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Morgan MHC, Herbst JH, Fortson BL, Shortt JW, Willis LA, Lokey C, Smith Slep AM, Lorber MF, Huber-Krum S. Evaluation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers on parent behavioral outcomes. CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 2024; 154:106928. [PMID: 39032355 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2023] [Revised: 06/20/2024] [Accepted: 06/27/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's web-based behavioral parent training (BPT) program, Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers (EfP), uses a psychoeducational approach to promote positive parenting and address common parenting challenges. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of EfP on parenting behavior and whether implementation format impacted behavioral outcomes. METHODS A sample of 200 parents of 2- to 4-year-old children were recruited via Internet advertising. Using a repeated single subject, multiple baseline design, parents were randomly assigned to guided navigation (GN; n = 100) or unguided navigation (UN; n = 100) study conditions. Parents were provided secure access to the EfP website and completed 18 weekly surveys. Latent growth curve modeling was used to determine intervention effectiveness on behavioral outcomes. RESULTS Latent growth curve modeling indicated both GN and UN study conditions significantly increased use of praise (β = 0.19, p = 0.038) and commands and consequences (β = 0.17, p < 0.001), and decreased corporal punishment use (β = -0.01, p = 0.017) and attitudes promoting corporal punishment (β = -0.01, p < 0.001) over the study period. The UN condition exhibited a significant initial decrease in time-out use that increased over time to match the GN condition. CONCLUSIONS This study provides evidence for the effectiveness of EfP in promoting non-violent parenting behavior and increasing positive parenting techniques. The format of EfP implementation made no difference in parenting behaviors over time. Digital BPT programs like EfP provide access to evidence-informed parenting resources and can enhance positive parenting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary Harbert C Morgan
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America
| | - Jeffrey H Herbst
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America
| | - Beverly L Fortson
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America; Department of Defense, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, Alexandria, VA, United States of America
| | - Joann Wu Shortt
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America
| | - Leigh A Willis
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America
| | - Colby Lokey
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America
| | | | | | - Sarah Huber-Krum
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Reproductive Health, Atlanta, GA, United States of America
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Nærde A, Janson H, Stoolmiller M. Modeling trajectories of physical aggression from infancy to pre-school age, their early predictors, and school-age outcomes. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0291704. [PMID: 38829864 PMCID: PMC11146736 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024] Open
Abstract
This study identified latent trajectories of physical aggression (TPA) from infancy to preschool age and evaluated (a) effects of early parent, parenting and child predictors on TPA as well as on social, behavioral, and academic functioning in Grade 2, and (b) TPA effects net of early predictor effects on Grade 2 functioning. We used data from the Behavior Outlook Norwegian Developmental Study (BONDS), which included 1,159 children (559 girls). Parents reported on risk and protective factors, and on physical aggression from 1 to 5 years of age; teachers reported on Grade 2 outcomes. We employed latent class growth curve analyses and identified nine TPA. In fully adjusted models simultaneously testing all associations among predictors, trajectories, and outcomes, maternal and paternal harsh parenting, child gender, and sibling presence predicted TPA, which significantly predicted externalizing and academic competence in Grade 2. Child gender had a pervasive influence on all outcomes as well as on TPA. To our knowledge, this is the first trajectory study to determine which predictors are most proximal, more distal, or just confounded, with their relative direct effect sizes, and to link early paternal as well as maternal harsh parenting practices with children's TPA. Our findings underscore the need to include fathers in developmental research and early prevention and intervention efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ane Nærde
- The Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development, Oslo, Norway
| | - Harald Janson
- The Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development, Oslo, Norway
| | - Mike Stoolmiller
- The Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development, Oslo, Norway
- Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America
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Edelman B, Del Vecchio T. When crying turns to hitting: Examining maternal responses to negative affect. Infant Behav Dev 2024; 74:101918. [PMID: 38199035 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
Physical aggression in toddlerhood is empirically linked to anger and often conceptualized as a byproduct of frustration and related negative affect. Further, parenting is the major environmental construct implicated in the development of aggressive behaviors. Given parents' role as "external regulators," parents' responses to their toddlers' negative affect may serve to escalate or de-escalate their toddlers' affective experience, thereby impacting the likelihood of subsequent aggression. In the present study, we examined whether parents' negative affect, harsh, soothing, and distracting responses to their toddlers' negative affect mediated the relation between toddlers' negative affect and their aggressive behavior in brief conflict episodes. During a laboratory visit, a community sample of 69 mother-toddler dyads was observed in a structured interaction task. We found that child negative affect is associated with subsequent aggressive behavior by way of maternal harsh responses to negative affect. Negative emotional expression, soothing, and distraction neither facilitated or hindered children's escalation from negative affect to aggression. Our findings support a dyadic intervention in which patterns of coercive parent-child interactions are targets for prevention and intervention of toddler aggression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brooke Edelman
- Department of Psychology, St. John's University, New York, NY, United States.
| | - Tamara Del Vecchio
- Department of Psychology, St. John's University, New York, NY, United States
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Flouri E, Mueller M, Idsøe T, Nærde A. Outdoor play areas in childcare settings and children’s physical aggression: A longitudinal study of Norwegian kindergartens. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2022.2087628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Eirini Flouri
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK
| | - Marie Mueller
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK
| | - Thormod Idsøe
- The Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Ane Nærde
- The Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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Hay DF, Paine AL, Perra O, Cook KV, Hashmi S, Robinson C, Kairis V, Slade R. Prosocial and Aggressive Behavior: A Longitudinal Study. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev 2021; 86:7-103. [PMID: 33973244 PMCID: PMC9943493 DOI: 10.1111/mono.12427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Developmental theorists have made strong claims about the fundamental prosocial or aggressive nature of the human infant. However, only rarely have prosocial behavior and aggression been studied together in the same sample. We charted the parallel development of both behaviors from infancy to childhood in a British community sample, using a two-construct, multimethod longitudinal design. Data were drawn from the Cardiff Child Development Study (CCDS), a prospective longitudinal study of a volunteer sample of parents and their firstborn children. A sample of 332 mothers was recruited from National Health Service (NHS) prenatal clinics and general practice clinics in Wales, UK, between Fall of 2005 and Summer of 2007. Potential participants represented the full range of sociodemographic classifications of neighborhoods. Participating families were divided about equally between middle- and working-class families, were somewhat more likely to have sons than daughters, and the majority (90%) were in a stable partnership. In response to standard categories recommended for use in Wales at the time, the majority (93%) of mothers reported themselves as Welsh, Scottish, English, or Irish; most others named a European or South Asian nationality. Of the 332 families agreeing to participate, 321 mothers (Mage = 28 years) and 285 partners (Mage = 31 years) were interviewed during the pregnancy and 321 of the families contributed data at least once after the child's birth. After an initial home visit at 6 months, data collection occurred in four additional waves of testing when children's mean ages were approximately 1, 1.5, 2.5, and 7 years. Data collection alternated between family homes and Cardiff University. Of those families seen after the child's birth, 89% were assessed at the final wave of testing. Data collection ended in 2015. Methods included direct observation, experimental tasks, and collection of reports from mothers, fathers, other relatives or family friends, and classroom teachers. Interactions with a familiar peer were observed at 1.5 years. Interactions with unfamiliar peers took place during experimental birthday parties at 1 and 2.5 years. At 7 years, parents were interviewed, parents and teachers completed questionnaires, and the children engaged in cognitive and social decision-making tasks. Based on reports from parents and other informants who knew the children well, individual differences in both prosocial behavior and aggression were evident in children. Both types of behavior showed stability across the second and third years. The association between prosocial behavior and aggression changed over time: at 1.5 years, they were not significantly related (the association approached zero), but they became negatively correlated by 3 years. Different patterns were seen when children played with familiar versus unfamiliar peers. At 1.5 years, when children were observed at home with a familiar peer, prosocial behavior and aggression were unrelated, thus showing a pattern of results like that seen in the analysis of informants' reports. However, a different pattern emerged during the experimental birthday parties with unfamiliar peers: prosocial behavior and aggression were positively correlated at both 1 and 2.5 years, contributing to a general sociability factor at both ages. Gender differences in prosocial behavior were evident in informants' reports and were also evident at the 1-year (though not the 2.5-year) birthday parties. In contrast, gender differences in both prosocial behavior and aggression were evident by 7 years, both in children's aggressive decision-making and in their parents' and teachers' reports of children's aggressive behavior at home and school. By age 7, children's aggressive decision-making and behavior were inversely associated with their verbal skills, working memory, and emotional understanding. Some children had developed aggressive behavioral problems and callous-unemotional traits. A few (12%) met diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder or oppositional-defiant disorders, which had been predicted by early angry aggressiveness and lack of empathy for other people. Taken together, the findings revealed a gradual disaggregation of two ways in which children interact with other people. Individual differences in both prosocial behavior and aggression revealed continuity over time, with gender differences emerging first in prosocial behavior, then in aggression. Restrictions in the participant sample and the catchment area (e.g., all were first-time parents; all were drawn from a single region in the United Kingdom) mean that it is not possible to generalize findings broadly. It will be important to expand the study of prosocial behavior and aggression in other family and environmental contexts in future work. Learning more about early appearing individual differences in children's approaches to the social world may be useful for both educational and clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Oliver Perra
- School of Nursing and Midwifery, Centre for Evidence and Social InnovationQueen's University Belfast
| | | | - Salim Hashmi
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and NeuroscienceKing's College London
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van Adrichem DS, Huijbregts SCJ, van der Heijden KB, van Goozen SHM, Swaab H. The Role of Inhibitory Control, Attention and Vocabulary in Physical Aggression Trajectories From Infancy to Toddlerhood. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1079. [PMID: 32528388 PMCID: PMC7264375 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2020] [Accepted: 04/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Physical aggression has its origin very early in development, but no studies to date have examined physical aggression trajectories starting before the age of 1.5 years. This study examined whether cognition plays a role in the development of physical aggression from infancy onward. In a sample of 182 mother-child dyads (94 boys; 88 girls), child physical aggression was assessed by maternal report using the Physical Aggression Scale for Early Childhood at 12, 20, and 30 months. Children performed cognitive tasks measuring inhibitory control and attention, and mothers rated children's vocabulary at 12 and 30 months. Results showed that differential development of physical aggression already starts at 12 months of age: low-stable, low-increasing, moderate-decreasing and high-stable trajectory groups were identified. Inhibitory control, attention and vocabulary at 12 months and development of these abilities from 12 to 30 months were selectively related to the likelihood of following the low-increasing and moderate-decreasing trajectories compared to the low-stable physical aggression trajectory. This study is the first to show that specific aspects of cognition and cognitive development are related to differential physical aggression development from infancy onward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dide S. van Adrichem
- Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Stephan C. J. Huijbregts
- Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Kristiaan B. van der Heijden
- Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Stephanie H. M. van Goozen
- Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
| | - Hanna Swaab
- Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
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7
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Noten MMPG, Van der Heijden KB, Huijbregts SCJ, Van Goozen SHM, Swaab H. Associations between empathy, inhibitory control, and physical aggression in toddlerhood. Dev Psychobiol 2020; 62:871-881. [PMID: 31998974 PMCID: PMC7496157 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2019] [Revised: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 12/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Impaired empathy has been associated with aggression in children, adolescents and adults, but results have been contradictory for the preschool period. Impaired inhibitory control also increases the risk of aggression, and possibly moderates empathy‐aggression associations. The current study investigated whether empathy and inhibitory control are associated with aggression in toddlerhood. Furthermore, we aimed to clarify the role of inhibitory control in empathy and aggression, specifically, whether inhibitory control moderates the association between empathy and aggression. During a laboratory visit at age 30 months (N = 103), maternal reports of physical aggression were obtained and child inhibitory control was examined using a gift delay task. Empathy was examined by obtaining behavioral observations and recording physiological responses (heart rate response and respiratory sinus arrhythmia response) to an empathy‐eliciting event (i.e., simulated distress). Reduced inhibitory control was associated with more aggression. Behavioral and physiological indicators of empathy were not associated with aggression. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed an interaction effect of heart rate response to distress simulation with inhibitory control in the prediction of aggression. Post hoc analyses indicated a negative association between heart rate response and aggression when inhibitory control was high, but a positive association was found in toddlers who demonstrated low inhibitory control. These results suggest that children are less aggressive when they have both high levels of empathy and inhibitory control. Therefore, both empathy and inhibition are important targets for interventions aiming to reduce or prevent aggression at a young age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malou M P G Noten
- Department of Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.,Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Kristiaan B Van der Heijden
- Department of Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.,Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Stephan C J Huijbregts
- Department of Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.,Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Stephanie H M Van Goozen
- Department of Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.,School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Hanna Swaab
- Department of Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.,Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Lorber MF, Del Vecchio T, Slep AMS, Scholer SJ. Normative Trends in Physically Aggressive Behavior: Age-Aggression Curves from 6 to 24 Months. J Pediatr 2019; 206:197-203.e1. [PMID: 30429080 PMCID: PMC7670848 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.10.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2018] [Revised: 09/25/2018] [Accepted: 10/11/2018] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To investigate age-related trends in physically aggressive behaviors in children before age 2 years. STUDY DESIGN A normative US sample of 477 mothers of 6- to 24-month-old children reported on the frequency of 9 interpersonally directed aggressive child behaviors, and hurting animals, in the past month. RESULTS Almost all (94%) of the children were reported to have engaged in physically aggressive behavior in the past month. Based on 2-part regression models, the prevalences of kicking (OR, 1.70; P = .023), pushing (OR, 3.22; P < .001), and swiping (OR, 1.78; P = .018) increased with years of age, but the prevalence of hair pulling decreased with age (OR, 0.55; P = .020). The prevalences of hitting and throwing increased initially, then plateaued at age 18-20 months, and then decreased (quadratic aOR, 0.13 and 0.16; P < .001 and .010, respectively). The frequencies of hitting (R2 = .05; P < .001) and throwing (R2 = .03; P = .030) increased, and the frequencies of hair pulling (R2 = .07; P < .001) and scratching (R2 = .02; P = .042) decreased with age (P values adjusted for false discovery rate). CONCLUSIONS Physically aggressive behavior in the 6- to 24-month age range appears to be nearly ubiquitous. Most, but not all, forms of physical aggression increase with age. These results can guide pediatricians as they educate and counsel parents about their child's behavior in the first 2 years of life.
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