Gender-Differentiated Parenting Revisited: Meta-Analysis Reveals Very Few Differences in Parental Control of Boys and Girls

The Effects of Gendered Parenting on Child Development Outcomes: A Systematic Review

Gender role development occurs in the earliest months and years of a child's life. Parental attitudes, behaviours and modelling are likely to play a significant role in this process; however, to date no review has been conducted to consolidate knowledge of the effects of differential parenting on child development. This systematic review aimed to investigate the evidence for differential parenting behaviours based on child gender that affect child development, across six areas (vocalisation, socialisation, play, toys, dress and décor). Searches were conducted for English article using four databases: psycINFO, CINAHL, Sociological Abstract, and SCOPUS. The inclusion criteria were biological or adoptive parents, of a typically developing child aged below five, using any parenting behaviour or strategies that differed by child gender. 45 studies were included in this systematic review (14 vocalisation, 21 socialisation, 7 play, 3 toys). A variety of gender-differentiated parenting behaviours and child outcomes were examined. The review found evidence that parents do respond differently to their children. Parents vocalised differently, used different socialising strategies, played differently and provided different toys to their sons and daughters. This differential parenting was associated with some differences in child development across child gender, including differences in child vocalisation, displays of affect, pain responses, compliance, toy play and aggression. However, the overall quality of the evidence, the lack of longitudinal studies and the heterogeneous nature of the outcomes examined suggest the need for a systematic approach to examining the nature and effects of differential parenting on children's development.

Emotion Words in Early Childhood: A Language Transcript Analysis

Children learn the abstract, challenging categories of emotions from young ages, and it has recently been suggested that language (and more specifically emotion words) may aid this learning. To examine the language that young children hear and produce as they're learning emotion categories, the present study examined nearly 2,000 transcripts from 179 children ranging from 15- to 47-months from the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES). Results provide key descriptive, developmental, and predictive information regarding child emotion language production, including the finding that child emotion word production was predicted by mothers' emotion word production (β=.21, p<.001), but not by child or mother language complexity (β=.01, p=.690; β=.00, p=.872). Frequency of specific emotion words are presented, as are developmental trends in early emotion language production and input. These results improve the understanding of children's daily emotional language environments and may inform theories of emotional development.

Gender differences in the supply of alcohol to adolescent daughters and sons

Background: Parents are the main supplier of alcohol to children but it is not known whether mothers and fathers equally contribute to the supply of alcohol to their female and male children as these children transition to adulthood.Objectives: i) to determine whether the gender of the parent is associated with the gender of the adolescent offspring when alcohol is supplied and ii) whether the gender of the parent supplying is associated with gender differences in adolescent binge drinking and alcohol related harms.Methods: Longitudinal cohort of 1,927 (males = 1052) Australian adolescents (mean age 12.9 years), recruited in 2010/11 from schools in Australia and surveyed annually for six years. We assessed the association between adolescent and parent gender related to subsequent adolescent drinking, binge drinking (>4 standard drinks), and alcohol-related harms.Results: At mean age of 12.9 years about one in ten children report parental supply of alcohol which increases to about four in ten children by 17.8 years. Mothers consistently more often supply their daughters with alcohol than their sons, [Wave 5 OR 1.77 (1.53,2.05)], while mothers less often supply sons than their daughters, [Wave 5 OR 0.82 (0.71,0.95)]. Mothers' supply of alcohol to daughters predicts substantially increased odds of daughters binge drinking, [OR 1.67 (1.10,2.53)] and experiencing alcohol related harms, [OR 1.65 (1.10,2.48)].Conclusion: There is a need to involve both mothers and fathers and to equally target female and male children in programs to reduce the harmful consequences of parental supply of alcohol to their children.

Sex Differences in Maternal Restrictive Feeding Practices in the Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories Study

BACKGROUND

Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories tested an early life responsive parenting (RP) intervention designed for obesity prevention. Body mass index z-score at age 3 years was lower for the RP group versus controls with a larger effect for girls than boys. We sought to determine if child sex was associated with differing maternal feeding practices and whether sex moderated intervention effects on feeding.

DESIGN/METHODS

Mothers (N = 279) completed the Infant Feeding Styles Questionnaire (IFSQ) at 28 weeks, the Structure and Control in Parent Feeding (SCPF) at 1, 2, and 3 years, and the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) at 3 years. Study aims were tested using 2-way analysis of variance and repeated measures.

RESULTS

Mothers reported greater restriction (limiting food quantity) for boys at 28 weeks (IFSQ: 3.0 ± 1.1 vs 2.8 ± 1.0, P = .07) and across annual measurements from age 1 to 3 years (SCPF: P = .04). At age 3, the intervention group effect on restriction differed by sex (CFQ: P = .047) such that higher restriction was reported by RP group mothers of boys versus girls (3.4 ± 0.7 vs 3.0 ± 0.9, P = .002) with no control group sex difference (3.4 ± 0.8 vs 3.3 ± 0.9, P = .79). There were no sex differences or sex by intervention group interactions in other reported feeding practices at any assessment (ie, structure-based feeding, pressure).

CONCLUSIONS

Mothers of boys used more restrictive feeding through age 3. These findings may be partially explained by previously reported better self-soothing and self-regulation abilities of participating girls.

Parental Relationship Quality and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: Investigating The Role of Parental Warmth and Hostility in United States Military Families

Military life is characterized by regular transitions; thus, parents are positioned to serve as stable protective factors for adolescents. We investigated a theory-informed model that assessed direct and indirect relationships between parental relationship quality, parental behaviors, and adolescent depressive symptomatology using cross-sectional data of military families in the United States (US). Participant families (N = 229), recruited via convenience sampling to take a computer-based survey, included an active duty father, his spouse, and an adolescent. Mother's couple relationship quality was indirectly linked to adolescent depressive symptoms through maternal warmth. Conversely, father's couple relationship quality was indirectly linked to adolescent depressive symptoms via paternal hostility. In other words, parental couple relationship quality was indirectly related to adolescent depressive symptoms, but this relationship differed by parent (i.e., warmth for mothers and hostility for fathers). Findings were similar for adolescent boys and girls.

The effect of parenting pressure on children's internalizing problem behaviors and its mechanism

BACKGROUND

in the process of raising children, parents will inevitably have inappropriate measures and behaviors, which will bring greater pressure on the children's psychology and physiology.

OBJECTIVE

in the field of children's development, parenting pressure has always been one of the hotspots of worldwide scholars. In order to further understand the causes of children's psychological problems, the effect of parenting pressure on children's internalizing problem behaviors and its mechanism are explored.

METHODS

based on previous literature, the parenting pressure and children's internalizing related problems in China are investigated. Based on the characteristic discussion of parenting styles in China, the parenting pressure and internalizing problems of children is deeply analyzed. The sample survey is used to sample the parents of kindergarten children, and a total of 679 children's parents are selected.

RESULTS

the results show that the parents of boys have more serious parenting pressure than the parents of girls. In the process of raising children, the mother bears more pressure than the father. For the internalizing problems of children, the psychological aggression behavior of parents shows a relatively serious effect. There is a certain causal relationship between parenting pressure and parents' strict discipline behavior. Therefore, parenting pressure is used as an intermediary variable to affect children's internalizing behavior. Parenting pressure does not show a significant correlation with children's internalizing problems, but indirectly affects the generation of children's internalizing behaviors by affecting parents' strict discipline behaviors.

CONCLUSION

it enriches the investigations on parenting pressure and children's education in China, and provides a certain theoretical basis for the development of children's mental health.

Ambulance clinician perspectives of disparity in prehospital child pain management: A mixed methods study

BACKGROUND

When children suffer acute pain, the ambulance service is often involved to provide initial assessment, treatment, and transport. Several predictors of effective pain management have been identified, including children who are younger (0-5 years), administered analgesics, and living in homes from more affluent areas.

OBJECTIVE

To explain previously identified predictors of effective prehospital pain management in children.

DESIGN

Mixed methods sequential explanatory study.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

East Midlands Ambulance Service National Health Service Trust paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) participated in face-to-face semi-structured interviews. These were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded using thematic analysis. Meta-inferences were generated and illustrated within a joint display.

RESULTS

Twelve clinicians (9 paramedics and 3 EMTs) were interviewed. Median (interquartile range) age was 43.5 years (41.5, 45.75), 58% were male (n = 7) and 58% were parents (n = 7). Possible explanations were provided for all predictors. Younger children were perceived to express more emotion, were easier to distract, and lived more in the moment than their older counterparts, which explained why younger children were more likely to achieve effective pain management. Analgesics were perceived to have a psychosocial benefit in addition to the pharmacological action. Ambulance clinicians felt that children living in more affluent areas were more likely to achieve effective pain management because the kempt environment facilitated assessment and management and clinicians spent more time on scene; this allowed more time for analgesics to take effect. Participants perceived paramedics to be more confident, and it was found that paramedics were older, more experienced, had a greater scope of practice, and spent more time on scene than EMTs.

CONCLUSION

Prehospital pain management in children could be improved by facilitating and prioritizing analgesic administration and by ambulance services ensuring a paramedic, or highly trained clinician, is present on each vehicle, necessitating long-term commitment to staff development.

The Premise and Promise of Activation Parenting for Fathers: A Review and Integration of Extant Literature

Although research on fathers tends to focus on mother-derived conceptualizations of caregiving, such as sensitivity, it has been theorized that fathers play a unique role in opening their children to the world by encouraging exploration and risk-taking. However, extant research on these forms of paternal caregiving is scattered across multiple related but distinct domains, namely rough-and-tumble play, challenging parenting behavior, and the activation relationship. Based on the overlap in theory and operationalizations of these domains, the present review aimed to define and operationalize a new caregiving construct: activation parenting (AP). Fathers who exhibit frequent and high-quality AP behaviors encourage children to take risks, challenge children physically and socioemotionally, and set appropriate limits during stimulating interactions to ensure safety and prevent over-arousal. Using Belsky's (1984) process of parenting model as a foundation, associations between paternal AP and characteristics of the father, his environment, and his child are reviewed, with a focus on early childhood (i.e., ages 0-5 years). The present review found some support for paternal AP occurring more frequently, but not necessarily with higher quality, when fathers had children older than one years old. Unexpectedly, the frequency and quality of paternal AP did not differ much by paternal age or indicators of socioeconomic status, or by child age or gender. In line with underlying theories, higher quality paternal AP in early childhood has been found to be associated with children's self-regulation skills and lower levels of internalizing and externalizing problems. Limitations of the current paternal AP literature are discussed and future directions for research, policy, and clinical work are proposed.

Cultural Roots of Parenting: Mothers' Parental Social Cognitions and Practices From Western US and Shanghai/China

Cultural values can be considered as important factors that impact parents’ social cognitions and parenting practices. However, few studies compare specific cultural values of parents and the relationships between cultural values and parenting processes in eastern and western contexts. This study examined the ethnicity differences in mothers’ cultural values, parental social cognitions (child-rearing ideologies and goals), and parenting practices between Mainland Chinese and European American contexts. Predictors of parenting goals and parenting practices were also investigated. Mothers of 4–6 years old children from the western United States (N = 78) and Shanghai/China (N = 96) participated in this study. The results suggested that mothers from Shanghai/China were both more collectivistic and individualistic than mothers from the western United States. Chinese mothers more strongly endorsed training and collectivistic parenting goals, while European American mothers more strongly endorsed individualistic parenting goals for their children. However, no significant difference was found in parenting practices for both groups of mothers. For both ethnic groups, in general, mothers’ cultural values have small but significant impact on their parenting processes. The prediction of cultural values and parenting goals on parenting practices were also different for both ethnicity groups. Although Chinese mothers were higher on both individualism and collectivism, their collectivistic values were more important in predicting parental social cognitions.

Predictors of Changes in Sleep Duration in Dutch Primary Schoolchildren: the ChecKid Study

BACKGROUND

Healthy sleep duration is essential to health and well-being in childhood and later life. Unfortunately, recent evidence shows a decline in sleep duration among children. Although effective interventions promoting healthy sleep duration require insight into its predictors, data on these factors are scarce. This study therefore investigated (i) which individual (lifestyle), social and cultural factors, and living conditions and (ii) which changes in these factors might be associated with the changes in sleep duration of Dutch primary schoolchildren observed over time.

METHOD

Data from the ChecKid study was used, a dynamic cohort study among 4-13-year-old children living in the city of Zwolle, the Netherlands. Associations between changes in sleep duration and individual (lifestyle) factors (i.e., age, sex, physical activity behavior, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, screen behavior), social and cultural factors (i.e., parental rules, ethnicity), and living conditions (i.e., parental education, presence of screens in the bedroom, household size) were analyzed using multivariable linear regression.

RESULTS

A total of 1180 children participated, aged 6.6 ± 1.4 years in 2009. Mean sleep duration decreased from 11.4 ± 0.5 h/night in 2009 to 11.0 ± 0.5 h/night in 2012. Older children, boys, children who used screens after dinner, children with greater computer/game console use, and children whose parents had low levels of education had a greater decrease in sleep duration.

CONCLUSIONS

This article reports on one of the first large, longitudinal cohort studies on predictors of child sleep duration. The results of the study can inform future interventions aimed at promoting healthy sleep in primary schoolchildren.

Why Parents Misuse Prescription Drugs to Enhance the Cognitive Performance of Healthy Children: The Influence of Peers and Social Media

The mechanisms affecting parents’ misuse of prescription stimulant drugs to boost healthy children’s school performance are hardly unknown. Using four web-based factorial vignette surveys (2×2 between-subjects design experiment), we investigated the willingness of U.S. parents with school-aged children to medicate a fictitious 13-year-old child whose grades had declined. We examined mechanisms of informational and normative social influence on their decision-making: others’ behavior ( NExperiment 1 = 359), others’ definitions ( NExperiment 2 = 326), social control ( NExperiment 3 = 325), and others’ experience ( NExperiment 4 = 313). In addition, we explored the moderating role of influential sources (close friends vs. social media). Parents were more willing to engage in said behavior when others reported engagement in this behavior or positive drug experiences, especially if both influences were transmitted via social media. Others’ definitions and social control had no effect. Thus, social media might be a channel for the prevention of pharmacological cognitive enhancement.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Brazilian Portuguese Version of an Observational Measure for Parent-Child Responsive Caregiving

Responsive caregiving is the dimension of parenting most consistently related to later child functioning in both developing and developed countries. There is a growing need for efficient, psychometrically sound and culturally appropriate measurement of this construct. This study describes the cross-cultural validation in Brazil of the Responsive Interactions for Learning (RIFL-P) measure, requiring only eight minutes for assessment and coding. The cross-cultural adaptation used a recognized seven-step procedure. The adapted version was applied to a stratified sample of 153 Brazilian mother-child (18 months) dyads. Videos of mother-child interaction were coded using the RIFL-P and a longer gold standard parenting assessment. Mothers completed a survey on child stimulation (18 months) and child outcomes were measured at 24 months. Internal consistency (α = 0.94), inter-rater reliability (r = 0.83), and intra-rater reliability (r = 0.94) were all satisfactory to high. RIFL-P scores were significantly correlated with another measurement of parenting (r's ranged from 0.32 to 0.47, p < 0.001), stimulation markers (r = 0.34, p < 0.01), and children's cognition (r = 0.29, p < 0.001), language (r = 0.28, p < 0.001), and positive behavior (r = 0.17, p < 0.05). The Brazilian Portuguese version is a valid and reliable instrument for a brief assessment of responsive caregiving.

Culturally shared and unique meanings and expressions of maternal control across four cultures

Maternal control is a major dimension of parenting and has different meanings, practices, and potential consequences across cultures. The present study aimed to identify and compare mothers' conceptualizations of parenting control across four cultures to reveal a more nuanced understanding regarding the meaning and practices of control: European American, Chinese immigrant, Korean immigrant, and Turkish. Using a semistructured open-ended interview, 100 European American, 102 U.S. Chinese immigrant, 103 U.S. Korean immigrant, and 109 Turkish mothers of preschool-aged children reported the ratings of importance, specific reasons, and strategies for exerting control over their children in daily life. Results revealed both shared and unique conceptualizations of maternal control across four cultures. Specifically, all mothers reported that it is important to express maternal control over their children in order to set behavioral norms/standards, maintain child safety, support social relations and respect for others, provide guidance, and guide moral development. Moreover, mothers discussed utilizing nonphysical punishment, setting and maintaining rules, reasoning/negotiating, consistency, physical punishment and verbal control, showing parents' serious/stern attitude, correction, and psychological control forms of control. However, the levels at which mothers emphasize the different reasons and strategies varied across cultures, reflecting culturally emphasized values. The findings of the present study further enrich our understanding of the complexities of maternal control across cultures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Blessed are the first: The long-term effect of birth order on trust

Acknowledging childhood as a crucial period for the formation of social preferences, we investigate whether the order of birth predicts trust in adult life. We find that laterborns trust on average 5% less than their older siblings, independently from personality traits, family ties, risk aversion and parental inputs. Family random- and fixed-effects estimates suggest that the variation in trust is mostly explained by within- rather than between-family characteristics. The effect of birth order is mediated by education outcomes only for women, while it is moderated by mother's education for the entire sample, thereby leading to relevant policy implications.

Distance Learning in the COVID-19 Era: Perceptions in Southern Italy

The first case of pneumonia was reported on 8 December 2019 and identified on 7 January 2020 as COVID-19. On 9 March 2020, to stop the spread of COVID-19 cases, the Italian government declared a health emergency, forcing all citizens to go into lockdown. Suddenly, schools were constrained to using distance learning strategies with little or limited experience on the topic. Particularly, in the southern regions of Italy, approximately 20% of the students did not have access to any devices and were excluded from learning, producing a direct risk of increased adolescent delinquency. This research team intended to report the results of an observational study that focused on the perceptions of distance learning in adolescents from secondary school in Naples (Italy) between April and May 2020. The questionnaire comprised 11 questions focused on the perceptions of distance learning in comparison to live classrooms, relationships with peers and teachers, and levels of anxiety. The study is amongst the first to report the effect of the pandemic from a student-centred perspective and hopes to produce information to develop future research on asynchronous learning.

Evaluation of Health-Habits with the S.M.A.R.T. Questionnaire: An Observational Study

The civil education approach uses sports practise as a preventive intervention to increase self-awareness and to help modulate emotion in adolescents. Indeed, sports participation results in a better quality of life, more favourable cardio-metabolic and sleeping profiles and a healthier body composition. Adolescents involved in sport activities also report a higher level of social and emotional skills, and reduced mental health distress. However, the Italian school’s program provides only two hours weekly of physical education, with lack of options and participation. In alignment with the civil educational approach, the research team aims to develop a predictive sport, movement, eating habits, relationships and technologies (S.M.A.R.T.) questionnaire to identify the youths that present a higher risk of delinquency. The following research aims to explore preliminary data from 501 adolescents completing the S.M.A.R.T. The results show that the female group (n = 260) was healthier than the male group (n = 241); particularly, the female group demonstrated a higher level of self-awareness in the use of technologies (p < 0.05). Our results produce the first data set on a cohort of young adolescents in Italy using the S.M.A.R.T. questionnaire. The questionnaire possesses a high response rate and should now be implemented towards validation.

Representations of attachment security, attachment avoidance, and gender in Ugandan children

Researchers returned to the home of Mary Ainsworth's original attachment study to explore the contributions of Ugandan children's representations of attachment interactions with their caregivers to their perceptions about gender. Researchers administered the Attachment Story-Completion Task (ASCT) and applied three attachment narrative coding systems and a gender stereotypes typology to the ASCT stories of 51 Ugandan children ages 5-7. Nine attachment narrative variables were applied to the children's responses to a series of five attachment story stems told using a family of dolls. The narratives emerging from the children's responses to these story stems were also coded independently for 14 masculine and 14 feminine gender stereotypes. Empathic relations among the dolls and narrative coherence were positively correlated with counterstereotypical gender representations only in girls. Attachment representations of a rejecting father were positively correlated with stereotypical gender representations only in boys. Representations of attachment avoidance were negatively correlated with counterstereotypical gender representations in both boys and girls. The findings suggested two different trajectories for the development of gender representation flexibility in boys and girls. This study contextualizes these findings against the backdrop of a country with rigid sex roles and a fast-growing child population.

Does Time with Dad in Childhood Pay Off in Adolescence?

OBJECTIVE

We aim to understand the association between father involvement in middle childhood and adolescent behaviors and whether the relationship differs by father residence.

BACKGROUND

Internalizing and externalizing behaviors in adolescence can trigger a cascade of negative outcomes later in life, including lower educational attainment, criminal justice involvement, and future psychological distress. Evidence, largely focusing on nonresidential fathers and older cohort, suggests that father involvement-particularly closeness and engagement-may reduce adolescents' internalizing and externalizing behaviors.

METHOD

We use data six waves of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a birth cohort survey representative of births in large U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000, to estimate OLS regression models examining (a) whether father involvement in middle childhood is associated with fewer problem behaviors at Age 15, (b) if the salience of father involvement differs depending on whether the father was present in the home (i.e., was married to or living with his child's mother) in middle childhood, and (c) whether father involvement matters differently based on the child's sex.

RESULTS

We find protective associations between father involvement and adolescent behavioural outcomes that persist even among children who were not living with their fathers. In models stratified by the child's sex, father involvement matters for both boys and girls. In all models, father presence alone, apart from active involvement, is not significantly associated with behavioral outcomes.

CONCLUSION

Father involvement protects against negative adolescent behaviors even among children with nonresidential fathers and for both boys and girls.

IMPLICATIONS

These results suggest that policies that promote greater father involvement and father-child bonds, rather than other options such as promoting marriage, may be more effective in reducing behavioral problems among adolescents.

Low-Income Latina Mothers' Scaffolding of Preschoolers' Behavior in a Stressful Situation and Children's Self-Regulation: A Longitudinal Study

OBJECTIVE

Maternal control and directiveness in Latina/o families often do not show the negative associations with child adjustment seen in European American samples. This study tested the self-determination hypotheses that Latina maternal involvement and structure would be positively associated with preschool children's later self-regulation, whereas directiveness and control would show negative relations.

DESIGN

At Time 1, 130 low-income Latina mothers were observed helping their 4- to 5-year-old children complete a stressful task. Maternal strategies for scaffolding children's responses to stress were examined with detailed event coding. At Time 1 and Time 2 18 months later, a delay of gratification task assessed children's self-regulation.

RESULTS

Children's Time 2 ability to delay gratification at 5½ to 6½ years (controlling for delay of gratification at ages 4 to 5) was predicted by Time 1 maternal scaffolding strategies. Children showing the greatest delay gratification at Time 2 (controlling for delay of gratification at Time 1) had mothers who used instructive praise and nonverbal autonomy-promoting scaffolding strategies at Time 1. Negative predictors included nonverbal attention directing and restriction.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight the importance of physical guidance in Latina/o families and suggest that highly directive maternal strategies may not interfere with the development of self-regulation as is often found in European American families. These findings will be useful in developing interventions to promote self-regulation in Latina/o children from low-income families.

Children's and parents' looking preferences to gender-typed objects: Evidence from eye tracking

Differences between children's and parents' implicit and explicit gender stereotypes were investigated in two experiments. For the first time, the visual world paradigm compared parents' and 7-8-year-old children's looking preferences toward masculine- and feminine-typed objects stereotypically associated with a story character's gender. In Experiment 1 participants listened to sentences that included a verb that inferred intentional action with an object (e.g., "Lilly/Alexander will play with the toy"), and in Experiment 2 the verb was replaced with a neutral verb (e.g., "Lilly/Alexander will trip over the toy"). A questionnaire assessed participants' explicit gender stereotype endorsement (and knowledge [Experiment 2]) of children's toys. Results revealed that parents and children displayed similar implicit stereotypes, but different explicit stereotypes, to one another. In Experiment 1, both children and parents displayed looking preferences toward the masculine-typed object when the story character was male and looking preferences toward the feminine-typed object when the character was female. No gender effects were found with a neutral verb in Experiment 2, reinforcing the impact of gender stereotypes on implicit processing and showing that the effects are not simply driven by gender stereotypic name-object associations. In the explicit measure, parents did not endorse the gender stereotypes related to toys but rather appeared to be egalitarian, whereas children's responses were gender stereotypic.

The association between recalled parental rearing behavior and depressiveness: a comparison between 1st immigrants and non-immigrants in the population-based Gutenberg Health Study

BACKGROUND

Studies in immigrant youth have suggested differences in parenting patterns by immigration status. Knowledge of variation in recalled parenting pattern and its distinctive impact on mental health in adult immigrants, however, is limited. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate similarities and differences in recalled maternal and paternal rearing behavior and its association with depressiveness in adult 1st generation immigrants compared to non-immigrants.

METHODS

Seven hundred and forty-three 1st generation immigrants (M = 57.4, SD = 10.1 years) and 6518 non-immigrants (M = 60.3, SD = 10.7 years) participated in a population-based study. Regarding countries of origin, the largest subgroups were immigrants from Eastern-Europe, Former-SU, and Arabic-Islamic countries. All participants completed the ultra-short version of The Recalled Parental Rearing Behavior-questionnaire and the PHQ-9 assessing depressiveness. Multiple linear regressions with depressiveness as outcome variable were analyzed separately for each facet of parental rearing behavior adjusting for socio-demographic and migration-related variables.

RESULTS

In addition to differences in depressiveness and socioeconomic status, 1st generation immigrants recalled both their mothers and fathers as more controlling and overprotecting than non-immigrants. Parental emotional warmth was negatively associated with depressiveness across all groups. The relationship between parental control, respectively parental rejection and depressiveness, however, varied in direction and severity between the groups.

CONCLUSION

The results support the notion that parental warmth is a universal protective factor against depressiveness, whereas the impact of parental control on mental health might be more culturally influenced. Analyses point to the importance of considering the unique contribution of fathers' rearing behavior on mental health, particularly in immigrant samples.

Factor structure of the family climate for road safety scale in emerging adults in the United States

The Family Climate for Road Safety Scale (FCRSS) was developed to measure parenting behaviors specific to the driving context. The original validation study found a scale structure composed of seven factors. However, this structure has not been consistently replicated. Two- and six-factor structures have also been identified. Further, this measure has not been validated in the U.S. and has not been subjected to measurement invariance testing to determine the factor structure's suitability across sex. Additionally, its ability to predict the driving style of emerging adults with varied driving experience has not been directly examined. The current study utilized exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures to identify the factor structure of the FCRSS in a sample of emerging adults in the U.S. The sample consisted of 4392 students recruited from six universities. The sample was predominantly female (68.8 %), and was 83.5 % White, 6.1 % Black or African American, 5.1 % Asian American, 4.6 % biracial or multiracial, 0.4 % American Indian or Alaskan Native, and 0.2 % Pacific Islander or Hawaiian. Results indicated that a five-factor model of the FCRSS provided the best fit to the data compared to one-, two-, six-, and seven-factor models. The five factors identified for the model were: Noncommitment, Monitoring, Feedback, Communication, and Modeling. Further, invariance testing revealed that the five-factor model fit equally well for males and females. Some factors of the FCRSS predicted driving outcomes and driving styles in the expected directions. These findings have implications for family/parenting-based driving interventions for adolescents and young adults.

Controlling Parenting Behaviors in Parents of Children Born Preterm: A Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE

This meta-analysis tested whether parents of preterm-born children differ from parents of full-term-born children regarding controlling parenting.

METHODS

Databases of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Open Access Theses and Dissertations, and Elton B. Stephens Company were searched for cross-sectional and prospective longitudinal studies examining controlling parenting in preterm-born children.

RESULTS

The meta-analysis included 27 independent data sets, derived from 34 studies, with a total of 8053 participants-3265 preterm and 4788 full-term children. Parents of children born preterm were more controlling than parents of children born full-term (Hedges' g = 0.29; 95% confidence interval: 0.19-0.39; z = 5.48; p < 0.001). Heterogeneity analysis indicated significant variation in effects between studies (Q = 148.46, p < 0.001), but the effects were not moderated by gestational age, birth weight, child age, child gender, parental education, type of parenting assessment method (observational vs parental self-report), parenting dimension measured (behaviors vs attitudes), type of controlling parenting (intrusiveness vs others), study design (cross-sectional vs longitudinal), year of publication, or geographical setting of the studies (America vs Europe).

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest that parents of children born preterm are at higher risk for engaging in controlling parenting strategies, stressing the importance of psychosocial follow-up support for these parents.

Intermodal emotion matching at 15 months, but not 9 or 21 months, predicts early childhood emotion understanding: A longitudinal investigation

Emotion understanding is a crucial skill for early social development, yet little is known regarding longitudinal development of this skill from infancy to early childhood. To address this issue, the present longitudinal study followed 40 participants from 9 to 30 months. Intermodal emotion matching was assessed using eye tracking at 9, 15, and 21 months, and emotion understanding was measured using the Affective Knowledge Test at 30 months of age. A novelty preference on the emotion matching task at 15 months (but not at 9 or 21 months) significantly predicted emotion understanding performance at 30 months. However, linear and quadratic trajectories for emotion matching development across 9- to 21-months did not predict later emotion understanding. No gender differences were observed in emotion matching or emotion understanding. These results hold implications for better understanding how infant emotion matching may relate to later emotion understanding, and the role that infant emotion perception may play in early emotional development.

Process and context: Longitudinal effects of the interactions between parental involvement, parental warmth, and SES on academic achievement

Parents' involvement in their children's education and parental warmth have been linked to many positive child outcomes. In addition to these positive associations, contemporary developmental theory stresses the interaction between different parenting variables and the interaction between parenting and broad contextual factors such as family socioeconomic status (SES). Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine main and interaction effects of parent home-based involvement and parental warmth on achievement outcomes. Additionally, we evaluated whether these variables also interacted with SES to predict students' achievement growth. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten Cohort of 2010-11 (N = 2352), growth of academic outcomes was modeled from kindergarten to the fourth grade. We then used latent variable interaction (Maslowsky, Jager, & Hemken, 2015) procedures to examine interaction effects of our primary study variables. Few significant effects were noted for children's reading and mathematics scores, but more substantial main (home-based involvement) and interaction (parental warmth and SES) effects emerged for science achievement. At high SES levels, warmth negatively predicted growth in science, whereas at lower SES levels, warmth positively predicted growth. Findings are discussed in relation to importance of parent involvement, differential effects across SES contexts, and curricular emphasis in contemporary schools.

Self and parent-proxy rated health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in youth with obesity: are parents good surrogates?

PURPOSE

Consideration of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and wellbeing outcomes is important to guide healthcare services for youth with obesity, yet youth perspectives may differ from their parents. This study compared youth and parental HRQoL reports and evaluated levels of concordance across HRQoL domains and as a function of youth age, youth gender and parent informant (mother and father).

METHODS

376 youths with obesity, recruited from community (N = 223) and hospital settings (N = 153), and their parents (N = 190 mothers; N = 91 fathers), completed the PedsQL. Parental and youth agreement across subgroup dyads (mother; father; child gender; child age) were evaluated using Wilcoxon signed-rank test, intra-correlations coefficients (ICCs) and Bland-Altman plots.

RESULTS

Compared to norms, HRQoL levels (youth self-report and parental proxy reports) were lower in all domains. Both mother and fathers' HRQoL reports were significantly lower than youths, most notably in physical HRQoL. Youth-parent concordance ranged from poor to moderate (ICC = 0.230-0.618), with lowest agreement for Physical HRQOL. Mothers were better proxies with ICCs being significant in all domains. Youth-father ICCs were significant only for Social (ICC = 0.428) and School (ICC = 0.303) domains. Girl-mother agreement was significant across all domains, while girl-father agreement was significant only in the Social domain (ICC = 0.653). Both mothers and fathers were poor raters for boys, and younger youths (aged ≤ 12), with non-significant ICCs in most HRQoL domains.

CONCLUSIONS

Parents are poor surrogates for youth HRQoL. Clinicians should be cognizant that parents are not necessarily accurate proxies for youths, and exercise caution when interpreting parent-proxy scores.

Protective factors against juvenile delinquency: Exploring gender with a nationally representative sample of youth

Youth's social bonds' with conventional social institutions (e.g., family and school) and parental management of youth's leisure time represent two dimensions of suppressants against juvenile delinquency. Using Multivariate regression, this paper assesses these two dimensions of factors simultaneously on youth's aggressive and non-aggressive delinquency, and examines if their effects are gender sensitive. Findings suggest that girls have significantly lower involvement in both aggressive and non-aggressive delinquency than boys. However, girls are disproportionately involved in non-aggressive delinquency. Parental monitoring protects boys and girls distinctively on aggressive delinquency; this factor has a more pronounced inhibitory effect on girls' aggressive behavior. This study elucidates that there is a gendered pattern in adolescent delinquency, and that gender moderates the effect of some protective factor.

Do, say, learn: the functions of mothers' speech to infants

We examined the functions of mothers' speech to infants during two tasks - book-sharing and bead-stringing - in low-income, ethnically diverse families. Mexican, Dominican, and African American mothers and their infants were video-recorded sharing wordless books and toy beads in the home when infants were aged 1;2 and 2;0. Mothers' utterances were classified into seven categories (labels/descriptions, emotion/state language, attention directives, action directives, prohibitions, questions, and vocal elicitations) which were grouped into three broad language functions: referential language, regulatory language, and vocalization prompts. Mothers' ethnicity, years of education, years living in the United States, and infant sex and age related to mothers' language functions. Dominican and Mexican mothers were more likely to use regulatory language than were African American mothers, and African American mothers were more likely to use vocalization prompts than were Latina mothers. Vocalization prompts and referential language increased with mothers' education and Latina mothers' years living in the United States. Finally, mothers of boys used more regulatory language than did mothers of girls. Socio-cultural and developmental contexts shape the pragmatics of mothers' language to infants.

Coming Closer in Adolescence: Convergence in Mother, Father, and Adolescent Reports of Parenting

Parent-child relationships change during adolescence. Furthermore, parents and adolescents perceive parenting differently. We examined the changes in perceptions of parental practices in fathers, mothers, and adolescents during adolescence. Furthermore, we investigated if fathers', mothers', and adolescents' perceptions converge during adolescence. Following 497 families across six waves (ages 13-18), we investigated the development of parental support and behavioral control using mother and father self-reports, and adolescent reports for mothers and fathers. We found curvilinear decrease for support and control. Parent-adolescent convergence emerged over the 6 years: those with higher intercepts had a steeper decrease, whereas correlations among parent and adolescent reports increased. This multi-informant study sheds light on the development of parent-adolescent convergence on perceptions of parenting.

A person-centered education for adolescents with type 1 diabetes-A randomized controlled trial

INTRODUCTION

Young people with type 1 diabetes and their parents need to receive person-centered education to be able to manage their diabetes. Guided Self-Determination-Young (GSD-Y) is a person-centered communication and reflection education model that can be used in educational program for young people with type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate whether GSD-Y leads to improved glycaemic control, increased self-perceived health and health-related quality of life, fewer diabetes-related family conflicts, and improved self-efficacy in a group-based intervention for adolescents starting continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) and their parents.

METHODS

This randomized controlled trial included 71 adolescents starting CSII. Participants were followed for 12 months. The intervention group (n = 37) attended seven group training sessions over a period of 5 months, using the GSD-Y model, the control group received standard care. Variables evaluated were HbA1c, self-perceived health, health-related quality of life, family conflicts, self-efficacy, and usage of continuous glucose monitoring.

RESULTS

When adjusted for sex and family conflicts, there was a difference in glycaemic control between the groups at 12 months, favoring the intervention group (62 vs 70 mmol/mol, P = .009). When analyses were performed on boys and girls separately and adjusted for family conflicts, the only difference detected was for boys after 12 months (P = .019). The intervention showed no effect on self-perceived health, health-related related quality of life, family conflicts, or self-efficacy.

CONCLUSIONS

An intervention with GSD-Y may have an effect on glycaemic control. The content of the GSD-Y groups may serve as a model for person-centered care in adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

Association of Socioeconomic Status and Food Security with Anthropometric Indices Among 2-5-year-old Urban Children in Eight Different cities in Iran

Introduction:

Child nutrition status is very important in all societies, which is influenced by the interaction of multiple factors including food security and socioeconomic status in both genders. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between food security and socioeconomic status with anthropometric indices among 2–5-year-old urban children in eight different cities in Iran.

Materials and Methods:

In this cross-sectional study, anthropometric Z scores of 7028 children of urban area were measured by using World Health Organization (WHO) Anthro software based on WHO 2007 standards. Family food security was assessed by using HFIAS 9-item questionnaire. Socioeconomic status as well as health factors were analyzed using the SPSS.

Results:

Based on the present study, significant correlation was observed between sleep time, birth weight, and food security (P < 0.05) with body mass index (BMI), while the rest of the variables including age, family size, number of children, parents’ education, breastfeeding duration, watching TV, playing computer games, playing outdoors, number of main eating, and number of snacks showed no significant relation (P > 0.05).

Conclusion:

It was shown that 2–5 years old children's life are the most vital and vulnerable to the hazards of undernutrition or overweight and obesity, which could affect the whole health of the person. As food security affects BMI, it is important to focus more on this issue in order to improve child's health status.

Mindful Parenting is Associated with Adolescents' Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Through Adolescents' Psychological Inflexibility and Self-Compassion

The acquisition and mastery of emotion regulation is one of the most important developmental tasks of adolescence. Difficulties in regulating emotions are one of the most robust risk factors for the development of difficulties and psychopathology. This study investigates whether a mindful parenting style is associated with adolescent's difficulties in emotion regulation and whether adolescents' self-compassion and psychological inflexibility mediate this association. This study also explores gender and age differences in study variables and the moderating role of adolescents' gender and stage of adolescence in the mediation model. A total of 375 mother-adolescent dyads participated in the study. The adolescents had a mean age of 14.19 years (SD = 1.67; range = 12-19 years) and 59.5% were girls. The mindful parenting dimensions of compassion for the child and nonjudgmental acceptance of parental functioning were indirectly associated with difficulties in emotion regulation through self-compassion, whereas the mindful parenting dimension of listening with full attention was indirectly associated with difficulties in emotion regulation through psychological inflexibility. Some associations were only significant for girls. These findings suggest that mindful parenting is a possible vehicle to foster adaptive emotion regulation in adolescents by facilitating their self-compassion and psychological flexibility.

Gender differences in young children’s compliance to maternal directives: A meta-analysis

Evolutionary theory and several lines of evidence suggest that the motive to establish positive relationships with others is stronger in females than males. Accordingly, it was predicted that in young children, girls would be more likely than boys to comply with their mothers’ directives. To test this prediction, the present meta-analysis examined gender differences in compliance to maternal directives in young children (ages 1–7 years) as assessed on structured tasks. The meta-analysis was performed on 80 effect sizes derived from 49 studies conducted in 10 countries. Two categories of studies were distinguished: those that assessed compliance with respect to the child’s presumed motives for performing compliant and those that assessed compliance without reference to the child’s presumed motives. For the former category of studies, girls were higher in internally motivated compliance whether the task required performing an action or not performing an action, and boys were higher in externally motivated compliance when the task required not performing an action. For the latter category of studies, results were mixed, with some evidence indicating that girls were higher in compliance. No evidence was found indicating that the magnitude of the gender differences changed with age. One caveat is that the effect sizes analyzed might have been attenuated due to measurement error. Discussion focuses on a number of explanations that may be offered to account for the gender differences found in internally motivated compliance favoring girls.

The relative contribution of parenting practices in predicting trait emotional intelligence in an Italian adolescent sample

This study examines the relationship between trait emotional intelligence (trait EI), support, and parental psychological control practices. Three hundred adolescents, between 11 and 13 years old, took part in the study (163 were males and 137 were females). Participants completed the Perceptions of Parents Scales for the parental support, the Dependency (DPC)- and Achievement (APC)-oriented Psychological Control Scales for the parental psychological control, and the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Child Form for the child's trait EI. Trait EI was related to parenting variables, and also, parental practices (both support and psychological control) predicted global trait EI in adolescents. Some gender-specific differences were found: both APC and DPC were negative predictors of trait EI in males, whereas only APC significantly predicted trait EI in females. Future longitudinal studies are needed to examine these results and to shed light on the processes involved in the development of trait EI. STATEMENT OF CONTRIBUTION: What is already known on the subject? There exists strong evidence of the interaction between parenting practices and emotional development in children and adolescents. Therefore, parental psychological control is negatively correlated with peer support and self-esteem, and positively related to anxiety and aggressive behaviour in children. However, there is paucity on research examining the relationship between parenting and trait EI in children. What does this study adds? This study extends earlier work in this field and investigates whether there is a relationship between trait EI and parenting practices (parental support and psychological control) and whether it depends on child and parent gender. This study, therefore, aims to investigate, for the first time, parental factors that may, in addition to those constitutional, be related to trait EI in children. Specifically, the objective of the present study was to investigate whether parenting practices would predict adolescents' trait EI and whether these relations depend on the gender.

Mothers' and fathers' observed interaction with preschoolers: Similarities and differences in parenting behavior in a well-resourced sample

Parenting behavior is a key factor in children's socio-emotional development. However, little is known about similarities and differences in maternal and paternal parenting behavior, as most studies have focused on mothers. The present study investigated similarities and differences in mothers' and fathers' parenting behavior during observed free play with their preschool children, in a Danish well-resourced sample. We examined differences in mean scores and associations between mothers' and fathers' sensitivity, intrusiveness and limit-setting assessed with the Coding Interactive Behavior instrument. Additionally, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis to test the model-fit between the measurement model and parental data. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to investigate if maternal and paternal factor structures replicated the three parenting constructs, and to explore if certain parenting behaviors seemed specifically related to either mothering or fathering. Participants included 52 mothers, 41 fathers and their 5-year old children. Similar mean scores were found for mothers and fathers on all parenting constructs. Maternal and paternal parenting behavior were not correlated. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a poor model-fit. For both mothers and fathers, latent factors related to sensitivity, intrusiveness and limit-setting emerged, which indicated that the Coding Interactive Behavior instrument was suitable for assessment of both maternal and paternal sensitivity, intrusiveness and limit-setting. However, item loadings suggested that the instrument assessed maternal sensitivity more accurately than paternal sensitivity in our sample. Two additional factors were retrieved for fathers, i.e. paternal performance and challenging behavior, and paternal teaching behavior. This finding may suggest that additional parenting constructs need to be developed for researchers to be able to thoroughly investigate similarities and differences in mothers' and fathers' parenting behavior. Despite difference in factor structure, we did not identify behaviors solely related to mothering or to fathering.

Parental Motivational Perseverance Predicts Adolescents' Depressive Symptoms: An Intergenerational Analysis with Actor-Partner Interdependence Model

Adolescents' depressive symptoms are affected by a number of factors including life stress, gender, socio-economic status, and parental depression symptoms. However, little is known about whether adolescent depressive symptoms are also affected by parental motivational characteristics. The current study explores the relationship between parental motivational perseverance (i.e., parents' persistency in the face of setbacks and difficulties) and children's depressive symptoms during the adolescence, given the critical role of perseverance in psychological well-being. The predictive utility of two motivational characteristics relevant to perseverance: parents' growth mindset (i.e., one's belief about the malleability of human competence) and grit (i.e., perseverance for long term goals) were examined. Four hundred pairs of Japanese parents (82% mothers) and their adolescent children (50% females; average age at the time of the first assessment = 14.05 years; SD = 0.84) independently completed surveys measuring their growth mindset, grit, and depressive symptoms at two time points (approximately one year apart; attrition rate = 25%). The Actor-Partner Independence Model, a statistical model that accounts for inter-dependence between dyads (e.g., parents and children), was used to examine how parental motivational perseverance predicts the long-term change in their offspring's depressive symptoms. The results showed that parental grit led to the decrease in adolescents' depressive symptoms through the changes in adolescents' grit. On the other hand, parental growth mindset directly predicted the adolescents' depressive symptoms, and this was not mediated by the adolescents' growth mindset. These findings underscore the importance of parental motivational characteristics in regards to adolescents' depressive symptoms.