Trajectory of quality of mother-child interactions: Prospective links with child socioemotional functioning

Research shows that the quality of mother-child interactions is a robust antecedent of child socioemotional functioning. Yet, relatively little is known about the evolution of this relational quality over time, and even less about how changes in relational quality may bear on child adjustment. This study aimed to describe the trajectory of quality of mother-child interactions between ages 2 and 7 and to investigate associations between individual differences in this trajectory and child socioemotional functioning at age 8. In a sample of 233 mother-child dyads primarily comprised of White French-Canadian mothers, the quality of interactions was assessed during 10-min play sequences when children were aged 2, 4, and 7 years. Child internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors were reported by a subsample of 171 teachers at age 8. The results showed that on average, quality of mother-child interactions decreased over time. In terms of individual differences, children who experienced a slower decrease in the quality of interactions with their mother from 2 to 7 years showed less internalizing behavior at age 8, over and above initial quality at 2 years. Children involved in higher quality interactions with their mother at 2 years showed more prosocial and less externalizing behavior at age 8, independent of the subsequent decrease in the quality of those interactions. The findings suggest that initial levels and subsequent changes in the quality of mother-child interactions are two distinct indicators of their relationship with potentially different implications for child adjustment.     

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.     

Parental emotion regulation strategies and parenting quality predict child internalizing symptoms in families experiencing homelessness

Adaptive emotion regulation (ER) in parents has been linked to better parenting quality and social–emotional adjustment in children from middle‐income families. In particular, early childhood may represent a sensitive period in which parenting behaviors and functioning have large effects on child social–emotional adjustment. However, little is known about how parent ER and parenting are related to child adjustment in high‐risk families. In the context of adversity, parents may struggle to maintain positive parenting behaviors and adaptive self‐regulation strategies which could jeopardize their children's adjustment. The current study investigated parents' own cognitive ER strategies and observed parenting quality in relation to young children's internalizing and externalizing problems among families experiencing homelessness. Participants included 108 primary caregivers and their 4–6‐year‐old children residing in emergency shelters. Using multiple methods, parenting and parent ER were assessed during a shelter stay and teachers subsequently provided ratings of children's internalizing and externalizing difficulties in the classroom. Parenting quality was expected to predict fewer classroom internalizing and externalizing behaviors as well as moderate the association between parent ER strategies and child outcomes. Results suggest that parenting quality buffered the effects of parent maladaptive ER strategies on child internalizing symptoms. The mediating role of parenting quality on that association was also investigated to build on prior empirical work in low‐risk samples. Parenting quality did not show expected mediating effects. Findings suggest that parents experiencing homelessness who use fewer maladaptive cognitive ER strategies and more positive parenting behaviors may protect their children against internalizing problems.     

Sibling Relationships and Social-emotional Adjustment in Different Family Contexts

The aims of this study were to examine family type (nonstep, stepfather, stepmother, and single mother) and sibling type (full‐ and half‐siblings) differences in sibling relationship quality (positivity and negativity), and to investigate links between sibling relationship quality and child externalizing and internalizing problems. The sample included 192 families with a 5‐year‐old target child and an older sibling. In addition, 80 of these families included a third older child. Mothers and the older siblings (8 years and older) completed questionnaires and interviews regarding conflict and support in their sibling relationships, and parents and teachers reported on each child's social‐emotional adjustment. Sibling negativity (conflict, aggression) was highest in single‐mother families and full‐siblings were more negative than half‐ and stepsiblings. There was some evidence that sibling antagonism was associated with more child behavioral and emotional problems, but these effects were moderated by family type.     

Assessing low‐income African‐American pre‐schoolers' behaviour problems in relationship to community violence,inter‐partner conflict,parenting, informal social support and social skills

This study examined the relations among community violence exposure, inter‐partner conflict and informal social support and the behaviour problems of pre‐schoolers, and explored how mothers' parenting skills and children's social skills may mediate the child outcomes associated with such exposure. Participants were 185 African‐American mothers and female caregivers of Head Start children who completed study measures in a structured interview. Path analyses revealed that greater inter‐partner conflict was associated with more internalizing and externalizing child behaviour problems. Positive parenting was associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviours. Higher levels of child social skills were associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems. Child social skills fully mediated the relationship between community violence and externalizing behaviours as well as between informal support and externalizing behaviours. Social skills partially mediated the relationships between positive parenting and externalizing behaviours. No mediating effect was found on the relationships between inter‐partner conflict and child behaviour problems. Implications of the findings for intervention and future research are discussed.     

A Longitudinal Study of Mother-Child Relationships and Theory of Mind in the Preschool Period

To investigate individual differences in theory of mind acquisition, this study examined whether different aspects of early mother-child relationships contributed to the development of false belief understanding at the close of the preschool period. Forty-six mother and child pairs were seen when children were two and again at five years of age. At age two, home-based Q-sort observations of attachment security and maternal sensitivity were made, and mothers completed a number of self-report measures to create an aggregate of maternal emotional distress. At age five, attachment security and maternal distress were reassessed, and false belief tasks were administered that were based on unexpected identities and locations of objects. In addition, attachment-relevant false belief tasks involving separation from caregivers were also used, which children found significantly more difficult than tasks involving objects. Age five security predicted object location task performance. Maternal sensitivity and emotional distress at age two predicted later caregiver location task performance, even controlling for age five measures. These results support a growing literature on the importance of relationship processes and parenting context to theory of mind acquisition.     

Relational and Individual Resources as Predictors of Empathy in Early Childhood

The goal of this study was to examine children's cognitive and language development and social engagement of mother as mediators of the relationship between maternal emotional availability at 15 months and children's empathy at the ages of two and four. Participants were 661 low-income, ethnically diverse mother-child dyads participating in a trial of home visitation in the Denver area. Using home- and lab-based free-play episodes, mothers' emotional availability (15 months) and children's social engagement of mother (21 and 24 months) were assessed. Standardized measures were used to assess children's language development (21 months) and cognitive development (24 months). Empathy was assessed using a simulated injury paradigm at ages two (both 21 and 24 months) and four. The predictive models supported the hypothesis that the child's cognitive and social resources mediate the relationship between maternal emotional availability and children's empathy with respect to empathy at the age of two toward both mothers and an unfamiliar examiner. These results indicate that parental sensitive behavior is not the only important condition for predicting children's empathy, and that children's own internalized resources are a likely mechanism of transmission from parents caring for their children to children learning to care for others.     

Caregiver Emotional Expressiveness,Child Emotion Regulation,and Child Behavior Problems among Head Start Families

The present study examined the relationships between caregivers' self‐reported positive and negative emotional expressiveness, observer assessments of children's emotion regulation, and teachers' reports of children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors in a sample of 97 primarily African American and Hispanic Head Start families. Results indicated that higher caregiver negativity and lower child emotion regulation independently predicted more internalizing behavior problems in children. Additionally, children's externalizing behavior problems were negatively predicted by caregivers' self‐reports of positive emotional expressiveness. Importantly, results also suggested that caregivers' emotional expressiveness and children's behavioral problems may be non‐linearly related, and that child gender may play an important moderating role. These results emphasize the importance of family emotional climate and child emotion regulation in the behavioral development of preschool‐age children, and highlight the need for improved theoretical and practical understanding of socioemotional development in diverse populations.     

Anxiousness, Frustration, and Effortful Control as Moderators of the Relation between Parenting and Adjustment in Middle-childhood

Interactions among multiple dimensions of child temperament and parenting were tested as predictors of change in child adjustment problems using a community sample (N = 188) of children (8–12 years). Significant interactions suggested that the effect of parenting on changes in problems were dependent upon temperament and, in some cases, child sex. Effortful control mitigated the potential negative impact of inconsistent discipline and physical punishment on externalizing problems, whereas frustration exacerbated the effects of inconsistent discipline and rejection. Anxiousness moderated parenting only for boys, mitigating the impact of inconsistent discipline on internalizing and externalizing problems but exacerbating the effects of physical punishment on externalizing problems. Implications for identifying children at risk for developing adjustment problems and for parenting interventions are discussed.     

Associations of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems with Facial Expression Recognition in Preschoolers: The Generation R Study

Altered patterns of facial expression recognition (FER) have been linked to internalizing and externalizing problems in school children and adolescents. In a large sample of preschoolers (N = 727), we explored concurrent and prospective associations between internalizing/externalizing problems and FER. Internalizing/externalizing problems were rated by parents at 18 and 36 months using the Child Behavior Checklist. FER was assessed at 36 months using age‐appropriate computer tasks of emotion matching and emotion labeling. Internalizing problems were associated with emotion‐specific differences at both ages: at 18 months they predicted more accurate labeling of sadness; at 36 months they were associated with less accurate labeling of happiness and anger. Externalizing problems at both ages were associated with general FER deficits, particularly for matching emotions. Findings suggest that in preschoolers, internalizing problems contribute to emotion‐specific differences in FER, while externalizing problems are associated with more general FER deficits. Knowledge of the specific FER patterns associated with internalizing/externalizing problems can be proven useful in the refinement of emotion‐centered preventive interventions.     

A Person‐Oriented Analysis of Social Withdrawal in Chinese Children

The goal of this study was to compare the socio‐emotional and academic adjustment of different subtypes of socially withdrawn (shy, unsociable, avoidant) school‐age children in mainland China. Participants were N = 1344 children ages 10–12 years from public elementary schools in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Multi‐source assessment included: child self‐reports of social withdrawal subtypes and internalizing difficulties (e.g., depression, social anxiety); peer nominations of children's peer relations (e.g., peer victimization, peer preference); and teacher ratings of children's school adjustment (e.g., academic success, internalizing problems). Results from person‐oriented analyses indicated that socially avoidant (i.e., shy‐unsociable) children reported the most pervasive internalizing difficulties compared to other groups. However, in contrast to findings among Western samples, unsociable children were as likely to have peer and academic difficulties as their shy and socially avoidant peers. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications of different subtypes of social withdrawal among children in collectivistic societies such as China.     

Differential effects of parental control on preschool-age adjustment depending on child effortful control

This study examined whether parental control differentially predicted children's effortful control and adjustment depending on children's levels of executive control and delay ability. Using longitudinal data, the study included 241 preschool-age children and their mothers. Fifty-seven percent of the sample was lower income and included 64% White, 10% Latino/Hispanic, 9% Black, 3% Asian-American, 2% Native or American Indian, and 12% multiple racial/ethnic backgrounds. Interactions between aspects of parental and child control at 3-years-old were tested as predictors of mother-reported child effortful control at 4.5 years and teacher-reported adjustment at 5.5 years. Children's early levels of executive control and delay ability moderated the relations of some forms of parental control with child outcomes, although several hypothesized interactions were nonsignificant. Low parental autonomy respect predicted higher externalizing for children initially high in executive control but predicted lower externalizing for children initially low in executive control. Conversely, high autonomy respect predicted higher impulsivity for children low in delay ability but higher social competence for children high in delay ability. Finally, low maternal negative control predicted higher internalizing for children low in delay ability, whereas it predicted higher internalizing for children high in delay ability. These findings suggest that in some cases the type and degree of parental control should match a child's level of effortful control to support their social, emotional, and behavioral adjustment optimally.     

Emotional Climate in Families Experiencing Homelessness: Associations with Child Affect and Socioemotional Adjustment in School

This study examined associations among family‐level risks, emotional climate, and child adjustment in families experiencing homelessness. Emotional climate, an indirect aspect of emotion socialization, was indexed by parents’ expressed emotion while describing their children. Sociodemographic risk and parent internalizing distress were hypothesized to predict more negativity and less warmth in the emotional climate. Emotional climate was expected to predict observer‐rated child affect and teacher‐reported socioemotional adjustment, mediating effects of risk. Participants were 138 homeless parents (64 percent African‐American) and their four‐ to six‐year‐old children (43.5 percent male). During semi‐structured interviews, parents reported demographic risks and internalizing distress and completed a Five Minute Speech Sample about their child, later rated for warmth and negativity. Children's positive and negative affect were coded from videotapes of structured parent‐child interaction tasks. Socioemotional adjustment (externalizing behavior, peer acceptance, and prosocial behavior) was reported by teachers a few months later. Hypotheses were partially supported. Parent internalizing distress was associated with higher parent negativity, which was linked to more negative affect in children, and parent warmth was associated with children's positive affect. Neither emotional climate nor child affect predicted teacher‐reported externalizing behavior or peer acceptance, but parental negativity and male sex predicted lower prosocial behavior in the classroom. Future research directions and clinical implications are discussed.     

Parent emotion socialization and children's socioemotional adjustment: when is supportiveness no longer supportive?

Parents' supportive emotion socialization behaviors promote children's socioemotional competence in early childhood, but the nature of parents' supportiveness may change over time, as children continue to develop their emotion‐related abilities and enter contexts that require more complex and nuanced social skills and greater autonomy. To test whether associations between parents' supportiveness of children's negative emotions and children's socioemotional adjustment vary with child age, 81 parents of 3‐ to 6‐year‐old children completed questionnaires assessing their responses to children's negative emotions and their children's emotion regulation, lability, social competence, and behavioral adjustment. As predicted, child age moderated the associations between parents' supportiveness and children's socioemotional adjustment. For younger children, parents' supportiveness predicted better emotion regulation and less anxiety/internalizing and anger/externalizing problems. However, for older children, these associations were reversed, suggesting that socialization strategies which were supportive for younger children may fail to foster socioemotional competence among 5‐ to 6‐year‐old children. These results suggest the importance of considering emotion socialization as a dynamic, developmental process, and that parents' socialization of children's emotions might need to change in response to children's developing emotional competencies and social demands.     

Parental Reactions to Toddlers' Negative Emotions and Child Negative Emotionality as Correlates of Problem Behavior at the Age of Three

Parent‐reported reactions to children's negative emotions and child negative emotionality were investigated as correlates of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Children (N = 107) and their parents participated in a short‐term longitudinal study of social development. Mothers and fathers independently completed questionnaires assessing parental reactions to their child's negative emotions and child negative emotionality at Time 1 (33 months) and child behavior problems at Time 2 (39 months). Child negative emotionality was significantly related to greater internalizing and externalizing behavior. Maternal and paternal punitive reactions were related to greater internalizing behavior, but only for boys with high levels of negative emotionality. Results indicate that child temperament and child gender may be important moderators of the relation between parental emotion socialization and child internalizing problems during the toddler and early preschool years.     

Interaction between adoptive mothers’ and fathers’ depressive symptoms in risk for children’s emerging problem behavior

The effect of parental depression on children's adjustment has been well documented, with exposure during early childhood particularly detrimental. Most studies that examine links between parental depression and child behavior are confounded methodologically because they focus on parents raising children who are genetically related to them. Another limitation of most prior research is a tendency to focus only on the effects of maternal depression while ignoring the influence of fathers’ depression. The purpose of this study was to examine whether infants’ exposure to both parents’ depressive symptoms, and inherited risk from birth mother internalizing symptoms, was related to school age children's externalizing and internalizing problems. Study data come from a longitudinal adoption study of 561 adoptive parents, biological mothers, and adopted children. Adoptive fathers’ depressive symptoms during infancy contributed independent variance to the prediction of children's internalizing symptoms and also moderated associations between adoptive mothers’ depressive symptoms and child externalizing symptoms.     

Parental Emotion Coaching and Child Emotion Regulation as Protective Factors for Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder

We assessed linkages of mothers' emotion coaching and children's emotion regulation and emotion lability/negativity with children's adjustment in 72 mother–child dyads seeking treatment for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Dyads completed the questionnaires and discussed emotion‐related family events. Maternal emotion coaching was associated with children's emotion regulation, which in turn was related to higher mother‐reported adaptive skills, higher child‐reported internalizing symptoms, and lower child‐reported adjustment. When children were high in emotion lability/negativity, mothers' emotion coaching was associated with lower mother and child reports of externalizing behavior. Results suggest the role of emotion regulation and emotion lability in child awareness of socio‐emotional problems and support the potential of maternal emotion coaching as a protective factor for children with ODD, especially for those high in emotion lability.     

Social functioning and mental health among children who have been living in kinship and non‐kinship foster care: results from an 8‐year follow‐up with a Norwegian sample

Studies have shown relatively high rates of emotional and behavioural problems among children living in out‐of‐home care. This study reports the prevalence of social problems at an 8‐year follow‐up for a group of children/young adults. Predictors for prevalence and change in emotional and behavioural problems at the follow‐up are examined. A prospective cohort design with 233 children who had been living in foster care was used. Forty‐eight per cent (n = 111) of those interviewed at baseline were located and interviewed at follow‐up. Mean age was 17.4 (standard deviation = 2.9) years. Mental health symptomatology was measured with Child Behaviour Checklist and Adult Self‐Report. Linear and generalized mixed model analyses were used. Changes in internalizing and externalizing problems from baseline to follow‐up was associated with gender. Boys showed more problems at a young age, whereas girls developed more problems later. Predictors for social problems at follow‐up were mental health at baseline, kinship care and care placement away from the local community.     

The Effect of Father–Toddler and Mother– Toddler Role Reversal on the Development of Behavior Problems in Kindergarten

Role reversal is a relationship disturbance in which a parent looks to a child to meet a parent's need for comfort, parenting, intimacy or play, and the child attempts to meet these needs. The current study examined, within a developmental psychopathology framework, the effect of father and mother role reversal with toddlers on the development of attention problems, externalizing symptoms, internalizing symptoms, and social problems in kindergarten. In a normative sample, N=57, role reversal was assessed in an observational paradigm, and teachers rated behavior problems. Father role reversal predicted attention problems and externalizing symptoms, whereas mother role reversal predicted social problems. Gender was an important moderator such that father role reversal predicted social problems for boys and mother role reversal predicted social problems for girls. The importance of a developmental psychopathology perspective, the role of fathers, and implications for the development of diagnosable disorders and for preventive interventions are discussed.     

Examining individual‐level academic risk and protective factors for foster youth: School engagement,behaviors, self‐esteem,and social skills

Students' school engagement is widely regarded as critical for positive school adjustment and overall academic success. Foster youth persistently face poorer educational outcomes than peers and demonstrate lower levels of school engagement and higher levels of academically threatening behaviors. The goals of the present study were (a) to explore relationships amongst various child‐level correlates of school engagement and problem behaviors—namely, self‐esteem and social skills—and (b) to respectively investigate the protective potential of self‐esteem and social skills in the association between school engagement and behavior problems that threaten educational trajectories. Results indicate significant associations between school engagement and problem behaviors, as well as between self‐esteem, social skills, and school engagement. Further, self‐esteem mediated the association between school engagement and both youth‐ and foster parent‐reported externalizing behavior, and social skills mediated the association between school engagement and both youth‐ and foster parent‐reported externalizing behavior. Implications for future practice, research, and policy are discussed.