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Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience high levels of stress related to their children's symptoms and comorbid behavior problems. Adaptive parental coping in response to child-related stressors is proposed to serve a buffering function, and yet, little research has examined whether coping actually moderates associations between child factors and parent outcomes in this population. The few studies to do so have focused on parent well-being as the primary outcome and have not considered the degree to which child-related stressors may affect parenting and contribute to maladaptive transactional parent-child processes over time. The present study tested whether adaptive parental coping was associated with reduced associations between higher levels of child ASD symptoms and comorbid externalizing problems and poorer quality parent reactions to child negative emotions in 63 families of children with ASD. Parents reported on their children's externalizing problems, their own coping behavior, and their reactions to their children's negative emotions, and child ASD symptoms were measured through direct testing. Adaptive coping-primarily active planning-moderated the association between children's behavior problems and supportive parent reactions such that parents of children with more externalizing problems reported less supportive reactions, but only when adaptive coping was low. Child ASD symptoms did not significantly relate to parent reactions, and coping did not moderate these associations. This cross-sectional study is the first to identify parental coping as a potential protective factor for parenting behavior in families of children with ASD and comorbid behavior problems. Implications for future longitudinal research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of parasympathetic nervous system activity, has been linked with sleep quality among children with neurotypical development. The current study extended examination of these processes to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a group at considerable risk for sleep problems. Participants included 54 children with ASD (aged 6-10 years, 43% Hispanic). RSA data were collected via a wired MindWare system during a 3-min baseline and a 3-min challenge task. Parents reported on their children's sleep problems and sleep duration using the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire, Abbreviated. Although no significant correlations emerged between RSA indices and parent-reported child sleep, baseline RSA and RSA reactivity interacted in the prediction of sleep problems. For children with higher RSA reactivity, higher baseline RSA was associated with fewer sleep problems, but for children with lower RSA reactivity, baseline RSA was not predictive. No main effects or interactions of RSA predicted sleep duration. Findings suggest resilience against sleep problems for children with ASD presenting with higher baseline RSA and higher RSA reactivity. Implications of these results center upon directly targeting psychophysiology (i.e., parasympathetic nervous system regulation) as a possible mechanism to improve sleep in children with ASD, and developing personalized interventions based on physiological markers of risk and resilience.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at considerable risk for difficulties with emotion regulation and related functioning. Although it is commonly accepted that parents contribute to adaptive child regulation, as indexed by observable child behavior, theory and recent evidence suggest that parenting may also influence relevant underlying child physiological tendencies. The current study examined concurrent associations between two elements of parental socialization of emotion and measures of both sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity in 61 children with ASD aged 6 to 10 years. To index parental socialization, parents reported on their reactions to their children’s negative emotions, and parental scaffolding was coded from a dyadic problem-solving task. Children’s baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), electrodermal reactivity (EDA-R), and RSA reactivity in response to challenge were obtained as measures of the children’s physiological activity. Regression analyses indicated that supportive parent reactions were related to higher child baseline RSA, a biomarker of regulatory capacity. Fewer unsupportive parent reactions and higher quality scaffolding were associated with higher EDA-R, a physiological index of inhibition. The identification of these concurrent associations represents a first step in understanding the complex and likely bidirectional interplay between parent socialization and child physiological reactivity and regulation in this high-risk population.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience significant difficulties with emotion regulation. Theory and empirical evidence suggest substantial biological contributions to regulatory challenges, which may be related to core ASD symptoms. Respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA) is a measure of parasympathetic nervous system activity that serves as a putative biomarker for emotion regulation. Higher baseline RSA and more RSA reactivity (parasympathetic withdrawal; RSA-R) in response to challenge appear adaptive in non-clinical populations, but existing evidence for children with ASD remains inconclusive. The current study examined correlates of observed emotion dysregulation in 61 children with ASD between the ages of 6 and 10 years, including ASD symptom levels as well as both baseline RSA and concurrent RSA reactivity. Consistent with previous research, ASD symptom level was significantly correlated with observed dysregulation whereas additional factors such as child IQ were not. Baseline RSA was unrelated to observed dysregulation, but higher RSA reactivity predicted concurrent dysregulation above and beyond the contribution of child ASD symptoms. Findings contribute to an emerging understanding of dysregulation in these children, raise questions about the utility of traditional baseline RSA measures for this population, and clarify the functional significance of RSA reactivity as a risk factor for emotion dysregulation in children with ASD.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit significant difficulties with emotion regulation and reactivity, which may be linked to underlying psychophysiology. The present study examined associations between autonomic nervous system activity and individual differences in externalizing behavior problems in children with ASD. A multisystem approach was adopted to consider the interplay between markers of sympathetic (electrodermal reactivity-EDA-R) and parasympathetic reactivity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity-RSA-R) in relation to behavioral challenges. Fifty-two children with ASD ages 6-10 years contributed complete psychophysiological data. Measures of EDA-R and RSA-R (RSA withdrawal) were obtained in response to a laboratory challenge task and parents reported on child externalizing behavior problems using a standardized questionnaire and a structured clinical interview. An equifinality model was supported, with two distinct psychophysiological pathways linked to heightened externalizing behavior problems. Greater RSA-R was associated with more externalizing problems in the context of higher levels of EDA-R, and lower EDA-R was associated with increased externalizing problems at lower levels of RSA-R. Findings underscore the importance of considering the role of psychophysiology in the unfolding of comorbid externalizing problems in children with ASD. Potential implications for tailoring coregulatory supports are discussed. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1805-1816. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit elevated rates of challenging behavior. This study identified specific psychophysiological profiles (low sympathetic-low parasympathetic reactivity, and high sympathetic-high parasympathetic reactivity) that may place these children at greater risk for behavior problems. Findings have implications for better understanding behavioral challenges in children with ASD, and for tailoring supports to address underlying psychophysiology.

Cross-sectional data from Fenning et al. (J Autism Dev Disord, 48:3858–3870, 2018) were used to examine age differences in processes related to the development of emotion regulation in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Forty-six children with ASD between the ages of 4 and 11 years and their primary caregivers participated in structured laboratory tasks from which parental scaffolding and child dysregulation were coded. Moderation analyses suggested increased internalization of parental co-regulatory support with age, as evidenced by more coherence in dysregulation across dyadic and independent contexts and a stronger inverse relation between parental scaffolding and independent dysregulation. Children’s estimated mental age did not account for these effects. Implications for understanding and promoting the development of emotion regulation in children with ASD are discussed.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at considerable risk for difficulties with emotion regulation and related functioning. Although it is commonly accepted that parents contribute to adaptive child regulation, as indexed by observable child behavior, theory and recent evidence suggest that parenting may also influence relevant underlying child physiological tendencies. The current study examined concurrent associations between two elements of parental socialization of emotion and measures of both sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity in 61 children with ASD aged 6 to 10 years. To index parental socialization, parents reported on their reactions to their children's negative emotions, and parental scaffolding was coded from a dyadic problem-solving task. Children's baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), electrodermal reactivity (EDA-R), and RSA reactivity in response to challenge were obtained as measures of the children's physiological activity. Regression analyses indicated that supportive parent reactions were related to higher child baseline RSA, a biomarker of regulatory capacity. Fewer unsupportive parent reactions and higher quality scaffolding were associated with higher EDA-R, a physiological index of inhibition. The identification of these concurrent associations represents a first step in understanding the complex and likely bidirectional interplay between parent socialization and child physiological reactivity and regulation in this high-risk population.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly exhibit co-occurring externalizing behavior problems, which can impede learning opportunities and contribute significantly to caregiver stress. Substantial theory and research has linked under-arousal of the sympathetic nervous system to increased externalizing problems in children without ASD, but under-arousal has not been considered as an explanatory mechanism for individual differences among children with ASD. We tested the notion that lower electrodermal activity (EDA) would predict more externalizing problems in children with ASD, and considered the degree to which parent co-regulatory support could buffer this risk. Forty children with ASD between the ages of 4 and 11 years and their primary caregivers participated in a laboratory visit that included various play, compliance, and problem-solving regulatory tasks. EDA was measured through wireless wrist sensors, parental scaffolding was observed during a dyadic problem-solving task, and parents rated their children’s externalizing behavior problems. As predicted, low EDA during the compliance-oriented tasks directly predicted higher child externalizing problems. Parental scaffolding moderated the link between under-arousal during the problem-solving regulatory tasks and externalizing problems such that the relation was observed in the context of low, but not high, support. Implications for relevant theories (e.g., fearlessness theory, stimulation-seeking theory) are discussed, and the potential for psychophysiological patterns to inform intervention with these children is considered.

Children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit significant difficulties with emotion regulation. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is a biomarker for processes related to emotion regulation, with higher baseline rates linked to beneficial outcomes. Although reduction in respiratory sinus arrhythmia in response to challenge can index adaptive processes in community samples, excessive withdrawal may suggest loss of regulatory control among children with clinical concerns. Psychophysiological risk for problems may be protected against or exacerbated by parenting environments more or less supportive of the development of children’s regulatory competence. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia was examined in 61 children with autism spectrum disorder ages 6–10 years in relation to externalizing behavior, and parenting was considered as a moderator. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia was obtained during laboratory tasks, and positive parenting, negative parenting, and children’s externalizing behaviors were each indexed through multiple methods. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity interacted with negative, but not positive parenting. Higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity was associated with more externalizing behavior under conditions of higher negative parenting, but with lower externalizing behavior at lower levels of negative parenting. Similarly, negative parenting was only associated with externalizing behaviors in the context of high child respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity. Implications for our understanding of emotion regulation in children with autism spectrum disorder, and for related interventions, are discussed.

Associations between variability in sympathetic nervous system arousal and individual differences in symptom severity were examined for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Thirty-four families participated in a laboratory visit that included continuous measurement of electrodermal activity (EDA) during a battery of naturalistic and structured parent-child, child alone, and direct testing tasks. Multiple indices of EDA were considered. Greater variability in EDA was associated with higher levels of ASD symptoms, with findings generally consistent across tasks. Intellectual functioning did not moderate the relation between EDA and ASD symptoms. Sympathetic arousal tendencies may represent an important individual difference factor for this population. Future directions and conceptualizations of EDA are discussed.

Associations between parent critical attitudes (a component of the Expressed Emotion construct) and behavior problems have been relatively well established in adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder, but use of systems adapted for children with autism spectrum disorder and additional investigations with younger samples are needed. This study examined parental criticism, derived from a population-specific coding system, as related to behavior problems in children with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 4 and 11 years, and considered parental warmth and children's psychophysiological reactivity as statistical moderators of these associations. In all, 40 children with autism spectrum disorder and their primary caregivers attended a visit involving collection of child electrodermal activity, parent-child interaction, a parent interview from which critical attitudes and warmth were coded, and parent report of child behavior problems. Criticism was directly related to higher child externalizing but not internalizing problems. Parental criticism interacted with warmth in the prediction of internalizing problems such that criticism was only associated with more problems in the context of moderate but not high warmth. Criticism was positively associated with externalizing problems under conditions of moderate and high, but not low, child electrodermal activity reactivity. Implications for conceptualizations of parental criticism in autism spectrum disorder, for understanding comorbid behavior problems in this population, and for intervention are discussed.

Difficulties regulating emotion have been linked to comorbid psychopathology in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but little empirical work has examined predictors of dysregulation in this population. Forty-six families of children with ASD participated in a laboratory visit that included direct measurement of children's IQ, ASD symptoms, and psychophysiological reactivity. Child emotion regulation was observed during independent and co-regulatory tasks, and parental scaffolding was rated in the dyadic context. ASD symptom severity emerged as the strongest predictor of child emotion dysregulation across contexts. Child age and parental scaffolding also uniquely predicted child dysregulation in the dyadic task. Implications for conceptualizing intrinsic and extrinsic influences on emergent emotion regulation in children with ASD are discussed, as are applications to intervention.

A previous study suggested that mothers of 5-year-old children with borderline intellectual functioning displayed lower positive engagement with their children as compared with both mothers of typically developing children and mothers of children with significant developmental delays (Fenning, Baker, Baker, & Crnic, 2007). The current study integrated father data and followed these families over the subsequent 1-year period. Parent and child behavior were coded from naturalistic home observations at both waves. Results revealed that mothers of children with borderline intellectual functioning displayed a greater increase in negative-controlling parenting from child age 5 to 6 than did other mothers; fathers displayed more negative-controlling behavior in comparison to fathers of typically developing children. In addition, children with borderline intellectual functioning themselves exhibited a more significant escalation in difficult behavior than did typically developing children. Cross-lagged analyses for the sample as a whole indicated that maternal negative-controlling behavior predicted subsequent child difficulties, whereas negative paternal behavior was predicted by earlier child behavior. In conjunction with evidence from Fenning et al. (2007), these findings suggest a complex, dynamic, and systemic developmental pattern in the emotional behavior of families of children with borderline intellectual functioning. Implications and areas in need of additional research are discussed. © 2014 American Psychological Association.

This longitudinal study investigated whether variation in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) and early parent-child interactions predicted later empathic behavior in 84 toddlers at high or low familial risk for autism spectrum disorder. Two well-studied OXTR single-nucleotide polymorphisms, rs53576 and rs2254298, were examined. Parent-child interaction was measured at 15 and 18 months of age during free play sessions. Empathy was measured at 24 and 30 months using a response to parental distress paradigm. While there was no direct association between parent-child interaction quality or OXTR and empathy, rs53576 moderated the relation between interaction quality and empathy. Results suggest that the interplay between OXTR and early parent-child interactions predicts individual differences in empathy in children at varying risk for atypical social development. Findings are consonant with a differential susceptibility model in which an OXTR variant may increase the social salience of interaction processes for specific allele carriers. These results increase our understanding of predictors of empathy development in young children with a wide range of social outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Because the development of effective parenting coordination depends upon a sound relationship with the court, this study examined attitudes and expectations toward the parenting coordination process held by judiciary members, attorneys, and parenting coordinators. Respondents from the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida reported anonymously on background demographics and prior personal experience with and attitudes toward the process. Overall, respondents reported favorable views toward parenting coordination; analyses also provided initial insights into potential interdisciplinary differences in views among members of the three important constituencies. Results may be helpful in informing training processes, shaping conversations about legislation, and guiding the administration of parenting coordination through court programs. Key Points for the Family Court Community: •This article will inform parenting coordination program developers of the expectations and attitudes of judiciary and attorneys toward the parenting coordination process in order to build in safeguards that may enhance the success of the program. •This article will inform the development of prospective legislation on parenting coordination so that the outcomes also meet the expectations of the court and legal communities. •Readers will be able to identify behaviors of parenting coordinators, attorneys, and judges that may enhance the parenting coordination process. •This article will inform parenting coordination trainers of necessary components to be included in their educational programs of the roles and functions of parenting coordinators and the limitations of any statutory or rule provisions, so that the expectations of attorneys and judges are realistic. •This article will inform parenting coordinators about the attitudes and possible unrealistic expectations of judges and attorneys in order to anticipate and manage ethical dilemmas in the parenting coordination process. •Readers will be able to identify the positive outcomes of parenting coordination perceived by judges, attorneys, and parenting coordinators and to consider improvements to the process.

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is the leading known cause of inherited intellectual disability and results from a mutation of the FMR1 gene on the long arm of the X chromosome (Hagerman & Hagerman, 2002). In addition to cognitive delay, the behavioral phenotype of FXS often includes features of autism (e.g., poor eye contact, perseverative behavior) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (e.g., inattention, hyperactivity), as well as symptoms of social anxiety (Bailey et al., 2008; Hatton et al., 2002). Mothers of individuals with FXS report high levels of distress as compared to both the general population and to mothers of children with certain other disabilities (e.g., Down syndrome; Abbeduto et al., 2004; Sarimski, 1997; Wheeler et al., 2007); however, considerable variability in well-being exists (Poelhmann et al., 2003; Lewis et al., 2006). As is the case for mothers of children with other developmental disabilities (e.g., Davis & Carter, 2008; McIntyre et al., 2002), variability in well-being among mothers of individuals with FXS appears to be tied in part to behavioral characteristics of the child. Behavior problems in individuals with FXS have been associated with maternal stress and distress (e.g., depression, anxiety) in studies focusing on childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood (Abbeduto et al., 2004; Hall et al., 2007; Johnston et al., 2003; Wheeler, et al., 2007). Although the link between children’s behavior problems and poorer well-being in mothers of children with FXS is relatively well established, the degree to which behavior problems and poor maternal mental health might affect broader aspects of family functioning has been investigated less frequently. It is likely that maternal distress brought on and/or amplified by difficult child behavior might spillover beyond the parent-child dyad, challenging more distal dyadic relationships and the broader family climate (Bailey et al., 2007). The current study examined associations between behavior problems in adolescents and adults with FXS, maternal internalizing symptoms, and two key family outcomes: family cohesion and mothers’ marital satisfaction. One of the most studied aspects of interpersonal functioning within families of individuals with FXS has been family-level cohesion, or the closeness and supportiveness of the family unit. Johnston and colleagues (2003) found that behavior problems in a sample of children and adolescents with FXS were positively associated with aspects of maternal stress, which were, in turn, linked to lower family cohesion. Interestingly, behavior problems in this study were associated directly with family cohesion at the level of a trend only. Hall et al. (2007), found associations between children’s behavior problems and maternal internalizing symptoms (anxiety and depression), but did not find significant links between behavior problems and broad family functioning; however, cohesion was not examined specifically and the association between internalizing symptoms and the family environment was not a focus. The few findings to date suggest that either the behavior problems of individuals with FXS are unrelated to family cohesion or that the effects may be indirect, through compromised maternal well-being. To our knowledge, no study has examined the marital relationships of parents of individuals with FXS. Findings involving families of children with other developmental disabilities are mixed, suggesting that the presence of a child with a disability may or may not impart risk for poor marital functioning (see Hartley, Seltzer, Barker, et al., in press, for a review). Examinations of the correlates of marital functioning within families of children with developmental problems have produced somewhat mixed results. Baker and colleagues (2002) found that the behavior problems of preschoolers with developmental delays related to parents’ reports of a negative impact on their marriages. Kersh et al. (2006) reported an association between the behavior problems of 10-year-old children with developmental disabilities and marital quality for mothers but not for fathers. Depressive symptoms in this study were related to both child behavior, and to marital quality — again raising the possibility of indirect effects. Research and theory related to indirect effects in genetic syndromes has tended to focus on children’s behavior as a mechanism for associations between syndrome status and parental stress or coping (Hodapp, 1997; Hodapp & Dykens, 2009). The current study expands upon investigations of indirect effects between genotype and family response to examine potential pathways among specific areas of functioning within families of individuals with FXS. In addition to experiences shared with other families of children with developmental disabilities, families of individuals with FXS may also encounter unique challenges. Unlike many commonly studied developmental disorders, FXS has a known genetic inheritance linked to particular family members who themselves may exhibit certain vulnerabilities as a function of their carrier status (Bailey et al., 2008; Franke et al., 1998). Family interaction and communication around issues related to FXS are likely to be challenging for these families (Bailey, 2010), potentially complicating family dynamics and marital relations. The majority of studies on FXS and family process have focused on children and adolescents or very young adults with FXS (e.g., Abbeduto et al., 2004; Hall et al., 2007; Johnston et al., 2003; Lewis et al., 2006; Wheeler et al., 2007). However, changes in the FXS phenotype over time (Dykens et al., 2000) and in parenting challenges related to caring for an adult child with a disability (Seltzer et al., 2001), make consideration of family process in FXS important across the continuum of the family life cycle. Although considerable variability exists, many adults with FXS continue to require significant care (Bailey et al., 2009), and recent findings from our laboratory have linked the behavior of adolescents and adults with FXS to maternal daily stress, using daily diaries and cortisol measurement (MASKED). Understanding the pathways by which behavior problems might affect mental health and relationships in families of adolescents and adults with FXS could identify the most beneficial avenues for interventions aimed at improving the lives of these families. The Current Study We hypothesized that behavior problems in the individuals with FXS would be positively associated with maternal internalizing (i.e., depressive and anxiety) symptoms, which would, in turn, relate negatively to both marital satisfaction and family cohesion. Furthermore, we predicted significant indirect effects between behavior problems and the family relationship variables through maternal internalizing symptoms. The possibility of maternal internalizing symptoms as a pivotal mechanism for the influence of children’s behavior problems on families of individuals with FXS is particularly intriguing given the suggestion that maternal carrier status (i.e., the premutation of the FMR1 gene) may lead to increased risk for internalizing problems, above and beyond the effects of caring for a child with a disability (Bailey et al., 2008; Franke et al., 1998). The current study therefore accounted for variations in the genotype of the mothers (i.e., the number of CGG repeats) and focused only on mothers with the FMR1 premutation (CGG = 55 to 200), due to the qualitatively different phenotype of individuals with the full mutation (CGG > 200; Bailey et al., 2008; Hagerman & Hagerman, 2002). We also considered additional factors found or suspected to relate to our variables of interest (Abbeduto et al., 2004; Johnston et al., 2003; Seltzer et al., 2009).

Although prenatal and genetic factors make strong contributions to the emergence of intellectual disability (ID), children's early environment may have the potential to alter developmental trajectories and to foster resilience in children with early risk. The present study examined mother-child interaction and the promotion of competence in 50 children with early developmental delays. Three related but distinct aspects of mother-child interaction were considered: maternal technical scaffolding, maternal positive-sensitivity, and mother-child dyadic pleasure. Children were classified as exhibiting undifferentiated delays at age three based upon performance on developmental assessments and the absence of known genetic syndromes. Mother-child interaction was assessed at age four through observational ratings of structured laboratory tasks and through naturalistic home observations. ID was identified at age five using the dual criteria of clinically significant delays in cognitive functioning and adaptive behavior. Maternal technical scaffolding and dyadic pleasure each uniquely predicted reduced likelihood of later ID, beyond the contributions of children's early developmental level and behavioral functioning. Follow-up analyses suggested that mother-child interaction was primarily important to resilience in the area of adaptive behavior, with scaffolding and dyadic pleasure differentially associated with particular sub-domains. Implications for theories of intellectual disability and for family-based early intervention and prevention efforts are discussed.

In a previous study, high levels of maternal criticism predicted increased behavior problems in adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) over an 18-month period (Greenberg, Seltzer, Hong, & Orsmond, 2006). The current investigation followed these families over a period of 7 years to examine the longitudinal course of criticism and behavior problems, to assess the association between their trajectories, and to determine the degree to which change in each of these factors predicted levels of criticism and behavior problems at the end of the study period. A sample of 118 mothers coresiding with their adolescent and adult children with ASD provided open-ended narratives about their children and reported on the children's behavior problems at 4 waves. Maternal criticism was derived from expressed emotion ratings of the narratives. Criticism exhibited low but significant stability over the 7-year period, and behavior problems exhibited high stability. Through latent growth curve modeling, (a) criticism was found to have increased over time, but only for the group of families in which the sons or daughters transitioned from high school services during the study period; (b) individual changes in criticism and behavior problems were positively correlated over the 7-year period; and (c) changes in criticism predicted levels of behavior problems at the conclusion of the study. Changes in behavior problems were not predictive of end levels of criticism. Implications for intervention and prevention efforts are discussed.

This study examined interrelations among different types of parental emotion socialization behaviors in 88 mothers and 76 fathers (co-residing with participating mothers) of 8-year-old children. Parents completed questionnaires assessing emotion socialization behaviors, emotion-related attitudes, and their children's social functioning. An observed parent-child emotion discourse task and a child social-problem solving interview were also performed. Parent gender differences and concordance within couples in emotion socialization behaviors were identified for some but not all behaviors. Fathers' reactions to child emotion, family expressiveness, and fathers' emotion coaching during discussion cohered, and a model was supported in which the commonality among these behaviors was predicted by fathers' emotion-coaching attitudes, and was associated with children's social competence. A cohesive structure for the emotion socialization construct was less clear for mothers, although attitudes predicted all three types of emotion socialization behavior (reactions, expressiveness, and coaching). Implications for developmental theory and for parent-focused interventions are discussed.

This study investigated a novel approach to obtaining data on parent and infant emotion during the Face-to-Face/Still-Face paradigm, and examined these data in light of previous findings regarding early autism risk. One-hundred and eighty eight non-expert students rated 38 parents and infant siblings of children who did (20) or did not (18) have autism spectrum disorders. Ratings averaged across 10 non-experts exhibited high concordance with expert facial-action codes for infant emotion, and 20 non-experts were required for reliable parent ratings. Findings replicated the well-established still-face effect and identified subtle risk associations consonant with results from previous investigations. The unique information offered by intuitive non-expert ratings is discussed as an alternative to complex and costly behavioral coding systems.

This article reports on an exploratory study which examines the use of virtual environment technology as a tool to teach elementary school children social skills. Small group interventions were assessed to determine how the participants were measurably different on 7 different dependent variables: problem behaviors, academic competence, cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy, and self-control. The group intervention created measurable positive changes on 4 of the 7 dependent variables, including problem behaviors, cooperation, responsibility, and self-control.

Background Children with developmental delays exhibit more difficulty with certain emotional processes than their typically developing peers, which seems to partially account for the increased risk for the development of social problems in this population. Despite considerable study with typically developing populations, research on parental emotion socialisation in families of children with delays is scarce.This study examined the degree to which parents of children with early delays prioritised emotion relative to other important areas of child development and the degree to which they focused on emotion during relevant interactions with their children. Method Families of 8-year-old children with (n = 42) and without (n = 89) early developmental delays completed questionnaires and interviews, and participated in a parent‐child emotion discourse task. Results As predicted, parents of children with developmental delays reported lower prioritisation of emotion and focused less on emotion during discourse than did parents of typically developing children. A model was supported in which a pathway existed from developmental status through prioritisation to emotion focus. Emotion focus, in turn, predicted children’s social skills as reported on by multiple informants. Conclusions Parents of children with early developmental delays may focus upon emotion less in their parenting than parents of typically developing children, and related behaviours show associations with children’s social skill outcomes. Findings are discussed as an initial step in thinking about the role of emotion socialisation in the families of children with delays.

The theory of biobehavioral synchrony proposes that the predictive power of parent-child attunement likely lies in the manner with which behaviors are aligned with relevant biological processes. Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may challenge the formation of behavioral and physiological synchrony, but maintenance of such parent-child attunement could prove beneficial. The present study is the first to examine parent-child physiological synchrony in ASD. Parent and child electrodermal activity (EDA) was measured continuously during naturalistic free play. Parent-child EDA synchrony (positive covariation) was positively correlated with observed parent-child emotional attunement. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that child ASD symptoms moderated the association between parent EDA and child EDA, such that EDA synchrony was stronger for children with lower ASD symptom levels.

Objective. We investigated the role of mothers' elevated depressive symptoms on scaffolding and availability to assist preschool children's regulatory development. Design. A sample of 208 3-year-ol...

Objective. This study examines the importance of mothers' reports of their family histories of emotional expressiveness to the manner in which they socialize emotion in their children and the role of child gender as a moderator of that relation. Design. One-hundred and thirty-five mothers and their 3-year-olds participated. Mothers completed the Family Expressiveness Questionnaire to assess accounts of family-of-origin expressiveness. Current emotional expressiveness toward the child was coded during home observations, and maternal emotional scaffolding was coded from structured laboratory tasks. Results. Relations between reports of family-of-origin expressiveness and current parenting emerged for the active-negative form of expressiveness. Child gender moderated associations of active-negative expressiveness to both measures of parenting such that histories of higher active-negative expressiveness related more negatively to emotional scaffolding and more positively to current negativity in the home for ...

We examined the extent to which marital satisfaction across 7 years in 199 mothers was associated with the characteristics (gender, age, and intellectual disability status) of their adolescent or adult child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and whether fluctuations in marital satisfaction covaried with the child's autism symptoms, health, behavior problems, and closeness in the parent-child relationship. We also examined the impact of the departure of the adult child out of the family home on mothers' marital satisfaction. The effect of family context variables including the presence of an additional child with a disability, maternal education, and household income on marital satisfaction were also examined. We found that closeness in the mother-child relationship and household income had a significant effect on level of marital satisfaction, and that variability in the slope of mothers' marital satisfaction was significantly predicted by fluctuations in the behavior problems of the adolescent or adult child with an ASD. The grown child's departure out of the family home was not related to change in marital satisfaction. Interventions aimed at managing the behavior problems of adolescents and adults with ASDs may help strengthen parents' marital relationship.

We examine how the family environment is associated with aspects of the Fragile X syndrome phenotype during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Mothers of children (n = 48), adolescents (n = 85), and adults (n = 34) with Fragile X syndrome participated in a multisite study. For children and adults with Fragile X syndrome, the presence of warmth and positivity and the absence of criticism were associated with fewer behavior problems. Although a higher level of criticism was significantly associated with greater behavior problems, there were only trend-level associations between levels of warmth and positivity and behavior problems during the adolescent years. The provision of family psychoeducation programs, which can reduce parental criticism, would likely benefit both the individual with Fragile X syndrome and the family.

Research on families of individuals with autism has tended to focus on child-driven effects utilizing models of stress and coping. The current study used a family-systems perspective to examine whether family-level adaptability promoted beneficial outcomes for mothers and their adolescents with autism over time. Participants were 149 families of children diagnosed with autism who were between the ages of 10 and 22 years during the three-year period examined. Mothers reported on family adaptability, the mother-child relationship, their own depressive symptoms, and the behavior problems of their children at Wave 1, and these factors were used to predict maternal depression and child behavior problems three years later. Family-level adaptability predicted change in both maternal depression and child behavior problems over the study period, above and beyond the contribution of the dyadic mother-child relationship. These associations did not appear to depend upon the intellectual disability status of the individual with autism. Implications for autism, parent mental health, family systems theory, and for intervention with this population are discussed.

This study examined interrelations among different types of parental emotion socialization behaviors in 88 mothers and 76 fathers (co-residing with participating mothers) of 8-year-old children. Parents completed questionnaires assessing emotion socialization behaviors, emotion-related attitudes, and their children’s social functioning. An observed parent-child emotion discourse task and a child social-problem solving interview were also performed. Parent gender differences and concordance within couples in emotion socialization behaviors were identified for some but not all behaviors. Fathers’ reactions to child emotion, family expressiveness, and fathers’ emotion coaching during discussion cohered, and a model was supported in which the commonality among these behaviors was predicted by fathers’ emotion-coaching attitudes, and was associated with children’s social competence. A cohesive structure for the emotion socialization construct was less clear for mothers, although attitudes predicted all three types of emotion socialization behavior (reactions, expressiveness, and coaching). Implications for developmental theory and for parent-focused interventions are discussed.

Observational methods benefit the study of family process, but many expert rating systems are costly and time-consuming. This study examined the utility of using small groups of eight to ten nonexperts to rate family conflict and maternal sensitivity. Videotaped triadic interactions of 39 families were drawn from Lindahl (1998), and 22 mother-toddler free-play interactions were drawn from Baker, Messinger, Lyons, and Grantz (2010). Sixty undergraduates rated interactions from these samples in real time using computer-assisted technology. Nonexpert ratings of family conflict were reliable, demonstrated high concordance with expert ratings, and replicated a key finding from Lindahl (1998). Nonexpert ratings of maternal sensitivity replicated a relevant finding from Baker, Messinger et al. (2010). Concordance was lower for maternal sensitivity, however, because of the tendency of nonexperts to overattend to sensitive structuring compared with emotional supportiveness. A second study indicated that as few as six nonexperts could effectively rate maternal sensitive structuring, but that nonexperts were unable to accurately rate emotional supportiveness. Implications for research methods and for our understanding of these important family constructs are discussed.

Unstructured mother-toddler interactions were examined in 18-month-old high- and low-risk children subsequently diagnosed (n=12) or not diagnosed (n=21) with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) at 36 months. Differences in maternal sensitivity were not found as a function of emergent ASD status. A differential-susceptibility moderation model of child risk guided investigations linking maternal sensitivity to child behavior and language growth. Group status moderated the relation between sensitivity and concurrent child behavior problems, with a positive association present for children with emergent ASD. Maternal sensitivity at 18 months predicted expressive language growth from age two to three years among children with emergent ASD only. Findings underscore the importance of understanding parent-child interaction during this key period in the development of autism symptomatology.

Using new methods designed to assess coparenting between incarcerated mothers of preschool-aged children and the maternal grandmothers caring for the children during their absence, we examined relationships between coparenting quality during the mother’s jail stay and both concurrent child behavior problems and later coparenting interactions following mothers’ release and community reentry. Forty mother–grandmother dyads participated in joint coparenting discussions during the incarceration, with a smaller subset completing a parallel activity at home 1 month postrelease. Both women also participated in individual coparenting interviews during the incarceration, and reported on child behavior problems. Mother–grandmother coparenting interactions exhibited an overall structure similar to that documented in nuclear families, with population-specific dynamics also evident. The observational system demonstrated good interrater and internal reliability, and showed associations with maternal (but not grandmother) reports and descriptions of the coparenting relationship via interview. Greater coparenting relationship quality during incarceration was associated with fewer concurrent child externalizing behavior problems, and predicted more positive coparenting interactions postrelease. Findings suggest that the coparenting assessments were useful for under-standing mother–grandmother coparenting relationships in these families and that importantly, these relationships were tied to children’s functioning. Avenues for future research and considerations for intervention efforts are discussed.

Le but de cet article est de présenter l’autoquestionnaire américain de McHale permettant l’évaluation de la qualité du coparentage ainsi qu’un premier pas en direction de sa validation structurelle et de construit en langue française. Quarante et une familles suisses francophones et 84 familles nord-américaines ont rempli ce questionnaire ainsi qu’un autre portant sur leur satisfaction conjugale (Dyadic Adjustment Scale [DAS]). Les résultats des familles suisses correspondent aux résultats américains : d’une part, la distribution des items en quatre facteurs (intégrité familiale, conflit, affection et dénigrement) est retrouvée et, d’autre part, un lien relatif entre la qualité du coparentage et celle des relations conjugales est observé. Ce deuxième résultat confirme la validité de construit du questionnaire, vu le lien reconnu entre ces deux sous-systèmes. Étant donné l’influence de la qualité du coparentage sur le développement socio-affectif de l’enfant, disposer d’un outil permettant son évaluation, dans ses aspects tant positifs (soutien, chaleur, etc.) que négatifs (dénigrement, conflit, etc.), est un atout important aussi bien en recherche qu’en clinique.

FCS2277, a 7-page fact sheet by James McHale, Jason Baker, and Heidi Liss Radunovich, will help anyone who is "coparenting" children--raising children with the help of another adult. It explains why cooperative and respectful coparenting is key to the healthy development of children and will help coparents understand whether their coparenting relationship is in good health or in need of a tune-up. Published by the UF Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, October 2007.

Parenting was examined among families of children with borderline intelligence in comparison to families of typically developing children and children with developmental delays. Parenting data were obtained at child age 5 via naturalistic home observation. Mothers of children with borderline intelligence exhibited less positive and less sensitive parenting behaviors than did other mothers and were least likely to display a style of positive engagement. Children with borderline intelligence were not observed to be more behaviorally problematic than other children; however, their mothers perceived more externalizing symptoms than did mothers of typically developing children. Findings suggest the importance of mothers’ explanatory models for child difficulties and highlight children with borderline intelligence as uniquely at risk for poor parenting.

Children's emotion dysregulation and maternal scaffolding at age 4 were examined as predictors of social skills at age 6, for 66 children with and 106 without early developmental delays. Observed scaffolding and regulation during frustrating laboratory tasks related to later mother, father, and teacher social-skill ratings for children with delays and were stronger predictors of social skills within this group than were developmental level and early behavior problems. In contrast, fewer associations were found for typically developing children, with early behavior problems providing the only unique prediction to social skills. Data support a model in which dysregulation partially mediates the association between developmental status and social-skill outcomes. Implications for research, prevention, and early intervention are discussed.