Child Socioemotional Outcomes Research Articles

Applicability and attachment findings of the Strange Situation Paradigm in infants with visual impairment.

Attachment studies with diverse populations enrich the understanding of infants' socioemotional development by documenting both universal and idiosyncratic aspects of attachment. Given the effects of attachment in children's socioemotional outcomes, such studies are necessary to investigate the impact of children's sensory impairments on attachment development. Yet, very little attachment research has focused on infants with visual impairment (VI infants), a population in which infant-caregiver emotional exchanges through visual means are reduced/absent. We investigated the applicability of the Strange Situation Paradigm (SSP), with added instructions to compensate for degraded visual input, in 20 VI infants (with no additional disabilities and who were receiving developmental counseling). In all but 1 of the SSPs coded, VI infants displayed observable attachment behavior that was classifiable. Nineteen VI infants showed attachment by 12 months of age. Across the ages tested (fractional age range = 0.9-2.33 months), most VI infants' attachment patterns were classified as secure and organized.

Parenting and Child Development: A Relational Health Perspective.

A child's development is embedded within a complex system of relationships. Among the many relationships that influence children's growth and development, perhaps the most influential is the one that exists between parent and child. Recognition of the critical importance of early parent-child relationship quality for children's socioemotional, cognitive, neurobiological, and health outcomes has contributed to a shift in efforts to identify relational determinants of child outcomes. Recent efforts to extend models of relational health to the field of child development highlight the role that parent, child, and contextual factors play in supporting the development and maintenance of healthy parent-child relationships. This review presents a parent-child relational health perspective on development, with an emphasis on socioemotional outcomes in early childhood, along with brief attention to obesity and eating behavior as a relationally informed health outcome. Also emphasized here is the parent-health care provider relationship as a context for supporting healthy outcomes within families as well as screening and intervention efforts to support optimal relational health within families, with the goal of improving mental and physical health within our communities.

The relationship between responsive caregiving and child outcomes: evidence from direct observations of mother-child dyads in Pakistan

BackgroundResponsive caregiving, or interactions in which caregivers give appropriate responses to a child’s signals, is linked to improved psychosocial, cognitive and physical outcomes in children. However, much remains unknown about how responsive caregiving affects child development across cultural and socioeconomic contexts. The purpose of this study is to examine predictors of maternal responsive caregiving and investigate how these interactions are associated with children’s development.MethodsData for the current analyses came from a longitudinal study designed to follow mothers from the third trimester through the first three years of the child’s life. To assess responsive caregiving, the Observation of Mother-Child Interaction (OMCI) measure was used to examine maternal and child behaviors during a 5-min picture book activity at 24 months. Outcomes included child height-for-age z-score and child socioemotional development, using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Socioemotional (ASQ-SE) in which lower scores demonstrated better development. Using mean comparisons, the effects of baseline sociodemographic factors and maternal depression on responsive caregiving were tested. Analyses utilized hierarchical linear regressions to examine cross-sectional associations between responsive caregiving and child development outcomes at 24 months. Additional analyses controlled for the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME), a common measure in low-income contexts of caregiving, to assess whether OMCI was uniquely predictive of child outcomes.ResultsHigher maternal education attainment, lower number of children, greater socioeconomic assets, and lack of maternal depression were associated with higher levels of observed responsive caregiving behaviors. Higher total OMCI scores were associated with positive child socioemotional outcomes in adjusted models (β: -0.84, 95% CI [− 1.40, − 0.29]). The finding was statistically significant, even after controlling for HOME score (β: -0.83, 95% CI [− 1.38, − 0.27]). There was no association between OMCI scores and child linear growth.ConclusionsResponsive caregiving is linked to positive child socioemotional development in rural Pakistan. Our findings suggest that incorporating responsive caregiving into child health interventions in LMIC may have valuable impacts on child socioemotional development. The OMCI may be useful in identifying important pathways for change to responsive caregiving behaviors and may be of service for future interventions that optimize child development through responsive caregiving.Trial registrationNCT02111915 (09/18/2015); NCT02658994 (01/22/2016). Trials were prospectively registered.

SU9 - IDENTIFICATION OF GENES IN CHILD GENETIC RISK FOR ATTENTION DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER THAT INTERACT WITH MATERNAL DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN PREDICTION OF INTERNALIZING PROBLEMS

Background Maternal antenatal depression is associated with offspring socio-emotional problems. However, the impact varies across the population such that some individuals seem resilient. Genetic factors may define vulnerability/resilience to the environment, effects that likely span many molecular pathways. Despite moderate success in candidate gene approaches, genome-wide approaches in gene-environment interactions (GxE) have been under exploited. We sought to identify genes and biological pathways that moderate the relationship between Maternal Antenatal Depressive Symptoms (MADS) and child socio-emotional outcomes. Methods Our sample included 190 mother-child dyads from a Canadian longitudinal birth cohort. MADS was measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies – Depression Scale. Child socio-emotional outcomes were mother-reported at 5 years with the Child Behavior Checklist. We constructed Genomic Profile Risk Scores (GPRS) from the children's SNPs genome-wide that account for polygenic risk for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) based on risk information from the genome-wide associations with ADHD by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and applied them in our GxE model. GPRS with the smallest p-value in the GxE model was defined as the best-fit GPRS. SNPs constituting the best-fit GPRS were used in a genome-wide by environment association analysis follow-up. We used MetaCore to examine the enriched gene ontology in a subset of SNPs in the GxE model with p-values less than .01. Results GPRS moderated the relationship between MADS and child internalizing problems (p Discussion We used the GPRS for ADHD to facilitate our genome-wide approach in examining GxE and identified genes that have a moderating effect on the relationship between MADS and internalizing problems in children. The enriched biological pathways are implicated in axon development and synaptic functions, critically important in fetal neurodevelopment. These findings suggest that specific genes involved in the biological framework for antenatal neurodevelopment can confer sensitivity or resilience to the influences of MADS on mental health.

Teacher depression as a dynamic variable: Exploring the nature and predictors of change over the head start year

This study used the Family and Child Experiences Survey, 2009 cohort, to explore the levels of depression among a nationally representative sample of Head Start teachers at the beginning and end of the preschool year. Results showed that one in three Head Start teachers reported some depression either in fall or spring, and that change in depression between fall and spring was commonplace. Characteristics of individuals (initial depression, Hispanic/Latino ethnicity), classrooms (class size, number of DLLs, average child prosocial skills), and the workplace (peer depression, curriculum support, positive workplace climate, number of employer-provided benefits) were linked to change in teacher depression. Moreover, reduced depression over the course of the year was uniquely predictive of children's gains in prosocial skills and declines in problem behaviors, as rated by teachers; however, no associations emerged between teacher depression and parent-rated child socioemotional outcomes. Overall, results undergird the importance of considering teacher depression as a dynamic construct in early education settings. In addition, findings highlight common method variance as a potential methodological challenge in this line of research for which future studies should carefully account.

Maternal employment and children's socio-emotional outcomes: an Australian longitudinal study.

Among children, poor socio-emotional functioning leads to poor health and well-being during childhood and later in life, and so understanding its social determinants is important. This study's objective is to examine how maternal employment influences children's socio-emotional outcomes in an Australian sample of families with two biological parents, testing the mediating role of maternal mental health, parenting practices, and parental income. We analyze six waves of panel data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n = 7524 children, 29,701 observations) using random-effect models. Children of employed mothers display better socio-emotional outcomes than children of non-employed mothers, though the effect magnitude is only moderate. Associations are stronger for internalizing than externalizing problems, and not mediated by parental mental health, parenting practices, or household income. Our findings can inform sociopolitical debates on the social value of maternal labor force participation and its impacts on children. They suggest that incentivizing maternal employment should bear no detrimental consequences on their children's socio-emotional functioning. The different associations found for children's internalizing and externalizing problems stress the value of distinguishing these constructs.

Fearful Inhibition, Inhibitory Control, and Maternal Negative Behaviors During Toddlerhood Predict Internalizing Problems at Age 6.

Many, but not all, young children with high levels of fearful inhibition will develop internalizing problems. Individual studies have examined either child regulatory or environmental factors that might influence the level of risk. We focused on the interaction of regulation and environment by assessing how early fearful inhibition at age 2, along with inhibitory control and maternal negative behaviors at age 3, interactively predicted internalizing problems at age 6. A total of 218 children (105 boys, 113 girls) and their mothers participated in the study. Results indicated a three-way interaction among fearful inhibition, inhibitory control, and maternal negative behaviors. The correlation between fearful inhibition and internalizing was significant only when children had low inhibitory control and experienced high levels of maternal negative behaviors. Either having high inhibitory control or experiencing low maternal negative behaviors buffered against the adverse effect caused by the absence of the other. These findings highlight the importance of considering associations among both within-child factors and environmental factors in studying children's socioemotional outcomes.

Emotion socialization and internalizing behavior problems in diverse youth: A bidirectional relationship across childhood

Mothers’ and fathers’ emotion socialization (ES) practices have been widely associated with child socioemotional outcomes. To extend this research, we examined the bidirectional relationship between parent ES practices (supportive and non-supportive parenting) and internalizing behavior problems in children of Anglo and Latino parents. Participants were 182 mothers and 162 fathers and their children with or without intellectual disability (ID). We compared the stability of mother and father ES practices across child ages 4–8. We utilized cross-lagged panel modeling to examine the bidirectional relationship between parents’ ES and child internalizing behavior problems. Emotion socialization practices differed across time by parent gender, with mothers displaying higher levels of supportive parenting and lower levels of non-supportive parenting than fathers. Cross-lagged panel models revealed differential relationships between child internalizing behaviors and emotion socialization practices by parent gender and by ethnicity. Implications for intervening with culturally diverse families of children with ID are discussed.

Does professional development of preschool teachers improve children's socio-emotional outcomes?

From 2011 to 2013 a randomized controlled trial has been run in Danish preschools to obtain evidence on improvements of early childhood education by providing training to the preschool teachers. The purpose of the intervention is to improve children's socio-emotional outcomes (measured by SDQ), especially for socially disadvantaged children. The teachers in intervention preschools received extra training in implementation of new pedagogical activities and principles, whereas teachers in control preschools did not receive any training. The results show improvements in several subscales of the SDQ scale. However, heterogeneity analysis is not able to demonstrate larger improvements for socially disadvantaged children than for other children.

Contextual Specificity in the Relationship between Maternal Autonomy Support and Children's Socio-emotional Development: A Longitudinal Study from Preschool to Preadolescence.

The benefits of an autonomy supportive environment have been established as a key component in children's development at various ages. Nonetheless, research examining the outcomes of early autonomy supportive environments has largely neglected socio-emotional development. The first objective of the present longitudinal study was to examine the socio-emotional outcomes associated with maternal autonomy support during the preschool period. Second, we explored the contextual specificity of the relationships between maternal autonomy support and children's later socio-emotional outcomes. Finally, we investigated the indirect effect of maternal autonomy support on children's later socio-emotional outcomes through earlier children's socio-emotional outcomes. Sixty-six mothers and their pre-school aged children (41 girls) were followed during preschool (Time 1), elementary school (Time 2) and preadolescence (Time 3). Maternal autonomy support (Time 1) was measured in two contexts (free-play and interference task) using observational coding. Furthermore, the children's internalizing and externalizing problems as well as their social competence were measured at Times 2 and 3. The results revealed the importance of maternal autonomy support during preschool for children's later socio-emotional development, especially during challenging contexts, and the mediating role of children's socio-emotional outcomes during elementary school in the link between maternal autonomy support during the preschool years and children's later socio-emotional outcomes during preadolescence. The results highlight the contextual specificity of the relationship between maternal autonomy support and children's later socio-emotional development and reveal one of the mechanisms through which the effect of early childhood parental autonomy support on children's later socio-emotional development is carried forward over time.

Does Professional Development of Preschool Teachers Improve Child Socio-Emotional Outcomes?

From 2011 to 2013 a randomized controlled trial has been run in Danish preschools to obtain evidence on improvements of early childhood education by providing training to the preschool teachers. The purpose of the intervention is to improve child socio-emotional outcomes (measured by SDQ), especially for socially disadvantaged children. The intervention preschools received extra training of the preschool teachers, whereas control preschools did not receive any training. The results show improvements in several subscales of the SDQ scale. However, the intervention proves less beneficial for socially disadvantaged children, in particular as a consequence of unfavorable preschool characteristics.

Longitudinal associations between breastfeeding and observed mother–child interaction qualities in early childhood

Despite extensive literature on the role of breastfeeding in maternal and child health and cognitive development, few studies have systematically tested whether breastfeeding predicts children's socio-emotional outcomes. The present study examined associations between trajectories of breastfeeding and observed parent-child interaction qualities of maternal sensitivity, child positivity, and child negativity from 6 months to 3 years of age. Data were drawn from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n = 1306 US families). Hierarchical linear modelling accounted for demographic and early characteristics, including home environment, maternal depression, and observed global relationship quality. Breastfeeding was associated with increases in observed maternal sensitivity over time, even after the effects of demographic and early characteristics were controlled. Accounting for the covariates, breastfeeding was not associated with child behaviour (i.e. positivity, negativity) in mother-child interaction across early childhood. Improved relationship quality, specifically through changes in maternal behaviour, may be another advantage experienced by breastfeeding mothers and children.

Development and validation of the Parents’ Beliefs About Children’s Emotions Questionnaire.

Parents' beliefs about children's emotions comprise an important aspect of parental emotion socialization and may relate to children's mental health and well-being. Thus, the goal of this study was to develop the multifaceted Parents' Beliefs About Children's Emotions (PBACE) questionnaire. Central to our work was inclusion of multiple ethnic groups throughout the questionnaire development process, from initial item creation through assessment of measurement invariance and validity. Participants included 1,080 African American, European American, and Lumbee American Indian parents of 4- to 10-year-old children who completed the initial item pool for the PBACE. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted with 720 of these parents to identify factor structure and reduce items. Confirmatory factor analysis was then conducted with a holdout sample of 360 parents to evaluate model fit and assess measurement invariance across ethnicity and across parent gender. Finally, validity of the PBACE scales was assessed via correlations with measures of parental emotional expressivity and reactions to children's emotions. The PBACE is composed of 33 items in 7 scales. All scales generally demonstrated measurement invariance across ethnic groups and parent gender, thereby allowing interpretations of differences across these ethnic groups and between mothers and fathers as true differences rather than by-products of measurement variance. Initial evidence of discriminant and construct validity for the scale interpretations was also obtained. Results suggest that the PBACE will be useful for researchers interested in emotion-related socialization processes in diverse ethnic groups and their impact on children's socioemotional outcomes and well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

Maternal employment and child socio-emotional behaviour in the UK: longitudinal evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study

BackgroundMothers of young children are increasingly combining paid work with childrearing. Empirical evidence on the effects of maternal employment on children is contradictory and little work has considered the impact...

Shift Work, Parenting Behaviors, and Children's Socioemotional Well-Being

Many U.S. employees with children work nonstandard hours, yet we know little about the linkages among maternal shift schedules, mothers' and fathers' parenting behaviors, and children's socioemotional outcomes. In a sample of 55 dual-earner families with children age 8 to 14 years and mothers working day versus evening shifts, the authors found that mothers' work schedules are unrelated to their parenting behaviors. However, fathers whose wives work evenings (vs. days) spend more time with children, know more about children's activities, receive more disclosures from children, and have better parenting skills, variables that are inversely associated with children's internalizing, externalizing, and risk-taking behaviors.

Adolescent Childbearing, Poverty, and Siblings: Taking New Direction From the New Literature*

Adolescent Childbearing, Poverty, and Siblings: Taking New Direction From New Literature* This article critically appraises sibling-comparison method by pointing to following limitations: (1) it assumes within family homogeneity; (2) it neglects naturally occurring heterogeneity across siblings; (3) it overlooks unique effects of a teen's for her family and siblings; (4) it underappreciates selectivity of sisters of teenage mothers who delay childbearing; and (5) it ignores differences in outcomes by sisters' birth order and age spacing. Directions for future research stemming from this new literature are discussed. Key Words: adolescent childbearing, adolescent pregnancy, differential parenting, parental investment, poverty, siblings. One of most innovative lines of research to come out of adolescent literature is use of within-family estimates to gauge socioeconomic costs of teenage childbearing. This is often referred to as the new literature on teenage childbearing (Hoffman, 1998) and was fueled by a 1992 article by Arline Geronimus and Sanders Korenman entitled, The Socioeconomic Consequences of Teen Childbearing Reconsidered. In this article, Geronimus and Korenman compared socioeconomic indicators of sister pairs who differed in age at first childbearing, with one sister of each pair having given birth at age 19 or younger and other sister having had her first child at age 20 or older. Results showed that although teenage sister was less likely than her non-teenage sister to have any postsecondary schooling or to be married as an adult, family income and welfare dependency rates of both sisters were not significantly different and high school graduation rates were actually higher for teen mothers (although not statistically significant). The authors concluded that much of economic adversity associated with teenage motherhood stems not from itself but, rather, from disadvantage that preceded it. The results of Geronimus and Korenman ( 1992) study have been intensely debated in a series of articles by Saul Hoffman, Frank Furstenberg and colleagues (Furstenberg, 1991, 1992; Geronimus, 1991, 1992; Geronimus & Korenman, 1993b; Hoffman, Foster, & Furstenberg, 1993a, 1993b). Using similar procedures but analyzing a more recent version of one of data sets employed by Geronimus and Korenman, Hoffman and colleagues reported that accounting for unobserved family heterogeneity reduced but did not eliminate estimated consequences of early childbearing. Hoffman recently summarized this debate noting that case for weak or even positive effects of teenage is far from definitive (Hoffman, 1998). The sister comparison method is unique because it is first to attempt to disentangle independent costs of teenage from pre-existing family background factors that precede it. The use of kinship data, particularly sibling comparisons, as a means of reducing effects of heterogeneity on estimates of early is becoming increasingly common. For example, cousin comparisons have been used to gauge effects of young maternal age on children's socioemotional, cognitive, and health outcomes (Geronimus & Korenman, 1993a; Geronimus, Korenman, & Hillemeier, 1994; Rosenzweig & Wolpin, 1995). Results of these studies indicate that, when controlling for biases from family background, differences in outcomes of cousins (the children of sisters) were not overly significant or disappeared entirely. This article does not dispute specific findings reported by Geronimus and Korenman (1992) or Hoffman et al. (1993a). Rather, purpose of this article is to call attention to several limitations inherent in sister comparison approach. These limitations are significant because estimates that attempt to control for heterogeneity through use of sibling-based comparisons have become increasingly prevalent with little recognition paid to shortcomings of approach. …