A Systematic Review of Father-Child Play Interactions and the Impacts on Child Development

The PRECISE-DYAD Neurodevelopmental substudy protocol: neurodevelopmental risk in children of mothers with pregnancy complications

Background

Over 250 million children are not reaching their developmental potential globally. The impact of prenatal factors and their interplay with postnatal environmental factors on child neurodevelopment, is still unclear-particularly in low- and middle-income settings. This study aims to understand the impact of pregnancy complications as well as environmental, psychosocial, and biological predictors on neurodevelopmental trajectories.

Methods

This is an observational cohort study of female and male children (≈3,950) born to women (≈4,200) with and without pregnancy complications (pregnancy-induced hypertension, foetal growth restriction, and premature birth) previously recruited into PREgnancy Care Integrating Translational Science, Everywhere study with detailed biological data collected in intrapartum and post-partum periods. Children will be assessed at six weeks to 6 months, 11-13 months, 23-25 months and 35-37 months in rural and semi-urban Gambia (Farafenni, Illiasa, and Ngayen Sanjal) and Kenya (Mariakani and Rabai). We will assess children's neurodevelopment using Prechtls General Movement Assessment, the Malawi Development Assessment Tool (primary outcome), Observation of Maternal-Child Interaction, the Neurodevelopmental Disorder Screening Tool, and the Epilepsy Screening tool. Children screening positive will be assessed with Cardiff cards (vision), Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers Revised, and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Family Impact. We will use multivariate logistic regression analysis to investigate the impact of pregnancy complications on neurodevelopment and conduct structural equation modelling using latent class growth to study trajectories and relationships between biological, environmental, and psychosocial factors on child development.

Conclusions

We aim to provide information regarding the neurodevelopment of infants and children born to women with and without pregnancy complications at multiple time points during the first three years of life in two low-resource African communities. A detailed evaluation of developmental trajectories and their predictors will provide information on the most strategic points of intervention to prevent and reduce the incidence of neurodevelopmental impairments.

The intersection between alexithymia, testosterone reactivity, and coparenting in fathers predicts child's prosocial behavior

The development of prosocial skills in children is a key predictor of long-term social, cognitive, and emotional functioning. However, the role of fathers' psychological characteristics in fostering prosocial development, including during the prenatal period, and the mechanisms underlying their influence, remain relatively unexplored. This study aimed to examine whether a higher tendency of alexithymia, a difficulty to identify and verbalize emotions, in expectant fathers predicts prosocial behavior of two-year-old toddlers through the quality of coparenting and whether greater testosterone increase during a stressful parenting task moderates this indirect effect. A sample of 105 couples and their children was tracked longitudinally starting from the third trimester of pregnancy (T1), at three months (T2), and at two years postnatally (T3). Using self-report questionnaires, fathers reported on alexithymia (T1) and mothers and fathers reported on coparenting quality (T2). Additionally, fathers provided saliva samples before and after engaging in a stressful parenting task (the Inconsolable Doll Task) to measure testosterone reactivity (T1). Children's prosocial behavior was observed during an out-of-reach task (T3). A moderated mediation analysis using structural equation modeling showed that higher levels of alexithymia pre-birth predicted lower coparenting quality three months after birth, which in turn predicted lower prosocial behavior of two-year-old children, but only among fathers with mean or high testosterone increases. This study illuminates a potential mechanism by which fathers' alexithymia and testosterone reactivity forecast their toddlers' prosocial behavior.

Annual Research Review: 'There, the dance is - at the still point of the turning world' - dynamic systems perspectives on coregulation and dysregulation during early development

During development we transition from coregulation (where regulatory processes are shared between child and caregiver) to self-regulation. Most early coregulatory interactions aim to manage fluctuations in the infant's arousal and alertness; but over time, coregulatory processes become progressively elaborated to encompass other functions such as sociocommunicative development, attention and executive control. The fundamental aim of coregulation is to help maintain an optimal 'critical state' between hypo- and hyperactivity. Here, we present a dynamic framework for understanding child-caregiver coregulatory interactions in the context of psychopathology. Early coregulatory processes involve both passive entrainment, through which a child's state entrains to the caregiver's, and active contingent responsiveness, through which the caregiver changes their behaviour in response to behaviours from the child. Similar principles, of interactive but asymmetric contingency, drive joint attention and the maintenance of epistemic states as well as arousal/alertness, emotion regulation and sociocommunicative development. We describe three ways in which active child-caregiver regulation can develop atypically, in conditions such as Autism, ADHD, anxiety and depression. The most well-known of these is insufficient contingent responsiveness, leading to reduced synchrony, which has been shown across a range of modalities in different disorders, and which is the target of most current interventions. We also present evidence that excessive contingent responsiveness and excessive synchrony can develop in some circumstances. And we show that positive feedback interactions can develop, which are contingent but mutually amplificatory child-caregiver interactions that drive the child further from their critical state. We discuss implications of these findings for future intervention research, and directions for future work.

Mind-mindedness and styles of interaction of young fathers with their infants at three months: a pilot study

BACKGROUND

Fatherhood at a young age can be characterized by a multiproblematic background with several risk factors that can negatively affect father-child relationships, the father's well-being and child's social-emotional development.

METHODS

This pilot study evaluated paternal interaction styles and mentalization in a sample of 22 young fathers and their 3-month-old infants and compared these variables with those of 22 adolescent and young mothers (the fathers' partners). Parent-infant interaction were codified with Care-Index to evaluate styles of interaction and with Mind-Mindedness system to evaluate mentalization.

RESULTS

The results showed that young fathers had high scores in controlling behaviors and low scores in sensitivity, placing them in a risk range. The young father's interaction profile did not differ from the young mother's interaction profile. Infants had high scores in passive behaviors and low scores in cooperative behaviors, placing them in a high-risk range. Moreover, young fathers had more nonattuned mind-related comments than their partners.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that low responsiveness and low mind-mindedness characterize the quality of adolescent and young father-infant interactions, highlighting the value of providing early intervention to support the father-child relationship, enhancing the father's sensitivity and his ability to keep the infant in mind.

The influence of socioeconomic status and appearance-reality understanding on pre-schoolers' sharing and generosity

Prosocial behaviour can be defined as any voluntary action that is performed to benefit another individual. Despite accumulating evidence of the importance of environmental variables (e.g., socioeconomic status; SES), and individual characteristics (e.g., theory of mind - ToM - skills), in influencing prosocial behaviours in young children, it is unknown how these factors relate to the underlying motivations for prosocial behaviours. Accordingly, both extrinsically (sharing) and intrinsically (generosity)-guided prosocial behaviours are measured in this study. We explore the influences of SES and ToM skills on young children's sharing behaviour and generosity, while controlling their age, working memory and language skills. Sixty-six 4- to 6 year olds (Mage  = 5.24 years, SD = 0.73) from diverse SES (measured by parental education level) and ethnic backgrounds in Singapore completed tasks assessing the ToM measures of false belief and appearance-reality understanding, working memory, language skills, generosity, and sharing behaviour. The results of hierarchical regression analyses demonstrate that the father's education level and children's appearance-reality understanding were significant predictors of sharing, after controlling for age, working memory, language skills, and the mother's education level. Children's appearance-reality understanding was the sole predictor of children's generosity. Our findings highlight the impact of children's ability to hold different views of reality and their family's education levels on the development of sharing and generosity in early childhood.

It’s time to talk fathers: The impact of paternal depression on parenting style and child development during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study aimed to understand the relationship between paternal depression, parenting behavior and child developmental outcomes during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) pandemic. In addition, the paternal experience of the pandemic, such as the impact of lockdowns, was explored. Fathers of children aged 6–11 years old (n = 87) were recruited for an online cross-sectional survey. Data was collected through questionnaires and open-ended comments. Regression analysis indicated a higher level of self-reported depressive symptomology in fathers more severely impacted by the pandemic across financial, familial and health domains. Further, COVID-19 impact, but not paternal depression, was linked to fewer authoritative parenting behaviors, characterized as lower warmth and responsiveness. Paternal pandemic impact and depression symptoms were independently predictive of child cognitive scores, and both were associated with emotional and behavioral outcomes. A content analysis of open-ended responses from fathers noted that concerns for their children, work and mental health were most prevalent during the pandemic. However, several responders also reported no change or positive facets of lockdowns related to the pandemic. These finds are discussed in the context of a possible behavioural mechanism of action accounting for the effect of these factors on child development. Clinical implications include targeted interventions for at risk groups as well as psychoeducation for fathers that acknowledge difference in paternal coping and support seeking.

The Relationship between Father–Child Rough-and-Tumble Play and Children’s Working Memory

Rough-and-tumble play (RTP) between fathers and children has been linked to many social, emotional, and behavioural child outcomes, such as reduced aggression and increased self-regulation. This study extends our understanding of the importance of RTP to the development of the executive function, working memory. Father–child dyads (N = 30) were asked to play two RTP games that were videorecorded for later observational coding. Fathers were also asked to report the frequency with which they play RTP games with their child. Two measures of working memory were also collected. The working-memory index of the Wechsler Preschool and the Primary Scale of Intelligence—Fourth Edition were used to measure working-memory ability, and the working-memory subscale of the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function was used as a measure of working-memory problems. RTP frequency was associated with improved working-memory ability and fewer working-memory problems. RTP quality was associated with higher working-memory ability. This study adds to the growing evidence of the importance of father–child RTP for child development.

Same Behaviors, Different Outcomes: Mothers' and Fathers' Observed Challenging Behaviors Measured Using a New Coding System Relate Differentially to Children's Social-Emotional Development

This study used a newly developed coding system for measuring the quality of parenting behavior to examine associations with children’s social-emotional development. The Risky Interaction Support and Challenge Scale (RISCS) measures the extent to which parents engage in behaviors that present physical and regulatory challenges to children, as well as parents’ tendency to allow children to pursue action goals autonomously. These behaviors were observed while parents (n = 57 fathers; n = 55 mothers; n = 50 pairs) interacted with their 1-year-olds who played on a structure that included a slide, a small climbing wall, and a tunnel. Trained raters reliably used the RISCS to measure several dimensions of parent behaviors related to children’s exploration, and all but one of the dimensions captured adequate variability in parent behavior. Although mothers and fathers did not differ in any of the dimensions, the associations between parent behavior and children’s social-emotional development did not overlap. Fathers who engaged in greater autonomy allowance and lower overprotection had toddlers with lower levels of internalizing behavior, whereas mothers who challenged children’s regulatory competence had toddlers with lower levels of externalizing behavior and greater competence. We discuss the implications of the findings for the literature on attachment theory and father-child relationships.

Self-Reported Parental Interactions through Play with Young Children in Thailand: An Analysis of the 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)

Parental interactions through play contributes significantly to child development of cognitive and executive functioning skills. In Thailand, there is little evidence of factors contributing to parental–child interactions. In response to SDG target 4.2.3 monitoring (the percentage of children under 5 years experiencing positive and stimulating home learning environments), this study aimed to assess the prevalence and profile of parental interactions with their children under the age of five. We analysed data from the 6th Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted by the National Statistical Office in 2019. Face-to-face interviews with mothers and/or legal guardians were conducted. A total of 8856 children under the age of five were enrolled in this survey. Most participants, 90.3%, had engaged in at least four out of six activities with their children. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that children raised by parents with secondary or post-secondary educations had a significantly greater chance to have parental interactions than children raised by parents who completed primary education (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.66, and AOR = 2.34 for secondary and post-secondary education). Children who possessed three or more children’s books and had experience of toy play had a significantly higher chance of having parental interactions (AOR = 3.08 for book possessing, and AOR = 1.50 for the experience of toy play). Children who spent 1–3 h daily screen time had a significantly lower chance of having parental interactions than those who spent less than one hour of screen time (AOR = 0.67). In conclusion, with the emerging influence of digital technology, we recommend family and community promote parental interactions through play with young children.

Still Mother after All These Years: Infants Still Prefer Mothers over Fathers (If They Have the Choice)

Fathering and mothering have changed in many ways within the last decades. Earlier studies showed a clear hierarchy in infant attachment figures with a preference for mothers. This study examined whether infants in the 21st century still prefer mothers over fathers in their expression of attachment behaviors, whether differences in parental involvement still exist, and whether this will result in differences in attachment security to mother and father. A total of 50 German families with infants between 10 and 19 months were observed in an experimental setting and during home visits. Parents reported on their involvement. The results revealed a clear hierarchy with regard to the duration of attachment behaviors directed towards mothers, followed by fathers and strangers. Mothers reported to be more involved in child care on weekdays compared to fathers. Involvement was not associated with attachment variables. Attachment security to mother and father was positively related and did not differ significantly. Infants in the 21st century in a Western country still prefer mothers over fathers in their expression of attachment behaviors. Mothers were more involved in child care than fathers. However, these differences did not result in differences in attachment security to mother and father.