Trajectories of Internalizing Symptoms From Early Childhood to Adolescence: Associations With Temperament and Parenting

Despite the great number of children affected by anxiety and depression, developmental trajectories of internalizing disorders are not well understood. The current study applied a group‐based modeling approach to examine the interplay between the temperamental trait of negative emotionality and parenting on internalizing symptoms from early childhood to adolescence. Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 881), analyses revealed that a four‐group model best characterized trajectories of internalizing symptoms from the age of 4.5 to the age of 15. Interestingly, children with high negative emotionality were more likely to belong to groups with elevated levels of internalizing symptoms if their mothers exhibited high warmth/sensitivity. Our findings add to the understanding of developmental pathways of internalizing problems from early childhood to adolescence by suggesting that certain combinations of temperament and parenting may increase youth's propensity to develop internalizing problems.     

Temperamental,Parental, and Contextual Contributors to Early‐emerging Internalizing Problems: A New Integrative Analysis Approach

This study evaluated a comprehensive model of factors associated with internalizing problems (IP) in early childhood, hypothesizing direct, mediated, and moderated pathways linking child temperamental inhibition, maternal overcontrol and rejection, and contextual stressors to IP. In a novel approach, three samples were integrated to form a large sample (N = 500) of Canadian children (2–6 years; M = 3.95 years; SD = .80). Items tapping into the same constructs across samples were used to create parallel measures of inhibited temperament, maternal positive, critical, and punitive parenting, maternal negative emotionality, family socioeconomic and structural stressors, and child's IP. Multiple‐groups structural equation modeling indicated that associations were invariant across samples and did not differ for boys and girls. Child inhibition, less positive and more critical parenting, maternal negative emotionality, and family socioeconomic disadvantage were found to have direct associations with IP. In addition, maternal negative emotionality was associated with IP through more critical parenting, and both maternal negative emotionality and socioeconomic stress were associated with IP through less positive parenting. Results highlight the multiple independent and cumulative risk factors for early IP and demonstrate the power of integrating data across developmental studies.     

Emotion Knowledge,Loneliness, Negative Social Experiences,and Internalizing Symptoms Among Low‐income Preschoolers

Children with poor emotion knowledge (EK) skills are at risk for externalizing problems; less is known about early internalizing behavior. We examined multiple facets of EK and social‐emotional experiences relevant for internalizing difficulties, including loneliness, victimization, and peer rejection, in Head Start preschoolers (N = 134; M = 60 months). Results based on multiple informants suggest that facets of EK are differentially related to negative social‐emotional experiences and internalizing behavior and that sex plays a moderating role. Behavioral EK was associated with self‐reported loneliness, victimization/rejection, and parent‐reported internalizing symptoms. Emotion recognition and expressive EK were related to self‐reported loneliness, and emotion situation knowledge was related to parent‐reported internalizing symptoms and negative peer nominations. Sex moderated many of these associations, suggesting that EK may operate differently for girls vs. boys in the preschool social context. Results are discussed with regard to the role of EK for social development and intervention implications.     

Parenting and children’s prosocial and problem behaviors in middle childhood: The role of Turkish mothers’ emotion socialization practices

Mechanisms by which the relations between different parenting behaviors and children’s prosocial and problem behaviors occur are the focus of the current study. Supportive and nonsupportive emotion socialization practices of mothers were considered as potential mediators. Further, the moderator role of gender was explored. Participants were 228 mothers of 6‐ to 11‐year‐old children living in Ankara, Turkey. Scales assessing parenting behaviors (specifically, positive parenting and inconsistent discipline), maternal reactions to children’s negative emotions, and prosocial and problem behaviors of children were completed by the mothers. The results revealed that supportive emotion socialization practices fully mediated the relation between positive parenting behaviors and both boys’ and girls’ prosocial behaviors. In contrast, nonsupportive emotion socialization practices partially mediated the relation between inconsistent parenting behaviors and problem behaviors, but only for girls. Findings indicated that girls were more vulnerable to their mothers’ inconsistent behaviors possibly because mother–daughter dyads are more likely to use emotion‐related language and to discuss emotions than mother–son dyads from a very early age.     

Pathways to Problem Behaviors: Chaotic Homes, Parent and Child Effortful Control, and Parenting

Guided by Belsky's and Eisenberg, Cumberland, and Spinrad's heuristic models, we tested a process model with hypothesized paths from parents' effortful control (EC) and family chaos to indices of parenting to children's EC, and finally children's externalizing problem behavior. Parents reported on all constructs and children ( N = 188; M age = 9.55 years) reported on their EC and externalizing problem behaviors. Consistent with expectations, parents' EC promoted their positive (and inhibited negative) reactions to children's negative emotions. In addition, high levels of family chaos predicted low levels of parental positive reactions to children's emotion. Children's EC was predicted by high levels of positive reactions and low levels of negative reactions. As expected, children's externalizing problem behaviors were negatively related to their EC. Results clarify possible family processes by which children's EC is enhanced and problem behaviors are reduced.     

Connecting with Parents: Mothers' Depressive Symptoms and Responsive Behaviors in the Regulation of Social Contact by One- and Young Two-year-olds

When children act to involve mothers in positive interaction, they influence the amount, timing, and content of parent–child exchanges. By assessing children's smiling and positive initiation, we examined child behaviors that function to create positive interaction. In a non-clinical North American sample of 103 mothers and their 14- to 27-month-olds, we observed that children attempted to connect positively with mothers (1) more with age, (2) more frequently and quickly immediately after mothers were responsive, (3) more with mothers who were generally supportive, and (4) more with mothers low in depressive symptoms. When mothers were high in depressive symptoms, age-related increases in smiling and positive initiation were absent. Findings demonstrate the importance of maternal depression and responsiveness to child behaviors that involve mothers in ongoing activity. They suggest that both immediate cues and children's stored knowledge related to how mothers will respond may regulate children's positive connecting behaviors.     

The Association of Behavioural Adjustment to Temperament, Parenting and Family Characteristics among 5-Year-Old Children

The objective of this study was to identify specific temperament, parenting, and family variables, and their interactions, which predict problem behaviours and social skills in children. The subjects were 74 5–6 year old children (34 boys, 40 girls). Results showed different combinations of variables predicted each behavioural outcome, and the child's 'goodness of fit' in the home was a strong predictor of externalising behaviour and social skills. An interaction between temperamental inflexibility and punitive parenting in the development of parent-rated externalising behaviour problems was found. This study highlights the value of using specific indices of temperament, parenting and family functioning and of pursuing interaction effects in the prediction of children's behavioural development.     

Development of Empathy in Girls During the Second Year of Life: Associations with Parenting, Attachment, and Temperament

The development, antecedents, and concomitants of empathic concern in the second year of life were examined. Associations with parental sensitivity, children's fearfulness and attachment security were investigated. At 16 and at 22 months, 125 firstborn girls from middle‐class families were observed in their homes and in the laboratory. Empathic concern was assessed from the girls’ responses to simulated distress in their mothers and in an unfamiliar person. Temperamental fearfulness was observed when they were confronted with potentially scary items. Attachment security was assessed with the Strange Situation procedure, and parental sensitivity was measured in problem‐solving situations both at home and in the lab. From 16 to 22 months, empathic concern for the mother's distress increased, whereas empathy for the stranger decreased. A more fearful temperament and less attachment security predicted less empathic concern for the stranger's distress. Antecedent and concurrent measures of parenting showed disappointingly weak associations with empathic concern. Empathy for strangers in distress requires the regulation of negative emotions for which fearful and insecurely attached girls seem to be less well equipped.     

Parenting and children’s negative emotionality,self‐regulation,and academic skills: The moderating role of fathers’ residency

We examined whether fathers’ residency modified the associations among mothers’ supportiveness, father involvement, children’s negative emotionality during toddlerhood and children’s academic skills in pre‐kindergarten via children’s self‐regulation. Participants were 2,291 mothers (M_age = 23.24 years) and children (M_age = 14.99 months at Wave 1; 50.7% girls) in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project. Results revealed distinctive associations by fathers’ residency: self‐regulation mediated the association between mothers’ supportiveness and academic skills only in resident‐father‐families. Self‐regulation mediated the association between negative emotionality and academic skills only in nonresident‐father‐families. The findings highlight the family processes of mothers, fathers, and children in low‐income family contexts that contribute to children’s academic skills, and how those family processes may vary by fathers’ residency status.     

Mothers' Representations of Relationships with their Children: Relations with Parenting Behavior, Mother Characteristics, and Child Disability Status

Representational models of mother-child relationships were assessed through interview for 112 mothers of children ages 14 to 52 months. Fifty-eight (51.8%) children had a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, 19 (17%) were diagnosed with epilepsy, while the remaining 35 (31.3%) had no diagnosis. Relations were examined between dimensions of representations (compliance, achievement, secure base, enmeshment, worry, pain) and maternal age, education and stress; diagnostic group and child developmental status; and mother's behavior with the child in a problem-solving task. Mothers for whom boundary violations were represented were also less focused with child achievement and experienced more worry and pain in the relationship. More severe disability status was associated with less compliance and more pain in representations. Longer time since diagnosis was positively correlated with painful representations. Representations were unrelated to child gender, child age, maternal education or age, or parenting stress. With educational level controlled, mothers' support for the child and positive affect in a problem-solving task were negatively related to representations of worry about the child's future. Boundary concerns were predictive of mothers' pressuring behavior in the problem-solving task. Findings suggest representations are related to caregiving behavior apart from other maternal characteristics, and that mothers' representations reflect variability in their children.     

Proactive Parenting and Children's Effortful Control: Mediating Role of Language and Indirect Intervention Effects

We examined associations of proactive parenting, child verbal ability, and child effortful control within the context of a randomized prevention trial focused on enhancing parenting practices in low‐income families. Participants (N = 731) were assessed annually from the age of two to five, with half randomly assigned to the Family Check‐Up (FCU). Results indicated that the child's verbal ability at the age of three partially mediated the influence of proactive parenting at the age of two on children's effortful control at the age of five. More importantly, the FCU indirectly facilitated children's effortful control by sequentially improving proactive parenting and children's verbal ability. The findings are discussed with respect to taking a more integrative approach to understanding early predictors and the promotion of self‐regulation in early childhood.     

Racial and Ethnic Variation in the Predictors of Maternal Parenting Stress

ABSTRACT

Little is known about racial and ethnic disparities in maternal parenting stress. Using Belsky's (1984) conceptual model, which characterizes parenting stress as a function of maternal and child characteristics and social context, we examine determinants of parenting stress among Mexican American mothers in comparison to non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black mothers. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being (FFCWB) Study, we analyze a sample of 2,898 mothers. According to our findings, patterns of parenting stress for non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black mothers are fairly consistent with Belsky's model. However, for Mexican American mothers, social support, but not partner support, ameliorates parenting stress, and depression is not associated with parenting stress. Importantly, despite significant social disadvantage, parenting stress levels in Mexican American mothers do not significantly differ from those of non-Hispanic Whites. Specific recommendations are made to practitioners for culturally competent responses to parenting stress with Mexican American families.     

Different Effects of Acculturative Stress and Family Life Stress on Depressive Symptoms among Married Vietnamese Immigrant Women in South Korea

Married Vietnamese immigrant women often face multiple stressors related to sociocultural adaptation and new family lives in South Korea. The purpose of this paper is to identify the different influences of acculturative and family life stress on depressive symptoms among Vietnamese immigrant wives. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 301 married Vietnamese immigrant women residing in South Korea. The study utilized linear regression analysis to test the relationships between the variables. The findings show that both acculturative and family life stress are positively related to depressive symptoms. Family life stress influences depressive symptoms to a greater extent than acculturative stress. The study emphasizes the significance of family‐related stress on mental health among married Vietnamese immigrant women in Korea and provides some implications for research, clinical practice, and policy.     

Parenting Stress and Perceived Family Functioning of Chinese Parents in Hong Kong: Implications for Social Work Practice

This article reports the results of a telephone survey (n = 1002) conducted in November 2008, which aimed to identify parenting stress and perceived family functioning of Chinese parents in Hong Kong; to explore the effects of the parents’ socio‐demographic characteristics (gender, family income, education and family structure) on the aforementioned stress and functioning variables; and to examine the interrelationship among these characteristics and the two variables in question. Results showed that the reported parenting stress was at average level, while the perceived family functioning was slightly below average. The results also indicated that the parenting stress of mothers, single parents, the low‐income and the less‐educated was higher than that of fathers, parents of nuclear and extended families, the high‐income and the better‐educated. Socio‐demographic characteristics except the parent’s gender had similar effects on perceived family functioning. Higher parenting stress was associated with lower family functioning, and explained a larger variance in the perceived family functioning than the socio‐demographic characteristics taken alone. The results of the study have provided empirical support regarding the interrelationships among the vulnerable groups in society, parenting stress and perceived family functioning. Implications of the study for social work practice are discussed.     

The Effects of Family-Friendly Policies and Workplace Social Support on Parenting Stress in Employed Mothers Working Nonstandard Hours

This study examines whether family-friendly policies (childcare leave, on-site childcare, and flexible working hours) and workplace social support (supervisor and coworker support) in South Korea are directly related to parenting stress among employed mothers with nonstandard work schedules. In addition, this study investigates the moderating role of family-supportive organization perceptions in the aforesaid associations. Data were collected from 223 employed mothers who have nonstandard work schedules with at least one or more children under the age of six. Results show that on-site childcare, flexible working hours, and supervisor support are negatively associated with parenting stress, whereas childcare leave is positively associated with parenting stress. Employed mothers with high family-supportive organization perceptions report low levels of parenting stress when they received high levels of supervisor support or did not take childcare leave. Additionally, employed mothers with low family-supportive organization perceptions report high levels of parenting stress when they did not use on-site childcare. Consequently, our findings indicate that employed mothers’ greater family-supportive organization perceptions are key factor reducing their parenting stress when they are limited to use family-friendly policies. Implications are discussed in terms of the importance of work-family intervention to the work-family balance among mothers working nonstandard hours.     

The Parent Concerns Questionnaire and Parenting Stress Index: comparison of two Common Assessment Framework‐compatible assessment instruments

There is a long‐standing interest in finding ways to develop systematic and consistent means for conducting assessments. Behind this lies a concern with issues such as adequate responses to need, prevention, early intervention and evidence‐based practice. The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) has been developed for wide use for families with additional needs, for various contexts, including children's centres. This, however, has been subject to some criticism. Two instruments with considerable potential relevance to areas consistently important in child and family assessment, focusing on parents (and hence likely to be of generic use with CAF), are the Parent Concerns Questionnaire (PCQ), developed specifically in relation to children's social care populations, and Parenting Stress Index (PSI). The way forward is to investigate empirically what they offer to practice. This paper examines their potential for practice in children's centres through a comparative methodology, an approach particularly suitable to identifying the distinctive qualities and contribution of each. The findings demonstrate both have considerable potential relevance for practice, outlines what each offers, with the detailed individual assessments and its ecological framework characteristic of the PCQ providing benefits additional to the PSI.     

Parenting Mediates the Effects of Income and Cumulative Risk on the Development of Effortful Control

This study tested the hypothesis that the effects of income and cumulative risk on the development of effortful control during preschool would be mediated by parenting. The study utilized a community sample of 306 children (36–40 months) representing the full range of family income, with 29 percent at or near poverty and 28 percent lower income. Two dimensions of effortful control (executive control and delay ability) were assessed at four time points, each separated by nine months, and growth trajectories were examined. Maternal warmth, negativity, limit setting, scaffolding, and responsiveness were observed. Above the effects of child cognitive ability, income, and cumulative risk, scaffolding predicted higher initial levels of executive control that remained higher across the study, and limit setting predicted greater gains in executive control. Parenting did not predict changes in delay ability. Significant indirect effects indicated that scaffolding mediated the effects of income and cumulative risk on growth in executive control. The findings suggest that parenting behaviors can promote effortful control in young children and could be targets of prevention programs in low‐income families.     

Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence: The Role of Parent Emotion Socialization and Children's Emotion Regulation Abilities

Exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) is a traumatic life event. Almost 50 percent of IPV‐exposed children show subsequent post‐traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and they are at increased risk for depression. We examined maternal emotion socialization and children's emotion regulation as a pathway that may protect IPV‐exposed children from developing PTSS and depression. Fifty‐eight female survivors of IPV and their 6‐ to 12‐year‐old children participated. Results showed no direct relations between maternal emotion socialization and child adjustment. However, several indirect effects were observed. Higher mother awareness and acceptance of sadness and awareness of fear predicted better child sadness and fear regulation, respectively, which in turn was related to fewer child PTSS. Similar indirect pathways were found with child depression. In addition, mothers’ acceptance and coaching of anger was associated with better child anger regulation, which related to fewer depression symptoms. Implications for prevention and intervention with high‐risk families are discussed.     

The contribution of emotion knowledge,language ability,and maternal emotion socialization style to explaining toddlers’ emotion regulation

In this study, we set out to advance understanding of the association between emotion knowledge (EK) and emotion regulation (ER) in toddlerhood, by innovatively examining a model that simultaneously takes into account both individual factors, such as age, gender, and language ability, and contextual factors, such as maternal emotion socialization styles (coaching vs. dismissing). Participants were 242 toddlers (141 girls; M_age = 28.79 months, SD = 3.48) and their mothers (M_age = 35.60 years; SD = 4.95). We evaluated children’s language ability and ER via parent‐report questionnaires, assessing their EK via a direct measure individually administered at the nursery. The mothers also completed a questionnaire on their own emotion socialization style. Children’s EK was positively correlated with their ER skills as reported by their parents. Structural equation modeling showed that emotion‐dismissing maternal behaviors were significantly negatively associated with toddlers’ emotional competencies whereas maternal emotion‐coaching styles were significantly positively associated with higher levels of these competences. Finally, language ability was positively associated with ER. We discuss the theoretical and educational implications of these outcomes, as well as potential new lines of inquiry.     

A prospective study of adolescent mothers’ social competence,children's effortful control and compliance and children's subsequent developmental outcomes

Previous work has established that caregiver and child temperamental characteristics are associated with child compliance. Given the critical role that parents play in this process, and that children of teen mothers are at risk for poorer developmental outcomes, it is important to understand the development of compliance in the context of at‐risk parenting such as adolescent motherhood. The current study examined child compliance (Wave 5; W5) as a mediator of the association between adolescent mothers’ social competence (Wave 4; W4) and children's behavioral and academic outcomes (Wave 6; W6), and whether this mediation varied depending on children's effortful control (W4) in a sample of 204 Mexican‐origin adolescent mothers (M_age at W4 = 19.94, SD = .99) and their children (M_age at W4 = 36.21 months, SD = .45). Adolescent mothers reported on their own social competence and their children's effortful control and externalizing problems; compliance was assessed using observational methods; and academic readiness was assessed using standardized developmental assessments. Findings based on structural equation modeling revealed that adolescent mothers’ social competence was positively related to children's compliance among children with high effortful control, but not among those with low effortful control. Moreover, child compliance mediated the longitudinal association between adolescent mothers’ social competence and child externalizing problems and academic readiness. Discussion focuses on the importance of considering the role of child temperament in understanding how adolescent mothers’ social competence is subsequently associated with children's social and academic adjustment.