Table 2.

Conscience in Mother–Child Relationship (25–52 Months) and Child Moral Self at 67 Months as Predictors of Competent, Adaptive Functioning at 80 Months

		Step 1				Step 2				Step 3
Step	Predictor	β	B	SE B	95% CI	β	B	SE B	95% CI	β	B	SE B	95% CI
Equation 1: Child conscience measures as predictors of child competent, adaptive functioning
1a	C Gender	−.33***	−0.73	0.23	[−1.19, −0.28]	−.15	−0.35	0.23	[−0.81, 0.12]
2b	C Internalization of M rules					.31***	0.45	0.15	[0.15, 0.75]
	C Empathy to M					.24**	0.60	0.24	[0.13, 1.07]
Equation 2: Child conscience measures as predictors of child moral self
1c	C Gender	−.16	−2.36	1.59	[−5.52, 0.81]	−.02	−0.32	1.68	[−3.66, 3.01]
2d	C Internalization of M rules					.33***	3.29	1.10	[1.11, 5.47]
	C Empathy to M					.00	0.02	1.74	[−3.43, 3.48]
Equation 3: Child conscience measures and moral self as predictors of child competent, adaptive functioning
1e	C Gender	−.32***	−0.71	0.23	[−1.16, −0.26]	−.16	−0.36	0.24	[−0.83, 0.11]	−.16	−0.36	0.23	[−0.81, 0.10]
2f	C Internalization of M rules					.28***	0.41	0.16	[0.10, 0.72]	.19†	0.27	0.16	[−0.04, 0.59]
	C Empathy to M					.22**	0.55	0.24	[0.07, 1.04]	.22**	0.55	0.23	[0.08, 1.01]
3g	C Moral self									.28***	0.04	0.01	[0.01, 0.07]

Note. M = mother; C = child. C Gender coded as 0 (girls) and 1 (boys). C Competent, adaptive functioning rated by both parents and teachers at 80 months. C Internalization of M rules and C Empathy to M observed at 25, 38, and 52 months; C Moral self observed at 67 months. The three equations test the three conditions for mediation: independent variables predicting the outcome (Equation 1, two steps); independent variables predicting the mediator (Equation 2, two steps); the mediator predicting the outcome, with the effects of independent variables dropping (Equation 3, three steps).

^aR² = .11, F(1, 88) = 10.42^***.

^bR² = .25, F(3, 86) =9.67^****.

^cR² = .02, F(1, 88) =2.19.

^dR² = .12, F(3, 86) =3.82^**.

^eR² = .10, F(1, 86) = 9.74^***.

^fR² = .23, F(3, 84) = 8.21^****.

^gR² = .29, F(4, 83) = 8.61^****.

^†p < .10.

^*p < .05.

^**p < .025.

^***p < .01.

^****p < .001.