Mothers' preparation for bias and responses to children's distress predict positive adjustment among Black children: an attachment perspective

Fathers' contributions to attachment in adolescence and adulthood: the moderating role of race, gender, income, and residential status

Fathers play a critical yet underappreciated role in adolescent development. To examine contributions of fathers' parenting to attachment in adolescence and adulthood, this longitudinal study followed 184 adolescents from ages 13-24. At age 13, adolescents reported on their fathers' parenting behavior and were observed in a father-teen conflict task; at ages 14 and 24, they completed the Adult Attachment Interview. Adolescents who lived with their father showed higher attachment security at age 14 (Cohen's d = .72), compared to those with non-residential fathers. Fathers' positive relatedness and support for teens' psychological autonomy predicted attachment security at age 14. Fathers' physical aggression predicted attachment insecurity in adolescence, whereas fathers' verbal aggression predicted insecurity in adulthood, illuminating developmental shifts. Pathways to security were moderated by father residential status, adolescent gender, and race. Findings underscore the importance of fathers' presence, autonomy support, and non-aggression in predicting adolescents' state of mind in close relationships.

Active Direction: A new observational measure of African American parenting

A new observational measure of a culturally salient, supportive African American parenting style, Active Direction, was developed. Ratings were compared to standard qualitative ratings and across two ethnic groups. Active Direction represents the provision of structure to interactions in the form of corrective direction with clear and concise feedback that is assessed for supportiveness rather than simple content or tone. The 7-point rating item was examined in observations of African American (n = 172) and Hispanic American (n = 196) mother-child interactions collected at age 2.5 years in families from low-income households. Ratings were compared and associations to previously reported ratings of the interactions were examined. Active Direction was often observed among the African American mothers (81%) but rarely observed among the Hispanic mothers (16%), with a large effect size difference, supporting the hypothesis that Active Direction may represent a culturally specific approach to parenting for African American parents. Maternal behavior correlations of Active Direction with cognitive stimulation, intrusiveness, scaffolding, and calm authority and with child affiliative obedience and dyadic routines and rituals were significantly higher and detachment significantly lower in the African American compared to the Hispanic sample. The new measure of Active Direction, centered around culturally salient values and differences in both historical and lived experiences, addresses characteristics of parenting in African American families that are supportive of their children's development and provides a fruitful direction for future research.

Emotional impacts of racial discrimination on caregiver-child dyads: Can mentalizing-focused parenting groups buffer against racism-related stress?

Black and Latinx caregivers face high risk for parenting stress and racism-related stress due to experiences of racial discrimination (RD). This study aimed to explore the associations between RD, parenting stress, and psychological distress in caregiver-child dyads, as well as the impact of a mentalizing-focused group intervention on caregivers' experiences of RD distress. Ethnoracially minoritized caregivers of children aged 5-17 years old participated in a non-randomized clinical trial (N = 70). They received either a 12-session mentalizing-focused group parenting intervention or treatment-as-usual in outpatient psychiatry. We assessed self-reported frequency and distress related to RD, parenting stress, and psychological distress at baseline (T1) and post-intervention (T2). Caregiver- and self-reported child psychological distress were also measured. The results showed that greater RD frequency and greater RD distress separately predicted higher overall parenting stress and parental role-related distress. Greater RD distress was linked to increased psychological distress in caregivers. Similarly, greater RD frequency and distress among caregivers were associated with higher caregiver-reported, but not self-reported, child psychological distress. No significant changes in RD distress were observed between T1 and T2 for either of the treatment groups. These findings highlight the exacerbating role of RD on parenting stress and psychological distress among ethnoracially minoritized caregivers and their children.

Developmental trajectories of adolescent internalizing symptoms and parental responses to distress

Parents' responses to their children's negative emotions are a central aspect of emotion socialization that have well-established associations with the development of psychopathology. Yet research is lacking on potential bidirectional associations between parental responses and youth symptoms that may unfold over time. Further, additional research is needed on sociocultural factors that may be related to the trajectories of these constructs. In this study, we examined associations between trajectories of parental responses to negative emotions and adolescent internalizing symptoms and the potential role of youth sex and racial identity. Adolescents and caregivers (N = 256) completed six assessments that spanned adolescent ages 13-18 years. Multivariate growth models revealed that adolescents with higher internalizing symptoms at baseline experienced increasingly non-supportive parental responses over time (punitive and distress responses). By contrast, parental responses did not predict initial levels of or changes in internalizing symptoms. Parents of Black youth reported higher minimization and emotion-focused responses and lower distress responses compared to parents of White youth. We found minimal evidence for sex differences in parental responses. Internalizing symptoms in early adolescence had enduring effects on parental responses to distress, suggesting that adolescents may play an active role in shaping their emotion socialization developmental context.

Self-regulation linking the quality of early parent-child relationship to adolescents' obesity risk and food consumption

BACKGROUND

The quality of parent-child relationships has been examined as a contributor to children's healthy behaviours and weight outcomes, but the mechanisms accounting for associations remain understudied.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined whether the quality of early parent-child relationship is associated with adolescent obesity risk and whether self-regulation and (un)healthful food consumption mediate these associations.

METHODS

Employing structural equation modelling, two theory-driven models were examined using a large sample (N = 1237) drawn from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Indicators of the quality of parent-child relationship included assessments of child attachment security and observational assessments of maternal sensitivity (15, 24, and 36 months). Self-regulation at 54 months was assessed using behavioural and computerized tasks and, at ages 11-12 and 15 years, using parental ratings of self-control. Food consumption was self-reported at age 11-12. Height and weight measures in early/middle childhood and adolescence were used to compute BMI z-scores.

RESULTS

No direct associations between the quality of parent-child relationship and adolescent obesity risk were found in either model. Instead, child self-regulation was found to mediate the associations between the quality of parent-child relationship and both unhealthy food consumption and higher adolescent BMI status.

CONCLUSION

The findings highlight how the nature of parent-child relationships impacts developing regulatory processes in children which, in turn, have implications for obesity-related behaviours and outcomes. Interventions to reduce childhood obesity should consider self-regulation skills across multiple domains, and early parenting practices that foster these capacities.

Pathways to emotion regulation in young Black children: An attachment perspective

Attachment theory proposes that a central function of caregivers is to provide protection and co-regulation of children's distress in the context of threat, and that children's secure attachment (confidence in a secure base/safe haven when needed) precipitates positive developmental cascades in part by supporting children's emotion regulation. Yet the field of attachment has rarely considered the unique experiences of African American families, including the context of systemic racism in which caregivers must provide physical and emotional protection for their children, and in which children must learn to regulate emotion across different sociocultural contexts (emotional flexibility and "code-switching"; Dunbar et al., 2022a; Lozada et al., 2022; Stern et al., 2022b). This chapter brings attachment theory into conversation with the field of positive Black youth development to explore pathways to emotion regulation in African American children during early childhood. In doing so, we (a) highlight the strengths of African American caregivers in providing unique and specific forms of protection via racial and emotional socialization; (b) review research on predictors and consequences of secure caregiver-child relationships in Black families, with a focus on the outcome of child emotion regulation; (c) present a theoretical framework for understanding cascades of positive Black youth development via healthy relationships and emotion regulation; and (d) outline promising new directions for more inclusive and just attachment research.

Frontal Alpha Asymmetry in Response to Stressor Moderates the Relation Between Parenting Hassles and Child Externalizing Problems

Inequitable urban environments are associated with toxic stress and altered neural social stress processing that threatens the development of self-regulation. Some children in these environments struggle with early onset externalizing problems that are associated with a variety of negative long-term outcomes. While previous research has linked parenting daily hassles to child externalizing problems, the role of frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) as a potential modifier of this relationship has scarcely been explored. The present study examined mother-child dyads, most of whom were living in low socioeconomic status households in an urban environment and self-identified as members of racial minority groups. Analyses focused on frustration task electroencephalography (EEG) data from 67 children (mean age = 59.0 months, SD = 2.6). Mothers reported the frequency of their daily parenting hassles and their child's externalizing problems. Frustration task FAA moderated the relationship between parenting daily hassles and child externalizing problems, but resting FAA did not. More specifically, children with left frontal asymmetry had more externalizing problems as their mothers perceived more hassles in their parenting role, but parenting hassles and externalizing problems were not associated among children with right frontal asymmetry. These findings lend support to the motivational direction hypothesis and capability model of FAA. More generally, this study reveals how individual differences in lateralization of cortical activity in response to a stressor may confer differential susceptibility to child behavioral problems with approach motivation (i.e., left frontal asymmetry) predicting externalizing problems under conditions of parental stress.

Parent Emotion Socialization and Positive Emotions in Child and Adolescent Clinical Samples: A Systematic Review and Call to Action

The majority of the emotion socialization behaviors (ESB) literature has focused on community samples and socialization of negative emotions. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that ESB are also critical in setting the foundations for the healthy development of positive emotions, with implications for developmental psychopathology. We conducted a systematic review of research examining parent ESB and youth positive emotions in clinical child and adolescent samples. A literature search was conducted in March 2021, resulting in 563 abstracts being reviewed. Two reviewers independently screened the titles and abstracts to identify relevant papers, with 53 articles being reviewed in full. Seven articles (four cross-sectional and correlational, three intervention) were included in the current review, of which one was with an internalizing sample, three were with an externalizing sample, and three were with a neurodevelopmental disorder sample. Results varied regarding the role of parent ESB in youth positive emotions across clinical populations. In correlational studies, minimal evidence was found for the association between parent ESB and youth positive emotions, but across the three intervention studies, there was evidence that both parent ESB and children's positive emotions can be improved through intervention. We present a preliminary model of relations between youth psychopathology, parent ESB, and child positive emotions, with consideration of potential moderators of links between ESB and positive emotions. Finally, we discuss limitations of the existing body of research, and offer specific recommendations for future research directions.

Spotlighting Black Adolescent Development in the Shadow of Racism: A Commentary

The special issue brings together scholarship that expands our understanding of the adverse effects of interpersonal, online, and vicarious racial discrimination on Black adolescents' psychosocial well-being and sociocultural factors (e.g., racial socialization and positive racial identity) that mitigate these effects. It also focuses attention on ways that adolescents' behavior and characteristics shape racial socialization. Some of the critical tasks that lie ahead include elevating a developmental perspective, documenting developmental pathways, directly assessing proximal mediating processes, giving more attention to the robustness and replicability of findings, and expanding levels of analyses and outcomes to include both macro-structural indicators and indicators of physiological and neuropsychological functioning.