Search Results (41)

Background/Objectives: Emotional interactions between mothers and children are essential for later developmental outcomes such as children’s health, social competence, and language skills. However, an observational assessment of such interactions cannot reveal how mothers perceive their relationships with their children. Therefore, in this study, we translated and validated the Japanese version of the Emotional Availability Self-Report (EA-SR-J) and examined its factor structure, reliability, and validity. Methods: The participants were 739 Japanese mothers with children aged from 1 month to 5 years and 11 months. Results: Exploratory factor analysis revealed 19 items and four factors (Affect Quality, Hostility, Mutual Attunement, and Child Involvement with Parent) for the EA-SR-J. However, Intrusiveness was removed, and some items were assigned to different factors compared with the original scale. Cronbach’s alpha of each subscale ranged from 0.81 to 0.88, indicating sufficient internal consistency. The convergent validity of the scale was confirmed with expected correlations with variables related to attachment and child-rearing style. Discriminant validity was confirmed by group differences in variables related to children’s autism spectrum disorder symptoms and mothers’ depression symptoms. Conclusions: Although the EA-SR-J contains fewer items than the original scale, with the Intrusiveness item removed, it remains a reliable and valid tool. Further studies using the Emotional Availability Scale based on observation are needed in the future. Full article

Background/Objectives: Conduct Disorder (CD) involves persistent behavior violating societal norms and others’ rights. A subgroup of adolescents with CD exhibits callous–unemotional (CU) traits, which are linked to severe antisocial behavior and poorer long-term outcomes. Research suggests parenting plays an important role in the development of CU traits. However, few studies have explored the role of maternal and paternal parenting practices mediating the link between CU traits and violence within the same study. Methods: This study included 222 adolescents with Conduct Disorder (M_age = 15.7, 68% male) and examined whether perceived parental warmth and hostility, measured using the Quality of Parental Relationships, mediated the association between callous–unemotional (CU) traits and youth involvement in violent crime and gun violence, assessed via the Violent Crime Assessment and Gun Violence Questionnaire. Results: Double mediation models showed that only maternal hostility mediated the link between CU traits and violence, while maternal warmth and paternal parenting practices did not. Conclusions: Findings emphasize the role of maternal hostility in exacerbating violence, including gun violence, among adolescents with CD and CU traits. Full article

Maternal childrearing practices play a prominent role in a child’s developmental outcomes. Difficult child temperament, specifically, negative emotionality, impacts parenting practices. The present study contributes to the existing literature by investigating the mediating role of parenting practices on associations between children’s temperament and academic and behavioural outcomes in a low-income and ethnically diverse sample. The present study consists of a sample of 163 families. The average age of the children was 32.40 months (SD = 2.61 months). The average age of the mothers was 34.35 years (SD = 5.32 years). Structural equation modelling examined the relationship between children’s temperament, parenting practices, and child outcomes. A two-step procedure was conducted to test this model: confirmatory factor analysis followed by latent path analysis. The results show that children’s temperament was significantly and positively associated with mothers’ hostile parenting and children’s conduct problems. Hostile parenting was positively associated with children’s conduct problems. While overprotective parenting was negatively associated with children’s receptive vocabulary scores, maternal responsivity was positively associated with better receptive vocabulary in children. Finally, hostile parenting was found to play a significant and positive mediating role in children’s conduct behaviour. Maternal practices are associated with outcomes in children with negative emotionality, underscoring the need for tailored interventions in diverse, low-income families. Full article

This study investigates the impact of family environments on the psychological well-being of children and adolescents in rural China, focusing on loneliness, depression, and internet addiction. Using a cross-sectional design, data were collected from 652 families in rural Hunan province to examine the role of family communication, caregiver psychological states, and parenting styles. Structural equation modeling revealed that family economic conditions influenced children’s mental health through primary caregivers’ emotional well-being, hostile parenting styles, and family communication. Notably, hostile parenting and poor family communication were the strongest mediators across all three psychological outcomes, consistently exhibiting significant associations with loneliness, depression, and internet addiction. The findings highlight the crucial role of parenting styles and poor family communication in shaping children’s psychological health, emphasizing the need for interventions that enhance family communication and promote supportive parenting. Addressing caregiver emotional well-being and adjusting parental expectations may serve as effective strategies for improving mental health outcomes among rural youth. Full article

Disney’s Strange World (2022) explores the themes of “energy unconscious”, “intergenerational equity”, and “ecophobia”, focusing on the legacy parents leave to their children. The film centers on three generations of men, each representing different attitudes towards nature. Jaeger Clade, the grandfather, embodies colonialist values, viewing nature as a hostile force to be conquered. His son, Searcher, an intensive farmer, sees nature as a battleground between useful beings and pests, focusing on improving society through domestication. In contrast, Ethan, Searcher’s teenage son, adopts an ecocentric perspective. His worldview is expressed through the card game Primal Outpost, where he and his friends embrace symbiosis, interconnectedness, and the rejection of the man-nature divide. Ethan is the first to recognize that their ecosystem is a living organism reminiscent of the Gaia Hypothesis, advocating for a paradigm shift that the older generations fail to grasp. The article analyzes Strange World as a cli-fi allegory, urging humanity to choose between being parasitic destroyers or symbiotic contributors to ecological recovery. The film, while offering a simplified solution to climate change, presents a comic apocalyptic vision where youth-driven hope for change challenges older, ecophobic attitudes and offers a transformative, ecotopian message. Full article

Background: This study explores parental dysregulation when associated with adolescents’ involvement in street fights with peers. Parental dysregulation, characterized by emotional volatility, impulsivity, and inconsistent discipline, significantly affects adolescent development, influencing their social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. Street fights, which involve physical violence among adolescents in public settings, pose risks to both individuals and the community. This research aims to identify risk factors and underlying mechanisms associated with adolescent street fights, providing insights for targeted interventions and prevention strategies. Aim: The study employs social learning theory to explain how adolescents may model aggressive behaviors observed in dysregulated parents and family systems theory to highlight the role of dysfunctional family dynamics in being associated with aggression. A sample of 292 male adolescents and their parents was assessed using self-report measures. Results: Statistical analyses revealed higher levels of emotional dysregulation, depression, and hostility among parents of adolescents frequently involved in street fights. Conclusions: These findings underscore the need for interventions focusing on improving parental emotional regulation, reducing hostile behaviors, and enhancing family communication to mitigate adolescent aggression. Further research should explore diverse populations and longitudinal data to strengthen these conclusions. Full article

Background/Objectives: The objective of the present study was to examine the extent of effectiveness of two parent programs to complement an intervention in social skills for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods: Fifteen children with ADHD participated in a program to develop social skills, while their parents were randomly assigned to two parent training programs that had different formats: a Parenting School (N = 8) or a Parent Workshop (N = 7). There were no significant differences between parents of both groups in knowledge about ADHD, obedience to commands, or strategies for addressing desirable and undesirable behaviors. The pre- and post-intervention social cognition and social interaction of ADHD children were assessed using a SSRS-C questionnaire (Social Skills Rating System—Child Form) and a controlled chat room, which allowed for observing how children interact in a virtual environment. Results: Children showed significant improvements in social competencies, such as identifying social cues, generating appropriate responses, and reducing hostile responses, with large effect sizes, following the social skills intervention. Comparing the two parent training programs, the Parent Workshop program demonstrated significant improvements in social cue detection and conversation memory, with more children achieving reliable changes in these variables than in the Parenting School program. Conclusions: Finally, the reliable change indices for children showed that the Parent Workshop demonstrated improvements in more than half of the subjects across all analyzed variables. Study limitations, implications for research and practice are discussed. Full article

Computer vision using deep learning algorithms has served numerous human activity identification applications, particularly those linked to safety and security. However, even though autistic children are frequently exposed to danger as a result of their activities, many computer vision experts have shown little interest in their safety. Several autistic children show severe challenging behaviors such as the Meltdown Crisis which is characterized by hostile behaviors and loss of control. This study aims to introduce a monitoring system capable of predicting the Meltdown Crisis condition early and alerting the children’s parents or caregivers before entering more difficult settings. For this endeavor, the suggested system was constructed using a combination of a pre-trained Vision Transformer (ViT) model (Swin-3D-b) and a Residual Network (ResNet) architecture to extract robust features from video sequences to extract and learn the spatial and temporal features of the Stereotyped Motor Movements (SMMs) made by autistic children at the beginning of the Meltdown Crisis state, which is referred to as the Pre-Meltdown Crisis state. The evaluation was conducted using the MeltdownCrisis dataset, which contains realistic scenarios of autistic children’s behaviors in the Pre-Meltdown Crisis state, with data from the Normal state serving as the negative class. Our proposed model achieved great classification accuracy, at 92%. Full article

Research has clearly indicated that the development of serious behavioral problems in children and adolescents is influenced by parenting. However, recent research has refined the role of parenting by showing the importance of distinguishing between different types of parenting and in considering the role of callous–unemotional traits (CU traits) and conduct problems (CP) of the children. In the current study, we advance this research by distinguishing between emotional (e.g., parental warmth; parental hostility) and behavioral (e.g., use of positive reinforcement; inconsistent discipline/harsh discipline) aspects of parenting and by considering the way parents respond to children’s emotions (i.e., coaching and dismissing). The sample consisted of 136 mothers (M = 38.09 years, SD = 4.51 years, 45.41% high school degree) with a child (age range 3–5 years) enrolled in kindergarten in central Italy. Multiple regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for level of CP, use of positive reinforcement (β = −0.31, p < 0.001) and warm feelings (β = −0.22, p < 0.05), remained associated with CU traits and punitive parenting was no longer significant. Consistent with predictions, use of positive reinforcement was no longer associated with conduct problems when controlling for CU traits and the positive associations with punitive parenting (β = 0.24, p < 0.05) and negativity (β = 0.36, p < 0.001) remained significant. These findings support the need for continued research that considers both the emotional and behavioral aspects of parenting and disentangles their associations with conduct problems and CU traits. Such research could not only advance causal theories for children with conduct problems but also help to guide more effective treatments, especially for those with elevated CU traits who often leave treatment with significant conduct problems remaining. Full article

Background: Child ADHD symptoms are highly prevalent in middle childhood, alongside impairment in social functioning. The parent–child relationship has been shown to play an important role; however, studies investigating specific facets of the parent–child relationship in ADHD symptomatology in middle childhood have been neglected. We assumed that higher ADHD symptoms were associated with both (1) lower maternal emotional availability (EA) and (2) lower child attachment security. Moreover, (3) we aimed to explore which specific EA dimensions were associated with ADHD symptoms. Methods: In a socio-pediatric clinic in Germany, 71 inpatient mother–child dyads (child age: M = 7.70, SD = 1.06; n = 54 boys) were assessed. Clinical data about child ADHD symptoms (Child Behavior Checklist 6–18 subscale “attention deficit/hyperactivity problems”), maternal EA (free play), and child attachment representation (Attachment Story Completion Task, GEV-B) were analyzed cross-sectionally. Results: Controlling for child oppositional behavior and sex, child ADHD symptoms were associated with overall maternal EA, and more specifically non-hostility, but not with child attachment representation. Conclusions: Our results imply that the role of parent–child interaction quality should be considered in the treatment of ADHD. Bidirectional effects cannot be ruled out. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing lockdowns might have had a strong impact on mental health of mothers and their infants/toddlers. For example, families had to deal with health issues and social isolation, which might have affected mental health and parent-child interactions. The aim of this study is to evaluate differences in (1) infantile regulatory disorders, (2) maternal mental health, (3) the impact of maternal mental health on infantile regulatory disorders, and (4) alterations in the mother-child interaction for participants recruited before versus after the onset of the first German lockdown. For this reason, mother-child dyads have been divided into two groups and were compared by analyzing clinical interviews on psychopathology of mother and child (M.I.N.I. & DC:05) and mother-child-interactions (Emotional Availability Scales). Results showed that (1) differences in infantile sleeping disorders emerged (phi = 0.243; p = 0.016) compared to the pre-lockdown group, while (2) the occurrence of maternal panic and anxiety increased in the post-lockdown group (phi = 0.229; p = 0.022). Moreover, there was (3) an association for maternal panic and child’s sleep disorder, and (4) specific associations with maternal non-hostility in the mother-child-interaction. In conclusion, the present study highlights the differences of maternal mental health occurrences and infants’ regulatory problems, as well as the possible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic for infants. In the pre-lockdown group, maternal non-hostility might have acted as a promotive factor against regulatory disorders, while this mechanism was mitigated in the post-lockdown group. Full article

Background: Bullying is a hostile behavior repeated over a time period, affecting children and adolescents in different social settings, mainly small and stable ones like school, with negative effects on mental and physical health. In this study, we aimed to provide the degree of impairment of different variables related to health and well-being in bullying conditions, with attention to sex differences. Methods: Data were obtained from 5390 adolescents (mean age 13.08 ± 1.89; male 2729), and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was assessed using the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire. Results: In all students, mood and emotion, self-perception, and parental relationships are the dimensions more compromised in bullying conditions, while lifestyle habit is the variable less involved. Bullied girls show a significant impairment of all HRQoL variables both with respect to the socially accepted counterpart and to the male population. Conclusions: Our study highlights the strict association between bullying and emotional and social dimensions, suggesting that enhancing them preventively could facilitate earlier detection of problems, thereby reducing health risks. Full article

Previous research suggests that parents involved in child-to-parent violence (CPV) experience shame, judgment, and a lack of social support, often accompanied by feelings of self-blame and helplessness as well as a deterioration in their perception of self-efficacy and their parenting skills. All of these factors may impact parents’ mental health. However, there is a research gap concerning the consequences of CPV among parents. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the relationship between CPV and psychological symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, hostility, obsessive–compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, and somatization) in parents based on their perceptions of self-efficacy. The sample was composed of 354 participants: 177 parents (83.1% mothers) and their 177 children (53.4% boys; M_age = 13.27). CPV was reported by both parents and their children. In addition, parents reported their self-efficacy beliefs and psychological symptoms. The results showed that CPV was negatively associated with parents’ psychological symptomatology, except for somatization. Moreover, self-efficacy beliefs explain part of the indirect association between CPV behaviors and psychological symptoms in parents. Overall, our findings provide evidence for the potential impact of CPV on mental health in parents and suggest the relevance of reinforcing their self-efficacy beliefs. Full article

The quality of parent–child relationships plays a significant role in the development of child anxiety, especially regarding aspects of parental control, intrusive behavior, and a lack of warmth. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanisms of these parenting behaviors that are associated with the risk of child anxiety have yet to be revealed. The present study aims to examine the contribution of a cognitive aspect of parenting, i.e., openness to different ways of thinking, to the development of child anxiety through its impact on parenting style. A sample of 300 Israeli parents (72% women) over the age of 18 (M = 38.8, SD = 6.2), with at least one child over the age of 6 (M = 13.3, SD = 5.5 of oldest child), was recruited through social media platforms. Participants provided demographic information and filled out self-reported questionnaires dealing with child anxiety (using the Child Behavior Checklist), openness to different ways of thinking (using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index), and parenting style (using the Parental Behavior Inventory). The analysis confirmed the mediation role of hostile/coercive parenting style in the association between parental openness to different ways of thinking and child anxiety. However, the association between supportive/engaged parenting and child anxiety was non-significant. Apparently, openness to different ways of thinking allows for parents to consolidate parenting that does not resort to coercive and hostile behaviors, control, obedience, and severe strictness. As a result, the child develops self-regulation and coping mechanisms that reduce the risk for developing anxiety. Full article

(1) Background: Child aggression is not easily reduced as children grow up, and it is a serious problem that can develop into a life of crime if left unaddressed. (2) Methods: This study was conducted among elementary school children and their parents in C and K provinces and D city. Data were collected through a survey. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to analyze parental hostility and each child’s self-control and aggression. (3) Results: Child aggression had a significant negative correlation with self-control and a significant positive correlation with parental hostility. In particular, there was a significant positive correlation between physical aggression and revenge, which are sub-factors of parental hostility. In addition, the children’s self-control was significantly negatively correlated with parental hostility. (4) Conclusions: Since there is a positive correlation between children’s aggression and self-control, it is necessary to develop strategies to improve self-control when seeking intervention measures for children’s aggression. In addition, since there is a significant quantitative correlation between children’s aggression and parental hostility, it is necessary to deal with parental hostility in order to control children’s aggression. Since there is a significant negative correlation between parental hostility and children’s self-control, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of parental attitudes and behaviors to improve children’s self-control. Full article