Maternal Frontal EEG Asymmetry and Chronic Stressors Moderate the Link between Child Conduct Problems and Maternal Negativity

Frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry is associated with individual differences in positive/negative emotionality and approach/avoidance tendencies. The current study examined the moderating role of maternal resting frontal EEG asymmetry on the link between child behavior problems and maternal harsh parenting within the context of differing degrees of chronic family stressors (father unemployment, single parenthood, caring for multiple children, and household chaos). The sample included 121 mother–child pairs. Results showed that stressors and frontal EEG asymmetry together moderated the link. Child problem behaviors were moderately associated with greater maternal negativity for mothers with right frontal asymmetry, or mothers who experienced more stressors. However, no association existed between child behavior problems and maternal negativity for mothers with few stressors and left frontal asymmetry. The findings implicate transactions between household stress and a psychophysiological indicator of maternal emotional reactivity and mothers' approach/avoidance tendencies in the etiology of parental negativity toward challenging child behaviors.     

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.     

Dimensions of Parenting Associated with Child Prekindergarten Emotion Regulation and Attention Control in Low‐income Families

Delays in emotion regulation and attention control are common among children growing up in poverty, and they contribute to significant socioeconomic gaps in school readiness and later school attainment. In this study, the emotion regulation and attention control skills of 210 prekindergarten Head Start participants were assessed (M age = 4.80 years old). Home interviews and videotaped parent–child interactions were used to evaluate three aspects of parenting (e.g., warm‐sensitive, directive‐critical, and parenting stress). Structural equation models documented significant, unique associations linking directive‐critical parenting and parenting stress with poor child emotion regulation skills. Directive‐critical parenting was also uniquely associated with low levels of child attention control. Warm‐sensitive parenting was not uniquely related to either emotion regulation or attention control at this age. The findings suggest that, by prekindergarten, parent stress management and reduced directiveness emerge as the primary correlates of child emotion regulation and attention control whereas warm‐sensitive parenting plays a diminished role.     

Parent Characteristics and Early Coparenting Behavior at the Transition to Parenthood

This study examined parent characteristics as correlates of coparenting behavior in 57 primiparous couples. Parents' negative emotionality and perceptions of maternal acceptance in childhood, mothers' beliefs about fathers' roles, and observed marital behavior and family socioeconomic status were assessed during the third trimester of pregnancy, and coparenting behavior was observed at 3.5 months postpartum. Couples who exhibited high‐quality marital interaction showed higher supportive coparenting behavior, but couples who showed lower quality marital interaction demonstrated higher supportive coparenting behavior when mothers held more progressive beliefs about fathers' roles. Couples showed more undermining coparenting behavior when family socioeconomic status was lower and when fathers were higher on negative emotionality. Greater perceived maternal acceptance in childhood was only associated with lower levels of undermining behavior when prenatal marital interaction was high in quality. Thus, the characteristics of both parents, especially in combination with preexisting marital behavior, are important determinants of coparenting behavior.     

Peers’ emotionality and children's academic achievement in second grade: Testing the moderating role of children's behavioral self-regulation

Although there is interest in the role of peers in children's schooling experiences, few researchers have examined associations and related underlying processes between peers’ emotionality, an aspect of temperament, and children's academic achievement. This study evaluated whether target children's (N = 260) own self-regulation, assessed with two behavioral measures, served a moderating function for associations between peers’ emotionality and children's own academic achievement in second grade. There was a positive association between peers’ positive emotionality and reading scores for children with higher self-regulation. Peers’ negative emotionality was negatively related to target children's reading scores, particularly for children with higher self-regulation levels, but was unrelated to math scores. Peers’ positive and negative emotionality did not predict math scores, and there was no strong evidence for the moderating role of target children's self-regulation in this association. This study highlights the potential role of children's self-regulation in modulating peer effects on academic achievement, particularly reading.     

Relations over Time among Children's Shyness,Emotionality, and Internalizing Problems

Data regarding children's shyness and emotionality were collected at three time points, two years apart (T1: N = 214, M = 6.12 years; T2: N = 185, M = 7.67 years; T3: N = 185, M = 9.70 years), and internalizing data were collected at T1 and T3. Relations among parent‐rated shyness, emotionality [parent‐ and teacher‐rated anger, sadness, and positive emotional intensity (EI)], and mother‐rated internalizing were examined in panel models. In some cases, shyness predicted emotionality two years later (teacher‐rated anger, parent‐rated sadness, and teacher‐rated positive EI) and emotionality sometimes predicted shyness two years later (teacher‐rated sadness, parent‐rated positive EI, and teacher‐rated positive EI). Parent‐rated shyness and/or emotionality (parent‐rated anger and parent‐rated sadness) predicted internalizing at T3. Results shed light on developmental relations between emotionality and shyness, as well as processes of risk for, or protection against, the development of internalizing problems.     

Does It Matter if Preschool Children and Mothers Discuss Positive vs. Negative Events During Reminiscing? Links with Mother‐reported Attachment,Family Emotional Climate,and Socioemotional Development

The purpose of the study was to examine the differential relations between mother–child reminiscing about a positive emotional event vs. a negative emotional event and attachment security, family climate, and young children's socioemotional development. Fifty preschool children (M age = 50.69 months, SD = 4.64) and their mothers completed two reminiscing conversations at the laboratory, which were coded for emotion‐laden discourse, affect, and elaboration, and children completed measures of emotional understanding and representations of relationships. At their homes, mothers completed the attachment Q‐sort and the self‐report family inventory. Both attachment security and family climate were related to the quality of mother–child affect and maternal elaboration during both positive and negative reminiscing conversations. Attachment security and family climate, however, were principally related to discussion of emotion during the negative event discussions. In addition, it was mother–child reminiscing about the negative emotional event that was associated with high levels of children's socioemotional development.     

Role of Temperament,Parenting Behaviors,and Stress on Turkish Preschoolers’ Internalizing Symptoms

Child‐ and family‐related factors that predict internalizing symptoms are understudied in preschool years and have a negative influence on children's functioning. We examined observational assessments of preschoolers' temperamental fearfulness and exuberance, mother reports of negative control, warmth, and parenting stress in a sample of 109 Turkish preschoolers. High temperamental fearfulness and low joyful/exuberant positive affectivity in addition to low warmth and high parenting stress had significant effects on internalizing symptoms. Parenting stress had both direct and indirect relations to internalizing symptoms via lower maternal warmth. When comorbid elevations in externalizing symptoms were controlled, the results were consistent with the interpretation that poor parenting practices and stress associated with the parenting role predict maladaptation in general but that the specific form of maladaptation may be best predicted by individual differences in children's temperamental characteristics. This study contributes to our understanding of risk and protective factors that predict preschoolers' internalizing symptoms with a sample from a non‐Western population. These findings can guide early prevention and intervention programs to address internalizing problems in a culturally‐sensitive way.     

Perceived Maternal Autonomy Support and Early Adolescent Emotion Regulation: A Longitudinal Study

This study investigated longitudinal associations between perceived maternal autonomy‐supportive parenting and early adolescents' use of three emotion regulation (ER) styles: emotional integration, suppressive regulation, and dysregulation. We tested whether perceived maternal autonomy support predicted changes in ER and whether these ER styles, in turn, related to changes in adjustment (i.e., depressive symptoms, self‐esteem). Participants (N = 311, mean age at Time 1 = 12.04) reported on perceived maternal autonomy support, their ER styles, and adjustment at two moments in time, spanning a one‐year interval. Cross‐lagged analyses showed that perceived maternal autonomy support predicted increases in emotional integration and decreases in suppressive regulation. By contrast, emotional dysregulation predicted decreases in perceived autonomy‐supportive parenting. Further, increases in emotional integration were predictive of increases in self‐esteem, and decreases in suppressive regulation were predictive of decreases in depressive symptoms. Together, the results show that early adolescents' perception of their mothers as autonomy‐supportive is associated with increases in adaptive ER strategies and subsequent adjustment.     

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.     

Maternal influences on effortful control in adolescence: Developmental pathways to externalizing behaviors

Adolescents' effortful control is subject to numerous maternal influences. Specifically, a mother's own effortful control is associated with her child's effortful control. However, maternal substance use, psychopathology, and stress within the parenting role may also lead to poor effortful control for their child. Poor effortful control during adolescence can subsequently contribute to a variety of negative outcomes, including externalizing behaviors. A sample of 460 adolescents (47% female, 59.3% Non‐Hispanic Caucasian) was selected from a longitudinal, multigenerational study. The goal was to examine maternal effortful control, substance use, psychopathology, and stress in their offspring's childhood (M_age = 6.27) and their influence on their children's effortful control in early adolescence (M_age = 12.21) and the subsequent effect of effortful control on adolescents’ externalizing behavior (M_age = 13.53). Maternal effortful control (measured via conscientiousness) and psychopathology were associated with adolescent effortful control, which was associated with externalizing behavior a year later. Additionally, there was a significant indirect association between maternal effortful control and adolescent externalizing behaviors via adolescent effortful control. Thus, adolescent effortful control is associated with maternal effortful control but also subject to specific maternal risk factors in childhood. These results inform potential maternal strategies for promoting positive developmental outcomes in adolescents.     

Longitudinal trajectories of maternal parenting stress in Korean families: Children's executive function and school adjustment

A majority of mothers experience parenting stress in daily life; however high levels of maternal stress have been recognized as a risk factor for children's developmental outcomes. We examined trajectories of maternal parenting stress across childhood, and their longitudinal relations to children's executive function and school adjustment. Data were drawn from the Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC), which included 1754 mothers across five waves measured at children ages 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 (boys = 51%). Results of Latent Growth Curve Modeling (LGCM) revealed that, on average, maternal parenting stress decreased over time, but there were significant variabilities in the initial levels at age 3 and changes across early through middle childhood. High initial levels of stress and an increase in maternal parenting stress over time were associated with lower executive function at age 7 in planning-organizing and attention concentration. An increment in maternal parenting stress over time was related to poorer school adjustment at age 7, measured by classroom behavior, positive approach to learning, and child-peer and child-teacher relationships. These findings support cultural commonality and may contribute to the instantiation of culturally universal, early preventions and interventions to support mothers’ mental health. Efforts aimed at reducing maternal parenting stress early in development may promote better long-term developmental outcomes, including executive functioning and school adjustment of children in their first year of elementary school.     

The relations between maternal mental state talk and preschoolers’ behavioral adaptation and school readiness: moderation by emotion situation knowledge

This study investigated the extent to which associations between mothers' elaborated talk about mental states and preschoolers’ behavioral adaptation (i.e., social competence and internalizing and externalizing behavior) and school readiness were moderated by emotion situation knowledge. Families (N = 120) were mostly middle‐income and White and 70 of the preschoolers (M = 50.65 months, SD = 6.19) were boys. Results revealed a positive association between elaborated maternal mental state talk and social competence, but only for children average and high in emotion situation knowledge. For children low in emotion situation knowledge, there was a positive association between elaborated maternal mental state talk and internalizing behavior. There also was a negative relation between elaborated maternal mental state talk and school readiness for preschoolers low in emotion situation knowledge. Findings highlight the importance of considering emotion situation knowledge when examining associations between elaborated maternal mental state talk and young children’s social behavioral adaptation and readiness for school.     

The Role of the Family Context in the Development of Emotion Regulation

This article reviews current literature examining associations between components of the family context and children and adolescents' emotion regulation (ER). The review is organized around a tripartite model of familial influence. Firstly, it is posited that children learn about ER through observational learning, modeling and social referencing. Secondly, parenting practices specifically related to emotion and emotion management affect ER. Thirdly, ER is affected by the emotional climate of the family via parenting style, the attachment relationship, family expressiveness and the marital relationship. The review ends with discussions regarding the ways in which child characteristics such as negative emotionality and gender affect ER, how socialization practices change as children develop into adolescents, and how parent characteristics such as mental health affect the socialization of ER.     

Demographics, Parenting, and Theory of Mind in Preschool Children

This research examined associations among demographic variables, parenting strategies, and a theory of mind battery including measures of perception, desire, belief, and emotion understanding in 142 preschool‐aged children. In correlational analyses, maternal education and, to a lesser extent, income were associated with a number of aspects of theory of mind. Additionally, mothers’ use of instruction in response to child misbehavior was positively associated with perception and desire understanding whereas mothers’ use of consequences and power assertion were negatively associated with aspects of theory of mind. In regression analyses controlling for children's cognitive ability and age, maternal education continued to be positively associated with perception understanding. Power assertion was negatively associated with belief understanding, but positively associated with emotion understanding. Finally, mothers’ use of consequences in response to child misbehaviors was negatively related to emotion understanding.     

Cultural differences in maternal emotion control values and children's expressive flexibility

Expressive flexibility is the ability to express or suppress one's emotions to meet the demands of the situation. Recent work suggests that expressive flexibility is associated with better adjustment. However, few studies have focused on expressive flexibility in children. In addition, there is a dearth of research on possible correlates, such as culture, parental emotion socialization, and socioeconomic status, that may be associated with expressive flexibility competencies in children. The purpose of this study was to investigate cultural differences in children's expressive flexibility, maternal emotion control values (ECVs), and their relations to family socioeconomic status (SES) during middle childhood in a sample of European American (N = 31, M age = 9.61 years; 54.8% males), Korean American (N = 38, M age = 9.16 years; 55.3% males) and South Korean children (N = 77, M age = 9.74 years; 51.9% males). Mothers reported on demographics and their emotion control values. Children's expressive flexibility ability was assessed using a lab-based observational measure. Multivariate analyses of covariance controlling for SES, child age, and gender suggested significant cultural differences in expressive flexibility, with the U.S. children (both European and Korean Americans) scoring higher on expressive flexibility compared to their South Korean counterparts. Results also suggested significant cultural differences regarding maternal ECVs; Korean Americans were more similar to South Koreans, both scoring higher on ECVs than European Americans. Socioeconomic status, but not maternal ECVs, were associated with children's expressive flexibility, independent of child age, sex, and culture.     

Cumulative Risk,Negative Emotionality,and Emotion Regulation as Predictors of Social Competence in Transition to School: A Mediated Moderation Model

The goals of this study were to examine the additive and interactive effects of cumulative risk and child negative emotionality on children's social competence in the transition from preschool to school and to test whether these associations were mediated by child emotion regulation within a sample of 310 low‐income, ethnically diverse boys. Multiple informants and methods were used to measure contextual risk factors and negative emotionality at the ages of 1.5 and two, emotion dysregulation at the age of 3.5, and social competence in the home at the age of five and in school at the age of six. Results indicated that the relation between cumulative risk and emotion dysregulation was amplified for children with higher levels of negative emotionality. In turn, emotion dysregulation predicted lower social competence across both the home and the school contexts. This study represents an early effort to develop an integrative model of social competence by considering joint contributions of contextual risk, negative emotionality, and emotion regulation.     

Gene‐environment correlations in the cross‐generational transmission of parenting: Grandparenting moderates the effect of child 5‐HTTLPR genotype on mothers' parenting

Evidence suggests that parenting is associated cross‐generationally and that children's genes may elicit specific parenting styles (evocative gene‐environment correlation). This study examined whether the effect of children's genotype, specifically 5‐HTTLPR, on mothers' parenting behaviors was moderated by her own parenting experiences from her mother. Two independent samples of three‐year‐olds (N = 476 and 405) were genotyped for the serotonin transporter gene, and observational measures of parenting were collected. Mothers completed measures of the parenting they received as children. The child having a short allele on 5‐HTTLPR was associated with more maternal hostility (Samples 1 and 2) and with less maternal support (Sample 1), but only if the mother reported lower quality grandmothers' parenting (abuse and indifference in Sample 1 and lower levels of grandmother care in Sample 2). Results support the possibility of a moderated evocative gene‐environment correlation.     

Psychosocial Precursors and Correlates of Differing Internalizing Trajectories from 3 to 15 Years1

Psychosocial precursors and correlates of parent‐reported internalizing behavior trajectories across the age span of 3–15 years were explored using a community‐based cohort of Australian children. Six internalizing trajectories had previously been identified for both girls (N = 810) and boys (N = 874) in this sample, comprising stable low, high, decreasing, and increasing pathways. Infancy and toddler temperamental traits (inhibition/shyness, irritability), behavior problems, and parent–child relationship difficulties constituted significant risks for subsequent problematic internalizing profiles. Several gender‐specific trends were evident, with temperamental reactivity and shyness, less optimal parenting, and peer difficulties more salient for girls on increasing trajectories whereas externalizing problems were more prominent among boys on increasing trajectories. Factors associated with recovery from elevated symptoms included higher levels of social competence, better parent and peer relations, and more positive school adjustment. Findings suggest that individual characteristics and relationship experiences may be involved in the development and course of internalizing problems.     

Age Differences in Stressors,Coping Resources,and General Well-Being Among Korean Immigrants

ABSTRACT

 This study explored 346 Korean immigrants living in California to examine: a) differences in stressors, coping resources, and general well-being (anxiety, depression, positive well-being, self-control, vitality, and general health) between younger (18–64 years old) and older (65–96 years old) Korean immigrants; and b) differences in associations of stressors and coping resources with general well-being in the 2 groups. Results revealed that the older immigrants experienced higher levels of socioeconomic stressors and psychological/physical problems. In addition, English-language problems, low education, and financial difficulties were more consistently associated with lower levels of general well-being in the older immigrants than in the younger immigrants. Social support, religious practice, and spiritual coping were more likely to alleviate the detrimental consequences of stressors on general well-being in the older immigrants than in the younger immigrants. To improve the general well-being of older Korean immigrants, the results suggest: a) emphasis of social and health care services with bilingual capability; b) improved social support systems; and c) utilization of spiritual assessments and interventions. Future research should extend the current study with longitudinal data of a more generalizable sample of Korean immigrants.