# Developmental Linkages Between Parenting Behaviors and Child Externalizing Behaviors From Early Childhood to Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Child Executive Functions and Self-Regulation

> **NIH NIH R03** · UNIVERSITY OF OREGON · 2020 · $73,750

## Abstract

7. Project Summary/Abstract
Adolescence is a critical window of neuroplasticity when environmental inputs such as parenting can have a
significant impact on adolescent behavior and the ability to self-regulate, yet research on the role of parenting
behaviors has been limited to early-childhood effects. Although some studies have documented effects of
adolescent-specific parenting on self-regulation and externalizing behaviors, no study to date has used a
national longitudinal sample to examine these developmental linkages in a systematic manner from early
childhood to adolescence. As such, it remains unclear whether parenting effects on externalizing behaviors
and underlying self-regulatory abilities are enduring (i.e., carried forward from younger years), or if unique
adolescent-specific effects are in play. Further, what are the underlying mechanisms by which parenting
behaviors affect child externalizing behaviors across development? To address these questions, the proposed
study will use existing longitudinal data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development
(SECCYD) to (a) examine the transactional linkages between three parenting behaviors and child executive
functions, self-regulation, and externalizing behaviors from early childhood to adolescence by using separate
bivariate transactional models for each parenting behavior and child outcome combination; and (b) assess the
mediating roles of child executive functions and self-regulation in the mechanistic pathway by which parenting
behaviors affect child externalizing behaviors from early childhood to adolescence. By identifying whether
parenting behaviors can exert unique adolescent-specific effects and delineating the mechanisms of influence
of parenting behaviors across development, the proposed study will advance current understanding of
parenting effects and facilitate the development of more-targeted parenting-based interventions beyond early
childhood. Findings from the this study will inform the design of future longitudinal studies with
socioeconomically and ethnically diverse samples to explore variations in parenting effects based on
sociodemographic and contextual factors, and use of twin or adoption study designs to disentangle genetic and
environmental effects.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10057623
- **Project number:** 1R03HD101819-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
- **Principal Investigator:** ATIKA KHURANA
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $73,750
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-02 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10057623

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10057623, Developmental Linkages Between Parenting Behaviors and Child Externalizing Behaviors From Early Childhood to Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Child Executive Functions and Self-Regulation (1R03HD101819-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10057623. Licensed CC0.

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