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This study tested a 5-year sequential mediation model linking paternal mind-mindedness in toddlerhood to child early academic achievement through a developmental process unfolding in the preschool years. A sample of 128 mostly White middle-class families (68 girls) living in Montreal, Canada was assessed for paternal mind-mindedness when children were 18 months old, child language at age 2, theory of mind and effortful control at age 4, cognitive school readiness in kindergarten, and finally, achievement in math and reading in first grade. Controlling for maternal mind-mindedness assessed at age 12 months, the results showed prospective associations from paternal mind-mindedness to both math and reading achievement, mediated by theory of mind, effortful control, and school readiness in sequence. Results suggest that paternal mind-mindedness may support child academic outcomes by promoting the acquisition of intermediate skills during preschool years.

Children with a parent who suffers from depression are more likely to develop internalizing problems themselves. Moreover, poverty is an additional risk factor for child internalizing problems. According to models of intergenerational transmission of depression, various environmental mechanisms may account for this transmission. However, very few studies have included multiple mediators, as well as both parents in low-income samples. In this study of low-income families, we measured parental depressive symptoms, child internalizing problems, and examined three potential mediators: parent-child interaction quality, spouse's depressive symptoms, and coparenting conflict. Results indicated that the transmission of paternal depressive symptoms to child internalizing problems was entirely accounted for by these three mediators. The transmission of maternal depressive symptoms to child internalizing problems was mediated partially by coparenting conflict, but this link remained largely direct. These results underscore the need to consider both parents and coparenting conflict in clinical interventions targeting internalizing problems among preschoolers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the social adaptation of sexually abused children and tested whether children's emotion regulation competencies mediated the association between child sexual abuse (CSA) and two outcomes of the social domain (i.e. withdrawal and social difficulties). A group of 283 child victims of sexual abuse and a comparison group composed of 60 nonabused children was recruited. Teachers completed questionnaires assessing the children's emotion regulation competencies, withdrawal, and social difficulties exhibited in the school context. Results showed that sexually abused children displayed poorer emotion regulation skills and higher levels of both withdrawal and social difficulties relative to nonabused children. CSA was associated with social difficulties and withdrawn behavior through the mediation of emotion regulation competencies. Teachers and school psychologists should be assisted in identifying children at risk of social difficulties and emotional dysregulation and schools be encouraged to adopt a trauma-informed approach.

This study examines the stability of child attachment to mothers and fathers separately, and to both parents as a network between the infancy and preschool periods using a sample of 143 biparental families and their children (73 boys) recruited from the general population. Attachment was assessed at 15 months with the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) and at 45 months with the Preschool Attachment Classification Coding System (PACS). First, results show no stability in attachment to mothers, to fathers, or to both parents as a network. Second, parents’ mental health, life satisfaction, marital satisfaction, and child externalizing behavior are associated with attachment stability. Taken altogether, group comparisons reveal that children with a stable secure attachment to both parents as a network have parents with higher levels of well-being and exhibit less problem behaviors than children with 1) a stable secure attachment to one parent and an unstable attachment to the other parent (from secure to insecure or from insecure to secure), or 2) who never had a stable secure attachment to either parent. This study highlights the significance of attachment to both parents as a network over time as it is associated with developmental outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dating disagreements consist of divergences between partners' opinions or needs. When left unresolved, dating disagreements may escalate into conflicts and even sometimes, to dating violence perpetration (DVP). Several risk factors have been documented for conflicts and DVP in adolescents, such as stress, attachment insecurities, and prior DVP, but they have never been explored in association with the events that usually precede conflicts and DVP: disagreements. This study aimed to examine (1) how adolescents' variations in daily stress and attachment are associated with their probability of experiencing daily disagreements and their resolutions, and (2) whether adolescents' DVP history moderates these associations. A sample of 216 dating adolescents answered a baseline questionnaire measuring DVP in the prior year and completed a 14-day online assessment of their stress, attachment states (anxiety, avoidance), dating disagreement occurrence, and resolution. Multilevel models indicated that on days when adolescents reported being more stressed or avoidant than usual, probability of disagreement occurrence was higher and of resolution weaker. Interaction effects of prior DVP were found for within and between-level attachment anxiety and between-level stress. Daily variations in stress and attachment may make adolescents vulnerable to disagreement, notably for those with prior DVP experiences. These findings support the relevance of examining daily variations in risk factors of dating disagreements and provide cues to enhance healthy dating relationships promotion programs developed for youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The objective of this study is to examine preschool-age correlates of the maternal version of the Attachment Q-Set (AQS) (Waters & Deane, 1985) in order to provide validity data. Concurrent associations between the Attachment Q-Set and measures of separation-reunion attachment classifications (Cassidy & Marvin, 1992), quality of mother-child interaction, maternal stress, and child externalizing behavior problems were examined for a low-risk sample of 152 preschool children. Results showed that, even after controlling for maternal stress, ambivalent and disorganized children had lower scores on the AQS when compared with the secure group. However, avoidant and controlling children did not differ from secure children in maternal sorts. Significant associations between the maternal Q-Set and affective quality of mother-child interaction were also maintained, when controlling for maternal stress. The AQS was significantly associated with both mother and teacher reported externalizing behavior problem reports, but the association with teacher reports was not maintained when maternal stress was entered in the equation as a covariate. The discussion focuses on the validity of the maternal Q-Set as a measure of child attachment behavior in preschoolers. (Contains 3 tables.)

Children's attachment patterns at early preschool age and 2 years later as well as factors related to stability-instability were examined in a diverse socioeconomic status French Canadian sample of 120 children. Attachment was assessed during 2 laboratory visits using separation-reunion procedures when the children were approximately 3.5 (J. Cassidy & R. S. Marvin, 1992) and 5.5 (M. Main & J. Cassidy, 1988) years old. Overall, stability of attachment, based on 4-way classification, was moderate (68 percent, k = 0.47, p = 0.01). Change from security to disorganization was associated with the most dramatic decline in interactive quality with mother, lowest marital satisfaction, and greatest likelihood of severe attachment-related family events, namely, loss and parental hospitalization. Families of children who changed from security to organized insecurity presented levels of caregiving and marital dissatisfaction that fell between those of stable secure children and secure children who changed toward disorganization.

Preschool to school-age trajectories of 242 children, including 37 with insecure-disorganized and 66 with insecure-organized attachment patterns, were examined. Child attachment and stressful life events (the latter retrospectively) were measured at ages 5-7, and mother-child interactive quality, parenting stress, marital satisfaction, and teacher-reported behavior problems were evaluated concurrently and 2 years earlier. Results indicated that all three disorganized subgroups had poorer mother-child interactive patterns and more difficult family climates than secure or insecure-organized children. The controlling-punitive group showed significant increases in maternal reports of child-related stress between preschool and school age. The controlling-caregiving group showed greater likelihood of loss of a close family member, and mothers of the insecure-other group reported lower marital satisfaction and greater likelihood of their own or a spouse's hospitalization. Controlling-punitive children had higher externalizing scores, and controlling-caregiving children higher internalizing scores, than secure children.

This study examined correlates of attachment at age 3 to further validate preschool separation-reunion measures. Three-year-olds (N = 150) and their mothers participated in a separation-reunion protocol, the Preschool Attachment Classification System (PACS: J. Cassidy & R. S. Marvin with the MacArthur Working Group on Attachment, 1992), and a mother-child interaction session during a laboratory visit. Mothers also completed psychosocial measures and, along with teachers, evaluated child behavior problems. The secure and disorganized groups received, respectively, the highest and lowest interaction scores. Disorganized children showed a higher level of teacher-reported externalizing and internalizing problems than did secure children. Mothers of insecure children reported higher child externalizing (all insecure groups) and internalizing (avoidant group) scores, more personal distress related to emotional bonding (disorganized group), childrearing control (ambivalent group), and child hyperactivity (avoidant group). Results strongly support the validity of the PACS as a measure of attachment in 3-year-olds.