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Protective parenting, when enacted in contexts that do not require it, predicts child anxiety. Both child (e.g., temperament) and maternal (e.g., physiology and cognition) factors relate to parenting behavior, supporting family systems theory. In order to better understand the development of environmental risk for child anxiety, the present study applied the integrated social information and emotion processing theory to protective parenting, assessing concurrent relations among child temperament, maternal physiology, maternal cognitions, and protective parenting in toddlerhood. The present study also investigated whether the theory could be applied to longitudinal relations, testing cognition as a mechanism by which maternal physiology and child temperament predict maternal protective parenting over time. Study participants included 189 mothers (89.9% White, 2.1% Hispanic, 32.3% with annual household income ≤$40,000) and children (55.6% male, 81.0% White, 3.7% Hispanic). Results indicated that the theory was partially applicable to both concurrent and prospective mother–child relations implicated in child anxiety development. Namely, child inhibited temperament (IT) related concurrently to maternal beliefs about the harm of child anxiety at child age 1 year, and to maternal protective parenting at child ages 2 and 3 years. Maternal baseline respiratory sinus arrythmia related to protective parenting at child age 3 years. Longitudinally, maternal beliefs at child age 1 year predicted maternal perceptions of child IT at child age 2 years. Maternal beliefs at child age 2 years predicted maternal protective parenting at child age 3 years. Although the mechanistic role of cognition was not supported, child emotion processes and maternal cognitions may uniquely contribute to maternal protective parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine whether taking a chronological approach (CA) or topical approach (TA) to teaching developmental psychology resulted in different learning outcomes. Across two semesters, in four classes, 354 students participated (M[subscript age] = 19.76, SD[subscript age] = 2.93 years), 66% identifying as female. One instructor taught one course type across the two semesters. Identical information about Piaget's theory was presented in each condition. Around 5 weeks after instruction, concept checks were administered to measure understanding. Exam performance was also compared across courses, as were instructor evaluations. The data suggest that CA-instructed students may be better able to comprehend more difficult concepts. This is informative for instructors with the option of presenting information in contrasting ways and may inform textbook choices.

Two recent advances in the study of fearful temperament (behavioural inhibition) include the validation of dysregulated fear as a temperamental construct that more specifically predicts later social withdrawal and anxiety, and the use of conceptual and statistical models that place parenting as a mechanism of development from temperament to these outcomes. The current study further advances these areas by examining whether protective parenting mediated the relation between dysregulated fear in toddlerhood and social withdrawal in kindergarten. Participants included 93 toddlers and their mothers, who engaged in laboratory tasks assessing traditional fearful temperament, dysregulated fear, and protective parenting. When children reached kindergarten, they returned to the laboratory for a multimethod assessment of social withdrawal. Results confirmed the hypothesis that dysregulated fear predicted social withdrawal through protective parenting, and this occurred above and beyond the effect of traditional fearful temperament. These findings bolster support for the use of dysregulated fear as a temperamental construct related to, but perhaps more discerning of risk than traditionally measured fearful temperament/behavioural inhibition and highlight the importance of transactional influences between the individual and the caregiving environment in the development of social withdrawal.

Maternal protective responses to temperamentally fearful toddlers have previously been found to relate to increased risk for children's development of anxiety-spectrum problems. Not all protective behavior is "overprotective", and not all mothers respond to toddlers' fear with protection. Therefore, the current study aimed to identify conditions under which an association between fearful temperament and protective maternal behavior occurs. Participants included 117 toddlers and their mothers who were observed in a variety of laboratory tasks. Mothers predicted their toddlers' fear reactions in these tasks and reported the importance of parent-centered goals for their children's shyness. Protective behavior displayed in low-threat, but not high-threat, contexts related to concurrently observed fearful temperament and to mother-reported shy/inhibited behavior 1 year later. The relation between fearful temperament and protective behavior in low-threat, but not high-threat, contexts was strengthened by maternal accuracy in anticipating children's fear and maternal parent-centered goals for children's shyness. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)

Individual differences in behavioral regulation system (BRS) and stress response system (SRS) functioning may reflect greater biological sensitivity to context. The current study tested whether children's cortisol, a measure of the SRS, was related to observed dysregulated behavior, an indicator of the BRS, in a sample of children admitted for acute psychiatric inpatient care. In addition, cortisol and dysregulated behavior were tested as unique predictors of length of hospitalization over and above demographic factors, prior treatment history, and caretaker-reported psychiatric symptoms. The latter variables were tested as potential moderators of the relations of BRS and SRS functioning to length of hospitalization. Plasma cortisol was collected on the morning following hospital admission for 544 children (ages 6-12; 73% boys; 61% ethnic minority). Dysregulated behavior was operationalized as the mean number of timeouts administered by staff for noncompliant behavior per day of hospitalization. Caretakers reported on youth internalizing and externalizing symptomatology. Higher cortisol was modestly associated with greater dysregulated behavior. In a model including both cortisol and dysregulated behavior, each predicted longer hospitalization. Cortisol was positively related to length of stay only for children previously hospitalized, and the relation of dysregulated behavior to length of stay was stronger for older children. Dysregulated behavior and cortisol are related but independent predictors of acute psychiatric hospitalization duration. Direct measures of the SRS can add to the clinical picture regarding hospitalization in ways that observed behavior and caretaker report alone cannot. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

Early social withdrawal and protective parenting predict a host of negative outcomes, warranting examination of their development. Mothers' accurate anticipation of their toddlers' fearfulness may facilitate transactional relations between toddler fearful temperament and protective parenting, leading to these outcomes. Currently, we followed 93 toddlers (42 female; on average 24.76 months) and their mothers (9% underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds) over 3 years. We gathered laboratory observation of fearful temperament, maternal protective behavior, and maternal accuracy during toddlerhood and a multi-method assessment of children's social withdrawal and mothers' self-reported protective behavior at kindergarten entry. When mothers displayed higher accuracy, toddler fearful temperament significantly related to concurrent maternal protective behavior and indirectly predicted kindergarten social withdrawal and maternal protective behavior. These results highlight the important role of maternal accuracy in linking fearful temperament and protective parenting, which predict further social withdrawal and protection, and point to toddlerhood for efforts of prevention of anxiety-spectrum outcomes.

Parenting behaviors during times when young children may feel vulnerable, such as when encountering novelty, undoubtedly affect how children learn to regulate their reactions to these events. Theory suggests and some research supports the link between protective behavior--behaviors that shield the child from a potential threat--and regulation of emotions. Less is known, however, about the immediate effects of these behaviors on children's distress. That is, do these protective behaviors alleviate distress in the moment? Presumably, this type of "successful" regulation of distress would be important for the development of successful regulation in other situations. To this end, the current study examined changes in the time course of toddlers' fearful distress, when protective maternal behaviors were observed during a highly novel, fear-eliciting task. Analyses were conducted for two subgroups of dyads: one group where toddlers' distress preceded mothers' protective behavior, and one group where mothers' protective behavior preceded toddler distress. When toddlers' distress preceded mothers' reactions, protective behaviors were found to be associated with less steep decreases in fear for toddlers who had the highest initial distress reactions. Results are discussed in the context of toddlers' emerging ability to regulate emotions and the adaptive development of these skills. (Contains 2 tables and 3 figures.)

Although individual differences in reactions to novelty in the toddler years have been consistently linked to risk of developing anxious behavior, toddlers' attention toward a novel, putatively threatening stimulus while in the presence of other enjoyable activities has rarely been examined as a precursor to such risk. The current study examined how attention toward an angry-looking gorilla mask in a room with alternative opportunities for play in 24-month-old toddlers predicted social inhibition when children entered kindergarten. Analyses examined attention to threat above and beyond and in interaction with both proximity to the mask and fear of novelty observed in other situations. Attention to threat interacted with proximity to the mask to predict social inhibition, such that attention to threat most strongly predicted social inhibition when toddlers stayed furthest from the mask. This relation occurred above and beyond the predictive relation between fear of novelty and social inhibition. Results are discussed within the broader literature of anxiety development and attentional processes in young children. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

Infant social inhibition is associated with increased risk for anxiety later in life. Although both genetic and environmental factors are associated with anxiety, little empirical work has addressed how developing regulatory abilities work with genetic and environmental risk to exacerbate or mitigate problem behaviors. The current study was aimed at addressing this gap in research by investigating an early emerging regulatory behavior, attention control, in association with genetic and environmental risk for anxiety. Participants included 9-month-old adopted infants, their birth mothers, and adoptive parents (N = 361). Lifetime diagnosis of birth mother social phobia was obtained using structured interviews. Adoptive parents completed self-report measures of anxiety symptoms. Infant social inhibition and attention control were coded during a stranger interaction and a barrier task, respectively. Neither adoptive nor birth parent anxiety was directly associated with social inhibition. The association of attention control with social inhibition in infants was moderated by birth and adoptive parent anxiety symptoms. When infants of birth mothers with social phobia were raised by adoptive parents with high self-reported anxiety symptoms, greater attention control was associated with greater social inhibition. However, when raised by adoptive parents with low self-reported anxiety, greater attention control was associated with less social inhibition. (Contains 1 figure, 3 tables, and 1 footnote.)

Previous research has suggested that mothers' behaviors may serve as a mechanism in the development from toddler fearful temperament to childhood anxiety. The current study examined the maternal characteristic of accuracy in predicting toddlers' distress reactions to novelty in relation to temperament, parenting, and anxiety development. Ninety-three two-year-old toddlers and their mothers participated in the study. Maternal accuracy moderated the relation between fearful temperament and protective behavior, suggesting this bidirectional link may be more likely to occur when mothers are particularly attuned to their children's fear responses. An exploratory moderated mediation analysis supported the mechanistic role of protective parenting in the relation between early fearful temperament and later anxiety. Mediation only occurred, however, when mothers displayed high accuracy. Results are discussed within the broader literature of parental influence on fearful children's development.