Marital Conflict in the Context of Parental Depressive Symptoms: Implications for the Development of Children's Adjustment Problems

Relations among parental depressive symptoms, overt and covert marital conflict, and child internalizing and externalizing symptoms were examined in a community sample of 235 couples and their children. Families were assessed once yearly for three years, starting when children were in kindergarten. Parents completed measures of depressive symptoms and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Behavioral observations of marital conflict behaviors (insult, threat, pursuit, and defensiveness) and self report of covert negativity (feeling worry, sorry, worthless, and helpless) were assessed based on problem-solving interactions. Results indicated that fathers' greater covert negativity and mothers' overt destructive conflict behaviors served as intervening variables in the link between fathers' depressive symptoms and child internalizing symptoms, with modest support for the pathway through fathers' covert negativity found even after controlling for earlier levels of constructs. These findings support the role of marital conflict in the impact of fathers' depressive symptoms on child internalizing symptoms.     

Marital Conflict, Children's Representations of Family Relationships, and Children's Dispositions Towards Peer Conflict Strategies

The links among marital relations and children's representations were examined. Forty‐seven children between the ages of 5 and 8 completed the Family Stories Task (FAST) to obtain their narrative representations of family relations and performed a variation of a puppet procedure ( Mize & Ladd, 1988 ) to assess children's dispositions towards peer conflict strategies. Their parents completed a set of questionnaires regarding marital quality. Results demonstrated relations between marital conflict and children's dispositions towards peer conflict strategies in conflict situations. Children's more negative dispositions towards peer conflict and aggressive behavior in the peer conflict scenarios were each associated with more overt conflict behaviors by mothers and fathers, respectively, and more covert conflict behavior by mothers. In addition, children's internal representations of parent–child relations served as a mediator between marital conflict and children's notions about conflict behavior towards peers.     

Marital Conflict, Child Emotional Security about Family Relationships and Child Adjustment

Addressing a gap in process‐oriented understanding of relations between marital conflict and children's adjustment, propositions of the emotional security hypothesis from a family‐wide perspective were tested in a longitudinal research design. Participants were 181 families and their 11–12 year‐old‐child (115 boys, 76 girls) living in Wales, in the United Kingdom. Relations between marital conflict, children's emotional security about marital conflict and parenting, respectively, and children's adjustment were assessed based on reports by mothers, fathers, and children and videotaped analogue procedures completed by children. Structural equation modelling indicated that children's emotional security about interparental conflict (emotional regulation, cognitive representations and behavioural regulation) mediated the relation between marital conflict and children's security about parenting. Processes pertaining to children's security in multiple family systems (i.e., interparental and parent–child) provided an indirect mechanism through which interparental conflict affected children's symptoms of psychological distress (internalising and externalising problems) assessed 12 months later. Future directions for further tests of comprehensive, theoretically based models for the effects of marital conflict on children are discussed.     

Temperament as a Moderator of the Effects of Parental Depressive Symptoms on Child Behavior Problems

Parental depressive symptomatology has consistently been linked to child maladjustment, but these effects are not universal. This investigation examined the role of child temperament as a moderator of the effects of parental depression on behavior problems in five‐year‐old children. Parents reported on their own depressive symptoms, and both parents and teachers reported on child behavior. Temperament was assessed by both parent‐report and structured observation. Results indicated significant associations between behavior problems and both depressive symptoms (maternal and paternal) and child temperament (effortful control and negative affect). Child surgency moderated the effects of both maternal and paternal depressive symptoms on child behavior problems. Child negative affect and incongruous negative emotionality moderated the effects of maternal depressive symptoms on child behavior problems. These findings point to the importance of examining multiple factors within the family system to further understand the processes of child development.     

Parental Suicidal Ideation and Child Depressive Symptoms: The Roles of Optimism and Gratitude

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the influence of paternal and maternal suicidal ideation on child depressive symptoms and examine the moderating effects of children’s positive psychological traits: optimism and gratitude. A cross-sectional survey with 302 children and parents from five primary schools in Hong Kong were recruited. Results indicated that maternal suicidal ideation was significantly related to child depressive symptoms while paternal suicidal ideation was not. Moreover, the moderating effects of child optimism and gratitude were shown in the link between paternal suicidal ideation and children depressive symptoms. In contrast, the influencing power of maternal suicidal ideation of maternal suicidal ideation seems too strong to be attenuated by child optimism and gratitude. Findings of this study implicate the importance of prevention and intervention to suicidal parents and their offspring. Besides, positive psychology programs to enhance child optimism and gratitude might promote child resilience in the face of parental suicidal ideation. Future research is suggested to include other risk factors and protective factors that might be involved in the complex pathway from parental suicidal ideation to their children’s depression, and to collect data from multiple informants of a longitudinal representative sample.     

Parent and Child Cognitive Representations of Social Situations and Children's Social Competence

The current study examines the relations among parent and child social information processing components and their links to children's social competence. Ninety‐seven kindergarten children and their mothers and fathers responded to open‐ended vignettes that involved conflict with a peer. Goals and strategies for both parents and children were assessed. Results show that there is some consistency between parents and children in the types of goals and strategies that are provided. Further, fathers’ and children's goals and strategies were related to children's social competence but only limited support for children's cognitions as a mediator between parental cognitions and peer competence was found. The implications for the role of social information processing in the development of children's social competence are noted.     

Marital Conflict and Children's Adjustment: Parental Hostility and Children's Interpretations as Mediators

The associations between marital conflict, maternal and paternal hostility, children's interpretations of marital conflict, and children's adjustment were examined in a sample of 136 school‐aged children and their parents. Observational measures were collected from videotapes of marital interaction and family interaction. Self‐report data were collected from parents and children. Results showed that mothers’ and fathers’ hostility mediated the association between martial conflict and children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Children's feelings of being to blame for marital conflict and being threatened by it mediated between marital conflict and children's internalizing problems but not their externalizing problems.     

Ethnic Differences in the Effects of Parental Depression on Preschool Children's Socioemotional Functioning

The present study describes the depressive symptomatology of 393 parents of prekindergarten children and assesses ethnic differences in the depression scores of these parents and their differential consequences for children's social competence. Data are drawn from the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) classroom study, a national, longitudinal study examining the quality and outcomes of prekindergarten programs operated in schools or under the direction of state and local educational agencies, and the supplemental NCEDL familial and social environments study. Analyses indicated that Latino parents were more likely than African‐American and White parents to be depressed. However, as reported by both parents and teachers, behavioral outcomes for African‐American children of parents with elevated depressive symptomatology were worse than children of their Latino and White counterparts. Interactions between ethnicity and depressive symptomatology emerged in the parent‐child relationship, with African‐American parents with elevated depressive symptoms reporting significantly greater levels of conflict in the parent–child relationship than their non‐depressed counterparts. African‐American parents with elevated depression scores were also less likely to be in marital relationships than their non‐depressed counterparts. Among African‐American families, parent–child conflict served as a mediator of the effects of parental depression on child outcomes. Implications for intervention are discussed.     

Representations of Parent–Child Alliances in Children's Family Drawings

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between children's representations of parent–child alliances (PCA) and their peer relationship quality, using a new scale that was developed to rate representations of PCA in children's family drawings. The parent–child alliance pattern is characterized by a relationship between parent and child that is stronger than the marital relationship. We used family drawings to assess children's (at the ages of 4–8 years) representations of alliances because it is often difficult for children to express their perceptions of family dynamics verbally. Children whose drawings were rated higher in PCA were rated lower in prosocial behavior and assertiveness and higher in social problems by their teachers. These relationships were stronger for boys than for girls.     

Children's Social Representations in Dolls' House Play and Theory of Mind Tasks, and their Relation to Family Adversity and Child Disturbance

Five-year-old children of depressed and well mothers were assessed on theory of mind tasks, and enacted scenes from their family lives in dolls' house play. Performance on theory of mind tasks was only weakly related to family circumstances and child distur-bance, but was significantly associated with measures of the child's general and verbal intelligence. In contrast, children's social representations elicited during dolls' house play showed systematic relationships with family adversity (maternal depression and parental conflict) in interaction with the child's gender: girls exposed to difficulties depicted particularly harmonious mother-child relationships, and their accounts showed a high degree of narrative structure; while boys so exposed depicted poor parenting, and their accounts were relatively incoherent. The children's dolls' house play was also associated with several aspects of their wider experience, including objective assessments of mother-child interactions, and behavioural and emotional adjustment in school. This technique may usefully elucidate the basis of child behavioural problems and psychopathology in the context of disturbed family relationships, and provide a route for therapeutic intervention.     

Children's Living Conditions in Sweden. Social Patterns and Trends in Parental Accessibility, Child Care and Economic Resources

In this study, using data from the Swedish level of living surveys in 1981 and 1991 of more than 3,500 children, social patterns and trends in children's living conditions are analysed. The conditions focused on are linked to parental employment, namely, parental accessibility, use of child care and economic resources. The primary statistical method used is logistic regression analysis. The results show differences in children's access to mothers and fathers as parental access is restricted by various aspects of employment. There were also differences in childrenrsquo;s resources by social class and family structure. Of further importance was the combination of these, especially in the way that social class was more decisive for the children of single parents.     

Whose Wishes and Feelings? Children's Autonomy and Parental Influence in Family Court Enquiries

The importance of the child’s right to be heard and fortheir wishes and feelings to be taken notice of is now acceptedacross a broad professional and research terrain. Increasingly,children are being treated as active participants in the processesand decisions that affect them. In cases of divorce and separation,especially where parental relationships are conflicted, theaccepted wisdom in the UK for many years has been for childrento be protected rather than empowered. More recently, practitioners,policy makers and researchers have looked for ways to involvechildren, although the ‘welfare’ of the child hasremained paramount. In this context, the question of how toensure that wishes and feelings expressed are those that authenticallybelong to the child, rather than to their parent, sibling orother, has achieved a new significance. This article presentsfindings from recent research to illustrate how the tensionbetween protection and empowerment is being played out in thisaspect of welfare report enquiries carried out by CAFCASS (Childrenand Family Court Advisory and Support Service) private law practitioners.     

Marital Conflict and Children's Adjustment: The Mediating and Moderating Role of Children's Coping Strategies

This prospective, longitudinal study examined the role of children's coping strategies in the link between interparental conflict and children's psychological adjustment. Using a sample of 100 parents and children aged 11–14 years, this study investigated children's venting of negative emotion, social support seeking, and problem solving strategies as mediators and moderators of the relationship between marital conflict and child adjustment. Venting negative emotion mediated the long‐term effects of marital conflict on children's psychological adjustment. This coping response also moderated the relationship between marital conflict and children's anxiety‐depression. The role of non‐constructive coping strategies as a mechanism through which marital conflict affects children's psychological well‐being is discussed, together with the need for research to identify intervention strategies aimed at improving children's coping efficacy in the context of interparental conflict.     

Attachment, Temperament, and Preschool Children's Peer Acceptance

This study examined the relations between preschool children's attachment security, temperament, and peer acceptance. Ninety‐eight preschool children and their mothers were recruited through childcare centers in the southeast. Mothers and their children participated in two two‐hour home observations. Attachment security was assessed using the Waters Attachment Behavior Q‐set (AQS) completed by observers, and mothers reported on their children's temperament. Standard picture‐sociometric nominations and paired‐comparisons were used to measure children's peer acceptance. Results revealed significant associations between security and temperament. In addition, both attachment and temperament made significant and unique contributions to peer acceptance whereas temperament was found to be a stronger predictor of children's peer rejection. These findings underscore the dynamic interplay of inter‐ and intrapersonal factors that influence preschool children's peer relations. Implications of the findings for theory building and future research are discussed.     

Domestic Violence, Emotional Competence, and Child Adjustment

This article examined emotion competence in children exposed to domestic violence (DV). It also examined the hypothesis that children's emotional competence mediates relations between DV and children's later difficulties with peers and behavioral adjustment. DV was assessed when children were at the age of five, emotional competence was assessed at the age of 9.5, and peer quality and behavioral adjustment were obtained at the age of 11. Children from homes with greater DV were less aware of their own emotions and more emotionally dysregulated at the age of 9.5. Emotional awareness mediated the relationship between DV at the age of five and children's friendship closeness and internalizing problems at the age of 11. Emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between DV at the age of five and children's negative peer group interactions, social problems, and internalizing and externalizing problems at the age of 11. Results are discussed in terms of the impact of DV on children's emotional development and the role that different aspects of emotional competence play in children's socio‐emotional adjustment.     

Family, Neighborhood, and Peer Characteristics as Predictors of Child Adjustment: A Longitudinal Analysis of Additive and Mediation Models

The purpose of this study was to test direct, additive, and mediation models involving family, neighborhood, and peer factors in relation to emerging antisocial behavior and social skills. Neighborhood danger, maternal depressive symptoms, and supportive parenting were assessed in early childhood. Peer group acceptance was measured in middle childhood, and data on antisocial behavior and social skills were collected when boys were 11 and 12 years old. Results were consistent with an additive effects model of child antisocial behavior. In contrast, peer relationships were stronger predictors of social skills than were family factors. Support for mediation was found in models involving neighborhood danger and supportive parenting. However, only peer group acceptance predicted change in antisocial and prosocial behavior. Implications for family and peer relations as socialization contexts are discussed.     

Child Anger Regulation, Parental Responses to Children's Anger Displays, and Early Child Antisocial Behavior

The display and regulation of child anger in family interaction was coded in a sample of 240 boys and girls at child age 6, and coded using the Specific Affect Coding System. Child antisocial behavior was longitudinally assessed, beginning in kindergarten. Pooled‐ and family‐level analyses were used to assess hazard rates for child anger. Parents’ ability to modulate their own emotions and negative behavior, and children's ability to down‐regulate anger were associated with increased latency for child anger. Hazard for child anger increased as parents’ insensitive and negative responses toward the child cumulated during family interaction. Macro‐level, non‐hazard analyses indicated that chronic levels of child antisocial behavior were associated with the frequency of parental negative behavior, but not with the frequency of child anger. Micro‐level hazard analyses indicated that children's ability to regulate anger was related to chronic levels of child covert but not overt antisocial behavior.     

Parental Mental Illness,Family Living Arrangements,and Child Behavior

The association between family living arrangements and children's behavior problems is examined in 306 children with mentally ill parents. Children living with alternative families (with adoptive or foster parents or with other relatives) display fewer behavior problems than children living with two biological parents, a single biological parent, or a biological and a stepparent. The proportion of mentally ill family members and the degree of mother-child discord explain the vanations in children's behavior problems among the different living arrangements. Thus, in placement decisions, the prevailing legal principle of safeguarding the integrity of the child's biological family should be weighed against the mother-child relationship and the mental health of the family members.     

Correlates of Depressive Symptoms among Homebound and Semi-Homebound Older Adults

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to provide a national profile of homebound and semi-homebound older adults with depressive symptoms and to compare risk factors of depressive symptoms by homebound status. A sample of 1,885 homebound and semi-homebound older adults was selected from Round 1 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 43.9% in homebound older adults and 28.1% in semi-homebound older adults, representing over 830,000 and 1.4 million individuals in the population, respectively. Nearly two-thirds of homebound and over half of semi-homebound older adults with clinically significant depressive symptoms also had significant anxiety symptoms. Results from logistic regression showed that younger age, certain medical morbidities, severity of functional limitations, and pain were common risk factors for depressive symptoms among homebound and semi-homebound older adults. Some differences in the risk factor profile emerged between the homebound and the semi-homebound populations. Alleviating the burden of depression in the semi-homebound population may focus on early prevention that considers the diversity of this population. Home-based, integrated programs of health and mental health services that simultaneously address the medical, psychiatric, and neurologic comorbidities and disabilities of homebound older adults are needed to meet the complex needs of this population.     

Maternal Differential Treatment and Child Adjustment: A Multi-informant Approach

The study aimed to replicate previous links with children's adjustment as well as using children's reports of maternal differential treatment (MDT) to test whether difference scores or favouritism scores demonstrate stronger links with child outcome. Finally, it tested for a unique prediction of children's adjustment from distinct aspects and informants of MDT. The sample consisted of 173 working- and middle-class English families with two children aged four to eight years. Mothers provided reports of the mother–child relationship, and both mothers and fathers provided reports of the children's problematic behaviour. The children also provided reports of parent–child relationships and perceived favouritism via a puppet interview. Results confirmed moderate links between MDT and children's adjustment and showed that difference scores provided a better prediction of adjustment than did the favouritism scores. Finally, the results showed that mothers' reports of differential positive feelings were the most salient aspect of MDT for older siblings whereas mothers' reports of negative feelings and positive discipline were the most salient aspects of MDT for younger siblings.