The impact of maternal lifetime stressor exposure on child effortful control in the preschool years: Findings from the Behavior Outlook Norwegian Developmental study

We carried out this study to explore the role of maternal lifetime stressor exposure on child effortful control at age 4 years, using data from the Behavior Outlook Norwegian Developmental Study ( n = 1,101). At child’s age 4 years the mother reported whether she had ever experienced any of the following: death of someone close, violence, abuse, bullying, serious financial problems, hunger or homelessness, and being a refugee. We did not find an impact of maternal lifetime exposure to stressors on child effortful control. Findings were null irrespective of operationalisation of adversity (i.e., whether a linear or threshold model of cumulative risk was tested or whether specific adversities were considered). Socioeconomic risk and gender were far stronger predictors and remained significant across models. Future research should explore how proximal experience of socioeconomic disadvantage impacts effortful control early in development.