Childrearing and Developmental Trajectories: Positive Pathways, Off-Ramps, and Dynamic Processes

Parental perceptions linked to opioid misuse among justice-involved children

Justice-involved children (JIC) are a subset of at-risk youth highly susceptible to the ill-consequences of opioid misuse (OM), especially for younger JIC. Parental practices and attitudes towards delinquency are known to influence a child's behavior, however the relationship between parental attitudes towards youth delinquent behavior and odds of OM has yet to be investigated. The current study used a sample from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (age 10-18; M=14; n=79,960) to investigate how parental attitudes towards youth delinquent behavior influence the likelihood JIC meet criteria for past-30 day (P30D) OM. P30D OM was verified utilizing urinalysis. Youth with parents expressing proud or accepting attitudes towards youth delinquent behavior were roughly twice as likely to meet criteria for P30D OM as those with parents expressing disapproving attitudes. This relationship varied by age, with younger ages experiencing the greatest risk. These findings support early intervention efforts to develop prosocial attitudes in youth and their parents.

The Intergenerational Transmission of Externalizing Behavior: the Importance of a Positive Romantic Partner

The current study evaluated the influence of a positive romantic partner on the intergenerational transmission of externalizing behavior across generations. The study included 213 generation one (G1) mothers and their adolescent (generation two; G2) who participated from middle adolescence through adulthood, G2's romantic partner in adulthood, and the third-generation (G3) child between ages 3-5 years. Two steps were used to identify the role of G2's romantic partner's positive behavior on the transmission of externalizing behavior from G2 and G3. First, after controlling for G1 harsh parenting and G2 externalizing at Time 1, both G2 externalizing at Time 2 and G2 harsh parenting at Time 3 were associated with G3 externalizing at Time 3. Second, we found both main and interaction effects of G2 partner's positive behavior with G2 externalizing behavior at Time 2 and G2 harsh parenting at Time 3 on G3 externalizing behavior at Time 3. Results suggest a positive romantic partner may have an important role in disrupting the negative effects of both G2 externalizing behavior and harsh parenting on their G3 child's externalizing behavior.

Disciplinary Practices, Metaparenting, and the Quality of Parent-Child Relationships in African-American, Mexican-American, and European-American Mothers

Coercive responses to children's behavior are well recognized to be problematic for children's adjustment. Less well understood is how parental social cognition is linked to discipline. In this study we sought to link metaparenting - parents' thoughts about their parenting - to the use of coercive discipline. We predicted that mothers who engaged in more metaparenting, thus reflecting more deliberate parenting, would use corporal punishment less frequently and instead engage in non-coercive discipline. We also expected that mothers who engaged in more metaparenting would report closer relationships with their children. In order to assess a diverse sample, data were collected from approximately equal numbers of African-American, European-American, and Mexican-American mothers. Participants included 113 mothers with target children in three age groups, ranging from 2 to 12 years. The results indicated reports of corporal punishment as well as non-coercive discipline did not significantly differ across child sex and child age groups, but did differ significantly across race/ethnicity. Reports of frequency of metaparenting also differed across racial/ethnic groups; African-American mothers reported more metaparenting than European-American mothers on three of four subscales. Metaparenting was significantly related to reports of the mother-child relationship but in the opposite direction than predicted. Based on these results, future research directions linking parental social cognition to discipline are proposed.

Perceived Parental Behaviour of Juvenile Delinquent Boys in Prison

In order to investigate associations between parenting and delinquent behaviour in an Ethiopian context, we studied both a target group of adolescent boys (aged 13–19 years) in prison (n = 86) and a control group (n = 93). The boys completed questionnaires on perceived parenting practices and their own prosocial and problem behaviours. The results showed that boys in the prison group reported significantly less positive parenting, monitoring, rules, material rewarding and autonomy than the boys in the control group, but more harsh punishment, ignoring of unwanted behaviour and psychological control. Boys in prison also reported significantly more emotional and conduct problems. Further, results indicated that parenting dimensions (less support and more negative control) increased the odds of being in prison above family characteristics (lower educational status of the adolescent and mother, living in a family with divorced parents or in a single parent family).

Towards a model of contemporary parenting: the parenting behaviours and dimensions questionnaire

The assessment of parenting has been problematic due to theoretical disagreement, concerns over generalisability, and problems with the psychometric properties of current parenting measures. The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive, psychometrically sound self-report parenting measure for use with parents of preadolescent children, and to use this empirical scale development process to identify the core dimensions of contemporary parenting behaviour. Following item generation and parent review, 846 parents completed an online survey comprising 116 parenting items. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a six factor parenting model, comprising Emotional Warmth, Punitive Discipline, Anxious Intrusiveness, Autonomy Support, Permissive Discipline and Democratic Discipline. This measure will allow for the comprehensive and consistent assessment of parenting in future research and practice.

Delving Beyond Conscious Attitudes: Validation of an Innovative Tool for Assessing Parental Implicit Attitudes toward Physical Punishment

Parenting scholars have long been interested in understanding the prevalence, determinants, and child outcomes associated with the use of physical discipline. To date, much of the empirical research in this area has utilized self-report measures to assess this construct. However, the subjective nature of participants' explicit reports presents an important confound to studying this issue. Thus, the overarching aim of this study was to provide the first test of an implicit assessment of physical discipline through using a Go/No-go Association Task (GNAT). A GNAT-Physical Discipline was developed and examined in two separate studies of mothers and their 2-3 year old child. One study was conducted in an online format and the second within a laboratory design. Across both studies, findings suggested that the GNAT-Physical Discipline distinguished between positive and negative implicit attitudes towards the use of physical discipline. In addition, negative implicit attitudes were uniquely linked to maternal reports of physical discipline when compared to other discipline practices. Results suggest the potential for the GNAT paradigm in research on parental attitudes around the use of physical discipline in parenting contexts. In addition, our use of an online format (with implicit assessments of key constructs) demonstrates that child and family researchers may be able to explore their hypotheses in larger, geographically diverse samples.

Sleep characteristics, body mass index, and risk for hypertension in young adolescents

Inadequate sleep has been identified as a risk factor for a variety of health consequences. For example, short sleep durations and daytime sleepiness, an indicator of insufficient sleep and/or poor sleep quality, have been identified as risk factors for hypertension in the adult population. However, less evidence exists regarding whether these relationships hold within child and early adolescent samples and what factors mediate the relationship between sleep and risk for hypertension. Using data from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the present study examined body mass index (BMI) as a possible mediator for the effects of school-night sleep duration, weekend night sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness on risk for hypertension in a sample of sixth graders. The results demonstrated gender-specific patterns. Among boys, all three sleep characteristics predicted BMI and yielded significant indirect effects on risk for hypertension. Oppositely, only daytime sleepiness predicted BMI among girls and yielded a significant indirect effect on risk for hypertension. The findings provide clarification for the influence of sleep on the risk for hypertension during early adolescence and suggest a potential need for gender-specific designs in future research and application endeavors.