Positive Effects of Talking About the Negative: Family Narratives of Negative Experiences and Preadolescents' Perceived Competence

Family narratives about the past are an important context for the socialization of emotion, but relations between expression of negative emotion and children's emerging competence are conflicting. In this study, 24 middle‐class two‐parent families narrated a shared negative experience together and we examined the process (initiations and collaborations) and function (the expression and explanation of emotions) of co‐constructed narratives in relation to preadolescents' perceived competencies and self‐esteem. Family narratives in which specific emotions were expressed and explained in a collaborative fashion, especially negative emotion, were positively related to preadolescents' reported competencies and self‐esteem, whereas family narratives that expressed general positive emotion were negatively related to preadolescents' perceived competencies. Implications of family narratives about emotional events, specifically the ways in which families discuss emotion, in relation to preadolescents' self‐development are discussed.     

Adolescents’ Daily Experience of Fathers’ Emotional Support and Self‐Evaluation in Korea

Recently, fathers’ role in children's development has been recognized internationally. In Asian countries, similar conversations have emerged but there has been a lack of empirical studies that considered the unique cultural contexts. As a response, based on Bronfenbrenner's process‐person‐context‐time model, the present study examined the daily dynamics and individual differences in the experience of fathers’ emotional support and self‐evaluation in social roles among 283 Korean adolescents in 5th and 8th grade. Through Hierarchical Linear Modeling, within‐person associations between adolescents’ experience of fathers’ emotional support and self‐evaluation in social roles on the same day and the next day were found, with individual differences by grade level and family affluence. Theoretical and practical implications within the relevant cultural context are discussed.     

Paradoxical Pathways: An Ethnographic Extension of Kohn's Findings on Class and Childrearing

Stratification is a central issue in family research, yet relatively few studies highlight its impact on family processes. Drawing on in‐depth interviews (N = 137) and observational data (N = 12), we extend Melvin Kohn's research on childrearing values by examining how parental commitments to self‐direction and conformity are enacted in daily life. Consistent with Kohn's findings, middle‐class parents emphasized children's self‐direction, and working‐class and poor parents emphasized children's conformity to external authority. Attempts to realize these values appeared paradoxical, however. Middle‐class parents routinely exercised subtle forms of control while attempting to instill self‐direction in their children. Conversely, working‐class and poor parents tended to grant children considerable autonomy in certain domains of daily life, thereby limiting their emphasis on conformity.     

Children's Emotional Regulation and Social Competence in Middle Childhood

SUMMARY

Associations among parental behaviors, children's emotional reactivity, and dimensions of children's social competence were examined. Fourth grade children (N = 103) and their parents participated in a laboratory discussion task. Parent-child relationship qualities, parental emotion socialization behaviors, measures of children's emotional regulatory abilities, and social competence (assessed by teachers and peers) were obtained. Results indicated that parents' behaviors in the discussion task were related to both children's emotional and social competence. Both mothers' and fathers' behaviors were linked to children's emotional regulatory abilities and social competence. In addition, children's emotional regulation was related to children's social competence. Only limited evidence of the mediating role of emotion regulation was found. Implications for relative roles of mothers and fathers in the emergence of emotional and social competence were noted.     

Marital Satisfaction,Family Emotional Expressiveness,Home Learning Environments,and Children's Emergent Literacy

The current study investigates associations among marital satisfaction, family emotional expressiveness, the home learning environment, and preschool‐aged children's emergent literacy skills among 385 Midwestern mothers and their children. Path analyses examined how marital satisfaction related to emotional expressiveness in the home and whether this path was associated with the home learning environment and children's literacy skills. Higher maternal satisfaction was associated with higher levels of positive and lower levels of negative family emotional expressiveness. Additionally, family emotional environments characterized by mothers with higher positive expression were related to better home learning environments, which in turn were associated with higher literacy skills in children. Study findings underscore the importance of marital and family processes when considering young children's academic development.     

‘Putting Humpty Together Again’: Working With Parents to Help Children Who Have Experienced Early Trauma

Early interpersonal trauma can have a profound impact on young children's emotional, cognitive and physical function, and on their ongoing development. This article outlines the diverse effects of trauma and how they might present in school or childcare settings. It considers the role of the family in the development of children's emotion regulation, especially if trauma occurs in the context of the family and how trauma affects family dynamics. A therapeutic approach is then outlined to help address the multiple areas of difficulty. Work with parents and the whole family is aimed at maintaining physical and emotional safety and building trust between parent and child. Work with the parents, teachers and the child individually is directed at helping the child develop emotion regulation and competence physically, cognitively and interpersonally.     

Adolescents' Daily Assistance to the Family in Response to Maternal Need

Although children's provision of family assistance is a common routine, little is understood about the day‐to‐day variability that may exist in children's assistance behaviors. Guided by a family systems framework, the current study examined whether Mexican American adolescents' provision of family assistance was contingent on daily maternal need. Adolescents (N = 354, 49% males, M_age = 14.96 years) and their mothers (M_age = 41.55 years) each completed reports on 14 consecutive days. The results indicated that adolescents generally responded to maternal need, being more likely to help their families on days when their mothers worked or felt fatigued. This daily contingency was modified by family and adolescent characteristics, with adolescents thought to generally engage in low levels of assistance (i.e., youngest males and those in families with little economic strain) increasing their help when their mothers were fatigued. In contrast, daily maternal work did not appear to stimulate greater assistance among families with low levels of economic strain.     

Parental Support in Adolescents' Career Development: Parents' and Children's Perceptions

Using social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2000 ), this study examined the role of parents' and children's perceptions of parental support in adolescents' career choices. A total of 94 Italian adolescents (30 boys, 64 girls) and both of their parents (N = 188) participated in the study. The authors tested a fully mediated model between mothers' and fathers' perceptions of support and career choice through the indirect effect of adolescents' perceptions of parental support and career self‐efficacy. Results provided support for the model. Specifically, both mothers' and fathers' perceptions of support predicted their adolescents' career choice through the mediating effect of the youths' perceptions of parental support and career self‐efficacy. These results have important implications for practice and underscore that parents need to be involved very early on in their children's vocational development.     

Child,Mother, Father,and Teacher Beliefs About Child Academic Competence: Predicting Math and Reading Performance in European American Adolescents

Beliefs about child competence in math and reading have important implications for academic performance in adolescence. However, it is unclear whether children's own beliefs are the most important predictor of their academic performance or whether parents’ and teachers’ beliefs about child competence influence child academic performance. We assessed mothers’, fathers’, teachers’, and children's beliefs about European American children's (N = 189) competence in math and reading at age 10 and children's math and language performance at ages 10, 13, and 18 years. Confirmatory factor models demonstrated that children's and teachers’ beliefs had lower loadings on a latent variable of child competence in math and reading than mothers’ beliefs. Children's self‐competence beliefs in math and reading were not significantly correlated, suggesting children may use dimensional comparisons when assessing their own competence. Mothers’, fathers’, and teachers’ assessments of child competence in math were strongly correlated with their assessments of child competence in reading. Controlling for stability in academic performance, family socioeconomic status, and other reporters, mothers and fathers who rated their children's math competence higher had adolescents who performed better in math, and fathers who rated their children's reading competence higher had adolescents who performed better in language tasks. However, children who rated their own competence higher in math and reading had lower math and language (for girls only) performance in adolescence. European American children may use dimensional comparisons that render them poorer judges of their math and reading competence than parents.     

EDITORIAL

Although a contested concept, there is a growing awareness of the phenomenon of deliberate self‐harm (DSH) in the UK, and particularly of self‐injury by adolescents. Trends in the prevalence of DSH have been monitored, and schools have been used as a means for gathering self‐reported data from pupils, but to‐date there is no known research on the way self‐harm is perceived and responded to by schools and the agencies to which they refer. This paper reports a Nuffield Foundation‐funded project which examined the experiences and perceptions of DSH of 34 teachers and others in support and clinical roles. The report includes data on the range and prevalence of self‐harming behaviours encountered; levels of awareness amongst school staff; teachers' reactions to DSH; links between schools and other agencies (including CAMHS); and levels of training, support and supervision for teachers and others responding to DSH in school settings. It concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings, including the potential for CAMHS, social workers and other agencies to provide crucial training and support to ‘front‐line workers’ in schools.     

Planned Gay Father Families in Kinship Arrangements

The current study examined whether there are differences between gay father families (n = 36) and heterosexual families (n = 36) on father‐child relationship, fathers' experiences of parental stress and children's wellbeing. The gay fathers in this study all became parents while in same‐sex relationships. They donated sperm to lesbian couples and then shared the child‐rearing with them in kinship arrangements. It was also examined whether aspects that are related specifically to gay fathers (i.e., experiences of rejection, having to defend their family situation, with whom the children live, and conflicts with the children's mothers) are also related to the father‐child relationship, parental stress and children's wellbeing. Data were collected by means of questionnaires filled in by the fathers. No significant differences between the family types were found on emotional involvement and parental concern in the father‐child relationship, parental burden (as an aspect of parental stress) or the children's wellbeing. However, gay fathers felt less competent in their child‐rearing role than heterosexual fathers. For gay fathers especially, experiences of rejection and the feeling that they have to defend their situation were significantly related to father‐child relationship, parental stress and children's wellbeing.     

Family Time Activities and Adolescents' Emotional Well‐being

The literature is divided on the issue of what matters for adolescents' well‐being, with one approach focusing on quality and the other on routine family time. Using the experience sampling method, a unique form of time diary, and survey data drawn from the 500 Family Study (N = 237 adolescents with 8,122 observations), this study examined the association between family time and adolescents' emotional well‐being as a function of the type of activities family members engaged in during their time together. Hierarchical linear model analyses revealed that eating meals together was beneficial to adolescents' emotional well‐being, especially when fathers were present. Family leisure was also beneficial to teens' well‐being. By contrast, productive family time (e.g., homework) was associated with lower emotional well‐being, as was maintenance family time (e.g., household chores), but only when adolescents engaged in it with both parents.     

Associations Between Family of Origin Climate,Relationship Self‐Regulation,and Marital Outcomes

Using dyadic data from 961 married couples from the Relationship Evaluation Questionnaire project, the current study explored the direct association between family of origin climate and marital outcomes and the indirect association via relationship self‐regulation (RSR). Results from the actor–partner interdependence model analysis indicated that family of origin climate was positively associated with marital stability directly and indirectly via the effects of RSR and marital satisfaction for both men and women. Results suggest that the experience one has in their family of origin is associated with their marital outcomes through their RSR. Actor–partner direct and indirect effects indicate that spouses' RSR may have important consequences for both partner's evaluation of the marriage. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.     

Family Rituals in Low‐Income African American Families at Risk for Trauma Exposure and Associations with Toddlers’ Regulation of Distress

This study included 75 mother‐father‐toddler triadic low‐income families. Mothers and fathers reported separately on their own posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and family rituals while children were rated by an independent observer during an emotionally eliciting task on key indicators of regulation of distress. Regression analyses supported a significant association between key dimensions of family rituals and Toddlers’ regulation of distress: occurrence, continuation, and spirituality. Effect sizes of tested relationships were strong, ranging from 25% to 36% of variance in children's distress explained. Family rituals are a salient intervention target in families and specifically help support children's developing emotion regulation competencies. Certain dimensions of family rituals may be particularly relevant to African American families, considering cultural resiliency factors. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Children's perspectives on their economic activity—Diversity,motivations and parental awareness

This research investigates how children from an affluent city in the UK exercise agency to construct their economic worlds. A survey (n = 484) showed that children (ages 10 to 14 years) conduct a range of monetary and non‐monetary activities. A second study (n = 83) with diaries, self‐documentation, and parental questionnaires, showed that children's economic activity involves individual and social motivations, occurs in formal and informal contexts, and is often self‐regulated. Parents acknowledge children's monetary activities and neglect non‐monetary activities. The results suggest that children's agency unfolds in diverse economic activities shaped by contextual factors and interactions with peers and parents, thereby supporting a relational view of children's agency.     

Family Environment and Adolescents' Well‐Being Before and After Parents' Marital Disruption: A Longitudinal Analysis

Although previous research has noted that children of divorce tend to fare less well than peers raised in families with two biological parents, much less is known about how parents' marital disruption affects children as a continuous process in its different phases. Based on two waves of a large, nationally representative panel, this study demonstrates that even before the disruption, both male and female adolescents from families that subsequently dissolve exhibit more academic, psychological, and behavioral problems than peers whose parents remain married. Families on the verge of breakup are also characterized by less intimate parent‐parent and parent‐child relationships, less parental commitment to children's education, and fewer economic and human resources. These differences in family environment account for most well‐being deficits among adolescents in predisrupted families. Furthermore, the deterioration in different domains of the family environment appears to be associated with maladjustment in different aspects of children's lives. The postdisruption effects on adolescents can either be totally or largely predicted by predisruption factors and by changes in family circumstances during the period coinciding with the disruption. Finally, the analyses indicate that female adolescents are as likely to be affected by the parental divorce process as male adolescents.     

Intergenerational Processes,Attachment and Unexplained Medical Symptoms

Children organise self‐protectively in response to anxiety‐provoking or dangerous parental behaviours. When children's self‐protective responses are extreme and persist over time, they may come to the attention of health professionals in the guise of emotional, behavioural or somatic symptoms. A parallel phenomenon is that harmful parental behaviours may be embedded in the emotional processes of the inter‐generational family unit, reflecting the parents' own experiences of comfort and danger, as well as the particular manner in which these experiences have been integrated into the parents' current functioning. Using a case study of a three‐year‐old girl with medically unexplained urinary retention, the article explores how information about attachment relationships and unresolved parental loss or trauma can inform our understanding of implicit, anxiety‐driven processes within the family, and to facilitate family interventions and symptom alleviation. The case shows that the Dynamic‐Maturational Model of attachment has significant applications in the areas of family therapy theory and practice, psychosomatic medicine and consult‐liaison psychiatry.     

Family Factors Associated With Sixth‐Grade Adolescents' Math and Science Career Interests

This study tested a causal model, based on social cognitive career theory (SCCT; R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994, 2000), of math and science career interests among 6th‐grade adolescents (N = 318). Consistent with SCCT, it was found that career gender‐typing, mother's and father's support for pursuing math and science careers, as well as the structure of the family itself (2‐parent intact vs. single parent) predicted young adolescents' math self‐efficacy; career gender‐typing and mother's support predicted math outcome expectations; and math self‐efficacy and outcome expectations predicted math and science career interests. Counselor recommendations based on these findings are included.     

Parenting Practices,Autonomous Motivation,and Adolescent Diet Habits

Guided by self‐determination theory, the aim of this study was to examine whether adolescents’ autonomous motivation for making healthy diet choices mediates the association between parenting practices regarding diet and adolescent food choices. We analyzed data from the NCI FLASHE study, a survey of demographically diverse parents and their adolescent children (N = 1,646 dyads). Path models supported self‐determination theory’s assertion that indirect, encouraging parenting practices fostered internal motivation; in contrast, regulation was both positively and negatively linked to motivation depending on the model. Models also yielded direct paths between parenting practices and healthy and unhealthy diet choices. Overall, regardless of what predicted motivation, adolescents’ autonomous motivation was linked with their consumption of healthier foods and drinks. As such, cultivating a sense of internal motivation during these formative years may put young people on a path toward healthy patterns of self‐regulation later in life.     

Emotion Regulation in Context: Situational Effects on Infant and Caregiver Behavior

Emotion regulation is an important developmental task of the early years of life. However, situational effects are rarely examined. In this study, we evaluated situational effects on 7‐month‐olds' and their mothers' emotional expression and interactive regulation behavior, individual differences across situations, and intercorrelations within situations. Mother‐infant dyads (N = 225) were observed interacting during episodes from play, teaching, and still‐face situations that varied along 2 developmentally salient dimensions: emotional challenge (low vs. high), and attentional focus (face‐to‐face vs. object). Attentional focus affected mothers' behavior, whereas both challenge and attentional focus affected infants. Associations between mother and infant behaviors varied in each situation. High‐challenge situations provided more consistent individual differences in infants and more negative behavior from mothers. Findings have implications for appropriate assessment of emotion regulation in infancy.