Positive parenting, effortful control, and developmental outcomes across early childhood

Exploring the Relationship between Turkish Mothers' Parenting and Psychological Well-Being in Early Childhood: The Role of Child Emotion Regulation and Dysregulation

Although the importance of psychological well-being in early childhood is emphasized, the number of studies conducted with children and adolescents in this field is less than those carried out with adults. The present study aimed to explore the role of child emotion regulation in the relationship between parenting and psychological well-being among a sample of Turkish preschoolers aged 5-6. It further examines the mediating role of emotion regulation. The sample consisted of 416 mothers with children aged 5-6 (Mage = 5.38, SD = 0.48; 50% girls-boys). We collected the data using the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS), the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC), and the Psychological Well-Being Scale for Children (PWBS-C). The findings revealed significant relationships among parenting practices (positive/negative), the child's emotion regulation/dysregulation, and the child's psychological well-being. Moreover, the findings revealed that positive parenting, directly and indirectly, affects children's psychological well-being through children's emotion regulation. On the other hand, findings disclosed that negative parenting has both a direct and indirect impact on children's psychological well-being through children's emotion regulation. Overall, the study may shed light on a possible process in which positive parenting boosts a child's emotional regulation and psychological well-being among preschoolers.

A Pilot Trial of a Home-Based Parenting Intervention for High-Risk Infants: Effects on and Moderating Role of Effortful Control

Despite the important developmental outcomes associated with effortful control (EC), there is limited research demonstrating the efficacy of early interventions for improving EC and assessing the extent to which a child's level of baseline EC impacts the outcome of intervention on externalizing problems. This study aims to fill these gaps in the literature by assessing the efficacy of the Infant Behavior Program (IBP), a parenting intervention for infants with elevated levels of behavior problems, in improving infant EC and the moderating effect of baseline infant EC on intervention outcomes. Participants included 60 high-risk 12- to 15-month-old infants and their mothers. Families were randomized to receive the IBP or standard pediatric primary care. Parent-report measures of infant behavior and compliance were examined at baseline, post-intervention, and 3- and 6-month follow-up assessments. Results showed infants who received the IBP displayed significantly higher levels of EC at the post-intervention assessment compared to infants in the control group. Additionally, moderation analyses showed initial levels of EC moderated the effect of the IBP on externalizing problems and compliance, such that infants with higher levels of baseline EC displayed greater decreases in externalizing problems at post-intervention and greater increases in compliance at the 6-month follow-up. While these findings did not survive a false discovery rate correction, they offer preliminary support for the efficacy of the IBP in improving infants' EC and highlight the importance of considering EC as a factor associated with early intervention outcomes for externalizing problems.

The impact of a music enrichment program during infancy and early toddlerhood on effortful control at age 3: A preliminary investigation

Effortful control (EC), a self-regulation skill, is associated with long-term developmental outcomes. Music has been associated with infant self-regulation and may be an intervention strategy for enhancing EC during toddlerhood. This investigation included 32 parent-child dyads from a previously conducted randomized controlled trial (RCT). Participants (9-15-months old at baseline) attended either a music enrichment program or a playdate control once a week for 1 year and monthly for an additional year. At age 3, participants completed snack and gift delay effortful control tasks. Groups were compared using one-way ANOVA. We found that participants in the music group had a significantly higher score during snack delay (music mean = 3.47 ± 0.94; control mean = 2.45 ± 1.51; p = 0.03; Cohen's d = 0.84). We did not find a significant group difference for latency to peek (music mean = 39.10 ± 20.10; control mean = 30.90 ± 19.88; p = 0.25; d = 0.57) or latency to touch (music mean = 105.73 ± 417.69; control mean = 98.35 ± 28.84; p = 0.38; d = 0.29) for the gift task. This study provides initial evidence that early participation in a music enrichment program may benefit later development of EC. This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02936284).

Predicting child development and school readiness, at age 5, for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in Australia's Northern Territory

BACKGROUND

Positive early development is critical in shaping children's lifelong health and wellbeing. Identifying children at risk of poor development is important in targeting early interventions to children and families most in need of support. We aimed to develop a predictive model that could inform early support for vulnerable children.

METHODS

We analysed linked administrative records for a birth cohort of 2,380 Northern Territory children (including 1,222 Aboriginal children) who were in their first year of school in 2015 and had a completed record from the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). The AEDC measures early child development (school readiness) across five domains of development. We fitted prediction models, for AEDC weighted summary scores, using a Partial Least Square Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) considering four groups of factors-pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, known at birth, and child-related factors. We first assessed the models' internal validity and then the out-of-sample predictive power (external validity) using the PLSpredict procedure.

RESULT

We identified separate predictive models, with a good fit, for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children. For Aboriginal children, a significant pre-pregnancy predictor of better outcomes was higher socioeconomic status (direct, β = 0.22 and indirect, β = 0.16). Pregnancy factors (gestational diabetes and maternal smoking (indirect, β = -0.09) and child-related factors (English as a second language and not attending preschool (direct, β = -0.28) predicted poorer outcomes. Further, pregnancy and child-related factors partially mediated the effects of pre-pregnancy factors; and child-related factors fully mediated the effects of pregnancy factors on AEDC weighted scores. For non-Aboriginal children, pre-pregnancy factors (increasing maternal age, socioeconomic status, parity, and occupation of the primary carer) directly predicted better outcomes (β = 0.29). A technical observation was that variance in AEDC weighted scores was not equally captured across all five AEDC domains; for Aboriginal children results were based on only three domains (emotional maturity; social competence, and language and cognitive skills (school-based)) and for non-Aboriginal children, on a single domain (language and cognitive skills (school-based)).

CONCLUSION

The models give insight into the interplay of multiple factors at different stages of a child's development and inform service and policy responses. Recruiting children and their families for early support programs should consider both the direct effects of the predictors and their interactions. The content and application of the AEDC measurement need to be strengthened to ensure all domains of a child's development are captured equally.

Prospective within-family bidirectional effects between parental emotion socialization practices and Chinese adolescents' psychosocial adjustment

Previous research indicates that parental emotion socialization (ES) practices play important roles in adolescents' social and emotional development. However, longitudinal studies testing bidirectional effects are relatively scarce. Additionally, most studies have focused on people from Western societies. In the current 3-year, multi-informant, longitudinal study of Chinese adolescents and their parents, we investigated prospective bidirectional effects between parental positive ES practices and adolescents' psychosocial adjustment (i.e., self-esteem and depressive symptoms). Adolescents (N = 710 at T1, 50% boys, Mage = 12.41, SD = 0.59) reported on parental positive ES practices and their own depressive symptoms and self-esteem when they were in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. Mothers and fathers reported on their own use of positive ES practices at all three time points. We utilized a random intercept cross-lagged panel model to examine between- and within-family effects. Overall results showed robust effects of adolescent depressive symptoms on parental positive ES practices and bidirectional effects between parental ES and adolescent self-esteem. Effects differed by informants whether using adolescent-perceived data, or mother- or father-reported data. However, these child effects and bidirectional effects did not differ by adolescent sex. Our findings add to the understanding of parental ES and adolescent psychosocial adjustment.

Developmental patterns and individual differences in responding to social feedback: A longitudinal fMRI study from childhood to adolescence

Learning to control behavior when receiving feedback underlies social adaptation in childhood and adolescence, and is potentially strengthened by environmental support factors, such as parents. This study examined the neural development of responding to social feedback from childhood to adolescence, and effects of parental sensitivity on this development. We studied these questions in a 3-wave longitudinal fMRI sample (ages 7-13 years, n = 512). We measured responses to feedback using the fMRI Social Network Aggression Task through noise blasts following peer feedback and associated neural activity, and parental sensitivity using observations of parent-child interactions during Etch-a-Sketch. Results revealed largest reductions in noise blasts following positive feedback between middle and late childhood and following negative feedback between late childhood and early adolescence. Additionally, brain-behavior associations between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation and noise blast durations became more differentiated across development. Parental sensitivity was only associated with noise blast duration following positive feedback in childhood, but not in adolescence. There was no relation between parental sensitivity and neural activity. Our findings contribute to our understanding of neural development and individual differences in responding to social feedback, and the role of parenting in supporting children's adaption to social feedback.

Preliminary Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Perinatal Mindfulness-Based Well-Being and Parenting Programs for Low-Income New Mothers

Objectives

This study examined specificity in the effects of three perinatal mindfulness-based prevention programs that differed in their timing (prenatal, postpartum) and target (maternal well-being, parenting). Effects on maternal mental health (depression, anxiety, resilience), mindfulness, and observed parenting, as well as observed, physiological, and mother-report indicators of infant self-regulation, were examined.

Methods

The programs were evaluated in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of first-time mothers (n = 188) living in low-income contexts using intention-to-treat analysis. Mothers were assigned to a prenatal well-being, postpartum well-being, parenting, or book control group. Multi-method assessments that included questionnaire, observational, and physiological measures were conducted at four time points: during pregnancy (T1) and when infants were 2–4 months (T2), 4–6 months (T3), and 10–12 months.

Results

Compared to the postpartum intervention and control groups, the 6-week prenatal well-being intervention was related to decreases in depressive symptoms during pregnancy but not postpartum, higher maternal baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), fewer intrusive control behaviors, and lower infant cortisol levels in the early postpartum period. Compared to all other groups, the postpartum parenting intervention was related to decreases in maternal anxiety and increases in responsive parenting. Some differential effects across programs might be due to differences in attendance rates in the prenatal (62%) vs. postpartum (35%) groups.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that brief mindfulness-based well-being and parenting preventive interventions can promote maternal and infant mental health in families living in low-income, high-stress settings, particularly if accessibility can be enhanced.

Preregistration

This study is not preregistered.

Child Effortful Control as a Moderator of the Effects of Parenting on Children's Behavioral Adjustment: A Longitudinal Study Spanning 3 to 10 Years

This study aimed to examine independent and interactive contributions of parenting behaviors (e.g., physical punishment, inductive discipline, warm responsiveness) and child effortful control on child externalizing problems during early and middle childhood. Participants were 241 children (123girls) of middle-income families in the U.S. who were primarily European Americans (91%) and at risk for school-age problem behaviors. Data were collected at ages 3, 6, and 10 using multiple methods, informants, and contexts. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated both independent and interactive influences of parenting behaviors and child effortful control on children's externalizing behaviors. Importantly, effortful control buffered the negative influence of physical punishment, but not other parenting behaviors, such that physical punishment was associated with external behaviors at 6 years only for children with poorer effortful control abilities. The results highlight both parental discipline strategies and child effortful control as promising targets for early identification and prevention of future problem behaviors. Summary: Parenting and child effortful control have long been topics of research on child development. However, relatively little is known about the long-term effects of early parenting in the context of effortful control and the possibility that those processes may differ across different dimensions of parenting (i.e., warm responsiveness, inductive discipline, and physical punishment) Therefore, this study aimed to examine independent and interactive contributions of parenting behaviors and child effortful control on child externalizing problems during early and middle childhood. Participants were 241 children (123girls) of middle-income families who were at risk for school-age problem behaviors. Data were collected using multiple methods, informants, and contexts. Specifically, child effortful control at 3 years was measured using multiple tasks, and parenting at 3 years was assessed via maternal report during home interview. Teachers contributed ratings of child externalizing behaviors at 3, 6, and 10 years. Results indicated both independent and interactive influences of parenting behaviors and child effortful control on children's externalizing behaviors. Importantly, effortful control buffered the negative influence of physical punishment, but not other parenting behaviors, such that physical punishment was associated with external behaviors at 6 years only for children with poorer effortful control abilities. Moreover, parents' use of physical punishment at age 3 showed a long-lasting association with children's problem behaviors at ages 6 and 10 years. The findings suggest that children with more advanced effortful control may be less susceptible to long-term detrimental contribution of physical punishment, although by no means they are protected from harmful effects of punitive discipline. This study provides more sophisticated explanations on the influence of early parenting and child effortful control on externalizing behaviors spanning early to middle childhood. The results also highlight different parental discipline strategies and child effortful controls as promising targets for early identification and prevention of children's future problem behaviors in childhood.

[What Works for Whom? Differential Effects of Predictive Validity of Parenting Behaviours: Externalizing Versus Internalizing Behaviour Problems]

A variety of instruments are available for assessing parental and child behaviour in the context of interaction observation. This study investigated whether the Laboratory Parenting Assessment Battery (Lab-PAB) can be used to make predictive statements about the therapeutic success of child psychiatric treatment. The success of therapy was measured through pre- and post-intervention assessments using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Parent-Infant Relationship Global Assessment Scale (PIR-GAS). A particular focus was placed on discriminating between externalizing and internalizing problems of the child. It was observed that positive items of the interaction offer a greater resource for the therapeutic success of children with externalizing problems than stopping negative behaviour of the parents. In the case of internalizing problems, the elimination of negative interaction items seems to be essential for a good therapy success.

The Effect of Parenting and the Parent-Child Relationship on a Child's Cognitive Development: A Literature Review

Various studies have been done on subjects such as parenting, parent-child relationships, parenting style, effortful parenting, the concept of parenting, the cognitive development of children, and the cognition of parents. This research is mainly based on parenting practice, child development, and maturation. Children's cognitive development starts in the first year of life and then progresses gradually. Children require positive parenting in painful and different situations. Parenting gives a child the confidence to face crucial, challenging problems. Sensitive parenting and caregiving are required for the child's maturity and cognitive development. Media has been observed to be essential in improving parenting practices. Children exhibit internalizing and externalizing symptoms as a result of harsh, aggressive, and intrusive parenting. According to the data, it is seen that the risk of depression increases in adolescence. The main reason for the rise in depression in children is the non-cooperation and support of mothers and fathers. The risk of depression decreases in children whose mothers and fathers are cooperative and supportive. While family and social stress increase the chances of depression in children, a negative parenting style means children face family and social anxiety. Due to the high level of hostile parenting and low level of positive parenting, they experience stress, peer pressure, and social and family relationship problems. Another excellent term for effortful control parenting is required for children's cognitive development. Parenting is necessary for the regulation of emotions and behavior. There are many problems seen in infancy, early childhood, and late childhood. There are four types of parenting styles seen: authoritative parenting, authoritarian parenting/controlling parenting, permissive parenting/indulgent parenting, and uninvolved parenting/neglecting to parent. Good parenting requires one to know the concept of good parenting, the idea of parenting, the importance of parenting and children's needs, the components of parenting, and the consequences of parenting.

Maternal sensitivity at the age of 8 months associates with local connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex in children at 5 years of age

The quality of mother–child interaction, especially maternal sensitivity in caregiving behavior, plays an important role in a child’s later socioemotional development. Numerous studies have indicated associations between poor mother–child interaction and offspring brain structure and function, but more knowledge on how variation in the characteristics of early caregiving is associated with children’s brain structure and function is needed. We investigated whether maternal sensitivity at 8 or 30 months is associated with functional connectivity in a child’s brain at 5 years of age based on the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (17 and 39 mother–child dyads at 8 and 30 months, respectively, with an overlap of 13 dyads). Maternal sensitivity was assessed during a free play interaction using the Emotional Availability Scales at 8 and 30 months of the children’s age. Task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was acquired at the age of 5 years in 7-min scans while watching the Inscapes movie. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) maps were created from the fMRI data, and multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the relation between maternal sensitivity and ReHo. Maternal sensitivity at the age of 8 months was positively associated with children’s ReHo values within the medial prefrontal cortex. Distal connectivity of this region showed no significant association with maternal sensitivity in a seed-based connectivity analysis. No associations were found between maternal sensitivity during toddlerhood and brain functional connectivity. Together, these results suggest that maternal sensitivity, especially in infancy, may influence offspring brain functional connectivity. However, studies with larger sample sizes are warranted.

Longitudinal Influences of DRD4 Polymorphism and Early Maternal Caregiving on Personality Development and Problem Behavior in Middle Childhood and Adolescence

Most studies examining gene-environment effects on self-regulation focus on outcomes early childhood or adulthood. However, only a few studies investigate longitudinal effects during middle childhood and adolescence and compare two domains of early caregiving. In a longitudinal follow-up with a sample of N = 87, we studied the effects of differences in the DRD4 tandem repeat polymorphisms and two domains of early maternal caregiving quality on children’s personality development using Block’s California Child Q-Set (CCQ) at age six and age 12 and on problem behavior at ages six and seven. Early maternal regulation quality predicted later ego-resiliency and aggressiveness. In addition, significant gene-environment interactions revealed that children with the 7+ DRD4 tandem repeat polymorphism and poor maternal regulation quality in infancy showed lower scores in ego-resiliency and higher scores in ego-undercontrol and CCQ aggressiveness. In contrast, children who had experienced effective maternal regulation in infancy showed a comparable level in personality traits and problem behavior as the DRD4 7- group independent of the levels of maternal regulatory behavior. Similarly, longitudinal caregiving × DRD4 interactions were found for behavior problems in middle childhood, especially for oppositional-aggression, inattentive-hyperactivity, and social competence. Early caregiving effects were only found for maternal regulation quality, but not for maternal responsiveness. Effective early maternal regulation in infancy can moderate the negative effect of DRD4 7+ on children’s self-regulation in middle childhood and adolescence. However, maternal responsiveness has no comparable effects. It seems relevant to consider several dimensions of early caregiving and to also measure the environment in more detail in gene-environment studies.

Self-control, Mental Health Problems, and Family Functioning in Adolescence and Young Adulthood: Between-person Differences and Within-person Effects

Adolescents' self-control develops in the context of mental health and family functioning, but it is unclear how the interplay of self-control, mental health, and family functioning unfolds across time within individuals. Separating within-person from between-person effects, random-intercept cross-lagged panel models were applied to adolescents (from ages 11 to 26) from a Dutch cohort (n = 2228, 51% female). Adolescents with low self-control were likely to have mental health problems and poorly functioning families. Although within-person changes in the study variables were not meaningfully associated in a reciprocal manner, changes in self-control and mental health were concurrently associated. This suggests that besides stable connections between self-control, mental health, and family functioning in adolescence and young adulthood, changes in self-control and mental health are developmentally linked as well.

To snack or not to snack: Using fNIRS to link inhibitory control to functional connectivity in the toddler brain

Inhibitory control (IC) emerges in infancy (Holmboe, Bonneville-Roussy, Csibra, & Johnson, 2018), continues to develop throughout childhood (Lui, Zhu, Zeigler, & Shi, 2015; Ordaz, Foran, Velanova, & Luna, 2013) and is linked to later life outcomes such as school achievement, prosocial behavior, and psychopathology (Duckworth, Tsukayama, & Kirby, 2013; Jaekel, Madzwamuse, & Wolke, 2015). Little, however, is known about the neural processes underpinning IC, especially in 2-year-olds. In this study, we examine functional connectivity in 2.5-year-olds while recording hemodynamic responses via functional infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during a traditional snack delay task. We found that functional connectivity strength between left frontal and parietal cortex and bilateral parietal cortex were positively associated with performance on this task. The current findings present the first neural data for toddlers during this inhibitory control task. Further, these data are the first to link this self-regulatory process to differences in brain development within this population. Implications for future directions and work with clinical populations are discussed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Gene × Environment Interactions in the Development of Preschool Effortful Control, and Its Implications for Childhood Externalizing Behavior

This study examined the role of gene × environment interaction (G × E) in the development of effortful control (EC) and externalizing symptoms (EXT). Participants included 361 adopted children, and their Adoptive Parents (APs) and Birth Mothers (BMs), drawn from the Early Growth and Development Study. The primary adoptive caregivers' (AP1) laxness and overreactivity were assessed when children were 27-months-old, and used as indices of environmental influences on EC. Heritable influences on child EC were assessed by the BMs' personality characteristics (emotion dysregulation, agreeableness). Secondary adoptive caregivers (AP2) reported on children's EC at 54 months, and EXT at 7 years. Interactions between BM characteristics and AP1 laxness were related to EC and indirectly predicted EXT via EC. Parental laxness and EC were positively associated if children had high heritable risk for poor EC (BM high emotion dysregulation or low agreeableness), but negatively associated if children had low heritable risk for poor EC (BM low emotion dysregulation or high agreeableness). BM agreeableness also moderated associations between AP1 overreactivity and effortful control, and yielded a similar pattern of results. Our findings suggest that G × E is an important first step in the development of EXT via its effect on EC. Consistent with "goodness of fit" models, heritable tendencies can affect which parenting practices best support EC development.

Why do parents use screen media with toddlers? The role of child temperament and parenting stress in early screen use

Considering child characteristics may be an important piece to understanding parental decision-making for children's screen use. The current cross-sectional study examined the mediating role of maternal parenting stress in the relation of child temperament to young children's screen use. Recognizing the multidimensional aspects of temperament, three mediated pathways for three temperament domains (i.e., negative affectivity, surgency, and effortful control) were tested. Mothers of toddlers, 18-36 months (N = 296), completed an online survey, reporting on child temperament, total parenting stress, and child screen use. The results showed that mother-child dynamics were related to toddlers' screen use. Toddlers' negative affectivity and effortful control were each associated with toddlers' screen use through maternal parenting stress. Higher negative affectivity was associated with higher maternal parenting stress, which in turn, was related to greater screen use in toddlers. Toddlers' lower effortful control was related to higher maternal parenting stress, which in turn, was associated with greater screen use. Toddlers' surgency was not related to either maternal parenting stress or toddlers' screen use. The findings from this study contribute to an understanding of media-related parenting in toddlerhood and may help with the development of strategies for supporting healthy media habits in families with young children.

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.

Findings, issues, and new directions for research on emotion socialization

This special issue consists of 20 articles that focus on issues related to Eisenberg and colleagues' (Eisenberg, Cumberland, & Spinrad, 1998; Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Cumberland, 1998) model of emotion socialization processes and its relevance for understanding a range of aspects of children's socioemotional functioning. The various papers have addressed a variety of issues including key mediating pathways, predictions of emotion-related socialization behaviors, moderators of pathways, and various potential outcomes of emotion-related socialization behaviors. Methods used in the articles include experimental interventions and nonexperimental longitudinal studies. The goals for this commentary include organizing the findings in this special issue to better highlight their relevance for the 1998 heuristic model and suggesting issues to consider in future research. Moreover, some gaps in the literature are noted. Finally, several minor changes to the model are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).