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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]

Children's self‐regulation is a core adaptive system in child development. Physiological indices of regulation, particularly the autonomic nervous system (ANS), have garnered increased attention as an informative level of analysis in regulation research. Cardiography supports the simultaneous examination of both ANS branches via measures of pre‐ejection period (PEP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as indicators of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, respectively. However, despite their heavily intertwined functions, research examining autonomic coordination across sympathetic and parasympathetic systems is scarce. Moreover, extant efforts have favored static, mean level reactivity analyses, despite the dynamic nature of ANS regulation and the availability of analytic tools that can model these processes across time. This study drew on a sample of 198 six‐year‐old children from a diverse community sample (49.5% female, 43.9% Latinx) to examine dynamic autonomic coordination using bivariate latent change score modeling to evaluate bidirectional influences of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity over the course of a challenging puzzle completion task. Results indicated that children evidenced reciprocal sympathetic activation (i.e., PEP attenuation and RSA withdrawal) across the challenge task, and these regulatory responses were characterized by a temporally leading influence of PEP on lagging changes in RSA. The current findings contribute to our understanding of children's autonomic coordination while illustrating a novel analytic technique to advance ongoing efforts to understand the etiology and developmental significance of children's physiological self‐regulation. The current study explores dynamics underlying coordination between sympathetic and parasympathetic systems to better understand the process of autonomic regulation. Our findings build upon existing studies of coordination to show that, at least in the current context, regulatory responses were characterized by leading influence of PEP on lagging changes in RSA from epoch to epoch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated hypothesized relations of (in)congruent parent–child perceptions of parental warmth and hostility at age 7 with changes in child and parent reports of children's depressive symptoms and rule-breaking behaviors from ages 7 to 10. Dyads consisted of 193 parents (93.3% biological mothers) and children (49.2% female; 46.1% Latinx) drawn from a longitudinal study of child development. Child and parent reports of parental warmth and hostility were collected using parallel measures at age 7. Child and parent reports of child depressive symptoms and rule-breaking behaviors were collected at ages 7 and 10. After controlling for children's prior symptomatology and individual informant effects, polynomial regression analyses revealed a significant relation between (in)congruent perceptions of parental warmth and child-reported depressive symptoms. Specifically, congruent perceptions of high parental warmth at age 7 predicted decreased levels of child-reported depressive symptoms from ages 7 to 10, whereas congruent perceptions of low parental warmth predicted increased levels of child-reported depressive symptoms, especially among daughters. (In)congruent perceptions of parental hostility were related to child-reported rule-breaking behaviors. Specifically, congruent perceptions of high parental hostility predicted increased rates of child-reported rule-breaking behaviors, whereas incongruent perceptions of high parent-reported and low child-reported parental hostility predicted decreased rates of child-reported rule-breaking behaviors, especially among sons. This study documented the adaptive significance of parent–child (in)congruence in perceptions of parenting across middle childhood and revealed the potential specificity of relations by domain of adaptation and/or gender, thereby suggesting important implications for risk identification and treatment. Highlights: Polynomial regressions examined parent–child (in)congruence in perceived parenting. (In)congruence of warmth predicted child depressive symptoms, especially for girls. (In)congruence of hostility predicted child rule-breaking, especially for boys. (In)congruence effects varied by parenting domain, adaptative outcome, and gender. Parent–child (in)congruence can inform risk identification and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination are associated with a host of problems in adolescence and adulthood, yet little is known about if and how such experiences influence children. Likewise, ethnic-racial identity (ERI) research has focused on adolescent and adult development to the detriment of understanding if and how ERI might influence early development, particularly in the context of ethnic-racial discrimination. To address these gaps, this study tested the hypotheses that a) children's perceived experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination would predict elevated behavior problems, and b) children's ERI with respect to their exploration of the meaning of their ethnicity-race and their sense of commitment to their ethnic-racial group(s) would mitigate this relation.Method: Path analyses evaluated the prospective contribution of children's perceived ethnic-racial discrimination at age 7 (N = 172) to examiner ratings of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems one year later as moderated by child-reported ERI.Results: Perceived experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination predicted increased internalizing and externalizing behavior problems one year later, but only among children who had relatively less-well developed ERI, particularly with regard to their sense of commitment to their ethnic-racial group(s).Conclusion: These findings document the incidence and the prospective negative impact of children's experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination on their behavioral adjustment, while illuminating the heretofore underappreciated protective role of ERI on children's development in contexts of discrimination. By cultivating ERI among children, parents, educators, and other community leaders can help children navigate institutionalized racism, and the prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory practices it engenders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation evaluated a theoretically specified model of associations among mothers’ history of child sexual abuse (CSA), a helpless state of mind (SOM) with regard to the mother–child relationship, and increased behavior problems in the next generation. Moreover, we evaluated the moderating influence of child gender on predicted relations between mothers’ CSA severity and helpless SOM (i.e., moderated mediation). Participants were 225 biological mother–preschooler dyads (48% female; 46.4% Latinx) drawn from an ongoing, longitudinal study of representation and regulation in child development. Mothers’ history of CSA was assessed when their children were 4 years old and emerged as a prominent risk factor in this diverse, high-risk community sample with 40% of mothers reporting contact-based sexual abuse prior to age 18. Mediation analyses revealed a significant indirect pathway from a continuous rating of mothers’ CSA severity to increased externalizing behavior problems from ages 4 to 8 in the next generation via mothers’ helpless SOM at age 6. Further, this indirect path was significant for mother–daughter dyads, but not for mother–son dyads. This investigation contributes to the neophyte literature on intergenerational CSA effects by revealing the impact of a mother’s CSA history on her SOM regarding the mother–child relationship, particularly when parenting daughters. Clinical interventions that enhance survivors’ awareness of and reflection on their SOM regarding the parent–child relationship may attenuate intergenerational CSA effects on child adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite robust associations between child maltreatment experiences and emotional development, a paucity of research examines the influence of child maltreatment on empathy development, and still fewer studies differentiate these effects across maltreatment subtypes. The present study examined the development of children's empathy from ages six to eight, as predicted by maltreatment, and as moderated by children's attachment representations. Participants were a community sample of 250 children followed longitudinally and assessed in a laboratory setting with their primary caregivers. Child maltreatment experiences from birth to age six were assessed by semi-structured interviews with caregivers, which were rated according to widely-used child maltreatment coding protocols, and by caregiver and child self-report measures. Child empathy was assessed at ages six and eight by caregiver-report. Attachment representations were observed in children using the MacArthur Story Stem Battery. Child emotional abuse (β = −0.150, p =.012) and child neglect (β = −0.137, p =.016) predicted decreased empathy at age eight, whereas child physical abuse (β = 0.132, p =.027) and child exposure to domestic violence (β = 0.164, p =.004) predicted increased empathy at age eight. Further, children's negative representations of mother figures moderated the positive association between child physical abuse and empathy (β = −0.177, p =.005), such that the association became weaker as negative representations increased. These results highlight the nuanced ways in which child maltreatment experiences of different subtypes contribute to the development of empathy in school-aged children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional overinvolvement (EOI) in parents’ Five Minute Speech Samples (FMSSs; Magaña-Amato, 1993) is thought to measure overconcern and enmeshment with one’s child. Although related to maladaptive outcomes in studies of adult children, FMSS EOI evidences varied relations with behavior problems in studies with young children. These mixed findings may indicate that certain FMSS EOI criteria reflect inappropriate and excessive involvement with adult children, but do not indicate maladaptive processes when parenting younger children. Thus, this study evaluated relations of each FMSS EOI criterion with changes in child behavior problems from preschool to first grade in a community sample of 223 child–mother dyads (47.98% female; Wave 1 M(age) 49.08 months; 56.50% Hispanic/Latina). Maternal FMSS EOI ratings were obtained at Wave 1, and independent examiners rated child externalizing and internalizing behavior problems at Wave 1 and again 2 years later. Path analyses indicated that both the self-sacrifice/overprotection (SSOP) and statements of attitude (SOAs) FMSS EOI criteria predicted increased externalizing problems. In contrast, excessive detail and exaggerated praise were not related to child externalizing behavior problems, and Emotional Display was not evident in this sample. None of the FMSS EOI criteria evidenced significant relations with internalizing behavior problems. Multigroup comparisons indicated that the effect of SOAs on externalizing behavior problems was significant for boys but not for girls, and there were no significant group differences by race/ethnicity. These findings point to the salience of SSOP and SOAs for understanding the developmental significance of EOI in early development. [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]

Objectives: This investigation examined developmental pathways between childhood emotional maltreatment and adaptational outcomes in early adolescence. This study utilized a developmental psychopathology perspective in adopting a multidimensional approach to the assessment of different forms of emotional maltreatment and later adjustment outcomes. Specifically, emotional abuse (i.e., verbal criticism, hostility) and emotional neglect (i.e., psychological unavailability) were compared using a process-level analytic approach to examine if and how different forms of emotional maltreatment would contribute to adolescent adjustment via aggression and social withdrawal in middle childhood. Methods: The current study sample is drawn from a longitudinal, prospective study of a high-risk community sample (N =196), incorporating a multi-method and multi-informant design. Multiple mediator models were tested via bootstrapping regression techniques. Results: Bivariate correlations revealed that both emotional neglect and emotional abuse were associated with increased aggression and social withdrawal in middle childhood, and lower ratings of socioemotional competence in early adolescence. However, the mediational model, which controlled for child gender and concurrent physical and sexual maltreatment, was only significant for the contribution of emotional abuse to lower adolescent competence via social withdrawal in middle childhood. Post hoc analyses revealed that this association was only significant for boys. Conclusions: While social withdrawal in middle childhood significantly explained the observed relation between emotional abuse and decreased competence in adolescence, this process did not emerge as salient in understanding the relation between emotional neglect and adolescent adaptation. Furthermore, these developmental processes appeared to vary by gender. The results are in need of replication and extension to other outcome domains, but represent an important contribution to the empirical study of specific forms of emotional maltreatment. Practice implications: Emotional maltreatment is generally overlooked and unrecognized as compared to physical or sexual forms of maltreatment. This study adds to the accumulating empirical evidence that the effects of emotional maltreatment are disabling, enduring, and should be carefully assessed by clinicians. Furthermore, this assessment should specify the particular form of emotional maltreatment that has occurred, as the results of the study indicate that developmental processes and adjustment outcomes may vary according the type of emotional maltreatment (i.e., emotional abuse, emotional neglect) that is experienced. Finally, clinicians must recognize that a single maltreatment type may vary in its impact on subsequent adjustment, as significant gender differences emerged in the current study that point to the role of individual differences that warrant further investigation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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]

Prior research on Expressed Emotion (EE) in parents' Five Minute Speech Samples (FMSS) suggests that parental attitudes that are overprotective or blur boundaries between the parent and child (i.e., the criteria for self-sacrifice/overprotection; SSOP) are related to increases in children's behavior problems. Some theorists contend that parents who demonstrate high levels of SSOP treat their children more insensitively, but others argue that SSOP does not result in insensitive parenting during the early childhood years. To date, there is no evidence that can be brought to bear upon this tension within the field regarding the developmental implications of SSOP in childhood. This longitudinal investigation of 223 child-mother dyads (47.9% female; Mage_W1 = 49.08 months; 56.5% Hispanic/Latina) evaluated whether maternal insensitivity at age 6 mediated the link between mothers' SSOP with respect to their 4-year-old children and children's behavior problems (i.e., internalizing, attention/hyperactivity) at age 8. A path analysis revealed significant indirect pathways from mothers' SSOP during the preschool period to children's increased internalizing and attention/hyperactivity problems at age 8 via elevated maternal insensitivity at age 6. These associations did not differ significantly across groups as a function of child gender, maternal race/ethnicity, single-mother status, or family poverty. FMSS evaluations of SSOP may offer a culturally valid and clinically valuable screening tool to detect parental attitudes that confer elevated risks for insensitive parenting practices and later child adjustment difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]