Understanding mother-adolescent conflict discussions: concurrent and across-time prediction from youths' dispositions and parenting

The Mediation of Care and Overprotection between Parent-Adolescent Conflicts and Adolescents' Psychological Difficulties during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Which Role for Fathers?

BACKGROUND

There is evidence of a significant raise in youths' emotional and behavioral difficulties during the pandemic. Only a few studies have addressed parent-adolescent conflict, and none investigated the possible mediating effect of parenting in the association between conflicts with parents and adolescents' symptoms. This study aimed at investigating youths' psychological symptoms during the pandemic, focusing on the predicting effect of parent-adolescent conflict. The mediating role of care and overprotection was also explored, considering whether adolescent gender moderated this mediation.

METHODS

195 adolescents aged 14-18 years participated in an online longitudinal study. Perceived conflict with parents and parenting dimensions (Parental Bonding Instrument; PBI) were assessed at baseline (2021). Self-reported psychological difficulties (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; SDQ) were collected at baseline and after one year (2022).

RESULTS

A significantly severer symptomatology was found in adolescents having a conflictual relationship with one or both parents. Major conflicts with parents correlated with lower care and greater overprotection in mothers and fathers. However, parental overprotection and maternal care were not mediators of the relationship between conflict and youths' difficulties. The only exception was represented by paternal care that fully mediated this relationship in both adolescent males and females.

CONCLUSIONS

Although further investigations are needed to overcome limitations due to the small sample, findings extend our insight into the impact of parent-adolescent conflict, highlighting the role of fathers' care and the need to maximize their involvement in clinical interventions.

Associations between developmental patterns of negative parenting and emotion regulation development across adolescence

Research has documented changes in parenting practices and in emotion regulation (ER) during adolescence. However, developmental trajectories of these constructs and how they may be linked are not clearly known. The present study examined longitudinal associations between developmental trajectories of negative parenting and developmental trajectories of ER (e.g., abilities and strategy use, including cognitive reappraisal and suppression). The sample included 167 adolescents (53% males) who were first recruited at age 13 or 14 years and assessed annually four times. Adolescents self-reported on the perceived degree of their parent's negative parenting and ER. Growth mixture modeling revealed two distinct trajectories of negative parenting across adolescence: Class 1 contained the majority of adolescents (84%), with moderate initial levels of negative parenting that decreased across adolescence; Class 2 contained a smaller group of adolescents (16%), reporting moderate initial levels of negative parenting that increased across adolescence. Though growth curve modeling did not reveal significant growth in ER across time in the sample as a whole, results from a two-group model demonstrated that ER development significantly differs depending on adolescents' experiences of negative parenting trajectories. Adolescents experiencing decreases in negative parenting showed significant increases in ER abilities and no significant changes in suppression. Adolescents experiencing increases in negative parenting exhibited significant decreases in ER abilities. Adolescent's cognitive reappraisal was unaffected by negative parenting. The findings underscore the significant role of differential parenting environments in the development of ER abilities during adolescence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of Parent Emotion Socialization on the Neurobiology Underlying Adolescent Emotion Processing: A Multimethod fMRI Study

Parents' emotion socialization (ES) practices impact socioemotional development throughout adolescence. Little is known, however, regarding the neurobiology underlying these effects. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine how parent ES practices relate to adolescent brain function during emotion processing. Thirty-three adolescents (ages 14-16) reported on ES practices of a focal parent (primarily mothers) using the Emotions as a Child (EAC) Scale. Adolescents also completed a conflict discussion task with this parent, and parents' statements were coded for emotional valence. Adolescents performed two fMRI tasks: a standard emotion processing (EP) task (n = 32) and the Testing Emotional Attunement and Mutuality (TEAM) task (n = 27). The EP task consisted of viewing emotional pictures and either reacting naturally or using cognitive reappraisal to regulate emotional responses. The TEAM task was performed with the parent and included trials during which adolescents were shown that their parent made an error, costing the dyad $5. Parent negative verbalizations during the conflict discussion were associated with greater activity in the thalamus during the emotion reactivity condition of the EP task and in the thalamus, superior medial and superior frontal gyri, anterior insula, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during the costly error condition of the TEAM task. Unsupportive ES was associated with greater activity in the supplementary motor area and less activity in the paracentral gyrus and amygdala during the costly error condition of the TEAM task. This study supports the premise that ES influences adolescents' emotion-related neural processing, particularly when using ecologically valid tasks in social contexts.

Nutritional status of children living within institution-based care: a retrospective analysis with funnel plots and control charts for programme monitoring

Objectives

The aim of this study is to fill a key information gap on the nutrition-related epidemiology of orphaned and vulnerable children living within institution-based care (IBC) across six countries.

Design

A retrospective analysis with Shewhart control charts and funnel plots to explore intersite and over time variations in nutritional status.

Setting

We conducted a retrospective analysis of records from Holt International’s Child Nutrition Programme from 35 sites in six countries; Mongolia, India, Ethiopia, Vietnam, China and the Philippines.

Participants

Deidentified health records from Holt International’s online nutrition screening database included records from 2926 children, 0–18 years old. Data were collected from 2013 to 2020 and included demographic and health information.

Results

At initial screening, 717 (28.7%) children were anaemic, 788 (34.1%) underweight, 1048 (37.3%) stunted, 212 (12.6%) wasted, 135 (12%) overweight or obese and 339 (31%) had small head circumference. Many had underlying conditions: low birth weight, 514 (57.5%); prematurity, 294 (42.2%) and disabilities, 739 (25.3%). Children with disabilities had higher prevalence of malnutrition compared with counterparts without disabilities at baseline and 1-year screenings. There was marked intersite variation. Funnel plots highlight sites with malnutrition prevalence outside expected limits for this specific population taking into consideration natural variation at baseline and at 1 year. Control charts show changes in site mean z-scores over time in relation to site control limits.

Conclusions

Malnutrition is prevalent among children living within IBC, notably different forms of undernutrition (stunting, underweight, wasting). Underlying risk factors are also common: prematurity, low birth weight and disability. Nutrition interventions should take into account the needs of this vulnerable population, especially for infants and those with disabilities. Using control charts to present data could be especially useful to programme managers as sites outside control limits could represent: problems to be investigated; good practices to be shared.

Decrements in Adolescent Cardiac Complexity During Mother-Adolescent Conflicts

The present study aimed to provide further evidence on the usefulness of non-linear cardiac measures when examining the output of the cardiac system. Scale-invariant self-similarity and entropy, in addition to heart rate variability (HRV) given by time- and frequency-domain measures were calculated in a sample of N = 55 healthy adolescents (M_age = 14.122, SD_age = 0.698) during 10-min positive (non-stressful) and negative (stressful) interactions with their mothers. We also explored sex influence in adolescents' cardiac output using both HRV measures and non-linear cardiac measures. Repeated measures MANOVA revealed a marginal within-group effect for HRV measures, F(3,51) = 2.438, p = 0.075, η²_p = 0.125), and a significant within-group effect for non-linear cardiac measures, F(6, 48) = 3.296, p = 0.009, η²_p = 0.292, showing a significant decrement in adolescents' cardiac complexity during the negative interaction. No significant effect for sex was found in either non-linear cardiac measures or HRV measures, but results suggest lower cardiac scaling in females than in males. These findings suggest a real-time scale predominance in heart rate output when adolescents face an aversive situation and support the importance of non-linear cardiac measures to gain insight into the cardiac system and its regulatory mechanisms. Further research is needed to examine sex-differences in cardiac complexity during aversive situations.

Marte Meo Counselling given to African caregivers of institutionalised infants a three-case study

BACKGROUND

Studies from Western countries state that video interaction guidance programmes can support caregiver sensitivity in infant-caregiver dyads.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to investigate if Marte Meo, which is such a programme, could contribute to increasing emotional and social support towards motherless infants at an institution for motherless infants in rural Africa.

METHOD

Three caregivers participated in five Marte Meo Counselling sessions. The first guidance naïve film and the last film were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively and organised according to two supportive categories: 1) caregiver responds to infants' initiative, 2) caregiver takes initiative to supportive interaction, and two non-supportive: 3) caregiver behaves in an intrusive manner and 4) caregiver does not respond to the infants' initiative.

RESULTS

After receiving Marte Meo Counselling, all three caregivers showed impressive augmentation of awareness and sensitivity in their care towards the infants' emotional and social needs.

CONCLUSION

We found indications that professional caregivers of institutionalised infants in an African country can profit on Marte Meo Counselling, showing positive effects on augmenting caregivers' sensitivity towards the infants, and thereby meet the infants' need of emotional and social support.

Open trial of the Parent Behavior Change Intervention (PBC-I): Study protocol

OBJECTIVE

Parents have profound impacts on adolescents' health behaviors. Yet parents receive minimal training in the elements of conversations that optimally inspire their children toward engaging in healthy behaviors. The current study examines a novel interpersonal target: parent-adolescent conversations about adolescent health behavior change. Derived from advances in the science of behavior change, the Parent Behavior Change Intervention (PBC-I) contains conversational elements (e.g., behavior change techniques, positive communication strategies) hypothesized to reduce parent-adolescent coercion and conflict and facilitate upward spirals of healthy behavior change in adolescents.

METHOD/DESIGN

The first phase of the study involves the development of the PBC-I in a small case series (N = 12 dyads). The second phase involves an open trial of the PBC-I (N = 36 dyads). Adolescents will receive six 50-min sessions of the Transdiagnostic Sleep and Circadian Intervention to improve sleep while their parents receive six50-min sessions of the PBC-I. Parent-adolescent dyads will be assessed before and after the intervention. The primary analysis will examine whether postintervention use of behavior change techniques and positive communication strategies by parents is higher than preintervention use and whether increased use by parents predicts more positive conversational behaviors, less parent-adolescent conflict, higher adolescent motivation for change, and improved adolescent sleep.

DISCUSSION

This research provides an initial test of the hypothesis that improving the parent-adolescent conversation will improve adolescent sleep health behavior. While sleep-related health behaviors are the focus of this study, the research is designed to be relevant to a broad range of health behavior change in young people. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Developmental patterns of respiratory sinus arrhythmia from toddlerhood to adolescence

Parasympathetic nervous system functioning as indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is widely used as a measure of physiological regulation. We examined developmental patterns of children's resting RSA and RSA reactivity from 2 to 15 years of age, a period of time that is marked by considerable advances in children's regulatory abilities. Physiological data were collected from a community sample of 270 children (116 males) during a resting period and during a frustration laboratory task when the children were 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, and 15 years old. We examined both stability and continuity in resting RSA and RSA reactivity across time. We found stability in resting RSA but not RSA reactivity from toddlerhood to adolescence. Separate multilevel models were used to examine changes in resting RSA and RSA reactivity from Age 2 to Age 15. The rate of change in resting RSA slowed from Age 2 to Age 15 with a plateau around Age 10. A splined growth model indicated that the rate of RSA reactivity increased from Age 2 to Age 7 and a modest slowing and leveling off from Age 7 to Age 15. Understanding the developmental characteristics of RSA across childhood and adolescence is important to understanding the larger constructs of self- and emotion regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Neural responses for evaluating self and mother traits in adolescence depend on mother-adolescent relationships

An important task in adolescence is to achieve autonomy while preserving a positive relationship with parents. Previous fMRI studies showed largely overlapping activation in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) for evaluating self and close-other traits but separable activation for self and non-close other. Possibly, more similar mPFC activation reflects closeness or warmth in relationships. We investigated neural indicators of the mother–adolescent relationship in adolescents between 11 and 21 years (N = 143). Mother–adolescent relationship was measured using (i) mothers’ and adolescents’ trait evaluations about each other, (ii) observations of warmth, negativity and emotional support in mother–adolescent conversation and (iii) similarity in adolescents’ neural activation for evaluating self vs mother traits. Results showed relatively more similar mPFC activation in adolescents who evaluated their mothers’ traits more positively, suggesting that this is possibly a neural indicator of mother–adolescent relationship quality. Furthermore, mid-adolescence was characterized by more negative mother–adolescent interaction compared to early and late adolescence. This effect co-occurred with mid-adolescent peaks in dorsal striatum, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and superior temporal sulcus activation in evaluating traits of self vs mother. These results suggest more negative relationships and stronger self-focus in mid-adolescence.

Parenting and Self-Control Across Early to Late Adolescence: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis

Self-control plays a significant role in positive youth development. Although numerous self-control challenges occur during adolescence, some adolescents control themselves better than others. Parenting is considered a critical factor that distinguishes adolescents with good self-control from those with poor self-control, but existing findings are inconsistent. This meta-analysis summarizes the overall relationship between parenting and self-control among adolescents aged 10 to 22 years. The analysis includes 191 articles reporting 1,540 effect sizes (N = 164,459). The results show that parenting is associated with adolescents' self-control both concurrently (r = .204, p < .001) and longitudinally (r = .157, p < .001). Longitudinal studies also reveal that adolescents' self-control influences subsequent parenting (r = .155, p < .001). Moderator analyses show that the effect sizes are largely invariant across cultures, ethnicities, age of adolescents, and parent and youth gender. Our results point to the importance of parenting in individual differences in adolescent self-control and vice versa.

The Role of Parental Acceptance⁻Rejection in Emotional Instability During Adolescence

The present study focuses on analyzing the relationship between the parental acceptance-rejection perceived by adolescents and emotional instability from the early stages of adolescence. Special attention will be paid to potential differences between mothers and fathers. A total of 1181 students, aged 11-17, took part in the study. We used the factor of emotional instability in the Big Five Questionnaire (BFQ-NA) and an affect scale (EA-H) to measure parental acceptance-rejection. The analyses performed show a clear association between emotional instability with maternal/paternal criticism and rejection. Specifically, maternal criticism and rejection in early adolescence and paternal criticism and rejection in middle adolescence were associated with emotional instability, confirming the association between children's and adolescents' emotional adjustment and family dynamics. This study makes interesting contributions to understanding paternal and maternal rejection during the different stages of adolescence. These differences should be incorporated into the research on parental influence and its role in the development of personality among adolescents.

Parents' experiences of childhood abuse and neglect are differentially associated with behavioral and autonomic responses to their offspring

Although childhood maltreatment has been shown to compromise adaptive parental behavior, little is known what happens in terms of physiological regulation when parents with a history of childhood maltreatment interact with their offspring. Using a sample of 229 parents (131 women), the present study examined whether childhood maltreatment experiences are associated with parents’ behavioral and autonomic responses while resolving conflict with their offspring. Self‐reported experienced child maltreatment was measured using a questionnaire assessing abuse and neglect. Parents (M_age = 52.7 years, range_age = 26.6–88.4 years) and their offspring (M_age = 24.6 years, range_age = 7.5–65.6 years) participated in a videotaped parent–offspring conflict interaction task. Parental warmth, negativity, and emotional support were coded. In addition, their pre‐ejection period and respiratory sinus arrhythmia were measured as indicators of underlying sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system reactivity, respectively. Findings demonstrated that experiences of abuse and neglect were associated with behavioral and physiological responses in different ways. Separating these two types of maltreatment in research and in clinical practice might be important.

The Relationship between Family Violence and Self-Control in Adolescence: A Multi-Level Meta-Analysis

Theoretical studies propose an association between family violence and low self-control in adolescence; however, empirical findings of this association are inconclusive. The aim of the present research was to systematically summarize available findings on the relation between family violence and self-control across adolescence. We included 28 studies with 143 effect sizes, representing more than 25,000 participants of eight countries from early to late adolescence. Applying a three-level meta-analysis, taking dependency between effect sizes into account while retaining statistical power, we examined the magnitude and direction of the overall effect size. Additionally, we investigated whether theoretical moderators (e.g., age, gender, country), and methodological moderators (e.g., time lag between family violence and self-control, informant) influenced the magnitude of the association between family violence and self-control. Our results revealed that family violence and self-control have a small to moderate significant negative association (r = -0.191). This association did not vary across gender, country, and informants. The strength of the association, however, decreased with age and in longitudinal studies. This finding provides evidence that researchers and clinicians may expect low self-control in the wake of family violence, especially in early adolescence. Recommendations for future research in the area are discussed.

Prairie Voles as a Model for Understanding the Genetic and Epigenetic Regulation of Attachment Behaviors

Over a lifetime, humans build relationships with family, friends, and partners that are critically important for our mental and physical health. Unlike commonly used laboratory mice and rats, Microtine rodents provide a unique model to study the neurobiology underlying pair bonding and the selective attachments that form between adults. Comparisons between monogamous prairie voles and the closely related but nonmonogamous meadow and montane voles have revealed that brain-region-specific neuropeptide receptor patterning modulates social behavior between and within species. In particular, diversity in vasopressin 1a receptor (V1aR) distribution has been linked to individual and species differences in monogamy-related behaviors such as partner preference, mate guarding, and space use. Given the importance of differential receptor expression for regulating social behavior, a critical question has emerged: What are the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that underlie brain-region-specific receptor patterns? This review will summarize what is known about how the vasopressin (AVP)-V1aR axis regulates social behaviors via signaling in discrete brain regions. From this work, we propose that brain-region-specific regulatory mechanisms facilitate robust evolvability of V1aR expression to generate diverse sociobehavioral traits. Translationally, we provide a perspective on how these studies have contributed to our understanding of human social behaviors and how brain-region-specific regulatory mechanisms might be harnessed for targeted therapies to treat social deficits in psychiatric disorders such as depression, complicated grief, and autism spectrum disorder.

Affective and physiological response to a novel parent-adolescent conflict stressor

Few laboratory paradigms exist that expose adolescents to conflict that might commonly be experienced in parent-adolescent relationships. Given the continued importance of parent-adolescent relationships on adolescent development, as well as the changing expectations in these relationships, we examined the effect of a novel parent-adolescent conflict paradigm on physiological and affective response in a sample of 52 adolescents. The parent-adolescent conflict stressor (PACS) involved adolescent participants (50% girls; M = 14.75, SD = 0.88) watching a 12-minute scripted video that asked youth to imagine that they were the teenager in the video, which consisted of parent and adolescent actors having discussions about conflict in their relationship and solving this conflict in either a positive, typical, or hostile manner. Cortisol, alpha amylase, and self-report of negative and positive affect were collected at baseline, following the video, and during a recovery period. Heart rate also was taken continuously while adolescents watched the videos. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses indicated significant linear change in alpha amylase and linear and quadratic change in negative affect to the PACS. There also was a significant linear and quadratic change in heart rate during the portion of the video where teens and parents discussed issues of personal responsibility. The PACS marks a preliminary but important first step in developing a parent-adolescent conflict paradigm that can be used across studies to understand the impact of parent-adolescent conflict on affective and physiological markers associated with stress response.

Developmental delay and emotion dysregulation: Predicting parent-child conflict across early to middle childhood

Cumulative risk research has increased understanding of how multiple risk factors impact various socioemotional and interpersonal outcomes across the life span. However, little is known about risk factors for parent-child conflict early in development, where identifying predictors of change could be highly salient for intervention. Given their established association with parent-child conflict, child developmental delay (DD) and emotion dysregulation were examined as predictors of change in conflict across early to middle childhood (ages 3 to 7 years). Participants (n = 211) were part of a longitudinal study examining the development of psychopathology in children with or without DD. Level of parent-child conflict was derived from naturalistic home observations, whereas child dysregulation was measured using an adapted CBCL-Emotion Dysregulation Index. PROCESS was used to examine the conditional interactive effects of delay status (typically developing, DD) and dysregulation on change in conflict from child ages 3 to 5 and 5 to 7 years. Across both of these timeframes, parent-child conflict increased only for families of children with both DD and high dysregulation, providing support for an interactive risk model of parent-child conflict. Findings are considered in the context of developmental transitions, and implications for intervention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Resilient Adaptation Among At-Risk Children: Harnessing Science Toward Maximizing Salutary Environments

Compiled in this Special Section are recommendations from multiple experts on how to maximize resilience among children at risk for maladjustment. Contributors delineated processes with relatively strong effects and modifiable by behavioral interventions. Commonly highlighted was fostering the well-being of caregivers via regular support, reduction of maltreatment while promoting positive parenting, and strengthening emotional self-regulation of caregivers and children. In future work, there must be more attention to developing and testing interventions within real-world settings (not just in laboratories) and to ensuring feasibility in procedures, costs, and assessments involved. Such movement will require shifts in funding priorities-currently focused largely on biological processes-toward maximizing the benefits from large-scale, empirically supported intervention programs for today's at-risk youth and families.

Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Emotion Regulation in Insecure Adolescents: Study Protocol for a Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial

Background

Emotional dysregulation and impaired attachment are potential contributors to the development of psychopathology in adolescence. This raises the question of whether oxytocin (OT), the paradigmatic “attachment hormone,” may be beneficial in such contexts. Recent evidence suggests that intranasal administration of OT increases affiliative behavior, including trust and empathy. OT may also facilitate social reciprocity by attenuating the stress response to interpersonal conflict. To date, few studies have investigated the effects of intranasal oxytocin (IN-OT) on neurophysiological emotion regulation strategies in healthy adolescents, particularly during parent-adolescent interaction. To understand these mechanisms, our study will examine the effects of IN-OT on emotion regulation in adolescents during parent-adolescent stressful interactions, and on each adolescent’s visual and neurophysiological strategies when visualizing attachment-related pictures. We hypothesize that IN-OT will influence psychophysiological outcomes under conditions of stress. We predict that IN-OT will momentarily increase feelings of safety and attenuate stress and hostile behavior during conflict situations. OT may also enhance attachment security by increasing comfort and proximity-seeking, and reducing neurophysiological hyperactivation.

Objective

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of IN-OT on insecure adolescents by studying their behavior and discourse during a disagreement with one of their parents. Their neurophysiological responses to pictures eliciting attachment-related emotions and their visual exploration strategies will also be investigated.

Methods

In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel-group design, 60 healthy male adolescents classified as insecurely attached will receive 24 international units (IU) of IN-OT versus placebo (PB), 45 minutes before the experimental tasks. Each adolescent will then be invited to engage in an experimental conflict discussion with one of his parents. The conflict session will be videotaped and coded for verbal and non-verbal interaction behavior, using the Goal-Corrected Partnership in Adolescence Coding System (GPACS). Each adolescent will then be asked to visualize attachment-related pictures on a screen. Eye-tracking (ET) and neurophysiological responses, including electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate (HR), will be recorded simultaneously and continuously during attachment-related picture viewing (Besançon Affective Picture Set-Adolescents, BAPS-Ado).

Results

Enrollment for the study was completed in May 2016. Data analysis commenced in July 2016. Study results will be submitted for publication in the winter of 2017.

Conclusions

OT is a complex molecule with many facets that are not yet fully understood. This experimental protocol will increase scientific and clinical knowledge of emotion regulation skills in insecure adolescents by assessing the impact of IN-OT on parent-adolescent interaction and on the visual processing of attachment-related emotions. Positive results could lead to therapeutic uses of IN-OT to treat emotion dysregulation in adolescence.

Analysis of the Efficacy of an Intervention to Improve Parent-Adolescent Problem Solving

We conducted a two-group longitudinal partially nested randomized controlled trial to examine whether young adolescent youth-parent dyads participating in Mission Possible: Parents and Kids Who Listen, in contrast to a comparison group, would demonstrate improved problem-solving skill. The intervention is based on the Circumplex Model and Social Problem-Solving Theory. The Circumplex Model posits that families who are balanced, that is characterized by high cohesion and flexibility and open communication, function best. Social Problem-Solving Theory informs the process and skills of problem solving. The Conditional Latent Growth Modeling analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in problem solving among the final sample of 127 dyads in the intervention and comparison groups. Analyses of effect sizes indicated large magnitude group effects for selected scales for youth and dyads portraying a potential for efficacy and identifying for whom the intervention may be efficacious if study limitations and lessons learned were addressed.

What it feels like to be a mother: Variations by children's developmental stages

The central question we addressed was whether mothers' adjustment might vary systematically by the developmental stages of their children. In an Internet-based study of over 2,200 mostly well-educated mothers with children ranging from infants to adults, we examined multiple aspects of mothers' personal well-being, parenting, and perceptions of their children. Uniformly, adjustment indices showed curvilinear patterns across children's developmental stages, with mothers of middle-schoolers faring the most poorly, and mothers of adult children and infants faring the best. Findings based on children in mutually exclusive age groups-for example, mothers with only (1 or more) infants, preschoolers, and so forth-had larger effect sizes than those based on the age of the mothers' oldest child. In contrast to the recurrent findings based on children's developmental stages, mothers' adjustment dimensions showed few variations by their children's gender. Collectively, results of this study suggest that there is value in preventive interventions involving mothers not just in their children's infancy and preschool years, but also as their children traverse the developmentally challenging years surrounding puberty. (PsycINFO Database Record

Gender Differences in Emotion Expression in Low-Income Adolescents Under Stress

Gender roles in mainstream U.S. culture suggest that girls express more happiness, sadness, anxiety, and shame/embarrassment than boys, while boys express more anger and externalizing emotions, such as contempt. However, gender roles and emotion expression may be different in low-income and ethnically diverse families, as children and parents are often faced with greater environmental stressors and may have different gender expectations. This study examined gender differences in emotion expression in low-income adolescents, an understudied population. One hundred and seventy nine adolescents (aged 14-17) participated in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Trained coders rated adolescents' expressions of happiness, sadness, anxiety, shame/embarrassment, anger, and contempt during the TSST using a micro-analytic coding system. Analyses showed that, consistent with gender roles, girls expressed higher levels of happiness and shame than boys; however, contrary to traditional gender roles, girls showed higher levels of contempt than boys. Also, in contrast to cultural stereotypes, there were no differences in anger between boys and girls. Findings suggest gender-role inconsistent displays of externalizing emotions in low-income adolescents under acute stress, and may reflect different emotion socialization experiences in this group.

Parent-Adolescent Conflict as Sequences of Reciprocal Negative Emotion: Links with Conflict Resolution and Adolescents' Behavior Problems

Although conflict is a normative part of parent-adolescent relationships, conflicts that are long or highly negative are likely to be detrimental to these relationships and to youths' development. In the present article, sequential analyses of data from 138 parent-adolescent dyads (adolescents' mean age was 13.44, SD = 1.16; 52 % girls, 79 % non-Hispanic White) were used to define conflicts as reciprocal exchanges of negative emotion observed while parents and adolescents were discussing "hot," conflictual issues. Dynamic components of these exchanges, including who started the conflicts, who ended them, and how long they lasted, were identified. Mediation analyses revealed that a high proportion of conflicts ended by adolescents was associated with longer conflicts, which in turn predicted perceptions of the "hot" issue as unresolved and adolescent behavior problems. The findings illustrate advantages of using sequential analysis to identify patterns of interactions and, with some certainty, obtain an estimate of the contingent relationship between a pattern of behavior and child and parental outcomes. These interaction patterns are discussed in terms of the roles that parents and children play when in conflict with each other, and the processes through which these roles affect conflict resolution and adolescents' behavior problems.

Smoking Initiation Among Mexican Heritage Youth and the Roles of Family Cohesion and Conflict

PURPOSE

High levels of family conflict increase the risk for early smoking initiation and smoking escalation among adolescents, whereas high levels of warmth and cohesion in the family are protective against smoking initiation. However, little is known about the associations between changes in family function during adolescence on subsequent smoking initiation among Mexican heritage adolescents.

METHODS

In 2005-2006, 1,328 Mexican heritage adolescents aged 11-14 years enrolled in a cohort study to examine nongenetic and genetic factors associated with cigarette experimentation. In 2008-2009, 1,154 participants completed a follow-up. Multivariate logistic regression models were computed to prospectively examine associations between smoking behavior assessed in 2008-2009 and changes in family cohesion and family conflict assessed in both 2005-2006 and 2008-2009, controlling for gender, age, and linguistic acculturation, positive outcome expectations associated with smoking, as well as friends and family smoking behavior.

RESULTS

Overall 21% had tried cigarettes by 2008-2009. Consistently low levels of family cohesion (odds ratio [OR] = 3.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.38-6.73) and decreases in family cohesion (OR = 2.36; 95% CI, 1.37-4.07), as well as consistently high levels of family conflict (OR = 1.74; 95% CI, 1.08-2.79) and increases in conflict (OR = 1.87; 95% CI, 1.19-2.94) were independent risk factors for smoking initiation among Mexican heritage youth.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that family cohesion protects against adolescent smoking, whereas family conflict increases the risk for smoking. Therefore, intervention programs for adolescents and parents could focus on enhancing family bonding and closeness, which is protective against smoking initiation.

Conscientiousness: origins in childhood?

In this review, we evaluate developmental and personality research with the aim of determining whether the personality trait of conscientiousness can be identified in children and adolescents. After concluding that conscientiousness does emerge in childhood, we discuss the developmental origins of conscientiousness with a specific focus on self-regulation, academic motivation, and internalized compliance/internalization of standards. On the basis of the accumulated body of evidence, we conclude that self-regulation fosters conscientiousness later in life, both directly and via academic motivation and internalized compliance with norms. We argue that elements of conscientiousness are evident by early childhood; self-regulation skills are likely a core developmental component of conscientiousness; and despite the contribution of heredity to the aforementioned aspects of functioning, environmental factors likely contribute to conscientiousness.

Gender differences in emotion expression in children: a meta-analytic review

Emotion expression is an important feature of healthy child development that has been found to show gender differences. However, there has been no empirical review of the literature on gender and facial, vocal, and behavioral expressions of different types of emotions in children. The present study constitutes a comprehensive meta-analytic review of gender differences and moderators of differences in emotion expression from infancy through adolescence. We analyzed 555 effect sizes from 166 studies with a total of 21,709 participants. Significant but very small gender differences were found overall, with girls showing more positive emotions (g = -.08) and internalizing emotions (e.g., sadness, anxiety, sympathy; g = -.10) than boys, and boys showing more externalizing emotions (e.g., anger; g = .09) than girls. Notably, gender differences were moderated by age, interpersonal context, and task valence, underscoring the importance of contextual factors in gender differences. Gender differences in positive emotions were more pronounced with increasing age, with girls showing more positive emotions than boys in middle childhood (g = -.20) and adolescence (g = -.28). Boys showed more externalizing emotions than girls at toddler/preschool age (g = .17) and middle childhood (g = .13) and fewer externalizing emotions than girls in adolescence (g = -.27). Gender differences were less pronounced with parents and were more pronounced with unfamiliar adults (for positive emotions) and with peers/when alone (for externalizing emotions). Our findings of gender differences in emotion expression in specific contexts have important implications for gender differences in children's healthy and maladaptive development.

Mother-Adolescent Conflict: Stability, Change, and Relations with Externalizing and Internalizing Behavior Problems

Stability and change in mother-adolescent conflict reactions (CRs) and the prediction of CRs from adolescents' earlier behavior problems (and vice versa) were examined with 131 mothers and their adolescents (63 boys). Dyads engaged in a 6-minute conflict discussion twice, 2 years apart (M age was 13 at Time 1 (T1). Nonverbal expressive and verbal CRs during the conflict discussion were coded. Mothers, fathers, and teachers reported on adolescents' problem behaviors. There was inter-individual (rank-order) stability for adolescents' CRs whereas mothers' reactions were less stable. Mean levels of mothers' negativity, anger, and positive reactions and adolescents' negativity declined with time. Mothers' CRs predicted and were predicted by adolescents' problem behaviors more often than adolescents' CRs in zero-order correlations. In structural models with the stability of the constructs accounted for, adolescents' externalizing problems at T1 predicted higher maternal anger at T2. Mothers' anger and positive CRs at T1 predicted fewer T2 adolescents' internalizing problems. Stability and change in CRs are discussed.

Disorganized behavior in adolescent-parent interaction: relations to attachment state of mind, partner abuse, and psychopathology

Disoriented, punitive, and caregiving/role-confused attachment behaviors are associated with psychopathology in childhood, but have not been assessed in adolescence. A total of 120 low-income late adolescents (aged 18-23 years) and parents were assessed in a conflict-resolution paradigm. Their interactions were coded with the Goal-Corrected Partnership in Adolescence Coding Scales. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the three disorganized constructs (punitive, caregiving, and disoriented interaction) were best represented as distinct factors and were separable from a fourth factor for collaboration. The four factors were then assessed in relation to measures of attachment disorganization, partner abuse, and psychopathology. Results indicate that forms of disorganized behavior first described in early childhood can also be reliably assessed in adolescence and are associated with maladaptive outcomes across multiple domains.

Dyadic variability in mother-adolescent interactions: developmental trajectories and associations with psychosocial functioning

Dyadic variability is considered to be a key mechanism in the development of mother-adolescent relationships, and low levels of dyadic flexibility are thought to be associated with behavior and relationship problems. The present observational study examined heterogeneity in the development of dyadic variability in mother-adolescent interactions and associations with psychosocial functioning. Dyadic variability refers to the range of emotional states during interactions of mother-adolescent dyads. During five annual home visits, 92 mother-adolescent dyads (M age T1 = 13; 65.2 % boys) were videotaped while discussing a conflict, and they completed several questionnaires on adolescents' aggressive behavior and adolescents' and mothers' perceived relationship quality. Two types of dyads were distinguished: low variability dyads (52 %) and high decreasing variability dyads (48 %). Over time, high decreasing variability dyads were characterized by a broader emotional repertoire than low variability dyads. Moreover, these two dyad types had distinct developmental patterns of psychosocial adjustment. Over time, high decreasing variability dyads showed lower levels of adolescents' aggressive behavior, and higher levels of perceived relationship quality than low variability dyads. These findings suggest that over time more dyadic variability is associated with less adjustment problems and a more constructive development of the mother-adolescent relationship. Adaptive interactions seem to be characterized by a wider range of emotional states and mothers should guide adolescents during interactions to express both positive and negative affect. Observing the dyadic variability during mother-adolescent interactions can help clinicians to distinguish adaptive from maladaptive mother-adolescent dyads.

Risk and developmental heterogeneity in previously institutionalized children

This article presents an overview of the developmental outcomes of children adopted from institutional care. The author describes how institutional care is a risk factor for typical human development and describes the areas of development, both behavioral and neurobiological, that are most vulnerable to this risk. Also described is variation in outcome and resilience, where some children thrive despite exposure to adverse rearing conditions. The author concludes with an emphasis on heterogeneity in outcome, describing how the risk associated with institutional care is not a deterministic factor but rather an influential one.

Parental Expressivity and Parenting Styles in Chinese Families: Prospective and Unique Relations to Children's Psychological Adjustment

OBJECTIVES: Parents from different cultures differ in how frequently they express emotions. However, the generalizability of the relations between parental expressivity and child adjustment in non-Western cultures has not been extensively studied. The goal of the present study was to investigate prospective relations between parental expressivity within the family (positive, negative dominant, and negative submissive expressivity) and Chinese children's psychological adjustment, above and beyond parenting styles. DESIGN: The study used two waves (3.8 years apart) of longitudinal data from a sample (n= 425) of children in Beijing (mean ages = 7.7 years at T1 and 11.6 years at T2). Parental expressivity and parenting styles were self-reported. To reduce the potential measurement overlap, items that tap parental expression of emotions toward the child were removed from the parenting style measure. Children's adjustment was measured with parents', teachers', and peers' or children's reports. RESULTS: Consistent with findings with European American samples, parental negative dominant expressivity uniquely and positively predicted Chinese children's externalizing problems controlling for prior externalizing problems, parenting styles, and family SES. Neither parental expressivity nor parenting styles uniquely predicted social competence. CONCLUSIONS: Despite previously reported cultural differences in the mean levels of parental expressivity, some of the socialization functions of parental expressivity found in Western countries can be generalized to Chinese families. Although parental expressivity and parenting styles are related constructs, their unique relations to child's adjustment suggest that they should be examined as distinct processes.

Do adolescents and parents reconstruct memories about their conflict as a function of adolescent attachment?

This study examined whether 17-year-old adolescents (n=189) and their parents reconstructed their memory for an adolescent-parent laboratory conflict over a 6-week period as a function of adolescent attachment organization. It also compared participants' perceptions of conflict over time to observational ratings of the conflict to further characterize the nature of the attachment-related memory biases that emerged. Secure adolescents reconstructed interactions with each parent more favorably over time, whereas insecure adolescents showed less favorable reconstructive memory. Likewise, mothers of secure girls reconstructed conflicts more favorably over time, whereas mothers of insecure boys showed less favorable reconstructive memory. Participant ratings were associated with observational ratings in theoretically consistent ways. Contrary to expectations, fathers showed no attachment-related memory biases.

The Role of Socialization, Effortful Control, and Ego Resiliency in French Adolescents' Social Functioning

The relations among effortful control, ego resiliency, socialization, and social functioning were examined with a sample of 182 French adolescents (14-20 years old). Adolescents, their parents, and/or teachers completed questionnaires on these constructs. Effortful control and ego resiliency were correlated with adolescents' social functioning, especially with low externalizing and internalizing behaviors and sometimes with high peer competence. Furthermore, aspects of socialization (parenting practices more than family expressiveness) were associated with adolescents' effortful control, ego resiliency, and social functioning. Effortful control and ego resiliency mediated the relations between parental socialization and adolescents' peer competence and internalizing problems. Furthermore, effortful control mediated the relations between socialization and adolescents' externalizing behavior. Findings are discussed in terms of cultural and developmental variation.

Emotion-related self-regulation and its relation to children's maladjustment

The development of children's emotion-related self-regulation appears to be related to, and likely involved in, many aspects of children's development. In this review, the distinction between effortful self-regulatory processes and those that are somewhat less voluntary is discussed, and literature on the former capacities is reviewed. Emotion-related self-regulation develops rapidly in the early years of life and improves more slowly into adulthood. Individual differences in children's self-regulation are fairly stable after the first year or two of life. Such individual differences are inversely related to at least some types of externalizing problems. Findings for internalizing problems are less consistent and robust, although emotion-related self-regulation appears to be inversely related to internalizing problems after the early years. Self-regulatory capacities have been related to both genetic and environmental factors and their interaction. Some interventions designed to foster self-regulation and, hence, reduce maladjustment, have proved to be at least partially effective.

Emotion-related self-regulation and its relation to children's maladjustment

The development of children's emotion-related self-regulation appears to be related to, and likely involved in, many aspects of children's development. In this review, the distinction between effortful self-regulatory processes and those that are somewhat less voluntary is discussed, and literature on the former capacities is reviewed. Emotion-related self-regulation develops rapidly in the early years of life and improves more slowly into adulthood. Individual differences in children's self-regulation are fairly stable after the first year or two of life. Such individual differences are inversely related to at least some types of externalizing problems. Findings for internalizing problems are less consistent and robust, although emotion-related self-regulation appears to be inversely related to internalizing problems after the early years. Self-regulatory capacities have been related to both genetic and environmental factors and their interaction. Some interventions designed to foster self-regulation and, hence, reduce maladjustment, have proved to be at least partially effective.

The relation of maternal sensitivity to children's internalizing and externalizing problems within the context of maternal depressive symptoms

Maternal depression has been linked to deficits in parenting that contribute to youth's development of externalizing and/or internalizing problems. Maternal sensitivity has been implicated within the infant literature as a foundational aspect of parenting contributing to a child's adjustment. This study examines the main and moderating effects of a construct labeled maternal sensitivity, within the context of depressive symptoms, on youth externalizing and internalizing problems in a sample of 65 mothers with a history of depression and their 84 children ages 9-15 years. Sensitivity was related to child externalizing problems. Although two-way interactions were not significant, exploratory moderation analyses indicated a significant three-way interaction among maternal depressive symptoms, maternal sensitivity, and youth gender for internalizing problems: among girls only, high depressive symptoms, low sensitivity, and the combination of these two variables were each associated with high levels of internalizing problems.

Smile intensity and warm touch as thin slices of child and family affective style

The authors investigate the claim that thin slices of expressive behavior serve as reliable indicators of affective style in children and their families. Using photographs, the authors assessed smile intensity and tactile contact in kindergartners and their families. Consistent with claims that smiling and touch communicate positive emotion, measures of children's smile intensity and warm family touch were correlated across classroom and family contexts. Consistent with studies of parent-child personality associations, parents' warm smiles and negative facial displays resembled those of their children. Finally, consistent with observed relations between adult personality and positive display, children's smiling behavior in the classroom correlated with parent ratings of children's Extraversion/Surgency. These results highlight the utility of thin slices of smiling and touch as indicators of child and family affective style.