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The benefits of routines for children have been consistently demonstrated in previous literature. However, factors that may confer risks for child routines have seldom been examined, particularly in families where parents and grandparents co-care the children. This study aimed to investigate the associations of parents' and grandparents' depressive symptoms with preschoolers' daily routines in Chinese three-generation families and to determine whether household chaos mediated or moderated the associations. The participants were from 171 urban three-generation families where mothers, fathers, and grandmothers (97 paternal and 74 maternal) were primary caregivers. Mothers, fathers, and grandmothers reported their depressive symptoms at Wave 1; at Wave 2 (during the COVID-19 pandemic), caregivers reported household chaos and child routines. The results revealed that child routines were negatively predicted by parents' joint depressive symptoms rather than grandmothers' depressive symptoms. In the associations, household chaos acted as a mediator rather than a moderator. Specifically, household chaos marginally mediated the associations between parents' and grandmothers' depressive symptoms and child routines only in maternal three-generation families. These findings suggest that in three-generation families, caregivers with more depressive symptoms may elicit more chaotic family environments, which may in turn compromise their children's daily routines.

A strong link between children's emotion regulation and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms has been documented; however, the within-person mechanisms remain unclear. Based on the self-control theory and self-regulation theory, our study investigated the longitudinal, bidirectional relationship between emotion regulation and ODD symptoms in school-age children with ODD using parent- and teacher-reported data, respectively. A total of 256 Chinese elementary school students participated in a three-wave longitudinal study spanning two years. We used the random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) to investigate the concurrent and longitudinal associations between emotion regulation and ODD symptoms. Results from the RI-CLPMs revealed that ODD symptoms were negatively correlated with emotion regulation and positively correlated with emotion lability/negativity at both the between-person and within-person levels across settings. Additionally, in the school setting, emotion regulation negatively predicted subsequent ODD symptoms but not vice versa, whereas emotion lability/negativity was bidirectionally associated with ODD symptoms over time. The longitudinal associations of ODD symptoms with emotion regulation and lability/negativity were not observed in the home setting. These findings suggest a circular mechanism between children's emotion regulation and ODD symptoms and support the view that emotion regulation, particularly emotion lability/negativity, plays an important role in the development of ODD symptoms.

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is one of the most prevalent childhood mental health disorders and is extremely affected by family factors. However, limited studies have addressed the issue from the perspective of family systems. The current study examines the associations between multilevel family factors (i.e., family cohesion/ adaptability at system level, mother-child and father-child attachment at a dyadic level, and child self-esteem at an individual level) and emotional and behavioral problems among children with ODD in China. The participants were 256 Chinese children with ODD and their parents and class master teachers. A multiple-informant approach and structural equation model were used. The results revealed that system level factors (family cohesion/adaptability) were associated with child emotional and behavior problems indirectly through factors at the dyadic level (mother-child attachment) and the individual level (child self-esteem) in sequence. Mother-child, but not father-child, attachment, mediated the linkage between family cohesion/adaptability and the emotional problems of children with ODD. Moreover, child self-esteem mediated the association between mother-child attachment and child emotional and behavioral problems. The findings of the present study underscored that multilevel family factors are uniquely related to emotional and behavioral problems in children with ODD.

The purpose of this study is to identify the latent profiles of Chinese adolescents' family (parent-adolescent and sibling) relationships prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as associations between those profiles and adolescents' emotional and behavioral responses. A total of 2,305 adolescents from China aged between 10 and 18 years completed measures of parent-adolescent relationships, sibling relationships, and emotional and behavioral responses during the pandemic. Four profiles of family relationships were identified via latent profile analysis and categorized as Cohesive-Decline, Mild-Decline, Conflictual-Stable, and Indifferent-Stable. Adolescents with a Conflictual-Stable profile reported more emotional and behavioral responses compared to the other profiles. In contrast, adolescents with a Cohesive-Decline profile exhibited fewer emotional responses compared to the other profiles. Adolescents with a Mild-Decline profile had fewer emotional responses than those with an Indifferent-Stable profile. These results shed light on the patterns and consequences of family relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic and have substantial implications for interventions involving family relationships in the context of regular epidemic prevention and control.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is characterized by a recurrent pattern of angry/irritable emotional lability, argumentative/defiant behavior, and vindictiveness. Previous studies indicated that ODD typically might originate within a maladaptive family environment, or was at least maintained within such an environment. As such, the present review summarized pertinent research from the last 20 years that focused on the pathways connecting family risk factors to the development of child ODD symptoms. A systematic search of electronic databases was completed in August 2020, resulting in the inclusion of 62 studies in the review. The review established a multi-level framework to describe the mechanisms underlying the pathway from familial factors to ODD psychopathological symptoms: (a) the system level that is affected by the family's socioeconomic status and family dysfunction; (b) the dyadic level that is affected by conflict within the marital dyad and parent-child interactions; and (c) the individual level that is affected by parent and child factors. Additionally, from the perspective of family systems theory, we pay special attention to the interactions among and between the various levels of the pathway (moderation and mediation) that might be associated with the occurrence and severity of ODD symptoms. Considering future prevention and intervention efforts, this three-level model emphasizes the necessity of focusing on familial risk factors at multiple levels and the mechanisms underlying the proposed pathways.

The study aims to examine the longitudinal relationship between the beliefs about adversity and left-behind children's learning engagement and reveal the underlying mechanism. In total, we collected 601 left-behind children data in China over three waves spaced six-month apart. The results showed that left-behind children with higher beliefs about adversity tended to have more learning engagement one year later directly and via enhancing their sense of hope. Unexpectedly, our study found that peer attachment tended to alleviate the promoting effect of beliefs about adversity on learning engagement among left-behind children. These findings extended the existing research on learning of left-behind children and provide the implications for improving the children's academic performance and the intervention of underachievement students among left-behind children., Author(s): Jiayi Li [sup.1] , Ruibo Xie [sup.1] , Wan Ding [sup.1] , Min Jiang [sup.1] , Xiuyun Lin [sup.2] [sup.3] , Sumaira Kayani [sup.1] , Weijian Li [sup.1] Author [...]

Almost 70% grandparents play important roles in the parenting of grandchildren in China. Although several studies have investigated the influence of grandparenting on children, few studies have taken the mutual impacts between parental and grandparental caregivers on children into account. The present study investigated the different associations of mother's and grandmother's parental control (psychological and behavioral control), mother-child attachment, grandmother-child attachment, and child depressive symptoms between paternal and maternal groups from 201 grandparenting families. Results of mediating effect indicated the different associations between groups. In paternal group, significant crossover effect was shown in the association between paternal grandmother's psychological control and mother-child attachment; mother's psychological control and behavioral control were indirectly associated with child depressive symptoms through mother-child attachment. In maternal group, we did not find the same crossover effect as in paternal group, but maternal grandmother's psychological control was indirectly associated with child depressive symptoms through maternal grandmother-child attachment. These findings expanded the crossover theory to grandmother-mother subsystem to reveal the mutual impacts on children between paternal and maternal group in grandparenting families., Author(s): Yuxin Tan [sup.1] , Wan Ding [sup.1] , Yongqiang Jiang [sup.1] , Xiujie Yang [sup.1] , Shaozheng Qin [sup.2] [sup.3] , Stephen P. Hinshaw [sup.3] , Xiuyun Lin [sup.1] [...]

Previous studies have demonstrated that poor quality of parental attachment and low levels of empathy are associated with adolescent's depressive symptoms. However, the relationships between parental attachment, empathy and depressive symptoms and how they differ by gender remain unclear. The present study aimed to clarify the distinct associations among both paternal and maternal attachments and depressive symptoms via cognitive empathy and affective empathy and whether the pathways were different for adolescent males and females. A sample of 374 Chinese adolescents participated in the survey and completed scales of parental attachments, depressive symptoms and empathy. Results revealed affective empathy partially mediated the relationship between maternal attachment and depressive symptoms and cognitive empathy did not emerge as a significant mediator. Gender showed moderating effects on associations among parental attachments, empathy and depressive symptoms. Specifically, paternal attachment was only significantly associated with affective empathy in adolescent males, while adolescent females showed significant associations between maternal attachment and affective empathy, and the pathway from paternal attachment, cognitive empathy/affective empathy to depressive symptoms. The findings indicate there are multiple pathways from parental attachments to depressive symptoms in adolescents, and gender plays an important moderating role., Author(s): Hui Chen [sup.1] [sup.2] , Jocelyn I. Meza [sup.3] , Yuan Yan [sup.4] , Qinglu Wu [sup.5] , Xiuyun Lin [sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.20513.35, 0000 0004 1789 [...]

Migrant children have greatly increased in number due to the China's urbanization and migrant children with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms are at high risk of conduct problems. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between parental depression and conduct problems among Chinese migrant children with ODD symptoms, and to investigate whether parent-child closeness and parent-child conflict mediated and child emotion regulation moderated the linkage. Totally, 370 parents of migrant children who met the DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of ODD symptoms from 10 elementary schools participated in the study. Their class master teachers were included as well. Results revealed that parental depression was positively associated with conduct problems of migrant children with ODD symptoms. Both parent-child closeness and conflict partially mediated the link between parental depression and child conduct problems, while the mediating role of parent-child conflict was stronger. Child emotion regulation moderated the association between parental depression and parent-child closeness. Specifically, for children with low level, but not high, of emotion regulation, parental depression was negatively related to parent-child closeness. The study applied existing emotional security theory into migrant children with ODD symptoms and suggested that interventions may effectively reduce conduct problems in migrant children with ODD symptoms by targeting parental depression, parent-child closeness as well as conflict, and child emotion regulation., Author(s): Ting He [sup.1] , Longfeng Li [sup.2] , Dian Gu [sup.1] , Yuxin Tan [sup.1] , Hui Chen [sup.1] , Yulong Wang [sup.3] , Xiuyun Lin [sup.1] [sup.4] Author [...]

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02062.].

Family factors including parental emotion dysregulation and harsh parenting practices place children at high risk for malfunctioning in emotion regulation, depressive symptoms, and aggressive behaviors. This study investigated the associations among parental emotion dysregulation, harsh parenting practices (i.e., emotional abuse and corporal punishment), and child emotion regulation and child oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms and co-occurring depressive symptoms and aggressive behaviors. Participants included 239 parent-child dyads from 14 primary schools in Mainland China. All children were diagnosed with ODD. Parental emotion dysregulation, harsh parenting practices, and child emotion regulation were reported by parents; child ODD symptoms were reported by parents and teachers; child depressive symptoms were reported by children; and child aggressive behaviors were reported by teachers. Data indicated that parental emotion dysregulation was related to child ODD symptoms in the home and depressive symptoms indirectly through harsh parenting practices and child emotion regulation. Harsh parenting practices were related to child ODD symptoms in the home directly and indirectly through child emotion regulation. Moreover, emotional abuse was associated with child depressive symptoms directly and indirectly through child emotion regulation. Our findings highlighted the need for prevention and intervention targeting parent emotion dysregulation and harsh parenting practices among children with ODD.

Gratitude is thought to be positively related to relationship satisfaction, but the underlying mechanism of this association remains underexplored. To further investigate this mechanism, the present study examined the roles of decisional forgiveness and emotional forgiveness under the guidance of the stress and coping perspective. Chinese college students were invited to answer online questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data collected from a sample of 103 participants in dating relationships. The findings showed that gratitude was associated with relationship satisfaction through two indirect pathways: one through emotional forgiveness and the other through decisional forgiveness and emotional forgiveness in sequence, with decisional forgiveness affecting emotional forgiveness. These results suggest that gratitude, decisional forgiveness, and emotional forgiveness between partners could be potential points of intervention for the treatment of emotional injuries and points of focus for educational programs aiming to enhance relationship satisfaction., Author(s): Qinglu Wu [sup.1] , Peilian Chi [sup.1] , Xiuyun Lin [sup.2] , Hongfei Du [sup.3] , Nan Zhou [sup.4] , Hongjian Cao [sup.4] , Yue Liang [sup.5] Author Affiliations: [...]

Migrant children reached 35.81 million in China and were vulnerable to serious emotional problems including depression. The present study aimed to identify the family and individual risk and protective factors for depression in an at-risk sample of Chinese migrant children. Participants were 368 children (9.47 ± 1.46 years old, 73.4% boys) who had at least one symptom of Oppositional Defiant Disorder symptoms (ODD) and their parents in Mainland China. Risk and protective factors within both family (i.e., family maltreatment and family functioning) and individual (i.e., automatic thoughts and resilience) perspectives. Family maltreatment and negative automatic thoughts served as risk factors in relation to children's depression. Further, automatic thoughts mediated the relationship between family maltreatment and children's depression. Family functioning (cohesion, but bot adaptability) and individual resilience could buffer the effects of risk factors in the Structure Emotion Model such that both cohesion and resilience moderated the relationship between family maltreatment and children's automatic thoughts only. Our findings highlighted the urgent need to decrease risk factors and increase protective factors of both family and child individual characteristics in prevention and intervention depression among migrant children with ODD symptoms in China.

Given the important role of family environment in children's psychological development, the objective of this study was to examine the linkages between family factors at the whole, dyadic, and individual levels and two dimensions (affective and behavioral) of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) symptoms in Chinese children. Participants comprised of 80 father-child dyads and 169 mother-child dyads from families with ODD children. The results indicated that multilevel family factors were differently associated with children's affective and behavioral ODD symptoms. All the family factors at the dyadic and individual levels were significantly associated with child affective ODD symptoms. However, only the most proximal factors (parent-child relationship and child emotion regulation, which were directly related to child) were significantly related to child behavioral ODD symptoms. The present study extends the current knowledge regarding the relationships between family factors and two dimensions of child ODD symptoms by testing the comprehensive multilevel family factors model. This study also recommends that future interventions for ODD children should consider the multi-level family factors to enhance intervention efficacy.

Research has suggested that daily cognitive reappraisal and mindfulness are differentially associated with emotional experience. Nevertheless, the different relationship between these two emotion regulation strategies and emotional experience remains unexplored amidst the COVID‐19 pandemic, when people were facing unprecedented challenges and disruptions in their everyday lives. The current study aimed to examine the potential unidirectional or bidirectional relations between two strategies and daily emotional experience during the COVID‐19 pandemic and whether the associations between the two strategies and emotional experience varied. A total of 184 college students participated in this study. Daily positive reappraisal, mindful attention and awareness (MAA), positive and negative affect, and COVID‐19‐related stress were assessed utilizing experience sampling method (three times a day for 14 consecutive days). Results suggested that the directionality of the link between the two strategies and daily emotional experience differed. The links between positive reappraisal and positive affect, negative affect, and COVID‐19‐related stress were transactional. However, a unidirectional relation was observed between positive affect and subsequent MAA. The study provided support for the contextual perspective of emotion regulation by demonstrating that the efficacy of regulation strategies is contingent upon the context. The identification of optimal conditions for effective strategies remains a crucial area for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined the characteristics of physiological synchrony between grandmothers and grandchildren in Chinese three‐generation families, and the associations between physiological synchrony and child emotion regulation. The participants included 92 children (age 8–10‐year old) and their grandmothers. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was collected from both grandmothers and their grandchildren throughout a collaborative drawing task and a conflict discussion task. Child emotion regulation was measured using the Children's Emotional Management Scale. We found no evidence for an overall pattern of concordant or discordant synchrony within dyads. Instead, there was great variability in patterns of synchrony across dyads. During the collaborative drawing task, concordance in grandmother's RSA and grandchildren's subsequent RSA was linked with better emotion regulation. During the conflict discussion, concordance in grandmother's RSA and grandchildren's simultaneous RSA was linked with poorer emotion regulation. These results suggest that grandmother–grandchild synchrony in different directions, time lags, and contexts has different influences on children's emotion regulation. The findings of this study highlight the importance of contextual physiological co‐regulation between Chinese children and their grandmothers for children's social‐emotional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oppositional defiant symptoms are some of the most common developmental symptoms in children and adolescents with and without oppositional defiant disorder. Research has addressed the close association of the parent–child relationship (PCR) with oppositional defiant symptoms. However, it is necessary to further investigate the underlying mechanism for forming targeted intervention strategies. By using a machine learning-based causal forest (CF) model, we investigated the heterogeneous causal effects of the PCR on oppositional defiant symptoms in children in Chinese elementary schools. Based on the PCR improvement in two consecutive years, 423 children were divided into improved and control groups. The assessment of oppositional defiant symptoms (AODS) in the second year was set as the dependent variable. Additionally, several factors based on the multilevel family model and the baseline AODS in the first year were included as covariates. Consistent with expectations, the CF model showed a significant causal effect between the PCR and oppositional defiant symptoms in the samples. Moreover, the causality exhibited heterogeneity. The causal effect was greater in those children with higher baseline AODS, a worse family atmosphere, and lower emotion regulation abilities in themselves or their parents. Conversely, the parenting style played a positive role in causality. These findings enhance our understanding of how the PCR contributes to the development of oppositional defiant symptoms conditioned by factors from a multilevel family system. The heterogeneous causality in the observation data, established using the machine learning approach, could be helpful in forming personalized family-oriented intervention strategies for children with oppositional defiant symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With over 222 million youth below the age of 15 in China, the need for psychological services in schools is receiving increasing attention. School mental health education has been developing over the past 20 years to meet this need, and evidence shows it is being implemented, particularly in urban areas. However, no empirical studies have explored the profession from the view of practitioners. Aims: The purpose of the present study was to conduct the first systematic survey of practitioners regarding the current practice of mental health education in Beijing. Sample: This study surveyed 292 mental health educators in elementary and secondary schools in 6 of the 14 districts in Beijing. Method: Participants completed a 52-item questionnaire assessing their demographics and job responsibilities including teaching, assessment, counseling, professional organization involvement, supervision, and training needs. Results: Participants were predominantly females with undergraduate degrees in psychology or education. Most of the participants reported that mental health education was only part of their full-time job as educators. Participants reported spending time counseling students, consulting with parents and teachers, and assessing students. Participants mentioned a lack of a professional organization, too many responsibilities unrelated to mental health education, and the need for more recognition for the profession. Many participants also indicated a need for better training and supervision, particularly in counseling and mental health assessment. Conclusions: Participants reported engagement in some of the characteristic duties of school psychologists in other countries, though mental health education appears to be more similar to primary prevention programs in the West. Results are compared and contrasted with the practice of school psychology in the US and elsewhere. Implications for the future of mental health education in China are included.