Do Self-Processes and Parenting Mediate the Effects of Anxious Parents' Psychopathology on Youth Depression and Suicidality?

To understand how anxious parents' global psychopathology increases children's risks for depression and suicidality, we tested mediational pathways through which parent global psychopathology was associated with youth depression and suicidality over a six-year period. Parents (n = 136) who had an anxiety disorder at baseline reported global psychopathology and youth internalizing problems. Youth did not have any psychiatric disorder at baseline and they reported self-esteem, perceived control, and perceived parental warmth and rejection at baseline and 1-year follow-up. At 6-year follow-up, youth depression and suicidality were assessed via multiple reporters including the self, parent, and/or an independent evaluator. Results showed that parental psychopathology had an indirect but not direct effect on youth depression and suicidality via perceived control. No associations were found for the other hypothesized mediators. Perceived control might be a transdiagnostic intervention target in depression and suicide prevention programs for youth exposed to parental anxiety.

Effects of maternal depression on maternal responsiveness and infants' expressive language abilities

High levels of maternal responsiveness are associated with healthy cognitive and emotional development in infants. However, depression and anxiety can negatively impact individual mothers' responsiveness levels and infants' expressive language abilities. Australian mother-infant dyads (N = 48) participated in a longitudinal study examining the effect of maternal responsiveness (when infants were 9- and 12-months), and maternal depression and anxiety symptoms on infant vocabulary size at 18-months. Global maternal responsiveness ratings were stronger predictors of infants' vocabulary size than levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. However, depression levels moderated the effect of maternal responsiveness on vocabulary size. These results highlight the importance of screening for maternal responsiveness-in addition to depression-to identify infants who may be at developmental risk. Also, mothers with elevated depression need support to first reduce their symptoms so that improvements in their responsiveness have the potential to be protective for their infant's language acquisition.

Parental Antecedents of Locus of Control of Reinforcement: A Qualitative Review

The construct of locus of control of reinforcement has generated thousands of studies since its introduction as a psychological concept by Julian Rotter (1966). Although evidence indicates its importance for a wide range of outcomes, comparatively little research has been directed toward identification of potential developmental antecedents of internal/external expectancies. A previous review of antecedent findings (Carton and Nowicki, 1994) called for more research to be completed, particularly using observational and/or longitudinal methodologies. The current paper summarizes and evaluates antecedent research published in the intervening years since Carton and Nowicki's review. Results largely were consistent with expectations based on Rotter's social learning theory, although there is still a need for researchers to use observational, rather than self-report methodologies, and to include data from non-western cultures.

Neonatal brain volume as a marker of differential susceptibility to parenting quality and its association with neurodevelopment across early childhood

Parenting quality is associated with child cognitive and executive functions (EF), which are important predictors of social and academic development. However, children vary in their susceptibility to parenting behaviors, and the neurobiological underpinnings of this susceptibility are poorly understood. In a prospective longitudinal study, we examined whether neonatal total brain volume (TBV) and subregions of interest (i.e., hippocampus (HC) and anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG)) moderate the association between maternal sensitivity and cognitive/EF development across early childhood. Neonates underwent a brain magnetic resonance imaging scan. Their cognitive performance and EF was characterized at 2.0 ± 0.1 years (N = 53) and at 4.9 ± 0.8 years (N = 36) of age. Maternal sensitivity was coded based on observation of a standardized play situation at 6-mo postpartum. Neonatal TBV moderated the association between maternal sensitivity and 2-year working memory as well as all 5-year cognitive outcomes, suggesting that the positive association between maternal sensitivity and child cognition was observed only among children with large or average but not small TBV as neonates. Similar patterns were observed for TBV-corrected HC and ACG volumes. The findings suggest that larger neonatal TBV, HC and ACG may underlie susceptibility to the environment and affect the degree to which parenting quality shapes long-term cognitive development.

An Observational Study of Antecedents of Locus of Control of Reinforcement

Locus of control of reinforcement refers to a generalised problem-solving expectancy reflecting the degree to which individuals perceive reinforcements as contingent on their own behaviour (internal control) or on some external force such as luck, chance, or fate (external control). The present study tested predictions based on Rotter's social learning theory that mothers of children with internal control expectancies would provide more contingent reinforcement, support, and encouragement of independence than mothers of children with external control expectancies. The interaction of 51 children and their mothers was video-taped while they attempted puzzle-solving tasks of two difficulty levels. No analyses were significant for the easy level task. In contrast, the difficult task produced several significant findings. Mothers of boys with internal control expectancies provided more contingent support in response to their sons' difficulties and were less likely to respond to their son's difficulties by performing the task for their sons or by watching them struggle. Surprisingly, mothers of girls with internal control expectancies were more likely than mothers of girls with external control expectancies to ignore their daughters' accomplishments and difficulties. Thus, the results provided partial support for predictions derived from Rotter's social learning theory for the development of generalised control expectancies.

Parental Support and the Development of Competence in Children

The transactional relation between parental support and the development of competence in children was investigated in a longitudinal study. Sensitivity of the parent is assumed to be a prerequisite for the ability to provide adequate social support. Subjects were 100 children, aged 9 months to 12 years, and their primary caretakers. For both boys and girls, parental responsiveness was found to have an effect on the competence of the child at the age of 9 months, at that age measured by exploration and contingency analysis. Interindividual differences in competence remained stable in boys from age 9 months to 7 years, and between the ages 7 and 10, and 10 and 12. For girls, interindividual stability in competence was only found during the elementary school years. In both boys and girls the competence of the child (as indicated by their ego-resiliency) was related to later social support given by the parent. For boys, parents were more consistent in their approach and only their respect for the child's autonomy was related to earlier competence of the child. For girls, more dimensions of parental support were related to earlier competence of the child. These results thus indicate a strong effect of parental support on a child's competence in infancy, then a genderdifferentiated stability of competence from infancy to the end of elementary school, and a relation between the competence of a child and later parental support.

Perceived Childrearing Practices and the Development of Locus of Control in Early Adolescence

The development of three dimensions of locus of control orientation, namely, perceived internal, powerful others, and chance control, was analysed in a sample of 127 adolescents (11-13 years) as well as the relation between such orientations and childrearing practices of their mothers (practices of reinforcement and punishment). At two times (10 months apart) questionnaire data were obtained about (1) locus of control for problem-solving of the child, (2) childrearing practices of the mother, and (3) childrearing practices of the mother as perceived by the child. The cross-sequential results showed that perceived internality increases and chance control (fatalistic externality) decreases in early adolescence, whereas powerful others control orientations show no age-related change. Results of cross-lagged regression and correlation analyses point toward differential relations between childrearing practices and the three aspects of locus of control: (1) parental approval and attention to positive behaviour of the child predicts internality; (2) parental reinforcement which is based on social comparisons of the child's behaviour and achievements predicts powerful others control; (3) disparagement of the child-without attention to the specific behaviour of the child-predicts chance control orientations. The longitudinal results show that findings of cross-sectional and retrospective studies tend to overestimate the developmental significance of parental childrearing practices for locus of control in early adolescence.

What Causes Success and Failure in School and Friendship? Developmental Differentiation of Children's Beliefs across Middle Childhood

A study was conducted to examine the development of domain-specific perceived control during middle childhood. Four hundred and twenty children, ages 7-12 years, reported the perceived effectiveness of five causes (effort, attributes, powerful others, luck, and unknown factors) in producing outcomes in two life domains, namely, school performance and friendship. Analyses of mean level differences between domains revealed that effort was perceived as a more effective cause in the academic domain and that attributes, powerful others, and luck were viewed as more important to friendship outcomes. Furthermore, for effort and powerful others, these domain differences increased with age. In contrast, the perceived effectiveness of attribute causes became more similar across domains as children became older. The potential of these findings is discussed with respect to explaining developmental change in the relations between domain-specific perceived control and corresponding aspects of behaviour.

Low control beliefs in relation to school dropout and poor health: findings from the SIODO case-control study

BACKGROUND

There is cumulating evidence that health is compromised through adverse socioeconomic conditions negatively affecting how people think, feel, and behave. Low control beliefs might be a key mechanism. The reversed possibility that low control beliefs might set people on a pathway towards adverse socioeconomic and health-related outcomes is much less examined.

METHODS

A case-control design was used, consisting of 330 cases who dropped out of school in the 2010-2011 school year and 330 controls who still attended school at the end of that year. The respondents, aged between 18 and 23, came from Eindhoven and surrounding areas in the south-east of The Netherlands. A questionnaire asked for current health status, recalled socioeconomic and social background, and recalled control beliefs (mastery and general self-efficacy). Logistic regression analyses were used.

RESULTS

Recalls of low mastery and low self-efficacy were strongly related to both dropout and less than good health. Low socioeconomic background was also associated to odds of dropout, but did not confound or moderate the associations of low control beliefs with dropout and health. Odds ratios of dropout and less than good health indicated at least twice the odds of a poor outcome with recalls of low control beliefs.

CONCLUSIONS

Independent of the socioeconomic background, low control beliefs are related to heightened odds of both poor health and school dropout. Individual differences in control beliefs might thus be as fundamental as socioeconomic conditions in generating life-course socioeconomic and health-related pathways. Although the findings should first be cross-validated in prospective studies, public health professionals working with youth might already start considering early interventions in youth with all too fatalistic and powerless mind-sets.

Family resources and parenting quality: links to children's cognitive development across the first 3 years

Reciprocal associations among measures of family resources, parenting quality, and child cognitive performance were investigated in an ethnically diverse, low-income sample of 2,089 children and families. Family resources and parenting quality uniquely contributed to children's cognitive performance at 14, 24, and 36 months, and parenting quality mediated the effects of family resources on children's performance at all ages. Parenting quality continued to relate to children's cognitive performance at 24 and 36 months after controlling for earlier measures of parenting quality, family resources, and child performance. Similarly, children's early cognitive performance related to later parenting quality above other measures in the model. Findings merge economic and developmental theories by highlighting reciprocal influences among children's performance, parenting, and family resources over time.

The utility of care: Behavioral decision analysis and the development of depression

The development of vulnerability to depression is examined from the point of view of one area of cognitive and affective functioning, the processing of information about the future. Drawing on research into how people make choices in an uncertain world, this article reviews how depression affects people's judgments about the relative utility, or subjective value, of different outcomes, and about the relative probability of those outcomes. A developmental model is proposed which suggests that children learn that some people are willing to incorporate into their own utility ordering for different outcomes the utility structure of the child–that is, to care about the child. The role of lack of perceived care in the development of depression is reviewed, and suggestions are made for applications of decision analytic methods to some critical questions concerning the role played by judgments about the future in the development of vulnerability to depression.

Parent-infant interaction: a growth model approach

The aim of this study is to compare the interaction of fathers and mothers with their 10-12 months old infants (n=97; parental sensitivity and mood, and infant mood) during five structured contiguous play segments, and to examine the utility of individual growth modeling. Conventional comparison of means across play-segments showed that parents were equally responsive, but mothers were happier than fathers, and infants were equally happy during interaction with both parents. Sensitivity and mood were more strongly related for mothers than for fathers. Uni- and multivariate growth models revealed fine-grained patterns not seen in conventional analysis: (a) parental and infant mood decreased across play more for mothers than for fathers, (b) parental sensitivity in one play-segment predicted parental mood and infant mood in the next segment, (c) change in infants' mood was related to change in sensitivity in mothers, and to change in mood in fathers, and (d) mothers' sensitive interaction with the infant was predicted by family socio-demographic background.

Stress and coping in high-risk mothers: difficult life circumstances, psychiatric-mental health symptoms, education, and experiences in their families of origin

A pilot study was conducted to test methods and measures used to assess factors related to stress and coping in high-risk mothers and their effect on parenting. Twenty mothers with 12-month-old toddlers were recruited from a WIC population; they came into an observational laboratory where they were interviewed about stressors in their lives and their symptoms of stress and were videotaped interacting with their children. Maternal difficult life circumstances, psychiatric-mental health symptoms, education, maternal experiences in their families of origin, and parenting stress explained 74% of the variance in maternal sensitive-responsiveness with their toddlers in the laboratory setting. The findings support the methods of the study. Clinical implications and implications for future research to assist in the development of interventions for this population are discussed. Increased attention to screening for maternal psychiatric-mental health symptoms and for negative experiences in mothers' families of origin may provide important opportunities for intervention with these mothers.

Mother-toddler interaction and the development of self-regulation in a limit-setting context

The Prohibition Coding Scheme was used to longitudinally assess observations of maternal and toddler limit-setting interactions at 12, 24, and 36 months. The final sample consisted of 126 mother-toddler dyads. Toddler behavior in a limit-setting context exemplified progressing skill in self-regulation from 12 to 36 months. Specifically, toddlers exhibited less persistence, increasing autonomy, and increasing ability to inhibit their behavior, with half of the toddlers classified as "autonomous-compliant" by 36 months of age. As a group, mothers also adapted their socializing behavior during toddlerhood, decreasing their use of directive structure and distractions, and using more cognitive strategies. A maternal "teaching-based", limit-setting pattern was associated with more competent toddler response-to-limits patterns at each age, and more mothers used a teaching-based limit-setting style by 36 months of age. These findings provide validity for the Prohibition Coding Scheme and extend our knowledge base for guiding parents in their socializing strategies relative to developing self-regulation. Clinical implications and areas for further research are addressed.

Differences in problems of motivation in different special groups

In general, children with a range of special needs have below-average motivation and perceived control. We have investigated whether differences exist between the types of problem in different special groups. Theory distinguishes between two types: low motivation and perceived control can be based either on a low perceived contingency, or on a low perceived competence. These two types of problem require different intervention strategies. The development of these types is related to several factors that might vary systematically in different special groups: specific histories of experience of success and failure, the possibilities of perceiving contingencies, and the kind of feedback and attributions from important others. We asked teachers to rate their pupils and found, in accord with our expectations, that children with social, emotional and behavioural problems, children with moderate learning difficulties and children with specific learning difficulties have more problems in perceived competence than children with physical or visual impairments. There was a non-significant tendency in the expected direction for children with physical impairments to have lower perceived contingency scores than the other groups. We conclude that caution is required in generalizing research findings from one special group to another, and in the application of intervention techniques that have been developed for one particular group.