend to be more affective and supportive of their preadolescent offspring, when they behave in a manner that is socially accepted, paying less attention to their negative characteristics and behaviors. The third hypothesis investigated the association between parenting dimensions and social competence in school. Previous findings suggested that “high quality” parenting practices would relate to the preadolescents' adjustment in school (e.g. Rubin et al., 2004; Slicker et al., 2005), whereas demanding style would produce negative outcomes (e.g. Kaufmann et al., 2000). However, in this study parenting dimensions did not associate directly with social competence, failing to verify the initial hypothesis. This finding, although rare, agrees with other existing literature (e.g. Zupan
ci
c & Kav
ci
c, 2011) in that the predictive power of parenting behavior for social competence is low. Results suggest that parenting behavior associates with social competence indirectly and that the moderating role of several variables, such as children's personality, should be examined. The interaction of preadolescents' personality traits and parenting dimensions with social competence in school was investigated in the fourth hypothesis. Neuroticism interacted with parental rejection in predicting preadolescent's adjustment in school. Results seem to suggest that either low or high levels of neuroticism matter more for the social competence of preadolescents who report high parental rejection (both maternal and paternal). This finding partially agrees with existing personality literature in that less attractive individual characteristics are prone to the negative effects of dysfunctional parenting practices (de Haan, Prinzie, & Dekovic, 2010). However, the finding that high levels of neuroticism in preadolescents correlate positively with parental rejection in predicting higher levels of social competence is contradicting previous literature on the subject (e.g. Khaleque & Rohner, 2005). Nevertheless, children, who have been consistently rejected by their parents, struggle to find their place among schoolmates instead. Thus, they may exhibit a more assertive behavior, may communicate and cooperate with others and could be perceived by their teacher as more competent in social perspective. In order to behave in such manner, they need to be self-centered, audacious and emotionally reactive, among other things. Furthermore, agreeableness and extraversion interacted with paternal overprotection predicting social competence. Preadolescents that reported low paternal overprotection and are exhibiting low levels of agreeableness were perceived as more socially competent, whereas those who reported high paternal overprotection were considered less competent in their social adjustment by their teachers. Likewise, extraverted preadolescents, who experienced their fathers as overprotective, were perceived with high levels of social competence. Results suggest that the emotional pressure that the controlling behavior of a father exerts upon a preadolescent contributes negatively to social adjustment among peers, mainly for those students lacking in a warm, friendly and concerned for others personality profile (Garcia, Aluja, & del Barrio, 2006). These findings can be viewed under the prism of the differential susceptibility proposition, in a way that distinguished levels of specific personality characteristics (i.e. low agreeableness, extraversion) differentiate the ability for social adjustment in preadolescents who perceive their fathers as overprotective. Neuroticism, also, seems to be a buffer against parental rejection in the prediction of social competence. Assuming that overprotection and rejection are mainly viewed as “negative quality” parenting dimensions (e.g. Simons et al., 2001), the fact that outcomes in the preadolescents' adjustment differ for diverse traits (i.e. neuroticism and extraversion) and levels of traits (i.e. low and high agreeableness/low and high neuroticism) is supportive evidence that personality characteristics should be considered more as “plasticity factors” and less as “vulnerability factors” (Belsky & Pluess, 2009). Differences in the gender and educational grade of the preadolescents were, also, identified. Mothers tended to be more tender and warm towards their daughters than their sons, a finding that comes in contrast to the general notion in the Greek society, that Greek mothers nurture their sons more than their daughters. This finding, however, may be related to the onset of puberty in many 11-year-old girls, when maternal support is considered very important and a shift in the gender orientation of the parentechild connection, from heterosexual to the same-gender (motheredaughter, fathereson). In addition, this result may be related to the finding that sixth graders report their parents less controlling and more distant. It can be said that preadolescence is a critical stage in the child's life, when big steps towards autonomy need to be taken. Children often request and expect this kind of behavior by their parents and some parents feel safer to give their children more “space” for this purpose. Contrary to fifth graders, students of sixth grade are considered by their parents as more agreeable, cooperative and docile. Teachers seem to have the same notion of sixth grade, as a school year preparatory for high-school, when students are allowed to experience more freedom and autonomy granting. This study is subject to several limitations. First, caution should be used when interpreting the interactions, because although they were statistically significant, the entire models only accounted for up to 5% of the explained variance in social competence. This clearly implies that more independent variables should be considered in the prediction of preadolescents' social adjustment. Moreover, due to the cross-sectional nature of the research design, correlation coefficient values were lower than expected and, in some cases, insignificant. Furthermore, because this study is based on correlational and moderation analyses, the directionality of the effect cannot be determined. In the current study, it cannot be said to what

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extent children's poorer social competence elicits rejecting and overprotective parenting practices, or to what extent poorer social competence is a result of their parenting practices. This study was conducted in the wider area of Athens, making it representative only to urban areas of the country. Data collected by the children should always be interpreted with caution, as they incorporate, apart from the benefit of increasing the answers in the data collection, also the risk of reduced validity of the information. Future research should address more variables that influence parenting practices and adjustment in school, such as peer relations, well-being, resiliency or sense of self-control. Moreover, the role of personality in the selection of peers, in relation to specific parenting practices, such as monitoring or parental school involvement, should be addressed as well. 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