We also examined whether stability in internalizing or externalizing problems across T1, T2, and T3 was related to T3 EC, impulsivity, or negative emotionality when controlling for T1 levels of the given dispositional characteristic (e.g., attentional EC, sadness). These analyses examined whether change in the aforementioned characteristics was related to change/stability of maladjustment. Researchers have found associations between EC or negative emotionality and parenting (see Belsky, Fish, & Isabella, 1991; Eisenberg, Zhou, et al., 2005; Lengua, 2006), suggesting that socialization as well as heredity shape children’s dispositions. In the sample in this study (Eisenberg, Sadovsky, et al., 2005), children who maintained high levels of internalizing or externalizing problem behavior over 2 years, in comparison to those who improved over time, generally were higher in anger and sadness. Children who were consistently low in symptoms tended to be lower in anger than children who moved from control to externalizing or internalizing status (with this pattern being stronger for externalizing problems). Sadness was also associated with an increase in externalizing status or with a stable externalizing status. In addition, reductions in externalizing
