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Foster children are reported to often have mental health difficulties. To optimize foster children's development chances, we need to know more about the characteristics that are predictive of foster children's mental health. In the current study, we aimed to establish what accounts for the differences in foster children's mental health, by examining the change and predictors of change in foster children's mental health. Insight into foster children's mental health outcomes and their predictors could inform the design of targeted interventions and support for foster children and foster families. In a sample of 432 foster children between 4 and 17 years old (M = 10.90) we examined a multivariate model in which characteristics of the foster child, the child's care experiences, foster family, and foster placement were included as predictors of foster children's mental health (internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors) using a three-wave longitudinal design. Results showed that levels of mental health were generally stable over time. Differences between foster children's developmental outcomes were mainly predicted by foster parent stress. Foster parent stress levels were high and consistently found to be the strongest predictor of foster children's mental health outcomes. Given this finding it is important for researchers and practitioners to consider foster parent stress in screening as a point of attention in creating conditions conducive to foster children's mental health.

Objective: This study examined the relative associations of mothers'/fathers' and offspring's internalizing and externalizing problems with parent‐to‐offspring and offspring‐to‐parent warmth and negativity. Background: Psychological conditions of family members may be related to intrafamilial social interactions. Particularly, internalizing and externalizing problems may affect the quality of parent–offspring communication. Method: In this study, fathers (N = 94), mothers (N = 125) and their offspring (N = 224, age rangeoffspring = 7.5–65.5 years) from 137 nuclear families participated in a behavioral conflict interaction task during which expressed warmth and negativity were observed. Associations between parents' and offspring's psychological problems (of the past 6 months) and parent‐to‐offspring and offspring‐to‐parent communication were tested simultaneously using structural equation models separated for fathers and mothers. Based on prior findings in the study sample, our analyses were controlled for history of childhood abuse. Results: Offspring's internalizing problems were related to less negativity toward their father, whereas offspring's externalizing problems were related to more negativity toward their father and to receiving less warmth from their mother. Father's externalizing problems were linked to more negativity toward offspring. No associations were found between maternal and paternal internalizing problems and dyadic parent–offspring interactions, nor for maternal externalizing problems. Conclusion: Findings support that psychological conditions of one family member have an impact on their social interactions within the family. Implications: Supporting families with interventions to improve parent–offspring interactions and (early) treatment of externalizing problems is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, attachment representations are being assessed via secure base script knowledge – the degree to which individuals show awareness of the temporal-causal schema that summarizes the basic features of seeking and receiving effective support from caregivers during times of need. Limited research has assessed the links between secure base script knowledge and aspects of adult functioning and the role that secure base script knowledge may play in accounting for associations between early caregiving quality and adulthood functioning. We used follow-up assessments of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development cohort (N = 585) to examine whether secure base script knowledge at age 18 years: (a) is associated with later romantic relationship quality, depressive symptoms, and body mass index (BMI) at age 26 years, and (b) mediates expected associations between the quality of maternal and paternal sensitivity across the first 15 years of life and age-26 outcomes. More access to, and elaborated knowledge of the secure base script predicted less extreme hostility with romantic partners, and better emotional and physical health. Moreover, secure base script knowledge mediated the links between early maternal and paternal sensitivity and both later romantic partner hostility and depressive symptoms, but not BMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infant protection is an important but largely neglected aspect of parental care. Available theory and research suggest that endocrine levels and neural responses might be biological correlates of protective behavior. However, no research to date examined associations between these neurobiological and behavioral aspects. This study, preregistered on https://osf.io/2acxd, explored the psychobiology of paternal protection in 77 new fathers by combining neural responses to infant‐threatening situations, self‐reported protective behavior, behavioral observations in a newly developed experimental set‐up (Auditory Startling Task), and measurements of testosterone and vasopressin. fMRI analyses validated the role of several brain networks in the processing of infant‐threatening situations and indicated replicable findings with the infant‐threat paradigm. We found little overlap between observed and reported protective behavior. Robust associations between endocrine levels, neural responses, and paternal protective behavior were absent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child-driven genetic factors can contribute to negative parenting and may increase the risk of being maltreated. Experiencing childhood maltreatment may be partly heritable, but results of twin studies are mixed. In the current study, we used a cross-sectional extended family design to estimate genetic and environmental effects on experiencing child maltreatment. The sample consisted of 395 individuals (225 women; M age = 38.85 years, rangeage = 7–88 years) from 63 families with two or three participating generations. Participants were oversampled for experienced maltreatment. Self-reported experienced child maltreatment was measured using a questionnaire assessing physical and emotional abuse, and physical and emotional neglect. All maltreatment phenotypes were partly heritable with percentages for h 2 ranging from 30% (SE = 13%) for neglect to 62% (SE = 19%) for severe physical abuse. Common environmental effects (c 2) explained a statistically significant proportion of variance for all phenotypes except for the experience of severe physical abuse (c 2 = 9%, SE = 13%, p =.26). The genetic correlation between abuse and neglect was ρg =.73 (p =.02). Common environmental variance increased as socioeconomic status (SES) decreased (p =.05), but additive genetic and unique environmental variances were constant across different levels of SES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child maltreatment has been associated with various cumulative risk factors. However, little is known about the extent to which genetic and environmental factors contribute to individual differences between parents in perpetrating child maltreatment. To estimate the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to perpetrating maltreatment we used a parent-based extended family design. Child-reported perpetrated maltreatment was available for 556 parents (283 women) from 63 families. To explore reporter effects (i.e., child perspective on maltreatment), child reports were compared to multi-informant reports. Based on polygenic model analyses, most of the variance related to the perpetration of physical abuse and emotional neglect was explained by common environmental factors (physical abuse: c 2 = 59%, SE = 12%, p =.006; emotional neglect: c 2 = 47%, SE = 8%, p <.001) whereas genetic factors did not significantly contribute to the model. For perpetrated emotional abuse, in contrast, genetic factors did significantly contribute to perpetrated emotional abuse (h 2 = 33%, SE = 8%, p <.001), whereas common environment factors did not. Multi-informant reports led to similar estimates of genetic and common environmental effects on all measures except for emotional abuse, where a multi-informant approach yielded higher estimates of the common environmental effects. Overall, estimates of unique environment, including measurement error, were lower using multi-informant reports. In conclusion, our findings suggest that genetic pathways play a significant role in perpetrating emotional abuse, while physical abuse and emotional neglect are transmitted primarily through common environmental factors. These findings imply that interventions may need to target different mechanisms dependings on maltreatment type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rejection by parents is an important aspect of child maltreatment. Altered neural responses to social rejection have been observed in maltreated individuals. The current study is the first to examine the impact of experienced and perpetrated abuse and neglect on neural responses to social exclusion by strangers versus family using a multigenerational family design, including 144 participants. The role of neural reactivity to social exclusion in the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment was also examined. Exclusion by strangers was especially associated with increased activation in the left insula, while exclusion by a family member was mainly associated with increased activation in the ACC. Neural reactivity to social exclusion by strangers in the insula, ACC and dmPFC, was associated with experienced maltreatment but not with perpetrated maltreatment. In abusive parents, altered neural reactivity during exclusion was found in other brain areas, indicating different neural correlates of experienced and perpetrated maltreatment. Hence, no mechanisms could be identified that are involved in the transmission of maltreatment. Hypersensitivity to social rejection by strangers in neglected individuals underscores the importance to distinguish between effects of abuse and neglect and suggests that the impact of experiencing rejection and maltreatment by your own parents extends beyond the family context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baby schema features are a specific set of physical features-including chubby cheeks, large, low-set eyes, and a large, round head-that have evolutionary adaptive value in their ability to trigger nurturant care. In this study among nulliparous women (N = 81; M age = 23.60, SD = 0.44), we examined how sensitivity to these baby schema features differs based on individual variations in nurturant care motivation and oxytocin system gene methylation. We integrated subjective ratings with measures of facial expressions and electroencephalography (EEG) in response to infant faces that were manipulated to contain more or less pronounced baby schema features. Linear mixed effects analyses demonstrated that infants with more pronounced baby schema features were rated as cuter and participants indicated greater motivation to take care of them. Furthermore, infants with more pronounced baby schema features elicited stronger smiling responses and enhanced P2 and LPP amplitudes compared to infants with less pronounced baby schema features. Importantly, individual differences significantly predicted baby schema effects. Specifically, women with low OXTR methylation and high nurturance motivation showed enhanced differentiation in automatic neurophysiological responses to infants with high and low levels of baby schema features. These findings highlight the importance of considering individual differences in continued research to further understand the complexities of sensitivity to child cues, including facial features, which will improve our understanding of the intricate neurobiological system that forms the basis of caregiving behavior., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Understanding how child maltreatment is passed down from one generation to the next is crucial for the development of intervention and prevention strategies that may break the cycle of child maltreatment. Changes in emotion recognition due to childhood maltreatment have repeatedly been found, and may underly the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment., Objective: In this study we, therefore, examined whether the ability to recognize emotions plays a role in the intergenerational transmission of child abuse and neglect., Participants and Setting: A total of 250 parents (104 males, 146 females) were included that participated in a three-generation family study., Method: Participants completed an emotion recognition task in which they were presented with series of photographs that depicted the unfolding of facial expressions from neutrality to the peak emotions anger, fear, happiness, and sadness. Multi-informant measures were used to examine experienced and perpetrated child maltreatment., Results: A history of abuse, but not neglect, predicted a shorter reaction time to identify fear and anger. In addition, parents who showed higher levels of neglectful behavior made more errors in identifying fear, whereas parents who showed higher levels of abusive behavior made more errors in identifying anger. Emotion recognition did not mediate the association between experienced and perpetrated child maltreatment., Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between abuse and neglect when investigating the precursors and sequalae of child maltreatment. In addition, the effectiveness of interventions that aim to break the cycle of abuse and neglect could be improved by better addressing the specific problems with emotion processing of abusive and neglectful parents., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The ability to provide appropriate responses to infant distress is vital to paternal care, but may be affected by fathers' experiences of childhood maltreatment. Detrimental effects of childhood maltreatment have been found in the adult brain's white matter fibers, accompanied with impaired emotional and cognitive functioning. In the current study (N = 121), we examined new and expectant fathers' childhood maltreatment experiences (i.e. emotional and physical abuse and neglect), current behavioral responses (i.e. handgrip force) to infant cry sounds, and white matter integrity using diffusion tensor imaging. First, more exposure to childhood maltreatment was associated with more use of excessive handgrip force in response to infant crying by fathers. Second, the association between experienced childhood maltreatment and white matter integrity was not significant in whole-brain analyses. Lastly, we found that the association between maltreatment exposure and excessive handgrip force during infant crying was absent in fathers with high tract integrity in the bilateral uncinate fasciculus. These findings possibly point to insufficient behavioral inhibition or emotional dysregulation in fathers who experienced childhood maltreatment, but buffering for this effect in those with larger integrity in brain fibers connecting the amygdala and prefrontal cortex., (© 2020 The Authors. Developmental Psychobiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

In the current study associations between parents' experiences of childhood maltreatment and their perceptual, behavioral and autonomic responses to infant emotional signals were examined in a sample of 160 parents. Experienced maltreatment (both physical and emotional abuse and neglect) was reported by the participants and, in approximately half of the cases, also by their parents. During a standardized infant vocalization paradigm, participants were asked to squeeze a handgrip dynamometer at maximal and at half strength while listening to infant crying and laughter sounds and to rate their perception of the sounds. In addition, their heart rate (HR), pre-ejection period (PEP), and vagal tone (RSA) were measured as indicators of underlying sympathetic and parasympathetic reactivity. Results indicated that participants did not differ in their perceptions of the infant vocalizations signals according to their maltreatment experiences. However, maltreatment experiences were associated with the modulation of behavioral responses. Experiences of neglect during childhood were related to more handgrip force during infant crying and to less handgrip force during infant laughter. Moreover, a history of neglect was associated with a higher HR and a shorter PEP during the entire infant vocalization paradigm, which may indicate chronic cardiovascular arousal. The findings imply that a history of childhood neglect negatively influences parents' capacities to regulate their emotions and behavior, which would be problematic when reacting to children's emotional expressions., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)