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The Power of Early Intervention: Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being...
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The Power of Early Intervention: Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being in Very Young Children and Their Families

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Pediatric Mental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2026 | Viewed by 1691

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Kimberly Renk

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
Interests: parenting behaviors; mothers’ adverse childhood experiences; patterns of insecure attachment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The mental health needs of infants and very young children are often misunderstood. Because infants and very young children come as a dyad with a caregiver, diagnostic assessment procedures and therapeutic interventions must consider the caregiver–child relationship as important context.

This Special Issue will highlight this unique context by presenting innovative research and applications that foster infant and early childhood mental health through well-established and emerging interventions.

We welcome the submission of empirical studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and theoretical papers that foster an understanding of the mental health needs of infants and very young children. Papers that include multidisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives are particularly encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Kimberly Renk
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • infant and early childhood mental health
  • parent-child relationships
  • attachment
  • dyadic therapy
  • circle of security
  • child-parent psychotherapy
  • infant-toddler court programs
  • home visiting

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 719 KB  
Article
When Mothers and Fathers Are ‘Gone’: Predicting Intergenerational Cycles of Risk in Opioid-Involved Parents
by Maria Khan and Kimberly Renk
Children 2025, 12(11), 1496; https://doi.org/10.3390/children12111496 - 4 Nov 2025
Viewed by 332
Abstract
Background/Objectives: The opioid epidemic and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are two major concerns for child welfare systems. Little is known, however, regarding the mechanisms that perpetuate intergenerational cycles of ACEs and insecure/disorganized parent–young child attachment patterns in the context of parents’ opioid use. [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: The opioid epidemic and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are two major concerns for child welfare systems. Little is known, however, regarding the mechanisms that perpetuate intergenerational cycles of ACEs and insecure/disorganized parent–young child attachment patterns in the context of parents’ opioid use. Methods: A high-risk sample of 101 parents (75 mothers and 26 fathers) who were opioid-involved, who had a child in the 0- to 5-year age range, and who were receiving medication-assisted treatment in the United States of America participated in this study. Parents were mostly White/Caucasian and single. Direct pathways between parents’ reported ACEs and their perceived parent–young child attachment patterns, as well as indirect pathways through substance use severity, depression, and trauma symptoms, were examined. Results: PROCESS analyses suggested that mothers’ ACEs significantly predicted their ratings of disorganized attachment patterns with their young children, with depression and trauma symptoms explaining greater variance than ACEs alone. The results indicated that fathers’ ACEs were not predictive of insecure/disorganized attachment patterns with their young children. Substance use severity was not predictive of parent–child attachment patterns for mothers or fathers. Conclusions: Generally, these findings highlighted different patterns among mothers and fathers’ ACEs, their ratings of parent–young child insecure/disorganized attachment, and their psychological sequelae. These findings further suggested the utility of trauma- and attachment-informed parenting interventions for high-risk mothers and fathers in breaking intergenerational cycles of risk. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Power of Early Intervention: Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being in Very Young Children and Their Families)
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26 pages, 960 KB  
Article
Validity Study of the Spanish Version of the Parental Stress Index (PSI-4) in Its Two Forms (Long Form and Short Form)
by Mercedes Ríos-Requeni, Yurena Alonso-Esteban, Esperanza Navarro-Pardo and Francisco Alcantud-Marín
Children 2025, 12(11), 1466; https://doi.org/10.3390/children12111466 - 29 Oct 2025
Viewed by 772
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Parental stress is caused by the accumulation of difficulties related to raising children and is directly related to the educational functioning of a family and family dysfunction. The PSI (Parental Stress Index) is an assessment instrument and is considered the gold standard [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Parental stress is caused by the accumulation of difficulties related to raising children and is directly related to the educational functioning of a family and family dysfunction. The PSI (Parental Stress Index) is an assessment instrument and is considered the gold standard for measuring parental stress; however, there is no official Spanish version of this tool. Methods: Both the PSI-4 long form and short form were administered to a sample of 828 parents of children between 0 and 12 years of age. Results: The discrepancy between the scores of the original typification sample and the Spanish sample necessitates the establishment of specific normative values. Regarding internal consistency, test–retest stability, and construct validity, the results demonstrate consistency with the original study and other adaptation studies. The validity of the theoretical structure of the instrument was studied using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The CFA fit indices in the overall PSI-4 LF model (101 items distributed across 13 first-order factors and two second-order factors) are not satisfactory. Therefore, the methodology used by the author in constructing the PSI-4 was employed, which involved performing two exploratory factor analyses (EFA). The domains of both parents and children exhibit partial replication of the theoretical subscales of the PSI-4. The analysis of the short form of the PSI-4 SF (comprising 36 items distributed across three subscales and a total score) yielded results similar to those of the long form. Conclusions: These results suggest the potential for developing specific standards for the Spanish population and conducting criterion validity studies for the clinical use of all dimensions of the PSI-4 in its two forms (LF and SF). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Power of Early Intervention: Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being in Very Young Children and Their Families)
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