Young children develop social and emotional competence through interactions with others in the two major contexts in which they spend time: home and preschool. This study examined whether parenting stress in the home context is related to the children's behaviour while in preschool. Previous research has suggested that parenting stress negatively influences parenting behaviour, which in turn has been shown to impact children's development. This study examined the direct relationship between parenting stress and children's behaviour in two types of preschool programmes: private day care centres and Head Start. Parenting stress was significantly related to teacher ratings of social competence, internalizing behaviours, and externalizing behaviours, and the effects of parenting behaviour do not appear to mediate this relationship. Parenting stress was most strongly related to children's social competence. Parents' reports of expectations for their child's behaviour appear to weakly moderate the relationship between externalizing behaviour and parenting stress. This study suggests that examination of a parent's level of stress, in addition to parenting practices, may be important in research and interventions with preschool children's behaviour and social competence. Copyright 脗漏 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract Children throughout the world are confronted with growth problems ranging from underweight and stunting to overweight and obesity. The development of healthy eating behaviors depends on both healthy food and responsive parenting behaviors. With origins from anthropology, psychology, and nutrition, responsive parenting reflects reciprocity between child and caregiver, conceptualized as a 4-step mutually responsive process: 1) the caregiver creates a routine, structure, expectations, and emotional context that promote interaction; 2) the child responds and signals to the caregiver; 3) the caregiver responds promptly in a manner that is emotionally supportive, contingent, and developmentally appropriate; and 4) the child experiences predictable responses. This paper examines evidence for the practice and developmental benefits of responsive parenting with a view to providing a theoretical basis for responsive feeding. Recommendations are made that future efforts to promote healthy growth and to prevent underweight and overweight among young children incorporate and evaluate responsive feeding.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals provide a historic opportunity to implement interventions, at scale, to promote early childhood development. Although the evidence base for the importance of early childhood development has grown, the research is distributed across sectors, populations, and settings, with diversity noted in both scope and focus. We provide a comprehensive updated analysis of early childhood development interventions across the five sectors of health, nutrition, education, child protection, and social protection. Our review concludes that to make interventions successful, smart, and sustainable, they need to be implemented as multi-sectoral intervention packages anchored in nurturing care. The recommendations emphasise that intervention packages should be applied at developmentally appropriate times during the life course, target multiple risks, and build on existing delivery platforms for feasibility of scale-up. While interventions will continue to improve with the growth of developmental science, the evidence now strongly suggests that parents, caregivers, and families need to be supported in providing nurturing care and protection in order for young children to achieve their developmental potential.

Does economic inequality in one generation lead to inequality of opportunity in the next? In From Parents to Children, an esteemed international group of scholars investigates this question using data from ten countries with differing levels of inequality. The book compares whether and how parents resources transmit advantage to their children at different stages of development and sheds light on the structural differences among countries that may influence intergenerational mobility. How and why is economic mobility higher in some countries than in others? The contributors find that inequality in mobility-relevant skills emerges early in childhood in all of the countries studied. Bruce Bradbury and his coauthors focus on learning readiness among young children and show that as early as age five, large disparities in cognitive and other mobility-relevant skills develop between low- and high-income kids, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. Such disparities may be mitigated by investments in early childhood education, as Christelle Dumas and Arnaud Lefranc demonstrate. They find that universal pre-school education in France lessens the negative effect of low parental SES and gives low-income children a greater shot at social mobility. Katherine Magnuson, Jane Waldfogel, and Elizabeth Washbrook find that income-based gaps in cognitive achievement in the United States and the United Kingdom widen as children reach adolescence. Robert Haveman and his coauthors show that the effect of parental income on test scores increases as children age; and in both the United States and Canada, having parents with a higher income betters the chances that a child will enroll in college. As economic inequality in the United States continues to rise, the national policy conversation will not only need to address the devastating effects of rising inequality in this generation but also the potential consequences of the decline in mobility from one generation to the next. Drawing on unparalleled international datasets, From Parents to Children provides an important first step.

AbstractAn explanatory model for children’s development of disruptive behavior across the transition from preschool to school was tested. It was hypothesized that child effortful control would mediate the effects of parenting on children’s externalizing behavior and that child sex would moderate these relations. Participants were 241 children (123 boys) and their parents and teachers. Three dimensions of parenting, warm responsiveness, induction, and corporal punishment, were assessed via maternal report when children were 302years old. Child effortful control at age 3 was measured using laboratory tasks and a mother-report questionnaire. Mothers and teachers contributed ratings of child externalizing behavior at age 6. Results showed that the hypothesized model fit the data well and that the pattern of associations between constructs differed for boys and girls. For boys, parental warm responsiveness and corporal punishment had significant indirect effects on children’s externalizing behavior three years later, mediated by child effortful control. Such relations were not observed for girls. These findings support a sex-differentiated pathway to externalizing behavior across the transition from preschool to school.

Abstract 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.

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 ncome, 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.

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at risk for adverse outcomes such as substance abuse and criminality, particularly if they develop conduct problems. Little is known about early predictors of the developmental course of conduct problems among children with ADHD, however. Parental psychopathology and parenting were assessed in 108 children who first met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) criteria for ADHD at 4-7 years old. When demographic variables and baseline ADHD and conduct problems were controlled, maternal depression predicted conduct problems 2-8 years following the initial assessment, whereas positive parenting during the structured parent- child interaction task predicted fewer future conduct problems. These findings suggest that maternal depression is a risk factor, whereas early positive parenting is a protective factor, for the developmental course of conduct problems among children with ADHD.

The psychometric properties of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire–Preschool Revision (APQ–PR) were explored in a sample of hyperactive–inattentive preschool children (N = 47) and nonimpaired controls (N = 113). A subset of parents completed the questionnaire on 2 occasions, approximately 1 year apart. Factor analysis revealed a 3-factor solution, accounting for 32.28% of the variance. The resultant Positive Parenting, Negative/Inconsistent Parenting, and Punitive Parenting factors demonstrated good internal consistency and temporal stability. At baseline, parents of hyperactive–inattentive and control children did not differ on any APQ–PR subscale. However, over time parents of controls increased their use of positive parenting techniques, whereas the use of positive parenting practices decreased over time in the hyperactive–inattentive group.

In light of the selective focus on maternal (vs. paternal) psychopathology as a risk factor for child development, this meta-analysis examines the relative strength of the association between psychopathology in mothers versus fathers and the presence of internalizing and externalizing disorders in children. Associations were stronger between maternal than paternal psychopathology and the presence of internalizing (but not externalizing) problems in children, with all average effect sizes being small in magnitude. Relations were moderated by variables that highlight theoretically relevant differences between psychopathology in mothers versus fathers (e.g., age of children studied, type of parental psychopathology) and by variables related to methodological differences across studies (e.g., method of assessing psychopathology in parents and children, type of sample recruited, familial composition).

Despite increasing interest in the effects of parenting stress on children and families, many questions remain regarding the nature of parenting stress and the mechanism through which stress exerts its influence across time. In this study, cumulative parenting stress was assessed across the preschool period in a sample of 125 typically developing children and their mothers. Indices of parenting stress included both major life events stress-assessed annually from age 3 to 5, and parenting daily hassles assessed every 6 months across the same period. Naturalistic home observations were conducted when children were age 5, during which measures of parent and child interactive behaviour as well as dyadic pleasure and dyadic conflict were obtained. Mothers also completed the CBCL to assess children's behaviour problems. Results indicated that parenting daily hassles and major life stress are relatively stable across the preschool period. Both cumulative stress indices also proved to be important predictors of parent and child behaviour and dyadic interaction, although the predictions were somewhat differential. Despite meaningful relations between the stress factors and child well being, no evidence was found to support the premise that parent behaviour mediates the association between parenting stress and child outcomes. Results are discussed within a developmental framework to understand the stability and complexity of cumulative stress associations to early parent-child relationships. Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Poverty is a powerful factor that can alter lifetime developmental trajectories in cognitive, socioemotional, and physical health outcomes. Most explanatory work on the underlying psychological processes of how poverty affects development has focused on parental investment and parenting practices, principally responsiveness. Our primary objective in this article was to describe a third, complementary pathway—chronic stress and coping—that may also prove helpful in understanding the developmental impacts of early childhood poverty throughout life. Disadvantaged children are more likely than their wealthier peers to confront a wide array of physical stressors (e.g., substandard housing, chaotic environments) and psychosocial stressors (e.g., family turmoil, separation from adult caregivers). As exposure to stressors accumulates, physiological response systems that are designed to handle relatively infrequent, acute environmental demands are overwhelmed. Chronic cumulative stressors also disrupt the self-regulatory processes that help children cope with external demands.

Effortful control (EC) refers to the ability to inhibit a dominant response to perform a subdominant one and has been shown as protective against a myriad of difficulties. Research examining precursors of EC has been limited to date, and in this study, infancy contributors to toddler EC were examined. Specifically, parent/family background variables (e.g., education, income), maternal temperament, perceived stress, and internalizing symptoms were addressed, along with infant temperament: positive affectivity/surgency (PAS), negative emotionality (NE), and regulatory capacity/orienting (RCO); and laboratory observation-based indicators of attention. Infant attention indexed by the latency to look away after initially orienting to the presented stimuli emerged as an important predictor of later EC, after accounting for other child and parent/family attributes, with shorter latencies predicting higher levels of EC. Mothers090005 extraversion and parenting stress were the only parent/family attributes to significantly contribute to the prediction of toddler EC, with the former promoting and the latter undermining the development of EC. Infant temperament factors were also examined as a moderator of parent/family influences, with results indicating a significant interaction between mothers090005 EC and infant RCO, so that children with greater RCO and mothers high in EC exhibited the highest EC scores in toddlerhood.

Theories of temperament suggest that individual differences in affective reactivity (e.g., negative affectivity) may confer risk for internalizing psychopathology in youth and that self-regulatory aspects of temperament (e.g., effortful control) may protect against the deleterious effects of high negative affective reactivity. However, no study to date has examined how the relationship between temperament and youth internalizing psychopathology may be moderated by stress. The current study used a prospective longitudinal design to test the interaction of temperament (e.g., negative affectivity and effortful control) and stressors as a predictor of youth (ages 7–16; 5602% female; N 65=65576) depressive and anxious symptoms over a 3-month period. Findings show that at low levels of stress, high levels of effortful control protect against the development of depressive and anxious symptoms among youth with high levels of negative affectivity. However, at high levels of stress, this buffering effect is not observed. Gender and grade did not moderate this relationship. Overall, findings extend current understanding of how the interaction of individual psychosocial vulnerabilities and environmental factors may confer increased or decreased risk for depressive and anxious symptoms.

Early life stress (ELS) can compromise development, with higher amounts of adversity linked to behavioral problems. To understand this linkage, a growing body of research has examined two brain regions involved with socioemotional functioning mygdala and hippocampus. Yet empirical studies have reported increases, decreases, and no differences within human and nonhuman animal samples exposed to different forms of ELS. This divergence in findings may stem from methodological factors, nonlinear effects of ELS, or both. We completed rigorous hand-tracing of the amygdala and hippocampus in three samples of children who experienced different forms of ELS (i.e., physical abuse, early neglect, or low socioeconomic status). Interviews were also conducted with children and their parents or guardians to collect data about cumulative life stress. The same data were also collected in a fourth sample of comparison children who had not experienced any of these forms of ELS. Smaller amygdala volumes were found for children exposed to these different forms of ELS. Smaller hippocampal volumes were also noted for children who were physically abused or from low socioeconomic status households. Smaller amygdala and hippocampal volumes were also associated with greater cumulative stress exposure and behavioral problems. Hippocampal volumes partially mediated the relationship between ELS and greater behavioral problems. This study suggests ELS may shape the development of brain areas involved with emotion processing and regulation in similar ways. Differences in the amygdala and hippocampus may be a shared diathesis for later negative outcomes related to ELS.

The cortisol awakening response (CAR) is a normative rise in cortisol levels across the 30 minutes post awakening. Both the levels and the degree of change in cortisol across this time period are sensitive to the perceived challenges of the day and are thought to prepare the individual to meet these tasks. However, working parents of young children may be under unique strains at this time as they attempt to simultaneously care for their children while also preparing themselves for the workday ahead. In these analyses we examined the contributions of both work and parenting stress on maternal cortisol levels and awakening responses, and how these relationships differed on workdays compared with nonworkdays. To do this, saliva samples were collected from 56 working mothers (25% single) with a child between the ages of 2 and 4 years old (mode = 2 children), at awakening and 30 min postawakening. Samples were collected on 4 consecutive days-2 nonworkdays followed by 2 workdays. Analyses revealed mothers reporting higher levels of parenting stress had higher average a.m. cortisol on workdays compared with nonworkdays. Further, mothers reporting a combination of high job strain and high parenting stress had significantly higher cortisol levels and steeper CAR increases on workdays compared with nonworkdays. Findings are discussed by integrating knowledge from the fields of parenting stress, work-family, and stress physiology.

The serious illness or death of a caregiver are two of the most distressing events that can befall a child, and are often temporally linked. Although both adversities may impact children’s mental health, studies have not yet attempted to disentangle the effects of parental illness versus those of parental death with regard to children’s psychological functioning. Further, there has been little empirical investigation of potential factors that may diminish risk for psychopathology following either of these adversities. The current study evaluated levels of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in youth age 7–13 grappling with either parental cancer (N02=0231) or parental death (N02=0232) and examined potential predictors of these mental health outcomes across both groups of children. Youth contending with parental cancer exhibited lower levels of PTSS than children who had experienced the death of a parent, but both groups exhibited similar levels of anxiety and depression. Expressive coping was associated with lower levels of PTSS, anxiety, and depression across both groups. An interaction effect revealed that for the bereaved group only, positive parental reinforcement and supportive caregiver communication were inversely associated with PTSS. These findings provide a foundation for future work designed to identify factors associated with distinct mental health outcomes among children facing parental cancer and/or parental death.

We propose a model linking the early parent-child mutually responsive orientation (), children's temperament trait of effortful control, and their internalization of conduct rules. In a developmental chain, effortful control was posited as a mediator of the links between and children's internalization. was further posited as a moderator of the links between effortful control and internalization (i.e., moderated mediation): Variations in effortful control were expected to be more consequential for internalization in suboptimal relationships, with low , than in optimal ones, with high . The model was tested in 2 studies that employed comparable observational measures. In Family Study (N = 102 community mothers, fathers, and children), was assessed at 25 months, effortful control at 38 months, and children's internalization at 67 months. In Play Study (N = 186 low-income, diverse mothers and children), was assessed at 30 months, effortful control at 33 months, and children's internalization at 40 months. was observed in lengthy naturalistic interactions, effortful control in standardized tasks, and internalized, rule-compatible conduct in parent-child interactions and in standardized paradigms without surveillance. Structural equation modeling analyses, with internalized, rule-compatible conduct modeled as a latent variable, supported moderated mediation across mother- and father-child relationships and both studies. In optimal, mutually responsive relationships, multiple mechanisms other than capacity for effortful control may also operate effectively to promote internalization, thus reducing the relative importance of variations in child temperament.

目的建立长处和困难问卷(SDQ)(父母版)的上海地区常模,并对其进行信度、效度检验.方法对上海市的幼儿园和中小学12所2128名学生进行长处和困难问卷(父母版)的评定,对其中的47名学生间隔六周进行重测.结果对长处和困难问卷(父母版)进行标准化,制定了上海地区常模.信度检验:总问卷Cronbach的α系数为0.784;条目与因子分之间的相关系数在0.321-0.769;间隔6周问卷总分的重测相关系数为0.717,各因子的重测相关系数在0.434-0.787;效度检验:长处和困难问卷(父母版)和Conners父母问卷(PSQ)所有评分相关,其中社会行为呈负相关;异常样本与常模样本各因子分和总分差异显著(t=5.733-12.375,P＜0.001).结论长处和困难问卷(父母版)适合于上海地区儿童青少年的评估.

Author information: (1)UNICEF, New York, NY, USA. (2)WHO, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. Electronic address: chanm@who.int.

In this study, I report secondary analyses using data from the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP). The IHDP included parent-targeted as well as child-targeted components as an integral part of early intervention programs. I examined three questions: (1) Do the IHDP early intervention services enhance adaptive maternal coping skills? (2) Do maternal coping skills moderate the relationship between stressful life events and maternal depression? (3) Are maternal coping skills associated with children's behavioral scores? Mothers in the treatment group have more adaptive coping skills than follow-up only mothers, and these effects are moderated by maternal characteristics. Adaptive coping skills moderate the effects of negative life events on maternal depression. Adaptive maternal coping skills are significantly associated with fewer behavioral problems for children at age three. These effects are moderated by the intervention. Implications for early intervention programs are discussed.

Using a short-term longitudinal design (6 months), this study examined cumulative contextual risk as a predictor of effortful control (EC) and social competence in a community sample of children (02=0280, ages 33–40 months at time 1). Maternal parenting was examined as a mediator of contextual risk. EC was assessed using laboratory tasks, and parenting was assessed using observational ratings. Time 1 contextual risk was negatively related to time 2 EC after controlling for time 1 EC. Mothers' limit setting and scaffolding predicted higher time 2 EC and accounted for the effect of contextual risk. Time 1 EC, contextual risk, and parenting predicted time 2 social competence, and contextual risk had an indirect effect on social competence through parenting. Results suggest that contextual risk predicts smaller relative increases in EC and that parenting accounts for this effect. Knowledge of the factors that divert or promote effortful control can provide targets for intervention to enhance effortful control abilities and better adjustment.

To test the hypothesis that maternal antenatal exposure to life stress events is associated with lower achievement in literacy and numeracy at age 10 years, with sex differences in this link. The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study recruited 2900 women at 18 weeks' pregnancy, and 2868 children were followed up at birth and postnatally. At age 10 years, information on 1038 children was linked to their literacy and numeracy test scores. Multivariate regression models were used to test the foregoing hypotheses, adjusting for important confounders. In girls, maternal antenatal exposure to 4 or more maternal life stress events or death of the mother's friend and/or relative was associated with lower reading scores. In contrast, exposure to 3 or more life stress events or to a pregnancy or financial problem was associated with higher reading scores in boys. Furthermore, maternal exposure to 4 or more life stress events was associated with higher mathematic scores and a residential move was linked to higher writing scores in boys. Maternal antenatal exposure to life stress events has differing effects on the school performance of male and female offspring. Further research is needed to explore the reasons for this sex difference.

采用自编基本情况问卷、紧张性生活事件评定量表、社会支持评定量表、工作家庭冲突量表、坚韧性人格量表、心理痛楚量表和Beck自杀意念量表中文版对广东、河南、天津、北京等地的1092名职业女性进行调查,建立有中介的调节模型,考察坚韧性人格对累积情境风险与职业女性自杀意念关系的调节效应,以及心理痛楚在该调节模型中的中介效应。结果表明:(1)累积情境风险可正向预测职业女性的自杀意念;(2)坚韧性人格对累积情境风险和职业女性自杀意念之间的关系具有调节效应;(3)该调节效应以心理痛楚为完全中介,即,心理痛楚是坚韧性人格调节累积情境风险和职业女性自杀意念关系的中介变量。

儿童的问题行为是儿童发展过程中的一种常见现象 ,主要表现在攻击反抗、违纪越轨、焦虑抑郁、孤僻退缩以及各种身体不适等方面。儿童期的某些问题行为 ,尤其是典型的外显问题行为和内隐问题行为 ,在很大程度上可以预测青少年期与成人期的种种问题。家庭是儿童社会化发展和心

The study explores relationships between preschoolers’ separation anxiety and adjustment to kindergarten and their mothers’ separation anxiety and levels of differentiation. It also examines the universality of several theoretical and clinical notions in Bowen's [Bowen, M. (1978). Family therapy in clinical practice. Aronson: New York] Family Systems Theory, by testing them in the Eastern-collectivist Israeli-Druze society. The main findings were positive correlations between mothers’ and children's separation anxiety, as well as negative correlations between children's separation anxiety and maternal differentiation (for total DSI score and for emotional cutoff), so that lower differentiation and higher cutoff were associated with higher levels of anxiety. Another interesting finding was that teachers perceived the children of Druze working mothers as having more problematic behaviors than non-working mothers, pointing to poorer adjustment to kindergarten. Results suggest that a crucial balance of separation and closeness provides an optimal context for meeting the needs and promoting the healthy development of both mother and child. The present study is the first to indicate relations between mothers’ differentiation and preschoolers’ separation anxiety among Druze participants, partially supporting the universality of Bowen's theory “in all families and in all cultures” [Kerr, M., & Bowen, M. (1988). Family evaluation. New York: Norton, p. 202].

Using data from 468 parents and taking into account internal consistency, breadth of item content, within-scale factor analysis, and patterns of missing data, we developed short (94 items, 15 scales) and very short (36 items, 3 broad scales) forms of the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ; Rothbart, Ahadi, & Hershey, 1994; Rothbart, Ahadi, Hershey, & Fisher, 2001), a well-established parent-report measure of temperament for children aged 3 to 8 years. We subsequently evaluated the forms with data from 1,189 participants. In mid/high-income and White samples, the CBQ short and very short forms demonstrated both satisfactory internal consistency and criterion validity, and exhibited longitudinal stability and cross-informant agreement comparable to that of the standard CBQ. Internal consistency was somewhat lower among African American and low-income samples for some scales. Very short form scales demonstrated acceptable internal consistency for all samples, and confirmatory factor analyses indicated marginal fit of the very short form items to a three-factor model.

The aim of this study was to determine whether the extent of improvement in self-regulation achieved between ages 4 and 6 years is associated with the level of behavioral problems later in childhood. Participants were 4-year-old children (n = 510) attending preschools in South Australia. Children's level of self-regulation was assessed using the parent-completed Devereux Early Childhood Assessment when children were aged 4, 5, and 6. Children's level of behavioral problems was assessed using total, internalizing, and externalizing scores on parent- and teacher-rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQs) when children were 6 years old. Random effects regression was used to describe the changes to children's self-regulation between 4 and 6 years. Linear regression models were then used to determine the strength of the association between the extent of self-regulation improvement and level of behavioral problems. Greater improvement in self-regulation, adjusted for family characteristics and baseline self-regulation scores, was associated with lower levels of parent- (B = -3.57, 95% confidence interval [CI] [-4.49, -2.65]) and teacher-rated SDQ total difficulties scores at 6 years (B = -2.42, 95% CI [-3.50, -1.34]). These effects remained after adjustment for level of parent-rated behavioral problems at 4 years. Similar effects were found for internalizing and externalizing scores at age 6 years. The results highlight the importance of improvements in self-regulation from 4-6 years for childhood behavioral problems during the early school years. Children with lower levels of improvement in self-regulation early in life are at risk for higher levels of behavioral problems both at home and at school. (PsycINFO Database Record

This study examines the role of one component of emotion regulation, behavioral control, in the growth of children's early behavior problems by examining whether increases in parental positive behavior support brought about by a family-centered intervention were associated with greater child behavioral control, and whether greater behavioral control at age 3 mediated the association between improvements in aspects of positive behavior support from ages 2 to 3 and decreases in growth of behavior problems from ages 2 to 4. The sample included 713 at-risk children (50% female) and their primary caregivers (50% European American, 28% African American, 13% biracial, 9% other) who were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. Children had a mean age of 29.91 months at the initial assessment. Data were collected through home visits at child ages 2 to 4, which involved questionnaires for primary caregivers and structured and unstructured play activities for children with primary and alternative caregivers and siblings. Results indicated that the intervention improved parental positive behavior support and reduced growth of child behavior problems. One dimension of positive behavior support, proactive parenting, was modestly associated with behavioral control at age 3, which in turn was significantly associated with growth in behavior problems from ages 2 to 4, with greater behavioral control related to lower levels of growth in behavior problems. Results provide support for the notion that proactive parenting is an important factor in the development of children's behavioral control and that behavioral control plays an important role in the growth of behavior problems.

Parenting interventions have been implemented to improve the compromised developmental potential among 39% of children younger than 5 years living in low-income and middle-income countries. Maternal wellbeing is important for child development, especially in children younger than 3 years who are vulnerable and dependent on their mothers for nutrition and stimulation. We assessed an integrated, community-based parenting intervention that targeted both child development and maternal wellbeing in rural Uganda. In this community-based, cluster randomised trial, we assessed the effectiveness of a manualised, parenting intervention in Lira, Uganda. We selected and randomly assigned 12 parishes (1:1) to either parenting intervention or control (inclusion on a waitlist with a brief message on nutrition) groups using a computer-generated list of random numbers. Within each parish, we selected two to three eligible communities that had a parish office or a primary school in which a preschool could be established, more than 75 households with children younger than 6 years, and at least 15 socially disadvantaged families (ie, maternal education of primary school level or lower) with at least one child younger than 36 months. Participants within communities were mother–child dyads, where the child was 12–36 months of age at enrolment, and the mother had low maternal education. In the parenting intervention group, participants attended 12 fortnightly peer-led group sessions focusing on child care and maternal wellbeing. The primary outcomes were cognitive and receptive language development, as measured with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 3rd edn. Secondary outcomes included self-reported maternal depressive symptoms, using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and child growth. Theoretically-relevant parenting practices, including the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment inventory, and mother-care variables, such as perceived spousal support, were also assessed as potential mediators. Baseline assessments were done in January, 2013, and endline assessments were done in November, 2013, 3 months after completion of the programme. Ethics approval was received from Mbarara and McGill universities. This trial is registered withClinicalTrials.gov,NCT01906606. Between December, 2012, and January, 2013, 13 communities (194 dyads) were randomly assigned to receive intervention, and 12 communities (154 dyads) were assigned to a waitlist control. 319 dyads completed baseline measures (171 in the intervention group and 148 in the control group), and 291 dyads completed endline measures (160 in the intervention group and 131 in the control group). At endline, children in the intervention group had significantly higher cognitive scores (58·90vs55·65, effect size 0·36, 95% CI 0·12–0·59) and receptive language scores (23·86vs22·40, 0·27, 0·03–0·50) than did children in the control group. Mothers in the intervention group reported significantly fewer depressive symptoms (15·36vs18·61, 610·391, 610·62 to 610·16) than did mothers in the control group. However, no differences were found in child growth between groups. The 12 session integrated parenting intervention delivered by non-professional community members improved child development and maternal wellbeing in rural Uganda. Because this intervention was largely managed and implemented by a local organisation, using local community members and minimal resources, such a programme has the potential to be replicated and scaled up in other low-resource, village-based settings. Plan Uganda via Plan Finland (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and Plan Australia (Australian Aid).

The authors examined the relations of maternal supportive parenting to effortful control and internalizing problems (i.e., separation distress, inhibition to novelty), externalizing problems, and social competence when toddlers were 18 months old (n = 256) and a year later (n = 230). Mothers completed the Coping With Toddlers' Negative Emotions Scale, and their sensitivity and warmth were observed. Toddlers' effortful control was measured with a delay task and adults' reports (Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire). Toddlers' social functioning was assessed with the Infant/Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment. Within each age, children's regulation significantly mediated the relation between supportive parenting and low levels of externalizing problems and separation distress, and high social competence. When using stronger tests of mediation, controlling for stability over time, the authors found only partial evidence for mediation. The findings suggest these relations may be set at an early age.

This study seeks to extend previous research on family stress, parenting, and child adjustment to families with adopted Chinese children. In doing so, we also seek to strengthen inferences regarding the experiential underpinnings of previously obtained relationships among these variables by determining if they also occur in families where parents and children are not biologically related. Participants were families of 133 preschool-age adopted Chinese girls ( M age = 5.2 years, SD = 0.7; M age at adoption = 12.8 months, SD = 4.1). Data on family stress, parenting styles, and children's behavioral adjustment were collected from the adoptive mothers with the Social Problem Questionnaire (SPQ), Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ), and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) respectively. Results showed that adoptive mothers reported relatively mild family stress, frequent authoritative parenting, and few behavior problems in their children. Nonetheless, family stress, authoritarian and permissive parenting styles positively correlated with children's behavioral problems. Finally, authoritarian parenting mediated the effect of non-child-related family stress (NCR-stress) on the adopted Chinese girls鈥 CBCL internalizing and overall problems, even after controlling for corresponding CBCL scores from 2 years earlier. Our results showed that the overall pattern of relationships found in non-adoptive families is also seen in families with adopted Chinese children.

Abstract Poor effortful control is a key temperamental factor underlying behavioral problems. The bidirectional association of child effortful control with both positive parenting and negative discipline was examined from ages approximately 3 to 13-14 years, involving five time points, and using data from parents and children in the Oregon Youth Study-Three Generational Study (N = 318 children from 150 families). Based on a dynamic developmental systems approach, it was hypothesized that there would be concurrent associations between parenting and child effortful control and bidirectional effects across time from each aspect of parenting to effortful control and from effortful control to each aspect of parenting. It was also hypothesized that associations would be more robust in early childhood, from ages 3 to 7 years, and would diminish as indicated by significantly weaker effects at the older ages, 11-12 to 13-14 years. Longitudinal feedback or mediated effects were also tested. The findings supported (a) stability in each construct over multiple developmental periods; (b) concurrent associations, which were significantly weaker at the older ages; (c) bidirectional effects, consistent with the interpretation that at younger ages children's effortful control influenced parenting, whereas at older child ages, parenting influenced effortful control; and (d) a transactional effect, such that maternal parenting in late childhood was a mechanism explaining children's development of effortful control from middle childhood to early adolescence.

In this study, the link between marital happiness and the advent of children is demonstrated, accounting for dual earner status, sex role traditionalism, and marital structure. A subset of 1,275 respondents from a longitudinal data set (Marital Instability Over the Life Course : A Three Wave Panel Study, 1980 1988) whom remained married through the 3 waves was used to compare the level of marital happiness of respondents who added children between waves to those who did not. Although the addition of children negatively affected marital structure and thus indirectly lowered marital happiness, results showed children also had positive counterbalancing direct effects. Dual-earner status, income, and sex role nontraditionalism were shown to mitigate the negative effects of children on marital happiness.

Abstract A theoretical review published in 2009 revealed that scholars who stated that their research was based on Urie Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory of human development rarely used it appropriately. To what extent has the situation changed since then? We used the same methods to identify relevant articles as had been used in the 2009 article and found 20 publications whose authors explicitly claimed that Bronfenbrenner provided the theoretical foundation for their study. Although 18 of those publications included citations to the mature (mid-1990s) version of Bronfenbrenner's theory, only two appropriately described, tested, and evaluated the four major concepts of Bronfenbrenner's theory roximal processes, person characteristics, context, and time. Failure either to correctly describe the theory or to critically test its central concepts poses significant problems for the future of family studies and developmental science. We discuss potential ways to improve this situation through metatheoretical, methodological, and pedagogical reflections.

EF development is a multistage process that originates from physical movement to simple cognitive function, and then to complex cognitive function. Infants and toddlers can undergo targeted motor training to promote EF development.

本文就家庭视角评述国外关于处境不利儿童的社会性发展有关研究.有关文献表明,处境不利儿童的自我概念有明显的外在化特征,区分性低,较少指向未来;他们存在社会信息加工中的译码困难和归因偏向,其信息加工技能和认知控制技能都存在一定的问题,社会性情绪发展也存在诸多困难;他们的亲子依恋往往是不安全甚至矛盾类型;他们往往难以被同伴所接纳,在交往中更多地表现出适应不良性行为,其友谊质量也比较差,但自我效能、自我调节以及良好的群体特征是改善其同伴交往的重要因素;家庭的各种不利因素还会对其社会交活动中的活动能力、活动数量、活动水平和活动技能带来影响,在他们身上也更容易出现攻击、退缩以及各种过错行为和违法犯罪行为.当前,有关这些儿童的神经生理与心理学结合的研究也正在进行之中.