Meghan B.

Scrimgeour
Statement of Research Interests
My research examines multiple aspects of family subsystems and their impact on childrens
socioemotional development through the lens of a family systems perspective. I am particularly
interested in the family influences on the development of childrens prosocial behavior and
emotions. By centering my research on the family process correlates (e.g., marital, parenting,
coparenting, sibling, and individual) of childrens socially adaptive outcomes, my work
contributes knowledge to the positive aspects of family relationships.
Prosocial behavior is defined as voluntary behavior that is intended to benefit another person,
such as helping, sharing, comforting, cooperating, and being considerate to others (Eisenberg et
al., 1999; Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006; Findlay, Girardi, & Coplan, 2006; Hastings,
Utendale, & Sullivan, 2007). The origins and underlying mechanisms of the development of
these behaviors are not fully understood (Svetlova, Nichols, & Brownell, 2010). It is well
established, however, that an important context for young childrens socialization is their family
relationships. Childrens prosocial behavior first emerges within the context of their
relationships with their parents and it is, in large part, through the ongoing exchanges between
the parent-child dyad that prosocial development transpires (Ensor, Spencer, & Hughes; Hastings
et al., 2007; Hay & Cook, 2007). Research has shown a pattern in which parents who engage in
an authoritative parenting style (i.e., express high levels of warmth, responsiveness, sensitivity
and age-appropriate levels of control) are more likely to have children who are more prosocial
(Eisenberg, Fabes, & Murphy, 1996; Hastings, Rubin, & DeRose, 2005, Hastings et al., 2007).
Even though young children have the capacity to engage prosocially, they do not engage in all
types of prosocial behavior equally across contexts. Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the
correlates of different types of prosocial behavior may begin to emerge across early childhood.
To examine these differential correlates, drawing from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care,
we utilized a longitudinal path model to investigate whether maternal parenting (sensitivity and
cognitive stimulation), child, and situational characteristics are differentially associated with
toddlers cooperation and concern with a peer (Blandon & Scrimgeour, in press). Results
indicated that maternal sensitivity and cognitive stimulation at 15-months indirectly influenced
toddlers cooperation at 36-months through maternal sensitivity at 24-months. These findings
highlight the importance of the mother-child dyad in influencing childrens prosocial
development in early childhood, as well as differences in the correlates of two specific types of
prosocial behavior. While this study underscored mothers influential role in prosocial
development, given the transactional pattern of the mother-child dyad, research is needed that
also examines individual processes underlying childrens ability to engage in prosocial behavior.
Early prosocial development is supported by both family (e.g., parent-child relationship
dynamics) and individual processes (e.g., childrens emerging self-regulatory abilities). In order
to engage prosocially, children must first regulate their own emotions and behavior (Eisenberg,
Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006). Maternal emotion socialization (ES) strategies and childrens
parasympathetic regulation have each been implicated in prosocial behavior, but are rarely
examined together (or prospectively). In an effort to extend this area of research, I lead an
investigation using multiple methods and assessments from the Toddlers Into Kindergarteners
Emotion Study (TIKES) to examine the joint contributions of inter-personal (i.e., mothers

Meghan B. Scrimgeour
Research Statement
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reported and observed ES strategies of their childrens negative emotions) and intra-personal (i.e.,
childrens parasympathetic regulation during an emotionally challenging situation) emotion
processes to the emergence of prosocial behavior in early childhood (Scrimgeour, Davis, & Buss,
revision under review). Results demonstrated that mothers reported use of positive, problemfocused ES strategies when children were age 2 predicted prosocial behavior at age 4.
Additionally, children who showed parasympathetic reactivity consistent with more effective
emotion regulation during a lab-based disappointment task at age 3.5 were rated as more
prosocial at age 4. Finally, several interactions between mothers observed use of ES strategies
and childrens parasympathetic reactivity emerged. All together, these findings suggest that
childrens emerging prosocial behavior is shaped by the interactive contributions of interpersonal maternal ES strategies as well as intra-personal intrinsic physiological regulation.
From toddlerhood onward, girls are reported to engage in more prosocial behavior than boys, but
the reason for this difference is not entirely clear (Hastings, Utendale, & Sullivan, 2007).
Parents socialization of childrens positive and negative emotions plays a key role in the
development of emotion competence, including their ability to recognize, understand, and
regulate their own and others emotions. The expression of negative emotions is typically more
acceptable for girls than boys, so the link between parental ES and prosocial behavior may vary
depending on the sex of the child (Eisenberg, Fabes, & Murphy, 1996). Utilizing data from
TIKES, a study we are currently working on examines whether exposure to non-supportive
maternal emotion reactions (e.g., distress, punitive/minimization) to childrens negative affect in
distressful situations represents one pathway by which gender differences may arise in childrens
emerging prosocial behavior (Davis, Scrimgeour, & Buss, in prep).
In addition to the parenting subsystem, the coparenting relationship has been found to
independently affect, as well as interact with the parenting relationship, to influence childrens
social development (Feinberg, 2003; Gable, Crnic, & Belsky, 1994; Van Egeren & Hawkins,
2004). While evidence indicates that the coparenting relationship has been linked to childrens
socioemotional adjustment in preschool, research has yet to examine the link between
coparenting and childrens prosocial behavior or the potential interactive contributions of the
coparenting and parenting relationships influencing childrens prosocial behavior. Childrens
individual characteristics (e.g., physiological regulation, gender, and temperament) have been
linked with their prosocial development in early and middle childhood (Sanson, Hemphill, &
Smart, 2004; Young, Fox, & Zahn-Waxler, 1999). Utilizing a longitudinal approach and
drawing on data from TIKES, my masters thesis examined how parenting, coparenting, and
childrens temperament are associated with childrens emerging prosocial behavior and how they
interact to predict childrens prosocial behavior (Scrimgeour, Blandon, Stifter, & Buss, 2013).
Results revealed a pattern in which coparenting cooperation was positively associated with
childrens prosocial behavior. A significant interaction also emerged between maternal inductive
reasoning and cooperative coparenting behavior. These findings underscore the important role
of a cooperative coparenting subsystem in influencing childrens emerging prosocial behavior, as
well as highlight the association between positive parenting practices and childrens prosocial
development within the context of cooperative coparenting behaviors. Overall, this study
demonstrated the utility of understanding family-level processes that contribute to childrens
prosocial development during early childhood.

Meghan B. Scrimgeour
Research Statement
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Research has made evident the importance of the coparenting relationship and its effects on
childrens socioemotional development. Given the central role of this family subsystem, an
avenue for further research is examining the factors that influence cooperative and competitive
coparenting behavior. To date, work has explored factors that account for differences in the
coparenting relationship across families, while limited work has addressed variations in
coparenting within-families and across contexts. Drawing from TIKES, we explored whether
there is significant within- and between-family variation in coparenting across a freeplay,
structured play, and clean-up task (Blandon, Scrimgeour, Stifter, & Buss, 2013). Results showed
that a considerable amount of within-family variation in cooperative and competitive coparenting
occurred across the triadic interactions suggesting that coparents change how they interact with
one another in response to varied situational demands. These findings highlight the importance
of exploring both within- and between-family variation in coparenting behavior.
In addition to the parent-child and coparenting relationships, research has highlighted the
importance of the sibling relationship on childrens socioemotional development (McHale,
Updegraff, & Whiteman, 2012). The quality of childrens sibling relationships, in particular, is
developmentally important because siblings generally spend more time with each other than they
spend in any other relationship including their mother, father, and peers (Dunn, 2007). Sibling
conflict may provide an important socialization context for childrens early conscience
development. Utilizing within-family data from the Socialization Temperament and
Relationships Study (STARS), we examined whether characteristics of the sibling dyad (conflict
and gender dyad composition) and childrens physiological regulation were associated with
childrens guilt and internalized conduct (Scrimgeour, Mariotti, & Blandon, revise and resubmit).
Results from actor-partner interdependence models indicated that older siblings conflict with
their younger siblings moderated the association between older siblings physiological regulation
and both older and younger siblings guilt. These results underscore the importance of the
sibling relationship on childrens development of moral emotions and behaviors as well as the
need to add clarity on the processes through which siblings may differentially influence each
others conscience development.
Traditionally, researchers have composited various prosocial behaviors and drawn conclusions
about the correlates of childrens prosocial development in general (Dunfield, Kuhlmeier,
OConnell, & Kelley, 2011; Dunfield & Kuhlmeier, 2013; Iannotti, 1985). The problem with
this approach is that some research has found no, low, or even negative correlations among
different prosocial behaviors in early childhood (Dunfield et al., 2011; Dunfield & Kuhlmeier,
2013; Iannotti, 1985; Paulus, 2014; Pettygrove, Hammond, Karahuta, Waugh, & Brownell, 2013;
Radke-Yarrow et al., 1976). In an effort to gain a more holistic understanding of the family
processes influencing childrens development of different types of prosocial behavior (helping
and sharing towards their sibling and towards a friendly adult), my dissertation project is
exploring the direct and indirect associations among the marital, coparenting, and sibling
relationships and whether these associations differ for older and younger siblings. Results from
this project, in particular, will suggest further avenues for investigation.

Meghan B. Scrimgeour
Research Statement
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To date, my program of research has shown that family relationships are rich in potential for
advancing a more detailed understanding of childrens socioemotional development. Given my
training in observational family, survey, and physiological regulation research, I will continue to
utilize these methodologies, as well as a family systems perspective, to guide my next projects in
the positive aspects of family relationships and childrens adaptive outcomes.