Unique Contributions of Fathering to Emerging Self Regulation in Low-Income Ethnic Minority Preschoolers

Reciprocal associations between parental depression and child cognition: Pathways to children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms

Parental depression is a risk factor for children's cognitive and psychological development. Literature has found reciprocal relations between parental depression and child psychopathology and effects of parental depression on children's cognition. The present study is the first to examine reciprocity among parental depression and child cognition, and pathways to child psychopathology. Structural equation models were conducted using data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, a nationally representative sample of 3,001 economically marginalized families. Measures were collected in four waves from 14 months to 10-11 years. Reciprocal associations emerged between maternal and paternal depression at from 14 months to 5 years. Reciprocal parental depression was associated with greater psychopathology at age 10-11. Maternal depression predicted poorer child cognition, which indirectly predicted increased depression in mothers of children aged 3-5 through paternal depression, and in fathers at age 3, through earlier paternal depression. This study was unable to parse within- and between-person effects. Additionally, data for paternal depression was limited to ages 2 and 3. Findings emphasize the transactional nature of child cognition and child and parent psychopathology, supporting family focused intervention and prevention efforts that target parent psychopathology and child cognition.

How parent-child brain-to-brain synchrony can inform the study of child development

It is well established that parent-child dyadic synchrony (e.g., mutual emotions, behaviors) can support development across cognitive and socioemotional domains. The advent of simultaneous two-brain hyperscanning (i.e., neuroimaging techniques to measure the brain activity of two individuals at the same time) allows further insight into dyadic neural synchrony. In this article, we review 16 recent studies of naturalistic, parent-child brain-to-brain synchrony, finding relations with the nature of interactions (collaborative versus competitive, parent versus stranger), proximal social cues (gaze, affect, touch, reciprocity), child-level variables (irritability, self-regulation), and environmental factors (parental stress, family cohesion, adversity). We then discuss how neural synchrony may provide a biological mechanism for refining broader theories on developmental benefits of dyadic synchrony. We also highlight critical areas for future study, including examining synchrony trajectories longitudinally, including more diverse participants and interaction contexts, and studying caregivers beyond mothers (e.g., other family members, teachers). We conclude that neural synchrony is an exciting and important window into understanding how caregiver-child dyadic synchrony supports children's social and cognitive development.

Stability of Parenting Profiles in Early Childhood for African American Children in Households Experiencing Poverty

Taking a person-centered approach, this study examined stability and change in profiles of parenting qualities observed at two times in early childhood in a sample of 146 mothers of African American children living in households experiencing poverty. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) of six qualities of parenting rated from mother-child interactions at ages 2.5 and 3.6 years revealed four distinct parenting profiles characterized as Child-Oriented, Moderately Child-Oriented, Harsh-Intrusive, and Withdrawn at each age. Profile membership was fairly stable, with 41% classified similarly at both times. Moderately Child-Oriented was the least stable, with 24% of this group similarly classified at Time 2; 49-52% of each of the other three groups were classified similarly the second time, indicating their greater stability. Changes from Harsh-Intrusive to Withdrawn profiles or vice versa were rare (n = 3). To further address profile stability, Time 2 profile posterior probabilities were predicted in multiple regression models from Time 1 parenting profiles, with the child-oriented profile as reference group, Time 2 child externalizing and internalizing behavior problems, and cumulative risk. Results indicated Time 2 Withdrawn and Harsh-Intrusive profiles were significantly associated with Time 1 membership in their analogous profile but not with other Time 1 profiles, providing further evidence for stability and distinctiveness of these profiles. Only the Moderately Child-Oriented profile was associated with greater cumulative risk at Time 2; it was not related to any of the other Time 1 profiles. In addition, Withdrawn profile membership at Time 2 was associated with greater child internalizing and fewer externalizing problems. The Time 2 Child-Oriented profile was associated with less probability of membership in withdrawn or harsh-intrusive profiles at Time 1.

Resident and Non-resident Father Involvement, Coparenting, and the Development of Children's Self-Regulation Among Families Facing Economic Hardship

Self-regulation, or the ability to effectively manage emotions and behavior, is a critical skill to develop in early childhood. Children living in a context of economic hardship are at an increased risk for developing self-regulation difficulties. However, few studies have comprehensively examined how multiple aspects of the caregiving environment, including fathers' parenting and coparenting quality, may contribute to child self-regulation. Thus, this study applied a family systems perspective to examine whether coparenting and resident and non-resident fathers' reports of parenting quantity and quality were associated with observations of children's self-regulation. Participants were drawn from the Embedded Developmental Study (n = 257) of the Three-City Study, a longitudinal study of children and families facing economic hardship. At Wave 1, when children were 2-4 years old, reports of parenting (i.e., quantity and quality) and coparenting (i.e., support) were obtained. At Wave 2, when children were 3-6 years old, children participated in a snack delay and gift wrap task, which assessed their self-regulation. Multi-group path analyses indicated that resident fathers' harsh parenting at Wave 1 predicted decreased levels of self-regulation at Wave 2. Non-resident fathers' reported hours of involvement at Wave 1 predicted greater levels of self-regulation at Wave 2. Additionally, supportive coparenting among families with a non-resident father predicted greater self-regulation. Supportive coparenting was not associated with child self-regulation in families with a resident father. The implications for research focused on facilitating positive father-child relationships in diverse family contexts are discussed.

Father involvement in infancy predicts behavior and response to chronic stress in middle childhood in a low-income Latinx sample

Fathers' involvement in early childhood is important for children's physical, emotional, and cognitive development, particularly in low-income families. However, little is known about the longitudinal relations between early father involvement and children's later physiological responses to chronic stress and behaviors impacted by stress in the context of poverty. These issues are particularly important among Latinx immigrant families who face significant psychosocial and poverty-related risk. In the current study, we examined the relationship between father involvement in infancy and physiological chronic stress in the middle childhood period, as measured through hair cortisol concentration (HCC), and several behavioral measures (attention problems, working memory) in a Latinx immigrant sample with low income. Father involvement in infancy predicted children's later HCC, and working memory in second to third grade. Father involvement also moderated the effect of HCC on working memory, such that increased HCC predicted better working memory when fathers were not involved. These findings suggest that the fathers' involvement in infancy has lasting impacts on health and behavior and that associations between physiological and behavioral measures of stress may be moderated by differences in early father involvement.

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.

Interrelatedness of Children's Psychological and Physiological Responses to Interparental Conflict: A Moderating Role of Harsh Parenting

Children's psychological and physiological responses to interparental conflict have received considerable attention due to their implications for later adjustment, yet limited research has investigated the interplay between these two response systems. This study investigates patterns of association between children's psychological responses (e.g., emotional distress) and cortisol reactivity to interparental conflict, including possible moderations by negative caregiving environment. Participants included 193 families (mother, father, and child). Parents completed questionnaires relating to their caregiving behaviors toward the child (107 girls and 86 boys, M age = 7.99 years, SD = 0.53 years) and children's psychological responses to interparental conflict. Children provided three saliva samples over the course of watching videos depicting conflicts between two adults, whom children were asked to pretend were their parents. Based on a series of Latent Growth Curve Models, only children's emotional responses to interparental conflict (indicated by increased distress) were associated with greater cortisol reactivity. Additionally, fathers' harsh parenting behavior moderated the relation between children's emotional reactivity and cortisol reactivity, yet the moderation effect was not found for mothers' parenting. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of exploring both psychological and physiological reactivity to conflict and the possible moderating role of harsh parenting.

Maternal touch and infant affect in the Still Face Paradigm: A cross-cultural examination

Touch between mother and infant plays an important role in development starting from birth. Cross-cultural differences surrounding rearing practices have an influence on parent-infant interaction, including types of touch used and the development of emotional regulation. This study was designed to investigate maternal touch and infant emotional regulation in infant-mother dyads from Ecuador (n=25) and Hispanic dyads from the United States (US) (n=26). Mothers and their 4-month-old full-term infants participated in the Still Face Paradigm. Second-by-second coding of maternal touch and infant affect was completed. Overall the analyses showed that Ecuadorian mothers used more nurturing and accompaniment touch and less attention seeking touch than US Hispanic mothers during the pre-stressor (baseline) episode. Lagged multilevel models were used to investigate the effect of the different types of touch on infant emotional regulation in the groups for the episodes. The data suggest that playful touch had a significant increase in infant affect, whereas accompaniment and attention-seeking touch had a significant decrease in infant affect. Overall, this study provides support for the role of touch in mother-infant synchronicity in relation to infant's emotional regulation. Identifying touch that is more calming is important to foster emotional regulation in infancy, which can have important implications for development.

O processo da autorregulação no desenvolvimento de crianças

A autorregulação é um processo básico relacionado aos desfechos adaptativos ao longo do desenvolvimento. O objetivo do presente artigo foi realizar uma revisão temática sobre o conceito de autorregulação e suas relações com o desenvolvimento da criança. Primeiramente, foram abordados os fundamentos teóricos sobre o processo de autorregularão no desenvolvimento, de acordo com o Modelo Transacional do Desenvolvimento de Arnold Sameroff. Em seguida, foi focalizada a caracterização deste processo de acordo com os seguintes componentes principais: a regulação cognitiva e os mecanismos neurocognitivos, a regulação emocional e a regulação comportamental. Além disso, foi tratada a relação entre os processos regulatórios e o temperamento. Finalmente, foi também analisada a relevância do papel dos correguladores na composição do processo autorregulatório no desenvolvimento da criança.

Low-income, minority fathers' control strategies and their children's regulatory skills

The current study explored the bidirectional association of children's individual characteristics, fathers' control strategies at 24 months, and children's regulatory skills at prekindergarten (pre-K). Using a sample of low-income, minority families with 2-year-olds from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (n = 71), we assessed the association between child gender and vocabulary skills, fathers' control strategies at 24 months (e.g., regulatory behavior and regulatory language), and children's sustained attention and emotion regulation at prekindergarten. There were three main findings. First, fathers overwhelmingly used commands (e.g., "Do that.") to promote compliance in their 24-month-old children. Second, children's vocabulary skills predicted fathers' regulatory behaviors during a father-child interaction whereas children's gender predicted fathers' regulatory language during an interaction. Third, controlling for maternal supportiveness, fathers' regulatory behaviors at 24 months predicted children's sustained attention at pre-K whereas fathers' regulatory language at 24 months predicted children's emotion regulation at pre-K. Our findings highlight the importance of examining paternal contributions to children's regulatory skills.