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Most research on the impact of maternal depressive symptoms on child development is conducted during the first year postpartum. Findings on long-term effects of maternal depression are still contradictory and underexplored. The present study investigates the long-term impact of maternal depression during the postpartum and early parenthood periods on child behavioral problems at the mean age of 2.25 years. The Edinburgh postnatal depression scale and Beck depression Inventory were used to assess postpartum and early parenthood depression, respectively. The Child Behavior Checklist was used to examine child's behavioral problems. The regression analysis showed statistically significant associations between child behavioral problems and maternal depression during early parenthood and no significant associations with postpartum depression. Four maternal depressive symptoms' trajectories were identified: consistently low, consistently high, decreased, and increased. The children of mothers with consistently high depressive symptoms at both research stages had the most significant total, internalizing, and externalizing problems. Children of mothers whose depressive symptoms decreased over time had the lowest scores in all three domains of behavioral problems. It is extremely important to implement programs for screening and early intervention for maternal mental health problems that could greatly influence the well-being of women and their children's development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES) is a widely used measure of parent emotion socialization; however, it is a lengthy measure and it is unclear whether all items are appropriately aligned with, and fully capture, the underlying constructs. We aimed to examine content validity of the CCNES, evaluate the theoretical alignment between the CCNES and Gottman, Katz and Hooven's meta-emotion theory, and develop two short-forms. Participants were parents of children aged 4 to 10 years (N = 937) from the longitudinal study the Child and Parent Emotion Study (https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/10/e038124). Content experts qualitatively evaluated parent-report items of the CCNES and additional items that measured empathy. Nineteen of the 84 items were found to not align with the meta-emotion theory. The latent structures of the CCNES and empathy subscales were quantitatively evaluated via confirmatory factor analysis. Items with poor psychometric properties were subsequently removed. An 18-item short-form (three emotion coaching subscales, three emotion dismissing subscales) and 6-item brief short-form (one emotion coaching subscale, one emotion dismissing subscale) with strong psychometric properties were created using a calibration sample (n = 468, that is, 50% of N = 937) and cross-validated with a validation sample. The short-form CCNES measures provide viable, theoretically consistent alternatives to the original CCNES measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that emotions and emotion regulation strategies are important variables for family functioning. The aim of the present article was to review the literature on the role of emotions and emotion regulation in couple relationships and parent-child interaction. The paper presents the most important theoretical models on emotions and family functioning and provides an overview of research investigating the association of positive emotions, negative emotions and emotion regulation with family relationships outcomes. First, we provided an overview on the functionality and social function of positive and negative emotions. Second, we investigated the role of positive and negative emotions in couple relationship and parent-child interaction. Third, we emphasized the role of specific intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion regulation strategies in couple relationships. Finally, we outlined the role of parents in child's emotional development. The conclusions of our review support the importance of including emotions and emotion regulation strategies in counselling programs for couples and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Most research on the impact of maternal depressive symptoms on child development is conducted during the first year postpartum. Findings on long-term effects of maternal depression are still contradictory and underexplored. The present study investigates the long-term impact of maternal depression during the postpartum and early parenthood periods on child behavioral problems at the mean age of 2.25 years. The Edinburgh postnatal depression scale and Beck depression Inventory were used to assess postpartum and early parenthood depression, respectively. The Child Behavior Checklist was used to examine child’s behavioral problems. The regression analysis showed statistically significant associations between child behavioral problems and maternal depression during early parenthood and no significant associations with postpartum depression. Four maternal depressive symptoms’ trajectories were identified: consistently low, consistently high, decreased, and increased. The children of mothers with consistently high depressive symptoms at both research stages had the most significant total, internalizing, and externalizing problems. Children of mothers whose depressive symptoms decreased over time had the lowest scores in all three domains of behavioral problems. It is extremely important to implement programs for screening and early intervention for maternal mental health problems that could greatly influence the well-being of women and their children’s development.

This study investigated the relationships between various maternal characteristics and child outcomes in preschool age children. Participants included 128 mother-child pairs. Mothers and children participated in two observational tasks, clean-up and Tickle-Me-Elmo, which were coded for expressions of emotion, and mothers completed self-report surveys. A person-centered latent profile analysis was applied, identifying distinct maternal profiles defined by observed positive emotion expression and reported positive and negative emotionality, depressive symptoms, and parenting stress. Four profiles were identified, labeled Happy, Melancholic, Stressed, and Struggling. These profiles were found to be associated with child outcomes, including observed positive and negative emotion expression and problem behaviors. Specifically, the Melancholic and Struggling profiles tended to be negatively related to child emotion expression, while the Stressed and Struggling profiles tended to be related to greater child problem behaviors. The results highlight meaningful distinctions between concurrent, interacting maternal characteristics that contribute to child emotion socialization, and they suggest significant differentiations in the factors that contribute to child risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines Louise Silverstein's and Carl Auerbach' s paper on Deconstructing the Essential Father. The paper provides research support for their position that children benefit from stable, consistent, loving, low-conflict parenting arrangements; irrespective of the gender of the parent. Silverstein and Auerbach, however, go beyond this conclusion to also recommend that children would benefit from being reconnected with their 'absent' fathers. The current paper challenges this particular conclusion to their critique and explores the apparently contradictory position that there is no essential need for fathers vet efforts should be made to proactively develop and support social and emotional connections between children and their fathers. The paper also examines other literature and research findings around the 'unique' contribution of social fathering in raising children, and concludes that there is no social, psychological, or developmental justification to legislate for father presence. There is no research-based credibility in promoting patriarchal, nuclear family formation as a preferred social and family structure to optimise children's emotional, social, physical, and economic outcomes. The political and social pretext that underlines 'hither absence fear' is just that; a pretext to retain the hegemony of patriarchal nuclear family life and restore fathers to their `rightful positions of power and control within families. In developing a conclusion to this critique, the paper draws on a briefcase-study from a lesbian-parented family research project conducted in Victoria, Australia, and illustrates implications for family therapists with a brief clinical vignette. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]