Parental Education and Aggressive Behavior in Children: A Moderated-Mediation Model for Inhibitory Control and Gender

Associations between Parental Educational Attainment, Children's 24-h Behaviors and Children's Hyperactivity Behavior in the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND

Parental Educational Attainment and children's 24-h behaviors significantly influenced children's hyperactivity symptoms. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of children's 24-h behavior changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic between Parental Educational Attainment and children's hyperactivity index. It also aimed to investigate the associations between Children's Physical Activity, digital media use, sleep, and hyperactivity index between two clusters of Parental Educational Attainments. The goal was to provide targeted behavioral optimization recommendations for caregivers to reduce the risk of children's hyperactivity.

METHODS

The study was a collaborative extension of the International iPreschooler Surveillance Study Among Asians and otheRs project and the Chinese Children and Adolescent Sports Health Promotion Action Project. The Parent-Surveillance of Digital Media in Childhood Questionnaire® and the Abbreviated Rating Scales from the Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire were used to measure Parental Educational Attainment, children's behavior changes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and hyperactivity indexes. A total of 11,190 parents of 6-to-12-year-old children completed the online surveys in mainland China. A structural equation model was established by using Smart-PLS, and the linear regression model, and isotemporal substitution models were established by using a Compositional Data Analysis package with R program to achieve the research objectives.

RESULTS

Changes in children's 24-h behaviors due to the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant mediation effect on the negative associations between Parental Educational Attainment and children's hyperactivity index (β = 0.018, T = 4.521, p < 0.001) with a total effect (β = -0.046, T = 4.521, p < 0.001) and a direct effect (β = -0.064, T = 6.330, p < 0.001). Children's Digital Media use was significantly and negatively associated with hyperactivity index among all children. Reallocated time from digital media use to both sleep and physical activity decreased the hyperactivity index, and vice-versa. For parents without tertiary education (R2 = 0.09, p < 0.001), sleep was significantly and negatively associated with the hyperactivity index (βilr-CSL = -0.06, p < 0.001); for parents with tertiary education (R2 = 0.07, p < 0.001), physical activity was significantly and negatively associated with the hyperactivity index (βilr-CPA = -0.05, p < 0.001), and sleep was significantly and positively associated with the hyperactivity index (βilr-CSL = 0.03, p < 0.001). A significant increase in the hyperactivity index was detected when physical activity time was reallocated to sleep, with a significant decrease in the opposite direction.

CONCLUSIONS

Parental Educational Attainment and children's 24-h behaviors directly influenced children's hyperactivity index. However, a purposeful and targeted optimization of children's 24-h behaviors-namely, physical activity, digital media use, and sleep-could assist parents with different educational attainments to reduce their children's hyperactivity index and mitigate the risk of hyperactivity.

Cultural Differences in Inhibitory Control: An ALE Meta-Analysis

Culture greatly influences our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, affecting how we communicate and make decisions. There is an ongoing debate regarding the belief that people from Eastern cultures possess greater self-control abilities when compared to people from Western cultures. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis using the Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) algorithm to compare 30 studies (719 subjects, 373 foci) that used fMRI to investigate the performance in Go-Nogo and Stop Signal Tasks of participants from Western and/or Eastern countries. Our meta-analysis found differences between the networks activated in Eastern and Western culture participants. The right prefrontal cortex showed distinct patterns, with the Inferior Frontal gyrus more active in the Eastern group and the middle and superior frontal gyri more active in the Western group. Our findings suggest that Eastern culture subjects have a higher tendency to activate brain regions involved in proactive inhibitory control, while Western culture subjects rely more on reactive inhibitory brain regions during cognitive control tasks. This implies that proactive inhibition may play a crucial role in promoting the collective and interdependent behavior typical of Eastern cultures, while reactive inhibition may be more important for efficient cognitive control in subjects of Western cultures that prioritize individualism and independence.

Inhibitory Control Training Improves Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms and Externalizing Behavior

BACKGROUND

Based on dysexecutive function theory of Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), inhibitory control plays a crucial role in ADHD symptoms and respective behavioral problems.

METHODS

In the present study, 30 preschoolers with ADHD were recruited in a random clinical trial design in two control and intervention groups. The Flanker and Go/No-Go tasks, Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham Rating Scale, and Child Behavior Checklist were used for assessment at baseline, after the intervention, and 1-month follow-up sessions. The program for attentive rehabilitation of inhibition and selective attention (PARISA) was used for intervention in 10-12 sessions.

RESULTS

Findings showed an improvement in prepotent inhibition and interference control in the intervention group. Furthermore, the hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms were ameliorated, and the externalizing behavioral problems were improved after the intervention.

CONCLUSION

Inhibitory control in preschoolers with ADHD is trainable, and the training gain could be transferred to ADHD symptoms and externalizing behavior.

Impactul nivelului educațional parental asupra agresivității la preadolescenți

The educational level of parents has been observed to have multiple infl uences on children. In this research we investigatea the diff erences in the levels of aggression in preadolescents depending on the educational level achieved by parents. The sample consisted of 219 children, 7th and 8th grade, and 438 their parents with 3 levels of parental education (primary, secondary and higher). The results of the ANOVA analysis revealed statistically signifi cant diff erences for children whose parents have a basic education (primary or secondary), manifesting higher levels of aggression on all dimensions tested (physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger and hostility). Such diff erences in the means of aggression in preadolescents whose parents have secondary and higher education levels were not observed.

Overweight and executive functions, psychological and behavioral profile of Spanish adolescents

The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents has risen dramatically increasing a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases and cognitive dysfunctions. This study aimed to analyze differences in the executive function´s development between overweight and normal-weight adolescents. As a secondary objective, we aimed to assess differences in adolescents' psychological and behavioral profiles between groups. In order to achieve the study's aim, 105 adolescent students (17.61 ± 7.43 years) completed an online questionnaire that analyzed variables regarding their executive functions' processes, their psychological and physical health as well as lifestyle habits. Results showed that executive functions development is associated with adolescent weight. A higher range of weight presents a lower ability to assess abstract reasoning and to shift cognitive strategies. Nevertheless, no differences were found between groups in the capacity to hold information in mind nor the ability to control impulsive responses. Furthermore, groups showed differences in the number of meals and gastritis, but no significant differences have been found in lifestyle variables such as mobile usage, smoking, physical activity, and hours of sleep per day. The results from the present study could be used to implement multidisciplinary programs to develop healthier habits.

Aggression in Adolescents: The Role of Mother-Child Attachment and Self-Esteem

Every year, adolescents’ aggressive behavior in the world continues to increase, including in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Teenagers’ aggressive behavior in Yogyakarta leads to criminal acts resulting in physical sacrifices and death. The aggressive behavior of teenagers is known as Klithih. It develops and continues to increase every year, causing public anxiety and concern. This study aimed to examine the role of mother–child attachment and self-esteem against aggression. Aggression, mother’s attachment, and self-esteem scales were deployed to collect data and were filled out by 730 high school students between 15 and 19 years old from twenty-three schools in five municipalities in Yogyakarta Province (M = 16.52, SD = 0.793, 310 male students and 420 female students). Descriptive statistics described research data by IBM SPSS 23 and structural equation modeling by AMOS v20 to test research hypotheses. The results of the study showed a good fit, indicating that self-esteem might enhance the effect of each mother’s attachment style on aggression. Our study showed that insecure attachment positively and significantly affected aggression and negatively and significantly affected self-esteem. Furthermore, it also revealed that anxious attachment positively and significantly influenced aggression and negatively and significantly influenced self-esteem. Lastly, our finding revealed that self-esteem negatively and significantly affected aggression. These findings suggested that better mother’s attachment and higher self-esteem in adolescents may lower the possibility of aggression, whereas insecure attachment, anxious attachment, and low self-esteem may increase the risk of aggression.

Cingulo-opercular and Cingulo-parietal Brain Networks Functional Connectivity in Pre-adolescents: Multiplicative Effects of Race, Ethnicity, and Parental Education

Introduction

A growing body of research has shown a diminished association between socioeconomic status (SES) indicators and a wide range of neuroimaging indicators for racial and ethnic minorities compared to majority groups. However, less is known about these effects for resting-state functional connectivity between various brain networks.

Purpose

This study investigated racial and ethnic variation in the correlation between parental education and resting-state functional connectivity between the cingulo-opercular (CO) and cingulo-parietal (CP) networks in children.

Methods

This cross-sectional study used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study; we analyzed the resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rsfMRI) data of 8,464 American pre-adolescents between the ages of 9 and 10. The main outcome measured was resting-state functional connectivity between the CO and CP networks calculated using rsfMRI. The independent variable was parental education, which was treated as a nominal variable. Age, sex, and family marital status were the study covariates. Race and ethnicity were the moderators. Mixed-effects regression models were used for data analysis, with and without interaction terms between parental education and race and ethnicity.

Results

Higher parental education was associated with higher resting-state functional connectivity between the CO and CP networks. Race and ethnicity both showed statistically significant interactions with parental education on children's resting-state functional connectivity between CO and CP networks, suggesting that the correlation between parental education and the resting-state functional connectivity was significantly weaker for Black and Hispanic pre-adolescents compared to White and non-Hispanic pre-adolescents.

Conclusions

In line with the Minorities' Diminished Returns theory, the association between parental education and pre-adolescents resting-state functional connectivity between CO and CP networks may be weaker in Black and Hispanic children than in White and non-Hispanic children. The weaker link between parental education and brain functional connectivity for Blacks and Hispanics than for Whites and non-Hispanics may reflect racism, racialization, and social stratification that collectively minimize the returns of SES indicators, such as parental education for non-Whites, who become others in the US.

A dialogue system for identifying need deficiencies in moral education

Moral education refers to the cultivation of ideals, moral quality, culture, and discipline. One of its main tasks is to analyze students’ problem behaviors and identify their underlying need deficiencies. Previous psychological research has focused on studying how distinct factors affect psychological needs and problem behaviors. However, these findings have provided only scattered guidelines for identifying students’ need deficiencies, which are difficult for inexperienced teachers and parents to apply systematically. To address these issues, we attempt to answer two key research questions in this work. First, how do we define a theoretical framework so that the psychological research findings can be systematically applied to identify students’ need deficiencies? Second, can the latest AI technologies be employed to identify such need deficiencies automatically? To answer these research questions, we first build a theoretical framework to summarize all the factors relevant to the students’ problem behaviors and need deficiencies. After that, we propose and develop a task-oriented dialogue system that can properly inquire about different aspects of students’ information and automatically infer their need deficiencies. We conduct comprehensive experiments to evaluate the system’s performance with real-life cases. The results show that the built dialogue system could effectively serve as a diagnostic tool to identify the students’ need deficiencies.

Not Race or Age but Their Interaction Predicts Pre-Adolescents' Inhibitory Control

Background

African American pre-adolescents are at a higher risk of risky behaviors such as aggression, drug use, alcohol use, and subsequent poor outcomes compared to Caucasian pre-adolescents. All these high-risk behaviors are connected to low levels of inhibitory control (IC).

Aim

We used the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) data to compare Caucasian and African American pre-adolescents for the effect of age on pre-adolescents IC, a driver of high-risk behaviors.

Methods

This cross-sectional analysis included 4,626 pre-adolescents between ages 9 and 10 from the ABCD study. Regression was used to analyze the data. The predictor variable was age measured in months. The main outcome was IC measured by a stop-signal task (SST). Race was the effect modifier.

Results

Overall, age was associated with IC. Race also showed a statistically significant interaction with age on pre-adolescents' IC, indicating weaker effects of age on IC for African American than Caucasian pre-adolescents.

Conclusion

Age-related changes in IC are more pronounced for Caucasian than African American pre-adolescents. To eliminate the racial gap in brain development between African American and Caucasian pre-adolescents, we should address structural and societal barriers that alter age-related development for racial minority pre-adolescents. Social and public policies, rather than health policies, are needed to address structural and societal barriers that hinder African American adolescents' brain development. Interventions should add resources to the urban areas that many African American families live in so their children can have better age-related brain development. Such changes would be essential given IC in pre-adolescents is a predictor of a wide range of behaviors.

The effect of child-abuse on the behavioral problems in the children of the parents with substance use disorder: Presenting a model of structural equations

Child abuse may potentially create the behavioral problems particularly in the children of parents with substance use disorder. Thus, the current study was conducted to investigate the effects of child abuse on the behavioral problems in the children of parents with substance use disorder using the emotional regulation and social skills as mediators. In this paper, the method of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied. The study population included 358 children of parents with substance use disorder whose parents had referred to the addiction treatment center in Kermanshah province, Iran (2017-2018). Conners Comprehensive Behavior Rating Scales (CBRS), Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC), Social Skills Rating Scale (SSRS) Questionnaire, and Child Abuse Questionnaire were also used for data collection. IBM SPSS Amos 22 software was utilized for statistical analysis of the obtained data. The SEM was also analyzed to confirm fit of the model. The results showed a direct relationship between the child abuse and behavioral problems so that, the boys outperformed the girls in this regard. The findings also suggested a significant relationship between the family characteristics and behavioral problems. On the other hand, family characteristics and emotional regulation had direct and significant effects on improvement of the social skills (P < 0.001). The results revealed a direct effect of child abuse on the behavioral problems in the children of parents with substance use disorder. Thus, it is suggested to take a preventive approach toward child abuse in the children of parents with substance use disorder by employing a comprehensive program and intervention methods.

Prenatal risk and physical aggression during the first years of life: The gender-specific role of inhibitory control

Prenatal risk and a lack of inhibitory control have consistently been related to the development of physical aggression in older children. This study examined whether inhibitory control mediated the relation between prenatal risk and aggression in infants and toddlers. The role of gender in this mediation model was also examined. The sample consisted of 161 mother-child dyads (83 boys). A prenatal cumulative risk score was created from a number of well-established risk factors including maternal psychopathology, substance use, and social and socioeconomic disadvantages. At 12 months, children performed an inhibitory control task. Physical aggression was assessed through maternal reports at 12 and 20 months of age. Results showed that higher prenatal risk was associated with more physical aggression. Inhibitory control mediated this association at both 12 and 20 months: higher prenatal risk was related to lower inhibitory control, which in turn led to higher aggression. At 20 months, gender moderated the mediation effect: the mediating role of inhibitory control was only found for girls. These results suggest that even before 2 years of age, inhibitory control is an important construct involved in the relation between prenatal risk and physical aggression.

Parental Education on Youth Inhibitory Control in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study: Blacks' Diminished Returns

BACKGROUND

Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) youth are at a higher risk of high-risk behaviors compared to non-Hispanic White (NHW) youth. Some of this racial gap is shown to be due to weaker effects of parental educational attainment on reducing the prevalence of behavioral risk factors such as impulsivity, substance use, aggression, obesity, and poor school performance for NHBs, a pattern called Minorities' Diminished Returns. These diminishing returns may be due to lower than expected effects of parental education on inhibitory control.

AIM

We compared NHW and NHB youth for the effect of parental educational attainment on youth inhibitory control, a psychological and cognitive construct that closely predicts high-risk behaviors such as the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional analysis that included 4188 youth from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The independent variable was parental educational attainment. The main outcome was youth inhibitory control measured by the stop-signal task (SST), which was validated by parent reports on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

RESULTS

In race/ethnicity-stratified models, high parental educational attainment was associated with a higher level of inhibitory control for NHB than NHW youth. In the pooled sample, race/ethnicity showed a statistically significant interaction with parental educational attainment on youth inhibitory control suggesting that high parental educational attainment has a smaller boosting effect on inhibitory control for NHB than NHW youth.

CONCLUSION

Parental educational attainment boosts inhibitory control for NHW but not NHB youth. To minimize the racial gap in youth brain development, we need to address societal barriers that diminish the returns of family economic and human resources, particularly parental educational attainment, for racial and ethnic minority youth. Social and public policies should address structural and societal barriers such as social stratification, segregation, racism, and discrimination that hinder NHB parents' abilities to effectively mobilize their human resources and secure tangible outcomes for their developing youth.

Aggression and its predictors among elementary students

Background:

Aggression is the most significant psychopathological risk factor. It is a multifaceted construct and can affect students’ social, mental and physical health. The present study was conducted to investigate factors associated with aggression among elementary school girls and boys using the theoretical framework of Social Cognitive Theory in Kermanshah city, Iran.

Methods:

The cross-sectional study was conducted on 900 students, including 445 girls and 455 boys, 563 parents and 104 elementary school teachers in the fourth, fifth and sixth educational grades in Kermanshah city in 2018. The proportionate stratified random sampling was used. The Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument (APRI) was used to measure aggression. To measure the variables of social cognitive theory, a researcher-made questionnaire was used. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics via the SPSS software.

Results:

It was showed that 29% and 10% of the students had moderate and high levels of aggression, respectively. Also, 30.6% of them were moderate victims and 45.6% were intense victims. Self-efficacy (p less than 0.001), perceived social norms (p=0.011), observational learning (p less than 0.001), outcome expectations (p=0.027), outcome expectancies (p=0.028) and per-ceived situational (p less than 0.001) were reported as the significant predictors of aggressive behaviors in the students based on the Social Cognitive Theory constructs. In total, they explained for 37.3% of changes in aggressive behaviors. Parents’ knowledge (p=0.005), parents’ attitude (p=0.012), teachers’ attitude (p less than 0.001), and teachers’ self-efficacy (p=0.021) had statistically significant relationships with aggression in the students.

Conclusions:

Aggression among children and adolescents is getting alarmingly prevalent. The Social Cogni-tive Theory is the appropriate framework for the prediction of aggression behaviors in children and adolescents. Therefore, designing and implementing educational interventions based on this theory can help with the management of aggression in children and adolescents.

Parental Psychological Control and Adolescent Aggressive Behavior: Deviant Peer Affiliation as a Mediator and School Connectedness as a Moderator

Abundant evidence has demonstrated an association between parental psychological control and adolescent aggressive behavior. However, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relation are still under-investigated. Grounded in the social development model and stress-buffering model, this study investigated whether deviant peer affiliation mediates the relation between parental psychological control and adolescent aggressive behavior, and whether this indirect link is moderated by school connectedness. A total of 4265 adolescents (Mean_age = 13.66 years, SD = 2.74, 48.63% male) from southern China completed questionnaires regarding parental psychological control, deviant peer affiliation, school connectedness, and aggressive behavior. Structural equation models revealed that the relation between parental psychological control and aggressive behavior is partially mediated by deviant peer affiliation. Moreover, this indirect link was stronger for adolescents with low levels of school connectedness than for those with high levels of school connectedness. This study thus identifies the potential underlying mechanism by which parental psychological control is associated with adolescent aggressive behaviors, which has important implications for theory and prevention.

Performance on emotional tasks engaging cognitive control depends on emotional intelligence abilities: an ERP study

Cognitive control is a key process in decision making and adequately adapting our behavior to the environment. Previous studies have provided evidence of a lower capacity for cognitive control in emotion-laden contexts in comparison with neutral contexts. The aim of the present research was to study changes in cognitive control performance as a function of emotional intelligence (EI) level in contexts involving emotional information. The study sample was composed of 2 groups of 22 participants each: the high and low EI group. Participants carried out an emotional go/no-go task while brain activity was recorded by EEG. N2 and P3 ERPs were used as indices of cognitive control processing. Participants with higher EI showed a larger N2, reflecting a greater capacity for cognitive control related to changes in conflict monitoring, and to a better detection and evaluation of the emotional stimuli. Moreover, in general, response inhibition accuracy was reduced when emotional information was involved in this process. Our findings reveal that neural mechanisms underlying tasks that engage cognitive control depend on emotional content and EI level. This study indicates the important role played by EI in the relationship between emotion and cognition. EI training may be a very useful tool for improving performance in emotion-laden contexts.