In addition to the twin evidence suggesting that parental monitoring moderated the importance of genetic effects, there are numerous studies in the developmental literature suggesting the importance of this construct in moderating associations between early temperament/family history and the subsequent development of child behavior problems. For example, Bates and colleagues found that across two independent samples, a difficult childhood temperament was related to the subsequent development of externalizing behavior, but only in the context of lower parental control (Bates, Pettit, Dodge, & Ridge, 1998). Further, Molina and colleagues found that density of family history of alcoholism is related to the development of behavior problems in children, but only in the context of poor parenting (a measure that included reduced parental monitoring) (Molina, Donovan, & Belendiuk, 2010). These studies find that associations between predisposing factors (both known to at least partially reflect genetic influence) and child behavior problems are stronger under conditions of lower parental monitoring, paralleling the finding from twin studies that genetic influences were stronger under conditions of lower parental monitoring. They provided yet another compelling rationale to study
