Journal of Child and Family Studies最新文献

Abstract

Dramatic changes occur during adolescence, elevating vulnerability to mental health problems. This study investigated the differential effect of autonomy-supportive parenting on adolescent mental health outcomes and the moderating role of adolescent emotional reactivity. We hypothesized that autonomy-supportive parenting would be beneficial for adolescents’ mental health and that emotional reactivity would moderate this effect, such that low adolescent emotional reactivity plus high autonomy-supportive parenting would produce higher positive affect and flourishing and lower negative affect, depression, and anxiety. This study included 188 adolescents from two-caregiver families who completed surveys on autonomy-supportive parenting and emotional reactivity at baseline survey: positive affect, flourishing, negative affect, anxiety, and depression at baseline and 12-month follow-up assessments. Results indicated that higher levels of autonomy-supportive parenting were associated with increased flourishing and decreased negative affect and anxiety 12 months later. Interaction analysis revealed that for adolescents with low emotional reactivity, higher levels of autonomy-supportive parenting were associated with increases in positive affect and flourishing and decreases in negative affect and depression. For adolescents with high emotional reactivity, higher levels of autonomy-supportive parenting were associated with decreases in positive affect and flourishing. These findings underscore the importance of considering the role of adolescent emotional reactivity in understanding the effects of autonomy-supportive parenting on adolescent well-being, especially when personalizing parenting-focused interventions.

This study provided an innovative analysis of placement into gifted educational programs among children of immigrants. Leveraging the immigration module of the 2014 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we constructed a novel measure of parents’ nativity and immigration statuses. Connecting research on gifted education and immigration, our study examined factors associated with the gifted placement of children of immigrants, such as a child’s demographics, parental and family characteristics, and, most notably, parents’ nativity and immigration statuses. We found disproportionate representation of children of immigrants in gifted and talented programs, whereby children from families with higher-than-average incomes, White and Asian children, were overrepresented, and Hispanic children were underrepresented. Our findings also showed that children in families with two foreign-born parents had lower odds of gifted placement than children of one foreign-born and one US-born parent (mixed-nativity parents). Among the two foreign-born parent families, we found variations in children’s gifted placement across different parental immigration status compositions, specifically between those with two naturalized parents versus other children of immigrants. Moreover, our gender heterogeneity test showed that girls have higher odds of gifted placement than boys, which was opposite to what was previously known in the gifted education literature and suggests differential parental attention on children’s education in immigrant families.

Children receive many benefits from the consistent involvement of two adults in their lives. Although mothers and fathers encounter various barriers and/or challenges related to parenting or involvement in their children’s lives, there may be differences according to sex and social circumstances. Unfortunately, limited knowledge of ethnic minority families has negatively impacted the implementation of social policies and intervention programs to support these families. The present study employed qualitative methodology from a social constructivist perspective to contextualize the barriers and challenges that Black Jamaican parents encounter in parenting their children in middle childhood. Using 49 semistructured interviews with Black Jamaican fathers (24) and mothers (25), thematic analysis led to seven themes: (a) lack of resources, (b) child-related concerns, (c) time constraints, (d) work-related concerns, (e) worrying about parenting self-efficacy, (f) partner-related challenges, and (g) contextual difficulties. These findings highlight similarities and differences across sex and social class in the barriers or challenges that Black Jamaican parents experienced in their sociocultural contexts. Social policy, welfare, and psychoeducational intervention programs should be implemented to support families.

Tobacco use continues to be a prevalent behavior among many mothers and fathers throughout pregnancy and the postpartum period. The current review provides a framework for understanding parental tobacco smoking during a critical period of child development and its potential impact on postpartum caregiving. It is well documented that maternal illicit substance use can compromise caregiving, increasing the risk of child neglect and maltreatment. However, to date, few studies have specifically investigated the impact of tobacco smoking among mothers and fathers during the prenatal and postpartum periods and how parental tobacco smoking may influence postpartum caregiving. We review current literature on parental tobacco smoking, with a predominant focus on mothers who use tobacco, and the potential impact on postpartum caregiving with a view to informing and tailoring tobacco-cessation programs for expectant and new parents who smoke tobacco.

General-population research on child development in low- and middle-income countries is needed to explore and contextualize caregiver factors. This study evaluates caregiver parenting stress and child social-emotional and motor development among preschool-aged children (42–72 months) among 1222 caregiver-child pairs in São Paulo, Brazil. We investigated associations between parenting stress and child social-emotional development (measured via the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social Emotional, Second Edition [ASQ:SE-2]) and motor development (measured via the Motor Development Scale [MDS]), examining potential effect modification of these relationships by parenting social support. Data were analyzed using ordinary least squares regression with inverse probability weights to account for sampling design. Higher parenting stress was associated with delayed child development, indicated by a positive relationship with ASQ:SE-2 scores (higher scores indicating delayed social-emotional development), and a negative relationship with MDS scores (lower scores indicating delayed motor development). Caregiver social support acted as an effect modifier on the relationship between parenting stress and social-emotional development, strengthening the deleterious effect of parenting stress among caregivers with low social support. These results provide insight regarding modifiable caregiver-level factors that may be leveraged to improve child social-emotional development. Future research is needed to elucidate causal mechanisms and clarify relationships between caregiver factors and child motor development.

To support good outcomes for mothers and babies, it is essential to understand the prenatal factors that place both at risk, such as birth trauma, the mother’s attachment history, and unplanned motherhood. However, for health professionals supporting mothers, interventions must target malleable intervening factors. One of these, we propose, is social identification as a mother. Among women who had become mothers in past 12 months (N = 317), we assessed prenatal risk factors, social identification as a mother, and three socio-emotional outcomes: mother’s depression, infant temperament, and mother-infant attachment. Consistent with hypotheses, all prenatal risk factors negatively predicted social identification as a mother, which was itself positively associated with socio-emotional functioning. Model fit was excellent. Reduced social identification as a mother may be a key mechanism through which prenatal risk factors produce poorer outcomes for mothers and babies. Interventions may be enhanced by supporting the development of strong and positive social identities.

Abstract

Every marriage before the age of 18, regardless of gender, is considered a human rights violation, a public health problem, and a social risk. The present qualitative study aims to understand and reveal the child marriage experiences of both women and men with respect to gender. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten male and ten female participants, aged between 29 and 64, who had child marriages and lived in different regions of Turkey. As a result of the thematic analysis, four main themes were derived: “unlived childhood”, “reflections on marriage”, “reflections on the relationship with the child” and “health problems”. The theme “unlived childhood” includes sub-themes that examine the childhood experiences of the participants; “reflections on marriage” spousal relations and marital life; “reflections on relationship with children” participants’ upbringing and relationship with their children; and “health questions” reproductive health and mental health. As a result, it was seen that the participants experienced gender-specific differences along with an unlived childhood and a suspended adulthood. While particular responsibilities and health problems stood out for female participants, male participants carried the responsibilities of being a father and the pillar of the household during their childhood.

Abstract

Following the United States’ recent engagements in military conflicts, the impact of parent deployment on child adaptation has become an increased focus of research. This study examined the contributions of maternal depressive affect and parenting stress to young children’s (ages 3 to 7) internalizing and externalizing symptomatology. In order to examine how these maternal factors contribute to child well-being, mean level differences and path analysis with group level modelling examined differences between military, single-parent and two-parent civilian families. Mean level differences reflected higher rates of difficulty for military homefront mothers in terms of depressive affect than either single or two-parent families and similar levels of parenting stress with single mothers. Military children demonstrated higher rates of internalizing or externalizing symptoms than children in single or two-parent families. Path analysis results indicated group level differences in links between maternal depressive affect and internalizing symptoms, with military families having stronger associations than single parent families. No group level differences were found between maternal depressive affect and externalizing symptoms. Associations between parenting stress and internalizing symptoms were stronger for military families than two parent families but weaker than single parent families, while the links between parenting stress and externalizing symptoms were the same for military and for single-parent families. These findings have important implications regarding potential intervention/prevention approaches for military families, suggesting that it may be particularly beneficial to target homefront mothers’ depressive affect and parenting stress during deployment as a means for promoting positive child outcomes.

Abstract

Despite custodial grandchildren’s (CG) traumatic histories and risk for psychological difficulties, knowledge is scant regarding the frequencies, types, and consequences of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) they have encountered. We examined self-reported ACEs via online surveys with 342 CG (ages 12 to 18) who were recruited to participate in an RCT of a social intelligence training program. ACEs were assessed by 14 widely used items, and risk for internalizing (ID) and externalizing (ED) difficulties were measured using 80^th percentile cut-offs on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Classification and regression tree analyses included all 14 ACEs (along with CG gender and age) as predictors of ID and ED risk separately. Given possible comorbidity, analyses were run with and without the other risk type as a predictor. Less than 9% of CG self-reported no ACEs, 48.6% reported two to five ACEs, and 30.5% reported ≥6. Irrespective of ED risk, bullying from peers strongly predicted ID risk. ED risk was peak among CG who also had risk for ID. Without ID risk as a predictor, ED risk was highest among CG who were emotionally abused, not lived with a substance abuser, and encountered neighborhood violence. The frequency and types of ACEs observed were alarmingly higher than those among the general population, suggesting that many CG have histories of trauma and household dysfunction. That a small number of ACEs among the 14 studied here were significant predictors of ID and ED risk challenges the widespread belief of a cumulative dose ACE effect.

Work-family conflict and parental burnout are two important and often co-occurring indicators of psychological maladjustment related to the parenting role. Whereas both have been studied in largely different research areas, the present study forwards the assumption that their co-occurrence may be explained by shared dispositional factors such as parental perfectionism and emotional dysregulation (Malivoire et al., 2019). In particular, the present study adds to existing literature by (a) exploring the role of perfectionistic concerns in (the co-occurrence of) work-family conflict and parental burnout, (b) examining the role of emotional dysregulation as an intermediate variable in this link between perfectionism and parental maladjustment, and (c) addressing these research objectives for mothers (N = 116) and fathers (N = 102) separately, as well as their mutual influences using Actor-Partner Interdependence Modeling (APIM). The research goals are examined in families of adolescents, thereby addressing parental experiences during one of the most challenging periods of parenthood. The results based on both maternal and paternal self-report showed that perfectionistic concerns were related to both work-family conflict and parental burnout, with emotional dysregulation playing a significant intermediate role. In addition to these actor effects, the APIM results showed a significant partner-effect between paternal perfectionistic concerns and maternal work-family conflict, as well as between maternal perfectionistic concerns and paternal burnout. From an applied perspective, these findings suggest that interventions towards parents who struggle with work-family balance should not only focus on a more realistic and compassionate attitude towards themselves, but should also target emotion regulation, and enhance insight in transactional processes between partners.