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Maternal sensitivity and supportive discipline are important determinants of child self-regulation. Some evidence suggests that specific genetic or temperamental markers determine children's susceptibility to the impact of maternal parenting on child self-regulation. Cortisol reactivity as a susceptibility marker moderating the relation between maternal parenting and child self-regulation has not yet been studied. In this longitudinal population-based study (N = 258), the moderating role of infant cortisol stress response to the Strange Situation Procedure at age 1 was examined in the association between parenting (sensitivity and supportive discipline) at age 3 and child self-regulation at age 3 and 4. Maternal sensitivity and supportive discipline were related to child immediate and prolonged delay of gratification at age 3, and maternal sensitivity was related to working memory skills at age 4. No evidence of differential susceptibility to maternal parenting was found, based on differences in infant cortisol stress response. Highlights: Maternal sensitivity and supportive discipline relate to child immediate and prolonged delay of gratification at age 3. Maternal sensitivity is related to child working memory skills at age 4. No evidence was found for differential susceptibility to maternal parenting based on child stress reactivity. Our findings emphasize the importance of parental socialization for the development of self-regulatory functions in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Understanding the relationship between attachment and mental health has an important role in informing management of perinatal mental disorders and for infant mental health. It has been suggested that experiences of attachment are transmitted from one generation to the next. Maternal sensitivity has been proposed as a mediator, although findings have not been as strong as hypothesised. A meta-analysis suggested that this intergenerational transmission of attachment may vary across populations with lower concordance between parent and infant attachment classifications in clinical compared to community samples. However, no previous study has examined major depression and adult attachment in pregnancy as predictors of infant–parent attachment classification at 12 months postpartum. Methods: Data were obtained on 52 first-time mothers recruited in early pregnancy, which included 22 women who met diagnostic criteria for current major depression using the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The Adult Attachment Interview was also administered before 20 weeks of pregnancy. A history of early trauma was measured using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and maternal sensitivity was measured at 6 months postpartum using the observational measure of the Emotional Availability Scales. Infant–parent attachment was measured using the Strange Situation Procedure at 12 months. Results: Overall, we found no significant association between the Adult Attachment Interview and the Strange Situation Procedure classifications. However, a combination of maternal non-autonomous attachment on the Adult Attachment Interview and major depression was a significant predictor of insecure attachment on the Strange Situation Procedure. We did not find that maternal sensitivity mediated parental and infant attachment security in this sample. Conclusion: While previous meta-analyses identified lower concordance in clinical samples, our findings suggest women with major depression and non-autonomous attachment have a greater concordance with insecure attachment on the Strange Situation Procedure. These findings can guide future research and suggest a focus on depression in pregnancy may be important for subsequent infant attachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Psychotic experiences are common in childhood and an important risk indicator of adverse mental health outcomes. However, little is known about the association of psychotic experiences with functional outcomes in childhood, particularly regarding school performance. The aim of the present study was to examine whether psychotic experiences were prospectively related to school performance in childhood. Methods: This study was embedded in the population‐based Generation R Study (N = 2,362). Psychotic experiences were assessed using self‐reports on hallucinations at age 10 years. School performance was assessed using a standardized national school performance test at age 12 years. We considered the total school performance score, as well as language and mathematics subscales. Analyses were adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, maternal nonverbal IQ, nonverbal IQ at age 6 years and co‐occurring psychopathology at age 10 years. Results: Psychotic experiences were prospectively associated with poorer school performance scores (B = −0.61, 95% CI [−0.98;−0.25], p =.001), as well as poorer language (Bpercentile rank score = −2.00, 95% CI [−3.20;−0.79], p =.001) and mathematical ability (Bpercentile rank score = −1.75, 95% CI [−2.99;−0.51], p =.006). These associations remained after additional adjustment for nonverbal IQ at age 6 years (B = −0.51, 95% CI [−0.86;−0.16], p =.005), and co‐occurring internalizing (B = −0.40, 95% CI [−0.77;−0.03], p =.036) and externalizing problems (B = −0.40, 95% CI [−0.75;−0.04], p =.029), but not attention problems (B = −0.10, 95% CI [−0.47;0.26], p =.57). Conclusions: Children with psychotic experiences had lower school performance scores than their nonaffected peers. The finding was independent of sociodemographic characteristics, intelligence and co‐occurring internalizing and externalizing problems, but not attention problems. This study suggests that psychotic experiences are associated with childhood functional impairments, although the relatively small effects and the role of attention problems warrant further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies have shown that poor family environments are related to more sleep problems; however, little is known about how family irregularity in early life affects the development of sleep problems over childhood using objective sleep measures. The current study tests the hypothesis that early family irregularity contributes to the development of sleep problems. Methods: This population‐based study comprises 5,443 children from the Generation R Study. Family irregularity was measured with seven maternal‐reported questions on family routines when children were 2 and 4 years old. Mothers reported on sleep problems at child age 3, 6, and 10 years, whereas children completed questionnaires on sleep problems at age 10. Additionally, we used tri‐axial wrist accelerometers for five nights in 851 children (mean age 11.7 years) to assess sleep objectively. Results: Family irregularity was associated with more mother‐ and child‐reported sleep problems at ages 3, 6, and 10 years as well as with a shorter sleep duration and later objective sleep onset, but not with sleep efficiency or waking time. The association between family irregularity and multi‐informant subjective sleep problems at age 10 years was mediated by mother‐reported child psychopathology at age 6 years. Conclusions: Our findings show a long‐term robust association of preschool family irregularity with more sleep problems during childhood as well as shorter sleep duration and later sleep onset as measured objectively with actigraphy. In part, these sleep problems were associated with family irregularity by way of child psychopathology. These findings suggest that interventions improving preschool family irregularity, which are targeted to reduce child psychopathology, may also impact the development of sleep problems beneficially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective.Relations between maternal and paternal expressed emotion during pregnancy and observed sensitive parenting behavior of mothers (N = 553) and fathers (N = 518) in early childhood were examined.Design.Expressed emotion, represented by emotional overinvolvement and criticism, was measured around the 34th week of gestation using an adapted version of the Five-Minute Speech Sample. Maternal and paternal sensitivity, indexed by supportiveness and intrusiveness, was observed in a semi-structured interaction between parent and child at age 4. Multilevel analyses were conducted to account for shared variance among the families. Associations between expressed emotion and sensitive parenting behavior were subsequently stratified by parent gender.Results. Emotional overinvolvement during pregnancy was associated with lower levels of sensitive parenting. More specifically, mothers’ emotional overinvolvement was related to lower levels of supportive parenting, and fathers’ overinvolvement was related to higher levels of intrusiveness. Criticism during pregnancy was not associated with dimensions of sensitivity.Conclusions.Mothers’ and fathers’ emotional overinvolvement before the birth of their child was differently related to supportive and intrusive parenting 4 years later, suggesting gender-specific effects of parental expressed emotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and methods: In two birth cohort studies with genetic, sensitive parenting, and attachment data of more than 1,000 infants in total, we tested main and interaction effects of candidate genes involved in the dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin systems ( DRD4, DRD2, COMT, 5-HTT, OXTR) on attachment security and disorganization. Parenting was assessed using observational rating scales for parental sensitivity (), and infant attachment was assessed with the Strange Situation Procedure. Results: We found no consistent additive genetic associations for attachment security and attachment disorganization. However, specific tests revealed evidence for a codominant risk model for COMT Val158Met, consistent across both samples. Children with the Val/Met genotype showed higher disorganization scores (combined effect size d = .22, CI = .10-.34, p < .001). Gene-by-environment interaction effects were not replicable across the two samples. Conclusions: This unexpected finding might be explained by a broader range of plasticity in heterozygotes, which may increase susceptibility to environmental influences or to dysregulation of emotional arousal. This study is unique in combining the two largest attachment cohorts with molecular genetic and observed rearing environment data to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Family history is a major risk factor for child problem behaviour, yet few studies have examined the association between grandparental psychiatric disorder and child problem behaviour. Results are inconsistent as to whether the effect of grandparental depression on child problem behaviour is independent of parental psychopathology. Methods: Mothers and their children participated in an ethnically Dutch subcohort of a population-based prospective cohort in the Netherlands. N=816 (66%) mothers and n=691 fathers participated in the prenatal interviews. N=687 (84%) mothers and children and n=565 (82%) fathers participated three years postpartum. (Grand)parental psychopathology was assessed during pregnancy of the mothers with the Family Informant Schedule and Criteria (FISC), the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Child behaviour was assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) by mother and father when the child was three years old. Results: Grandparental anxiety disorder predicted maternal reports of children''s internalizing problems (OR=1.98, 95% C.I. (1.20, 3.28), p-value<0.01) and externalizing problems (OR=1.73, 95% C.I. (1.04, 2.87), p-value=0.03), independent of parental psychopathology. Results were similar for grandparental depression; internalizing OR=1.75, 95% C.I (1.11, 2.75), p-value=0.02 and externalizing OR=1.67, 95% C.I. (1.05, 2.64) p-value=0.03. However, grandparental psychopathology was not associated with children''s problem behaviour as reported by the father. Limitations: Information on grandparental lifetime psychiatric disorder was assessed through a parental interview which may have led to an underestimation of the prevalence rates. Conclusions: These results confirm the importance of a family history including not only the parental but also the grandparental generations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of the current meta-analysis was to aggregate concurrent and longitudinal empirical research on associations between the interparental relationship and both children's maladjustment (i.e., externalizing and internalizing symptoms) and children's responses to interparental conflict (i.e., emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and physiological). Based on major theoretical frameworks, we distinguished between six dimensions of the interparental relationship: relationship quality, conflict frequency, hostile, disengaged, and unconstructive forms of conflict, and child-related conflict. A final selection of 169 studies for child maladjustment and 61 studies for child responses to conflict were included. The findings revealed by the expansive and fine-grained approach of this meta-analysis support and challenge theoretical hypotheses about the relative predictive value of dimensions of the interparental relationship for children's functioning. Although hostility was specifically more strongly associated with children's externalizing behavior and emotional responses to conflict, disengaged and unconstructive conflict behavior posed similar risks for the other domains of child functioning. In addition, relationship quality, conflict frequency, and child-related conflict warrant more attention in theoretical frameworks, as these dimensions posed similar risks to child functioning as the different forms of conflict. Moreover, most associations between the interparental relationship and child functioning endured over time. Also, developmental and gender differences appeared to depend on the specific forms of interparental conflict and the domain of child functioning. In sum, the results support the growing consensus that prevention and intervention programs aimed at children's mental health could benefit from an alternative or additional focus on the interparental relationship. Public Significance Statement: This meta-analysis pooled findings from previous research on associations between different aspects of the interparental relationship and children's maladjustment (i.e., externalizing and internalizing problems) and responses to interparental conflict (i.e., emotional, behavioral, and physiological reactivity, and cognitive appraisals of the interparental subsystem). The findings highlight the importance of both the general quality of the relationship between parents as well as five aspects of interparental conflicts (i.e., conflict frequency, the level of hostile, disengaged and unconstructive conflict behavior, and the amount of child-related conflicts) as robust predictors of children's maladjustment, concurrently and over time. Moreover, the findings confirm that children's emotional and behavioral reactivity to interparental conflicts, and their cognitive appraisals of the interparental subsystem, are fruitful directions for understanding why interparental conflict leads to maladjustment in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]