Maternal Parenting and Children’s Conscience: Early Security as Moderator Grazyna Kochanska, Nazan Aksan, Amy Knaack, and Heather M. Rhines Socialization research is shifting from direct links between parenting and children’s outcomes toward models that consider parenting in the context of other factors. This study proposed that the effects of maternal re- sponsive, gentle parenting on child conscience are moderated by the quality of their relationship, specifically, early security. A 2-process model of early conscience development was proposed and confirmed in this lon- gitudinal study. The child’s security and trust in the caregiver, assessed at 14 months in the Strange Situation, rendered him or her receptive and eager to accept the caregiver’s socialization agenda. That early security then enhanced the effectiveness of parental adaptive parenting style, observed from 14 to 45 months, in terms of promoting conscience at 56 months, which encompassed moral conduct, moral cognition, and moral self. Most scholars believe that parental socialization is linked to children’s adaptive developmental out- comes, including their acquisition and internalization of parental values and rules, but the extent (and even the mere existence) and mechanisms of those influ- ences are intensely debated (Bugental & Goodnow, 1998; Collins, Maccoby, Steinberg, Hetherington, & Bornstein, 2000; Grusec, 2002; Harris, 1998; Maccoby, 1992; Maccoby & Martin, 1983; O’Connor, 2002). Understanding what kind of parenting can effec- tively foster positive outcomes, including early in- ternalization, is a perennial question. Most scholars have argued that responsive, warm parenting that respects the child’s autonomy and is reasonably free of power assertion promotes children’s conscience (e.g., Grusec & Goodnow, 1994; Grusec & Kuczynski, 1997; Hoffman, 1970, 1983; Maccoby & Martin, 1983). Despite a relative conceptual consensus, the overall empirical yield regarding effects of parenting has been disappointingly thin (Maccoby, 1992; Mac- coby & Martin, 1983; O’Connor, 2002). This has led some scholars to doubt whether parenting plays any role at all in influencing child outcomes (Harris, 1998) and others to reconsider and refine the earlier simple top-down models of socialization (Kuczyn- ski, 2003; Maccoby, 2003). Consequently, develop- mentalists have urged a shift from main effects of parenting to more complex interactions, or moder- ated effects (Collins et al., 2000; Grusec & Goodnow, 1994; O’Connor, 2002). This approach reflects a general focus on a deeper understanding of under- lying processes in social development research (Eisenberg, 1998). Several factors that moderate the effect of parenting on child outcomes have been studied, and the accumulating empirical evidence has been promising. Earlier research on individual differences (Escalona, 1968; Thomas & Chess, 1977; Wachs & Gandour, 1983) and ‘‘evocative child effects’’ as inter- acting with parenting (Bell, 1968; Scarr & McCartney, 1983) has inspired studies on child temperament as moderating the links between parenting and out- comes and on parenting as moderating the links between child temperament and outcomes (Bates, Pettit, Dodge, & Ridge, 1998; Belsky, Hsieh, & Crnic, 1998; Putnam, Sanson, & Rothbart, 2002), including early conscience (Kochanska, 1995, 1997). Other moderators of the links between parenting and child outcomes included ecological factors, such as cul- ture, ethnicity, neighborhood, or social support avail- able to parents (Chao, 1994; Crockenberg, 1981; O’Connor, 2002); the child’s gender and develop- mental status; and the nature of behavior being socialized (see Grusec, 2002, for review). Few scholars, however, have explicitly asked whether the relationship itself, in which parenting occurs, can serve as a moderator of the impact of parenting. Is a similar parenting strategy more effective when applied by a parent who has estab- lished a trusting and mutually bonding relationship r 2004 by the Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved. 0009-3920/2004/7504-0016 Grazyna Kochanska, Nazan Aksan, Amy Knaack, and Heather M. Rhines, Department of Psychology, University of Iowa. This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grant SBR-9510863, Career Award KO2 MH01446, and RO1 MH63096 to the first author. We appreciate the valuable contributions of many undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students and staff, including Katherine Coy, David Forman, Amanda Friesenborg, Mary Joy, Lindsey Lange, Mei-Hua Lin, Kathleen Murray, and Kate Nichols. We also thank Bonnie Conley and Susan Paris for coding attachment, and all of the parents and children who par- ticipated in this research for their enthusiastic commitment. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Grazyna Kochanska, Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242. Electronic mail may be sent to grazyna- kochanska@uiowa.edu. Child Development, July/August 2004, Volume 75, Number 4, Pages 1229–1242