Longitudinal associations between maternal love withdrawal and behavior problems among Chinese preschoolers: the joint moderating effects of child gender and effortful control

Love withdrawal, an emotionally manipulative practice where caregivers withdraw affection to elicit compliance, is theorized to harm child development. However, longitudinal evidence in early childhood, particularly within the Chinese context, remains scarce. This study therefore investigated the longitudinal relations between maternal love withdrawal and preschoolers’ behavior problems, and explored the moderating effects of child gender and effortful control in China. In this two-wave, one-year longitudinal study, participants were 148 Chinese preschoolers (86 boys, Mage = 4.02, SD = 0.79) and their mothers. Mothers reported their use of love withdrawal at Wave 1 and rated their children’s effortful control and internalizing and externalizing problems at Wave 2. Data were analyzed using multi-group path analysis to examine gender-specific effects and the moderating role of effortful control separately for boys and girls. Wave 1 maternal love withdrawal positively predicted Wave 2 externalizing problems, but not Wave 2 internalizing problems. These effects varied by child gender and their levels of effortful control. For boys, maternal love withdrawal interacted with effortful control in predicting externalizing problems one year later, and only boys with lower effortful control exhibited more externalizing problems in response to love withdrawal. For girls, maternal love withdrawal positively predicted internalizing problems one year later, regardless of the child’s effortful control level. The findings underscore that maternal love withdrawal is a risk factor for behavior problems among Chinese preschoolers, though its effects vary by gender and effortful control. These results provided guidelines for future interventions: reducing caregivers’ use of love withdrawal, strengthening boys’ effortful control skills, and providing girls with greater support for managing internalizing problems.