Search

Based on a sample of 955 elementary school children in central China, the present study examined family socio-economic status and parent-child relationships in relation to children’s social creativity, as well as the mediating role of personality traits in these associations. Family environment (socio-economic status and parent-child relationships) and personality traits were significantly correlated with social creativity; children openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness and extraversion partly mediated the relationship between family environment and social creativity when controlling for age and sex. These results are important for explaining the roles of the family environment and individual factors in shaping children’s social creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parenting children with conduct problems (CP) is challenging, yet very little is known about the impact of the child’s behaviour on family functioning or how parents of children with CP perceive their child. The aim of this research was to examine whether families with children with CP and high vs. low levels of callous-unemotional traits (HCU vs. LCU) experience differences in family functioning and parental perceptions. One hundred and one parents/caregivers of boys aged 11-16 [Typically developing (TD) n = 31; CP/HCU n = 35; CP/LCU n = 35] completed the McMaster Family Assessment Device, measuring multiple domains of family functioning. Parents/caregivers also completed a written statement describing their child, used for qualitative analysis. Families with CP/HCU children had poorer affective involvement than TD (p = 0.00; d = − 1.17) and CP/LCU (p = 0.03; d = − 0.62) families. Families with CP/HCU children showed significantly poorer general family functioning (p = 0.04; d = − 0.63) and more poorly defined family roles (p = 0.005; d = − 0.82) than families with TD children. Qualitative analyses indicated that parents/caregivers of CP/HCU children characterised them as having a dichotomous personality and being superficially charming. CP/LCU children were characterised as cheeky and endearing, with parents reporting good rapport. Families with CP/HCU children presented with specific difficulties in affective involvement and parents described challenges which were in line with the child’s specific presentation of lack of empathy and shallow affect. These findings may be used to help clinicians identify targets for family interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research was to attempt to understand how the experience of having been a Jewish child hidden in France during the Occupation was transmitted to offspring. This analysis is based on research carried out among former hidden Jewish children, and the therapeutic follow-up provided in the setting of our clinical activities. The psychopathology of the first generation plays a role in the transmission process. The transmission of their history is also a source of ambivalence. This study shows how important it is to consider the complexity of personal histories and the distortions attendant on the transmission of these histories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Locus of control is one of the most widely studied concepts in the history of personality psychology. In spite of its popularity and its associations with numerous relevant outcomes, the ability of locus of control to predict future behaviors involving parenting effectiveness has been under researched. The few parent locus of control children's outcome studies are characterized by cross-sectional methodologies that focus on mothers. The present study uses a prospective methodology to compare data on mothers' and fathers' locus of control with their child's behavior outcomes from a large scale research project, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Based on Rotter's Social Learning Theory published in 1954 and past empirical research, it was predicted and found that parent internality was associated with more positive child outcomes than parent externality. More specifically, when both parents were internal, their children had more positive outcomes in sleeping, eating, and tantrum behavior as compared to any other parent locus of control combination. However external parents had a less restrictive attitude which appeared to have a more beneficial effect on picky eating. Results confirmed how important parent locus of control is in the lives of children. Based on the findings, researchers are urged to develop interventions to change advice to parents and promote more internal locus of control among parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined whether autobiographical memories from parents' own childhoods, prebirth expectations, and personality traits contributed to their perceptions of their infants' temperament. It also investigated whether mothers and fathers differed in the extent to which these three sources of subjectivity predicted their perceptions. During the third trimester of pregnancy, expectant mothers and fathers in 96 families completed assessments of their personality traits and expectations for their children's temperament, as well as provided characteristic memories of their relationships with their own caregivers as children. Memories were then coded for themes of growth versus safety and compared to parents' ratings of perceived child temperament 15 months later. Analyses revealed that, for both parents, prebirth expectations predicted perceptions of positive temperament behaviors. Moreover, fathers who described childhoods characterized by exploration and opportunities for growth also perceived their children as displaying more positive temperamental behaviors, whereas those who described greater safety focus in memories and who had higher levels of negative affectivity reported more negative temperamental behaviors. These findings suggest that mothers' and fathers' perceptions of their children are differently related to psychological variables, including autobiographical memories. In turn, it is possible that these subjective perceptions may affect the parenting environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Problems in understanding other people's mental states may relate to distinct personality traits that are associated with early externalizing behavior. A distinction between theory of mind (ToM) and empathy has proven important in shedding light on the problems in understanding other minds encountered by children high on callous-unemotional ( CU) traits and exhibiting impulsivity. The aim of this study was to investigate whether children's early ToM and emotion understanding abilities predicted CU traits and impulsivity at age 10. A further aim was to explore whether the quality of the parent-child relationship very early in the development indirectly or directly predicted the children's CU traits and impulsivity. Method We examined whether ToM and empathy skills might differentially relate to personality traits associated with externalizing behaviors (i.e., impulsivity and CU traits). We examined these relations over time in a longitudinal cohort of 96 boys and girls using follow-back analyses, incorporating measures of maternal mind-mindedness (appropriate mind-related talk) to examine the possible role of parent-child interaction quality. Results Appropriate mind-related talk indirectly predicted CU traits (at age 10 years) via its effect on children's emotion understanding. ToM predicted impulsive/irresponsible traits, but ceased to be significant when controlling for externalizing behaviors. Conclusion The present findings demonstrate that parents who remark appropriately on their infant's mental states may help the child to understand emotions and may mold an empathic understanding of others, thereby preventing CU traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the parenthood, the priority is and shall remain at all times to ensure the physical, mental and emotional health of the child. The balanced development of the children is determined by adequately meeting the needs involved by different development stages of the children. Often the parents feel helpless in their capacity, being unable to identify the actual needs of their children or approaching them wrongly, thereby generating negative effects that can sometimes mark for good the behavior of the future adult. Ill-treatments applied to the minor are actions of the parents or of the person to whom the child is entrusted for raising and education, actions that seriously jeopardize the physical, intellectual or moral development of the child. Today's generation has a much faster development rhythm. Today's children are the future adults; the responsibility for their education lies with their parents and teachers, but the society is not relieved from such responsibility. For the parents to successfully accomplish this responsibility, support is required from the community, from the entire society. The parents represent the key-elements in ensuring the observance of child's rights, as the child spends the most of the time at home, and the parents or the adults fulfilling the role of parents have the most significant influence on shaping the child's psyche and personality, whether they are aware of this or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The parental rights and duties regarding the child's person are not left suspended: they do not only bear a general purpose (the best interests of the child) that set forth common features; they always have their own object. In this study, we only regard the education, as an inherent object of the characteristics of parental authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to address three questions drawn from one of the basic postulates of parental acceptance-rejection theory: (1) To what extent are children's perceptions of parental warmth related to their psychological adjustment? (2) To what extent are children's perceptions of parental warmth related to their personality dispositions? (3) Do relations found in these questions vary by the gender of parents? The meta-analysis was based on 30 studies from 16 countries in five continents involving 12,087 children (52 % boys and 48 % girls). All studies included in the meta-analysis, used child versions of the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire for Mothers and for Fathers (Child PARQ: Mothers and Fathers), as well as the child version of the Personality Assessment Questionnaire (Child PAQ). Results showed that perceived parental warmth correlated significantly with psychological adjustment and personality dispositions-including hostility and aggression, independence, positive self-esteem, positive self-adequacy, emotional responsiveness, emotional stability, and positive worldview of children across ethnicities, cultures, gender, and geographical boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual differences in personality play a major role for functioning in a multitude of important life domains, including one's interpersonal relationships. The present study examined the effects of parental personality and child temperament traits on dyadic parent-child interaction during early childhood. Participants were a community sample of 145 mothers, 145 fathers, and their 3- to 6-year-old children. Child traits were assessed using standardized laboratory paradigms, parents reported on their own traits, and parent-child interaction was assessed observationally. Parental positive emotionality, negative emotionality, and constraint subtraits were related to parental responsiveness; the number and type of parental bids and the quality of parental responsiveness were also a function of child positive emotionality and effortful control subtraits and, for mothers, child negative emotionality subtraits. Child traits were related to their own interaction behaviors; children higher on positive emotionality subtraits made more social bids, and children higher on effortful control subtraits made more influence attempts and fewer negative bids; child positive emotionality and effortful control subtraits were associated with higher quality child responsiveness. Findings speak to coherence in personality constructs across the life span, with comparable traits measured in adults and early childhood-aged children demonstrating remarkably consistent effects on dyadic interaction behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant relationships have been demonstrated between parental personality and parenting toward individual children, but there is little research exploring the relationship between parental personality and differential parenting (DP). The present study examined the relationship between the Big Five personality dimensions and differential positivity and negativity in parenting (observed and self-report measures). The analyses are based on a sample of 867 children nested within 381 families. Using multilevel modeling and controlling for child age, gender, birth order, behavior, and family socioeconomic status analyses revealed that maternal and paternal agreeableness were inversely related to reports of differential positivity. Agreeableness predicted observed differential negativity, and the relationship was curvilinear (at both high and low levels of agreeableness, differential negativity was higher). Finally, mothers with the most openness to experience exhibited the highest levels of reported differential negativity. The findings suggest that parental personality is a modest yet important influence to consider when conceptualizing the sources of DP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Little is known about slow-to-warm-up temperament in infancy. This study examined the trajectory of shyness in children who were slow-to-warm-up in infancy in comparison to children with other temperament profiles in infancy. Participants were 996 mothers and children in the NICHD SECC studied from 6months to first grade. Latent growth curve modeling showed that children who were slow-to-warm-up in infancy tended to be shy in early childhood, but with increasing age these children became indistinguishable from children who were easy or intermediate. In comparison, children who were difficult in infancy remained more shy than children with other temperament profiles. Maternal sensitive and stimulating/supportive parenting was associated with less shyness in early childhood for boys who were slow-to-warm-up in infancy. Findings support the distinctiveness of the slow-to-warm-up temperament in comparison to other temperament profiles as well as its potential usefulness for predicting later child outcomes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

People’s response to stress depends to a large extent on their sense of perceived control over the situations they encounter. This longitudinal study of 136 children (70 girls) examined associations between attachment patterns and maternal sensitivity at 12 months of age, and perceived primary and secondary control at 11 years of age. Compared with children who were ambivalently attached in infancy, children who were securely attached reported a greater perceived primary control in general, and more primary control in interaction with their parents at 11 years of age. No such between-group difference in primary control tendencies was found in the context of reported interaction with peers. Higher maternal sensitivity in infancy was associated with higher perceived general primary control at 11 years of age. Lower maternal sensitivity was associated with higher perceived secondary control in children who were ambivalently attached to their mothers in infancy. The results are discussed within a theoretical framework linking early infant experience and the evolving personality characteristics of primary and secondary perceived control in older children and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This action research project focused on the importance of parents reading with their children. The "book baggie" project provided parents with a set of appropriately levelled books to use at home to reinforce reading skills with five first grade students over a five-week period. The findings revealed that the children's reading growth increased by three to six DRA reading levels. Attitude and motivation to read were also noted. Comments gleaned from the reading inventory, daily reading logs, and shared by the parents disclosed that reading together strengthened the parent-child relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on prior cross-sectional work, this longitudinal study evaluated the proposition that maternal and paternal overreactive and authoritative parenting mediates the effect of child personality characteristics on externalizing behavior. Data from the Flemish Study on Parenting, Personality, and Problem Behavior were used in a moderated mediation analysis ( N=434). Teachers rated children's Big Five characteristics, fathers and mothers rated their parenting, and 3 years later, children rated their externalizing behavior. Mediational analysis revealed both direct and indirect effects. Higher levels of Extraversion and lower levels of Benevolence were related directly to higher levels of child externalizing behavior. Higher levels of paternal authoritative parenting and lower levels of maternal overreactivity were related to lower scores on externalizing behavior. In addition, the relation between Benevolence, Emotional Stability, and externalizing behavior was partially mediated by parental overreactivity. Conscientiousness had an indirect effect on externalizing behavior through paternal authoritative parenting. Relations were not moderated by child gender. This study is of theoretical interest because the results demonstrate that parenting is a mediating mechanism that accounts for associations between personality and externalizing behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a validation of a scale that assesses parents' childrearing behavior toward young children. The scale was validated on 565 parents of 2- to 7-year-old children. The current results replicated the factor solution of the original scale designed for parents of school-aged children. The scale demonstrated good psychometric properties: moderate to high internal consistency, the expected relations with criterion variables (parental self-efficacy beliefs, child's behavior and personality), and discriminative properties according to the parents' gender and educational level, the child's age and gender, and the difference between referred and nonreferred children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast with early theories of socialization that emphasized the role of parents in shaping their children's personalities, recent empirical evidence suggests an evocative relationship between adolescent personality traits and the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. Research using behavior genetic methods suggests that the association between personality and parenting is genetically mediated, such that the genetic effects on adolescent personality traits overlap with the genetic effects on parenting behavior. In the current study, the authors examined whether the etiology of this relationship might change depending on the adolescent's personality. Biometrical moderation models were used to test for gene-environment interaction and correlation between personality traits and measures of conflict, regard, and involvement with parents in a sample of 2,452 adolescents (M age = 17.79 years). They found significant moderation of both positive and negative qualities of the parent --adolescent relationship, such that the genetic and environmental variance in relationship quality varied as functions of the adolescent's levels of personality. These findings support the importance of adolescent personality in the development of the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study with five-year-olds is the first to examine whether low-quality interactions with parents elicit physiological stress in children beyond toddlerhood, as evident from elevated cortisol levels in their saliva. It was hypothesised that particularly children with low levels of ego-resiliency −a personality construct reflecting the capacity to cope with stress − would show cortisol increases during low-quality parent–child interactions. Method: In a sample of 101 five-year-old children (62 boys), parent–child interaction was observed at home during parent–child discourse that involved the recollection and discussion of emotional events that happened to the child in the past. Saliva samples to assess cortisol levels were collected before and 20 minutes after the parent–child discourse task. The children's teacher rated child ego-resiliency using a Dutch translation of the California Child Q-set (CCQ; Block & Block, 1980 ). Results: One of the two parent–child interaction factors that emerged from a principal component analysis, namely negative parent–child interactions, was significantly related to the children's cortisol reaction; more negative parent–child interactions elicited significantly stronger cortisol reactions. The other parent–child interaction factor that was found, i.e., effective guidance, was not significantly related to children's cortisol reaction. As predicted, children low on ego-resiliency showed increases in cortisol during negative interactions with their parents, whereas high ego-resilient children did not. Conclusions: The association between negative parent–child interactions and cortisol elevations in children may point to a likely mechanism through which negative parent–child interactions contribute to negative developmental outcomes as the repeated exposure to high levels of cortisol have earlier been found to negatively affect children's development and functioning in various areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The purpose of the current investigation was to examine both social behaviors (i.e., aggression, shyness-withdrawal, and prosocial tendencies) and social understanding (i.e., attitudes and responses to such behaviors in hypothetical peers) of empathic and low-empathic children. Participants were 136 children in kindergarten and grade one. Parents completed ratings of child empathy, shyness, aggression, and prosocial tendencies. Children were presented with vignettes depicting prosocial, aggressive, or shy peers, and asked questions concerning their understanding and responses towards these behaviors. Results indicated that as compared to low-empathic peers, more empathic children were reported to exhibit greater prosocial behavior and less aggression and social-withdrawal. In addition, empathic children demonstrated a more sophisticated understanding of shyness and aggression as compared to less empathic peers. These results suggest that empathic children are more socially sensitive, both in terms of their social understanding of others as well as their own social behaviors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cohort-sequential latent growth modeling was used to analyze longitudinal data for children's externalizing behavior from four overlapping age cohorts (4, 5, 6, and 7 years at first assessment) measured at three annual time points. The data included mother and father ratings on the Child Behavior Checklist and the Five-Factor Personality Inventory and teacher ratings on the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children of 674 children of a proportional stratified general population sample. Results indicated a significant nonlinear decline in problem behavior from ages 4 to 9. Child benevolence was negatively related to initial levels of problem behavior. Higher scores on emotional stability in children corresponded to larger reductions of problem behavior over time. Parents' conscientiousness and emotional stability were negatively related to initial levels of externalizing problem behavior. At the age of 4 years, boys had higher initial scores than girls, but boys and girls followed a similar developmental trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This is a preliminary report on the characteristics, experiences, and behavior of 88 adolescent, primarily African-American, children of incarcerated urban addict mothers that examines the association of age, gender, and risk factor profiles with the children''s adjustment status defined in terms of self-reported questionnaire information and selected personality/behavioral assessment inventories. In spite of the existence of adverse circumstances in their lives, including the incarceration of their substance-abusing mothers, results revealed that the majority of these children were neither especially deviant nor maladjusted, all but a small percentage having successfully avoided substance abuse and the adoption of a deviant lifestyle at this point in their development. In most cases, mother surrogates (usually a grandmother or other family member) had for many years functioned as primary caregivers of the children prior to the incarceration of their birth mothers, which may have attenuated the negative impact ordinarily associated with a mother''s absence from the home. However, there was a general indication of problematic school behavior and vulnerability to deviant peer influences that should be addressed in efforts aimed at preventing the escalation of deviant activity in such children. Also, in almost all cases, there was a readily observable need for the provision of caseworker support services to the current caregivers of the children. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The provision of a coherent "parenting," "teaching," and "developmental" program is a complex undertaking. It has all the makings of an organizational, managerial, and therapeutic nightmare when different types of workers, with marked differences in personality and values, become responsible for different children with a variety of problems in a living-learning environment. Without an action plan to help engender a shared language for practice, the needs of both children and staff are at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines marijuana use among children of male drug abusers. Subjects were 83 African-American and European-American male drug abusers, of whom the majority were injection drug users, and their children. Thirty-one of the fathers were HIV-positive and 52 were HIV-negative. Using logistic regression analyses, we explored cross-sectionally the relationship between four psychosocial domains (ie, paternal attributes, adolescent problem behaviors, father-adolescent relations, and environment) and adolescent marijuana use. The father's use of illegal drugs and his failure to cope adaptively predicted adolescent marijuana use, while a close father-child bond predicted less adolescent marijuana use. Adolescent problem behaviors predicted an increased likelihood of marijuana use. Furthermore, hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that the adolescent's problem behavior mediated the associations between both the father-adolescent relationship and environmental factors with adolescent marijuana use. Reducing the risk factors and enhancing the protective factors within each of the domains could help reduce marijuana use among the adolescent children of drug-abusing fathers. Moreover, if a father is a drug abuser, it is important to help him establish a close bond with his child in order to help attenuate the influence of his drug use on the child's marijuana use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work by Terman helped refute the negative stereotype that highly intelligent children were maladjusted, but Hollingworth contended that children in the very highest IQ groups were prone to maladjustment problems. The present study examines whether the relationshp between intelligence and personality adjustment is negative or positive within the gifted range. Subjects are 83 7- to 11-year-old children, with IQs between 120 and 168, who were enrolled in either a public or private school gifted program. Results with both parent- and child-report instruments (Personality Inventory for Children, Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale) support the view that intelligence is positively related to adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty-eight empirical studies of the effects of remarriage on children were critically examined and discussed. The review was conducted and reported as though it was primary research. The subjects were the studies examined, the methods were the reviewing procedure, the data were the elements of the studies, and the results were the conclusions drawn. The review was limited to research reported in books and journals. The body of research on stepchildren has been characterized by: the use of a deficit-comparison model, limited conceptualization of family structural variables, a failure to account for the complexity of stepfamilies, small or nonrandom samples, reliance on self-report questionnaires, and the use of data gathered from one family member. Remarriage of parents did not appear to relate to problem behavior or negative attitudes toward self and others in stepchildren. In general, there was little evidence that children in stepfamilies differ from children in other family structures on such variables as school grades, academic achievement, field independence, IQ, psychosomatic symptoms, personality characteristics, social behavior, family relationships, marriage attitudes, etc. Suggestions for additional research are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a note on Bernreuter Personality testing of mothers and some measures of child personality. The present paper reports the results of a study of the relationship between the Bernreuter scores of mothers and certain measures of child behavior and personality, specifically, with ratings on child personality and behavior in the nursery school by means of the Fels Child Behavior Scales, with the social maturity quotients of the children, and with the scores of a group of older children on the Brown Personality Inventory. The correlations are all low, and not statistically significant, and are moreover lower than those found between the Bernreuter scores and parent-child behavior, as might be expected. The Bernreuter scores of mothers were correlated with child behavior ratings at the nursery school level, with scores on the Brown Personality Inventory for a group of older children, and with Social Maturity Quotients for a larger group including a wider age range. The resulting correlations are all low and not statistically significant.

Deals with a study which analyzed the effects of the use of power by the parent on the personality of the child. Background to the study; Theoretical framework; Results and discussion.

Examines the influence of parental attitudes on child adjustment and personality. Appraisal of children behavior; Comparison between the role of father and mother in the formation of personality tendencies in children; Derivation of social behavior influences from the social experience of the mother.