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Despite abundant research documenting negative associations between parental psychological control and youth adjustment, little is known about precursors of parental psychological control. The current study evaluated maternal, youth, and neighborhood predictors of changes in maternal psychological control across the transition to adolescence. Mother-youth dyads (N = 211, 50.2% female children; 46.4% Latinx, 17.5% Black, 11.4% white, and 24.7% multiracial) reported on maternal psychological control at youth ages 10 and 12. Controlling for youth ethnicity and race, family income-to-needs, and prior levels of maternal psychological control at age 10, structural equation models showed that maternal problems (i.e., anxiety, alcohol dependence, caregiving helplessness) predicted increases and youth externalizing problems (e.g., attention problems, rule-breaking) predicted decreases in maternal reports of psychological control. Neighborhood risks (i.e., poverty, crime, single-parent households) predicted increases in youth reports of maternal psychological control. Exploratory analyses by gender indicated that neighborhood risks predicted decreases in maternal reports of psychological control for girls, but increases in maternal reports of psychological control for boys. This study identified specific antecedents of maternal psychological control that can be targeted in future intervention efforts to reduce negative parenting to promote positive youth development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attachment theory posits that children's interactions with caregivers contribute to internalized representations that reflects the common and recurring elements of sensitive caregiving interactions (i.e. the secure base script). These internalized representations are theorized to influence later adaptation, including the development of psychopathology. Given prior research suggesting that stress exposure may undermine secure base script knowledge (SBSK), this study evaluated SBSK development in early childhood as a mechanism by which childhood stress exposure may influence later adaptation. We hypothesized that children's (N = 230; Mage = 73.30 months, SD = 2.51, 50% girls; 45.7% Latinx) stress exposure would be associated with lower levels of SBSK at age 6, which, in turn, would contribute to increased internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 8. SBSK emerged as a significant mechanism by which early life stress may contribute to later externalizing, but not internalizing, child behavior problems. These findings highlight the role of SBSK as a profitable focus for both risk identification and intervention efforts aimed at reducing behavioral maladaptation among stress-exposed children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation evaluated relations between preschoolers’ representational content and coherence in the MacArthur Story Stem Battery (MSSB) at age four as related to child adjustment at age six. A community sample of 250 preschoolers (50% female;Mage= 49.05 months,SD= 2.9; 46% Hispanic, 18% Black, 11.2% White, 0.4% Asian, and 24.4% multiracial) completed assessments of relational representations using the MSSB at age four and of child adjustment at age six, including a measure of child-reported depressive symptomatology and observer ratings of child aggression during a Bobo doll task and inhibitory control during a delay of gratification task. Regression analyses demonstrated prospective relations between negative mother representation and less inhibitory control, negative child representation and higher aggression, and narrative coherence and more inhibitory control. Interactive analyses revealed relations between negative mother representation and difficulties in inhibitory control among White children and weaker relations among Black children. Prospective relations between narrative coherence and increased inhibitory control were less pronounced for Hispanic children. Findings indicate that preschoolers’ narratives can reveal the thematic content and structural coherence of their internalized beliefs and expectations of self and (m)other. Associations between representations and children’s adaptation have clear implications for representational processes and interventions in development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Consistent with models of environmental sensitivity (Pluess, 2015), research suggests that the effects of parents' behaviors on child adjustment are stronger among children who struggle to regulate their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors compared with children with better self-regulation. This study extended prior research by assessing maternal representations of the child, which presumably underlie mothers' parenting behaviors, to evaluate the moderating influence of preschoolers' self-regulation on relations between mothers' representations and changes in children's negative and positive developmental adjustment outcomes from preschool to first grade. Participants were 187 mothers and their preschoolers. Mothers' representations were assessed via the coherence of their verbal narratives regarding their preschooler and teachers reported on preschoolers' self-regulation. In preschool and first grade, examiners rated children's externalizing behavior problems and ego-resilience, and teachers rated children's externalizing behavior problems and peer acceptance. Consistent with the environmental sensitivity framework, the coherence of mothers' narratives predicted changes in adjustment among children with self-regulation difficulties, but not among children with better self-regulation. Preschoolers with self-regulation difficulties whose mothers produced incoherent narratives showed increased externalizing behavior problems, decreased ego-resilience, and lower peer acceptance across the transition to school. In contrast, preschoolers with better self-regulation did not evidence such effects when their mothers produced incoherent narratives. The implications of these findings for understanding and supporting children's adjustment during the early school years are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]