Exploring reciprocal parent and child effects in the case of child inhibition in US and Korean samples

Individual- and family-level associations between child psychopathology and parenting

Parenting can protect against the development of, or increase risk for, child psychopathology; however, it is unclear if parenting is related to psychopathology symptoms in a specific domain, or to broad liability for psychopathology. Parenting differs between and within families, and both overall family-level parenting and the child-specific parenting a child receives may be important in estimating transdiagnostic associations with psychopathology. Data come from a cross-sectional epidemiological sample (N = 10,605 children ages 4-17, 6434 households). Parents rated child internalizing and externalizing symptoms and their parenting toward each child. General and specific (internalizing, externalizing) psychopathology factors, derived with bifactor modeling, were regressed on parenting using multilevel modeling. Less warmth and more aversive/inconsistent parenting in the family, and toward an individual child relative to family average, were associated with higher general psychopathology and specific externalizing problems. Unexpectedly, more warmth in the family, and toward an individual child relative to family average, was associated with higher specific internalizing problems in 4-11 (not 12-17) year-olds. Less warmth and more aversive/inconsistent parenting are broad correlates of child psychopathology. Aversive/inconsistent parenting, is also related to specific externalizing problems. Parents may behave more warmly when their younger children have specific internalizing problems, net of overall psychopathology.

Longitudinal Relationships Between Interparental Conflict and Adolescent Depression: Moderating Effects of School Connectedness

The present study examined the association between interparental conflict and adolescent depression, and explored the moderating role of school connectedness in this association, in a Chinese context. Data were analyzed from 867 Chinese adolescents who completed the survey at 2 time points. Cross-lagged analyses indicated that interparental conflict in 7th grade adolescents significantly predicted depression in 8th grade, but adolescent depression in 7th grade was not a significant predictor of interparental conflict in 8th grade. In addition, there was a significant negative moderating effect of school connectedness, as high levels of school connectedness reduced the negative effect of interparental conflict on adolescent depression. Thus, the association between interparental conflict and adolescent depression has a unidirectional prediction. School connectedness can relieve the adverse effects of interparental conflict on adolescent depression.

Pre-pandemic family resources and child self-regulation in children's internalizing problems during COVID-19: a multi-level social-ecological framework for emotional resilience

Introduction

Children's psychological adjustment to adverse events can be determined by multiple risk and resilience factors. This study explored multi-level protective factors against children's internalizing problems and investigated the mechanism regarding how diverse environmental and child-level resources influence children's mental health in the context of COVID-19.

Methods

Our participants included a nationally representative sample of 2,619 young children (48.3% girls) and their primary caregivers (95.1% mothers) in Singapore. They were a subset of the participants in the Singapore Longitudinal Early Development Study (SG LEADS). Data were collected over two waves-before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (Wave 1) when these children aged 3 to 6, and during the second year of the pandemic (Wave 2). Primary caregivers completed measures of verbal cognitive ability, self-control, economic stress, and positive and negative parental control in Wave 1. Children's self-regulation was assessed by the Delay of Gratification task in Wave 1, and their internalizing problems were rated by their primary caregivers in both waves. Other pre-pandemic family and community characteristics were collected as covariates. Structural equation modeling was performed.

Results

Pre-pandemic parental resources (i.e., verbal cognitive ability, self-control, and low economic stress) predicted children's fewer internalizing problems during the pandemic and less aggravation of internalizing problems from before to during the pandemic, through more positive parental control (i.e., limit setting) and less negative parental control (i.e., harsh discipline). Moreover, children's self-regulation during early childhood was predicted by their primary caregivers' verbal cognitive ability and self-control, as well as positive parental control. Early childhood self-regulation further alleviated the aggravation of internalizing problems over time. Among the covariates, parental education, family income, parental psychological well-being, living with both parents, having a live-in domestic helper, and neighborhood quality also longitudinally predicted fewer child internalizing problems.

Discussion

Our findings underscore the importance of nurturing children's emotional resilience under adverse and uncertain circumstances by boosting protective factors in their social-ecological system, including community-, family-, parent-, and child-level resources.

Approach-avoidance orientations can predict young children's decision-making

When facing situations that involve risk and reward, some may focus on the opportunity for reward, whereas others may focus on potential risks. Here, we used an original set of pictorial scenarios to try and predict 3- to 8-year-olds' reward-seeking and risk-avoiding behavior in three decision-making scenarios (N = 99; Mage = 5.6; 47% girls). We found that children's reward-risk tendencies did not predict sharing behavior in a dictator-game 'sharing' task. However, they predicted children's monopolizing behavior in a dictator-game 'taking' task and their preferences between taking home a 'risky' or a 'safe' reward in a novel prize-preference task. Overall, using a set of original pictorial scenarios to assess individual differences early on in development now provides initial evidence that bridges individual differences and decision-making domains and exposes behavioral patterns that were thus far hidden.

Annual Research Review: Developmental pathways linking early behavioral inhibition to later anxiety

Behavioral Inhibition is a temperament identified in the first years of life that enhances the risk for development of anxiety during late childhood and adolescence. Amongst children characterized with this temperament, only around 40 percent go on to develop anxiety disorders, meaning that more than half of these children do not. Over the past 20 years, research has documented within-child and socio-contextual factors that support differing developmental pathways. This review provides a historical perspective on the research documenting the origins of this temperament, its biological correlates, and the factors that enhance or mitigate risk for development of anxiety. We review as well, research findings from two longitudinal cohorts that have identified moderators of behavioral inhibition in understanding pathways to anxiety. Research on these moderators has led us to develop the Detection and Dual Control (DDC) framework to understand differing developmental trajectories among behaviorally inhibited children. In this review, we use this framework to explain why and how specific cognitive and socio-contextual factors influence differential pathways to anxiety versus resilience.

Social anxiety disorder in an adolescent with agenesis of the corpus callosum: a case report

BACKGROUND

The agenesis of corpus callosum (ACC) could impair the connectivity of the hemispheres of the cerebral cortex and cause cognitive impairments, social and behavioral issues, and even psychiatric disorders. Although social deficits are common in ACC patients, it is rare for a social anxiety disorder to occur.

CASE PRESENTATION

To report a 17-year-old adolescent with complete ACC associated with social anxiety disorder, depression, impulsive behavior, and other neurodevelopmental defects such as intellectual disabilities. His avoidance and fear were improved after treatment with sertraline.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first report of social anxiety disorder in ACC patients. The possible relationship between brain structural abnormities and anxiety syndrome should be investigated in more studies.

The role of temperament and parenting on anxiety problems among toddlers: Moderating role of parenting and mediating role of attachment

Anxiety problems are seen as early as 1-2 years of age. Among others, parenting and child temperament are considered as the most important factors affecting anxiety in early childhood. In the current study, the unique roles of parenting (maternal overprotectiveness and warmth) and temperament (behavioral inhibition and negative emotionality), parenting-temperament interactions, and mediating role of ambivalent attachment between behavioral inhibition and anxiety were investigated. One-hundred mother-child (18-36-month-old) dyads participated in this study. Children's anxiety and temperament were measured through mother-reported scales, attachment was measured by observation via home visits, and parenting dimensions were measured via both mother-reported scales and observation. The results revealed that behavioral inhibition and overprotectiveness were positively associated with toddlers' anxiety, whereas there were no significant direct associations of negative emotionality and warmth with anxiety. However, the interaction between behavioral inhibition and warmth predicted toddler's anxiety; that is, if behaviorally inhibited children had mothers who were low on warmth, those children were more likely to exhibit anxiety symptoms compared to children with low behavioral inhibition, whereas anxiety levels did not change for children of warm mothers. Ambivalent attachment mediated the relationship between behavioral inhibition and anxiety. The nature of parent-child interactions is discussed based on toddlerhood anxiety.

The human fear paradox: Affective origins of cooperative care

Already as infants humans are more fearful than our closest living primate relatives, the chimpanzees. Yet heightened fearfulness is mostly considered maladaptive, as it is thought to increase the risk of developing anxiety and depression. How can this human fear paradox be explained? The fearful ape hypothesis presented herein stipulates that, in the context of cooperative caregiving and provisioning unique to human great ape group life, heightened fearfulness was adaptive. This is because from early in ontogeny fearfulness expressed and perceived enhanced care-based responding and provisioning from, while concurrently increasing cooperation with, mothers and others. This explanation is based on a synthesis of existing research with human infants and children, demonstrating a link between fearfulness, greater sensitivity to and accuracy in detecting fear in others, and enhanced levels of cooperative behaviors. These insights critically advance current evolutionary theories of human cooperation by adding an early-developing affective component to the human cooperative makeup. Moreover, the current proposal has important cultural, societal, and health implications, as it challenges the predominant view in Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies that commonly construe fearfulness as a maladaptive trait, potentially ignoring its evolutionary adaptive functions.

Caught in a vicious cycle? Explaining bidirectional spillover between parent-child relationships and peer victimization

Relationships with parents and peers are crucial for children's socialization, but how parent-child and peer relationships mutually affect each other is not well understood. Guided by spillover theory, we zoomed in on the bidirectional interplay between parental rejection and warmth on the one hand and peer victimization on the other, and examined whether children's maladjustment symptoms mediated hypothesized cross-domain spillover effects. Data stem from five waves of the longitudinal KiVa study among 9,770 children (50% boys; mean age = 9.16, standard deviation = 1.29). Results from random intercept cross-lagged panel models showed that higher parental rejection and lower parental warmth predicted increases in peer victimization and vice versa across waves, thus supporting the bidirectional model. Moreover, spillover from parent-child rejection and warmth to peer victimization was partially driven by children's depressive symptoms and bullying perpetration. Vice versa, spillover from peer victimization to parent-child rejection and warmth was partially driven by children's social anxiety, depressive symptoms, conduct problems, and bullying perpetration. Thus, children might get caught in persistent problems in two important social domains, and these two domains influence each other through children's maladjustment. Family and school interventions should be integrated to prevent a downwards spiral.

The Interaction Between Child Behavioral Inhibition and Parenting Behaviors: Effects on Internalizing and Externalizing Symptomology

Both child temperament and parenting have been extensively researched as predictors of child outcomes. However, theoretical models suggest that specific combinations of temperament styles and parenting behaviors are better predictors of certain child outcomes such as internalizing and externalizing symptoms than either temperament or parenting alone. The current qualitative review examines the interaction between one childhood temperamental characteristic (child behavioral inhibition) and parenting behaviors, and their subsequent impact on child psychopathology. Specifically, the moderating role of parenting on the relationship between child behavioral inhibition and both internalizing and externalizing psychopathology is examined, and the methodological variations which may contribute to inconsistent findings are explored. Additionally, support for the bidirectional relations between behavioral inhibition and parenting behaviors, as well as for the moderating role of temperament on the relationships between parenting and child outcomes, is briefly discussed. Finally, the clinical applicability of this overall conceptual model, specifically in regard to future research directions and potential clinical interventions, is considered.

The Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS): Development and Psychometric Properties

The aim of the current study was to create a new measure of parenting practices, constituted by items from already established measures, to advance the measurement of parenting practices in clinical and research settings. Five stages were utilized to select optimal parenting items, establish a factor structure consisting of positive and negative dimensions of parenting, meaningfully consider child developmental stage, and ensure strong psychometric properties (reliability and validity) of the final measure. A total of 1,790 parents (44% fathers) were recruited online through Amazon's Mechanical Turk for three cohorts: Stages 1 (N = 611), 2 (N = 615), and 3 (N = 564). Each sample was equally divided by child developmental stage: Young childhood (3 to 7 years old), middle childhood (8 to 12 years old), and adolescence (13 to 17 years old). Through the five-stage empirical approach, the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS) was developed, successfully achieving all aims. The MAPS factor structure included both positive and negative dimensions of warmth/hostility and behavioral control that were appropriate for parents of children across the developmental span. The MAPS demonstrated strong reliability and longitudinal analyses provided initial support for the validity of MAPS subscales.

Bidirectional Relations Between Temperament and Parenting Predicting Preschool-Age Children's Adjustment

Bidirectional associations between child temperament (fear, frustration, positive affect, effortful control) and parenting behaviors (warmth, negativity, limit setting, scaffolding, responsiveness) were examined as predictors of preschool-age children's adjustment problems and social competence. Participants were a community sample of children (N = 306; 50% female, 64% European American) and their mothers. Observational measures of child temperament and parenting were obtained using laboratory tasks at two time points (children's ages 36 and 54 months). Teacher-reported adjustment measures were collected at the first and third time points (children's ages 36 and 63 months). Cross-lagged analyses were performed to examine whether child temperament and parenting predict changes in one another, whether they each contribute independently to children's adjustment, and whether these transactional relations account for adjustment outcomes. Maternal negativity at 36 months predicted increases in child frustration at 54 months. Maternal negativity and child effortful control predicted decreases in each other from 36 to 54 months. Maternal warmth predicted increases in child effortful control over time. Child frustration, child effortful control, maternal warmth, and maternal negativity at 54 months each independently predicted child adjustment problems at 63 months, controlling for problems at 36 months. Child executive control at 54 months predicted increases in child social competence at 63 months. The findings suggest that temperament and parenting have independent and additive effects on preschool-age child adjustment, with some support for a bidirectional relation.

A cross-cultural study of behavioral inhibition in toddlers: East–West–North–South

The prevalence of behavioral inhibition in toddlers was examined in five cultures. Participants in this study included 110 Australian, 108 Canadian, 151 Chinese, 104 Italian, and 113 South Korean toddlers and their mothers who were observed during a structured observational laboratory session. Matched procedures were used in each country, with children encountering an unfamiliar stranger with a truck and a robot. Indicators of inhibition included the length of time toddlers delayed before approaching the stranger and the duration of contact with their mother while the stranger was in the room. Results were generally consistent with expectations and showed differences between eastern and western cultures; Italian and Australian toddlers were less inhibited than toddlers from the other countries, whereas Chinese and South Korean toddlers were more inhibited. The implications of these findings are discussed and a research agenda for further exploration of inhibition is outlined.

The impact of children's internalizing and externalizing problems on parenting: Transactional processes and reciprocal change over time

Most theoretical models of developmental psychopathology involve a transactional, bidirectional relation between parenting and children's behavior problems. The present study utilized a cross-lagged panel, multiple interval design to model change in bidirectional relations between child and parent behavior across successive developmental periods. Two major categories of child behavior problems, internalizing and externalizing, and two aspects of parenting, positive (use of support and structure) and harsh discipline (use of physical punishment), were modeled across three time points spaced 3 years apart. Two successive developmental intervals, from approximately age 7.5 to 10.5 and from 10.5 to 13.5, were included. Mother–child dyads (N =138; 65 boys) from a lower income longitudinal sample of families participated, with standardized measures of mothers rating their own parenting behavior and teachers reporting on child's behavior. Results revealed different types of reciprocal relations between specific aspects of child and parent behavior, with internalizing problems predicting an increase in positive parenting over time, which subsequently led to a reduction in internalizing problems across the successive 3-year interval. In contrast, externalizing predicted reduced levels of positive parenting in a reciprocal sequence that extended across two successive intervals and predicted increased levels of externalizing over time. Implications for prevention and early intervention are discussed.

Shyness and Psychosocial Functioning in South Korean Children

The purpose of this study was to examine whether anxious shyness and regulated shyness, initially identified in the Chinese culture, is found in South Korean children, and to explore whether these two forms of shyness were differentially related to children's psychosocial functioning. Participants were 544 fourth to sixth grade children (251 girls, M age = 11.38 years old) who were recruited from an elementary school in Bucheon City, South Korea. Children's anxious and regulated shyness were measured using peers’ nominations and teachers’ ratings, whereas their social preference and social impact were assessed using peers’ nominations. Parents rated their children's temperamental shyness and effortful control, and children self–reported their loneliness and interpersonal concerns. The results of confirmatory factor analysis replicated the two factor model of shyness found in previous studies of Chinese children. Anxious shyness and regulated shyness were positively associated and were similarly related to temperamental shyness. Anxious shyness was negatively related to effortful control and social preference, and positively associated with self–reported loneliness and interpersonal concerns, whereas regulated shyness was positively related to effortful control and social preference and negatively associated with loneliness and social impact. These results were generally consistent with prior Chinese findings and provided preliminary support for the construct validity of anxious and regulated shyness in another Asian culture that emphasizes interdependence and modesty. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Korean culture and autism spectrum disorders

This paper reviews the literature on early child development among Koreans, with a focus on autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The literature review of 951 abstracts in English, 101 abstracts in Korean and 27 full articles published from 1994 to 2011 was performed to understand the presentation of and response to ASD in Korean culture. Based on research to date on the identification, description, and treatment of ASD in Korean populations, we argue that at both conceptual and practical levels, early child development and interventions must be understood within cultural context. Culturally informed research on ASD is vital for increasing awareness of the importance of early intervention and the need for educational and psychological services in countries in which autism is stigmatized, misdiagnosed or undiagnosed.

The determinants of parental childrearing behavior trajectories: The effects of parental and child time-varying and time-invariant predictors

“Why do parents parent the way they do?” remains an important question since it concerns both scientific issues, such as the stability or change of childrearing behavior, and clinical issues, such as the way to promote positive parenting in evidence-based programs. Using an accelerated design, the aim of this study was to examine several parental and child predictors of childrearing behavior trajectories among 373 mothers and 356 fathers of 2- to 9-year-old children. Hypotheses were drawn from Belsky (1984) and subsequent studies of the determinants of parenting. The parental and child predictors were assessed and analyzed as time-varying (parental self-efficacy beliefs and child externalizing behavior) or time-invariant (parental educational level and personality traits) predictors, according to their conceptual properties. The results show a linear decrease in both supportive and controlling childrearing behavior in mothers and an improvement in supportive but a decrease in controlling childrearing behavior in fathers over time. Moreover, the results support the idea that childrearing behavior is determined by multiple factors, in particular the parents’ self-efficacy beliefs and the child’s behavior. Finally, the results confirm the hypothesis of a greater influence of child predictors than of parental ones in the case of mothers, while the reverse hypothesis of a greater predictive power of parental variables than of child ones is confirmed for fathers. The results are discussed both for research and clinical purposes.

Nature and nurturing: parenting in the context of child temperament

Accounting for both bidirectional and interactive effects between parenting and child temperament can fine-tune theoretical models of the role of parenting and temperament in children's development of adjustment problems. Evidence for bidirectional and interactive effects between parenting and children's characteristics of frustration, fear, self-regulation, and impulsivity was reviewed, and an overall model of children's individual differences in response to parenting is proposed. In general, children high in frustration, impulsivity and low in effortful control are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of negative parenting, while in turn, many negative parenting behaviors predict increases in these characteristics. Frustration, fearfulness, and effortful control also appear to elicit parenting behaviors that can predict increases in these characteristics. Irritability renders children more susceptible to negative parenting behaviors. Fearfulness operates in a very complex manner, sometimes increasing children's responses to parenting behaviors and sometimes mitigating them and apparently operating differently across gender. Important directions for future research include the use of study designs and analytic approaches that account for the direction of effects and for developmental changes in parenting and temperament over time.

Reciprocal influences between maternal discipline techniques and aggression in children and adolescents

Most studies assessing the link between parental discipline and child aggression have focused primarily on discipline as a cause and aggression as an outcome. In addition to the pathway from discipline to aggression, however, aggressive behavior on the part of the child may lead to future use of discipline by the parent. In this study, structural equation modeling was used to assess reciprocal influences over time between a mothers' use of discipline and aggression in children. Data were drawn from the Springfield Child Development Project, a longitudinal study of middle childhood and adolescence, focusing on antecedents of aggression. The original sample consisted of 440 mother-child dyads living in the city of Springfield, MA. Children in the sample were between 7 and 14 years of age at the first data collection period and between 12 and 19 years of age at the final data collection period. Four hypotheses were tested: (1) a mother's use of aggressive discipline predicts an increase in later child aggression, (2) child aggression predicts an increase in later use of aggressive discipline, (3) the use of reasoning predicts a decrease in later child aggression, and (4) child aggression predicts an increase in later use of reasoning. All hypotheses except number 3 were supported to some degree. Results suggest that children's early aggressive behavior leads to an increase in their mothers' use of both reasoning and aggressive discipline; in turn, increased use of aggressive discipline leads to an increase in aggression during both childhood and adolescence.

Bidirectional genetic and environmental influences on mother and child behavior: the family system as the unit of analyses

Family systems theory proposes that an individual's functioning depends on interactive processes within the self and within the context of dyadic family subsystems. Previous research on these processes has focused largely on behavioral, cognitive, and psychophysiological properties of the individual and the dyad. The goals of this study were to explore genetic and environmental interactions within the family system by examining how the dopamine receptor D2 gene (DRD2) A1+ polymorphism in mothers and children relates to maternal sensitivity, how maternal and child characteristics might mediate those effects, and whether maternal sensitivity moderates the association between DRD2 A1+ and child affective problems. Evidence is found for an evocative effect of child polymorphism on parenting behavior, and for a moderating effect of child polymorphism on the association between maternal sensitivity and later child affective problems. Findings are discussed from a family systems perspective, highlighting the role of the family as a context for gene expression in both mothers and children.

Relations between parenting and externalizing and internalizing problem behaviour in early adolescence: Child behaviour as moderator and predictor

In this longitudinal study we investigated relations between parenting and externalizing and internalizing problem behaviour during early adolescence. First, we examined parenting effects on problem behaviour, including child behaviour as a moderator. Second, we examined child behaviour as predictor of parenting, also including moderator effects. A total of 650 13- to 14-year-olds filled out the Youth Self-Report and questionnaires about parenting at two times within a one-year interval. Relations between parenting and problem behaviour appeared to be stronger for externalizing than for internalizing problem behaviour. Both parenting effects and child effects were found. Parenting significantly predicted an increase in externalizing problem behaviour one year later. Adolescent's previous level of problem behaviour predicted changes in parenting (involvement and decisional autonomy granting). In addition, parental and child characteristics interacted in predicting outcome.

The etiology of social phobia: empirical evidence and an initial model

Research into the etiology of social phobia has lagged far behind that of descriptive and maintaining factors. The current paper reviews data from a variety of sources that have some bearing on questions of the origins of social fears. Areas examined include genetic factors, temperament, childrearing, negative life events, and adverse social experiences. Epidemiological data are examined in detail and factors associated with social phobia such as cognitive distortions and social skills are also covered. The paper concludes with an initial model that draws together some of the current findings and aims to provide a platform for future research directions.

Genetic and environmental influences on mothering of adolescents: a comparison of two samples

This study examined 2 samples of adolescents and mothers using a child-based design (Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development [NEAD] project, N = 395 families) and a parent-based design (Twin Moms [TM] project, N = 236 twin family pairs) to compare genetic and environmental influences on mothering. For both samples, the same measures of positivity, negativity, control, and monitoring were used. The use of matched child-based and parent-based samples enabled passive and nonpassive genotype-environment (GE) correlations to be approximated, providing information about process. Passive GE correlations were suggested for mother's positivity and monitoring. For mother's negativity and control, primarily nonpassive GE correlations were suggested. In several cases, both types of GE correlation were indicated. Finally, observer ratings of negativity and monitoring were influenced only by environmental factors.