Children's Emotional Security Research Articles

Nurturing Tomorrow's Minds: The Impact of Family Education on Holistic Child Development

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of family education on child development, focusing on parenting styles, educational activities at home, the role of technology, and the emotional climate within the family. Through an exploration of authoritative, permissive, and authoritarian parenting styles, this paper examines their distinct effects on cognitive development, emotional growth, and social adaptation. Additionally, this paper delves into the significance of literacy development activities, mathematical reasoning games, and nature exploration in fostering children's cognitive and socio-emotional skills. Furthermore, this paper discusses the implications of digital technology and social media on children's cognitive and emotional development, emphasizing the importance of digital literacy and safe internet use. Moreover, this paper investigates how family harmony, stress management, and parental support contribute to children's emotional security and self-esteem. This paper concludes with insights into the critical role of family education in shaping children's holistic development and underscores the need for informed, intentional parenting practices to nurture resilient, confident, and emotionally healthy individuals.

Preventing mental health problems in children after high conflict parental separation/divorce study: An optimization randomized controlled trial protocol

Parental divorce is a childhood stressor that affects approximately 1.1 million children in the U.S. annually. The children at greatest risk for deleterious mental health consequences are those exposed to high interparental conflict (IPC) following the separation/divorce. Research shows that children's emotional security and coping efficacy mediate the impact of IPC on their mental health. Interventions targeting their adaptive coping in response to IPC events may bolster their emotional security and coping efficacy. However, existing coping interventions have not been tested with children exposed to high post-separation/divorce IPC, nor has any study assessed the effects of individual intervention components on children's coping with IPC and their mental health. This intensive longitudinal intervention study examines the mechanisms through which coping intervention components impact children's responses to interactions in interparental relationships. A 23 factorial experiment will assess whether, and to what extent, three candidate intervention components demonstrate main and interactive effects on children's coping and mental health. Children aged 9–12 (target N = 144) will be randomly assigned to one of eight combinations of three components with two levels each: (1) reappraisal (present vs. absent), (2) distraction (present vs. absent), (3) relaxation (present vs. absent). The primary outcomes are child-report emotional security and coping efficacy at one-month post-intervention. Secondary outcomes include internalizing and externalizing problems at the three-month follow-up. Based on data from this optimization phase RCT, intervention components will be selected to comprise a multi-component intervention and assessed for effectiveness in a subsequent evaluation phase RCT.

The interplay among interparental conflict, children's emotional insecurity, neurophysiological correlates of processing interparental conflict cues, and externalizing symptoms.

Exposure to destructive interparental conflict consistently predicts children's externalizing symptoms. Research has identified children's emotional security as an explanatory mechanism underpinning this association, but little is known about the role of children's neurophysiology in this pathway. We aimed to address that gap using event-related potential (ERP) data from a sample of 86 children, ages 9-11 years. The P3 ERP was measured during an emotion categorization task involving photographs of a couple exhibiting facial expressions of emotion toward one another. Angry images were target stimuli, and happy and neutral images were nontarget stimuli. Children reported interparental conflict, and their mothers reported children's emotional security. Mothers also reported children's externalizing symptoms at two time points 1 year apart. Results indicated elevated interparental conflict predicted more behavioral dysregulation (an aspect of emotional insecurity), which predicted a smaller P3 on angry trials, which, in turn, predicted greater externalizing symptoms 1 year later, controlling for initial externalizing. Greater involvement in interparental conflict, another aspect of emotional insecurity, predicted a larger P3 on neutral trials. Further, both greater involvement and a larger P3 on happy trials predicted increases in externalizing. The results suggest differing associations between different elements of emotional insecurity and the P3.

Management of parenting preparedness at home in COVID-2019 pandemic based on individual and family self-management theory (IFSMT): A Systematic Review

Background: COVID-19, which emerged from the novel zoonotic coronavirus-2, continues to spread rapidly throughout the world and becomes a pandemic. Some countries say they have the resources to deal with the co-19 pandemic situation. Still, when it comes to children's physical and emotional security, this must be through because preparing children for a pandemic like this requires a lot of effort and proper planning. This systematic review aims to identify and summarize the available evidence about parenting preparedness strategies to a successful/recommended pandemic to reduce COVID-19 threats to children in self and family management and assist policymakers in evidence-based decision making for better pandemic preparedness and provide direction for future research. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was carried out by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) diagram following the predetermined eligibility criteria. 250 research articles produced from the beginning, 15 articles were found that met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Results: The parenting preparedness strategy in the COVID-19 pandemic is important to improve the scientific preparedness associated with COVID-19 in children. Conclusion: COVID-19 has occurred in children but seems to show a mild impact on the disease. However, parenting preparedness of children at home can help reduce the transmission rate of COVID-19 in personal and Family management. Any future crisis can be handled more quickly and easily.

The Family Context of Toddler Sleep: Routines, Sleep Environment, and Emotional Security Induction in the Hour before Bedtime

ABSTRACT Family processes during the pre-bedtime period likely have a crucial influence on toddler sleep, but relatively little previous research has focused on family process in this context. The current study examined several aspects of family process during the pre-bedtime period, including the use of bedtime routines, the qualities of the child’s home sleep environment, and the promotion of child emotional security, in families of 30-month-old toddlers (N= 546; 265 female) who were part of a multi-site longitudinal study of toddler development. These characteristics were quantified using a combination of parent- and observer-reports and examined in association with child sleep using correlation and multiple regression. Child sleep was assessed using actigraphy to measure sleep duration, timing, variability, activity, and latency. Bedtime routines were examined using parents’ daily records. Home sleep environment and emotional security induction were quantified based on observer ratings and in-home observation notes, respectively. All three measures of pre-bedtime context (i.e., bedtime routine inconsistency, poor quality sleep environments, and emotional security induction) were correlated with various aspects of child sleep (significant correlations:.11-.22). The most robust associations occurred between the pre-bedtime context measures and sleep timing (i.e., the timing of the child’s sleep schedule) and variability (i.e., night to night variability in sleep timing and duration). Pre-bedtime variables, including bedtime routine consistency, home sleep environment quality, and positive emotional security induction, also mediated the association between family socioeconomic status and child sleep. Our findings underscore the value of considering family context when examining individual differences in child sleep.

Trajectories of traumatic stress reactions in children exposed to intimate partner violence.

Understanding different longitudinal patterns of traumatic stress reactions in children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) can promote early identification of at-risk children. Our study aims to explore trajectories of traumatic stress reactions following childhood IPV exposure, and their relation with parental traumatic stress and child emotional security in the interparental subsystem. The sample comprised 303 children (age 3-10, M = 6.20) from families referred to institutions for IPV. Data were collected at home. Three waves of parent-reported questionnaire data were analyzed using latent class growth analysis and linear regression. Five trajectories were identified: 'resilient', 'moderate stable', 'struggling', 'improving', and 'elevated adjusting'. Only the 'struggling' trajectory had dysfunctional symptom levels at the final wave. Higher parental traumatic stress predicted 'improving' trajectory membership (β = 0.17, p = .033), whereas lower parental traumatic stress (β = -0.20, p = .003) and child emotional insecurity (β = -0.45, p = < .001) predicted 'resilient' trajectory membership. Higher child emotional insecurity predicted membership in trajectories with higher initial traumatic stress (improving: β = 0.26, p < .001; struggling: β = 0.31, p < .001; elevated adjusting: β = 0.27, p < .001). Child emotional security did not buffer the effect of parental traumatic stress on likelihood of dysfunctional trajectory membership (β = 0.04, p =.380). Children exposed to IPV show different trajectories of traumatic stress reactions, partly corresponding to trajectories identified in other populations. Child emotional security and parental traumatic stress predict trajectory membership.

Children Exposed to Marital Conflict Exhibit More Disordered Eating Behaviors: Child Emotional Insecurity and Anxiety as Mechanisms of Risk

Disordered eating in children is a major public health concern, as it is precursor to clinical eating disorders and obesity. However, little is known about the potential causes of child disordered eating. The current study examined marital conflict as a predictor of disordered eating in a sample of children aged 5–12 years, from the perspective of emotional security theory. Ninety five children and their parents in the Southeast United States participated in the study. We found that marital conflict was associated with higher levels of restrained eating, emotional eating and external eating behaviors controlling for demographics and parental feeding practices. Further, we examined the possible pathways between marital conflict and child disordered eating and found that marital conflict was related to greater child emotional insecurity about the family, which was associated with greater child anxiety, which were then related to disordered eating. In addition to serving as a secondary pathway linking emotional insecurity to child disordered eating, anxiety also significantly directly mediated the association between marital conflict and all three types of disordered eating: restrained eating, emotional eating and external eating in children. Next we examined if parental feeding practices (food monitoring, food restriction and parental pressure to eat) moderate the relation between marital conflict and child disordered eating. Parental pressure to eat was negatively associated with child disordered eating under higher marital conflict. The current study highlights the importance of marital conflict and child emotional security as precursors of child disordered eating.

Parental Problem Drinking is Associated with Children’s Adrenocortical Reactivity to Stress

The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis plays an important role in adaptation to stress, but is vulnerable to chronic stress exposure. Parental problem drinking (PPD) represents such a chronic stressor, but there has been little research on children’s HPA axis activity in the context of PPD. To address this gap, associations between PPD and children’s adrenocortical reactivity were examined, with marital aggression and child emotional security as potential intervening variables. Participants were 69 community families (children aged 6–12 years). Children provided saliva samples before and 20 min after a social stress test, which were assayed for cortisol. Parents reported on their problem drinking (PD) and marital aggression, and children reported on their emotional insecurity about the marital relationship. Mother PD was significantly related to greater adrenocortical reactivity in her offspring. Father PD was significantly related to children’s greater involvement in marital conflict, which was significantly related to greater adrenocortical reactivity. Findings therefore indicate that parental PD is related to greater sensitivity of the HPA axis to social stress, partially because of emotional insecurity.

How Much Positivity Is Needed to Buffer the Impact of Parental Negativity on Children?

IntroductionMarital conflict has been highlighted as a form of stress that deserves particular consideration in the context of children's development (e.g., B arietta & O'Mara, 2006). However, there is increasing evidence from couple research that, rather than adverse interactions per se, the couple's capabilities to compensate negativity with positivity may be a stronger predictor of marital outcomes (Gottman, 1994). Remarkably, to the best of our knowledge, there is limited research investigating the meaning of Gottman's findings for children's well-being in the family context. The purpose of this survey study was to address this gap by examining the positive-to-negative ratio in parental interaction as a predictor of child adjustment.In recent decades couple research has been increasingly concerned with studying interaction patterns in marriages. It was shown that positivity and negativity in intimate relationships may not be considered as poles of one bipolar dimension but as two independent dimensions that constitute marital quality (Fincham & Finfield, 1997). According to this assumption, happy and unhappy couples do interact positively and negatively but, notably, in different proportions. Gottman and Fevenson (1992) 10.1111/fare.l2091reported that couples characterized by more negative than positive interactions (i.e., unregulated couples) were at greater risk to start the cascade toward divorce in comparison to regulated couples outperforming negativity by positive interaction. Additional studies based on observational data supported Gottman's (1993, 1994) balance theory of marriage that states that the equation of positivity to negativity is crucial to predict marital quality and stability, suggesting a ratio of about 5:1 in regulated couples. Holman and Jarvis (2003) found that Gottman's (1993) couple typology could be reliably verified in survey data too. Subsequently, European survey studies found a positive - negative ratio of about 2:1 in satisfied couples compared to unsatisfied couples or couples seeking for marital therapy yielding a ratio of smaller than 1 (Bertoni & Bodenmann, 2010; Bodenmann, Meyer, Binz, & Brunner, 2004).The ratio of a couple's positivity to negativity may also help to explain why the vast majority of children from conflictual homes do not develop psychological problems (Fincham & Osborne, 1993). The emotional security theory (EST; Davies & Cummings, 1994) supports the idea that the extent to which parental negativity is buffered by their positive interaction is critical for child adjustment. EST holds that parental discord harms children's development by undermining children's emotional security; that is, their primary goal of felt safety in the family and confidence in their parents' abilities to preserve family stability. However, the implications of negative parental interaction on a child's emotional security and welfare hinges on the quality of the broader parental and family functioning (Cummings & Davies, 2010). Supporting this hypothesis, Davies and colleagues (2002) found that interparental conflict was a weaker predictor of children's emotional insecurity and insecurity was less associated with children's psychological problems in families where parents scored high in emotional expressiveness. Parents' ability to discuss their emotions in a direct and constructive manner seemed to protect children from developing emotional insecurity and subsequent maladjustment in the face of parental conflict. In a similar vein, it was reported that family functioning provides a salient backdrop for children's reactivity to marital conflict (Davies, Cummings, & Winter, 2004). Children from cohesive families perceived simulated parental arguments as less threatening to their well-being than children from other (less functional) family profiles.It was also shown that the emotional climate in the family setting affects children's appraisals of interparental conflict. …

Children's Coping and Adjustment in High‐Conflict Homes: The Reformulation of Emotional Security Theory

AbstractRepeated exposure to interparental conflict increases children's vulnerability to a range of psychological problems by undermining their emotional security in the relationship between parents. However, emotional security theory in its original form lacks the depth and precision to guide hypotheses regarding individual differences in the nature, precursors, and sequelae of children's emotional security. In this article, we summarize a reformulated version of the theory to address this gap. Specifically, we focus on the ways in which the reformulated theory can elucidate: (a) the nature and developmental implications of systematically characterizing the inner workings of emotional security as a goal system, (b) the relative potency of family characteristics as sources of individual differences in children's emotional security, and (c) processes associated with developmental cascades that account for how and why emotional insecurity is linked to a range of psychological problems.

EPA-0288 – Parental involvement and drop-out from high school

School dropout and subsequent youth unemployment are important risk factors for mental problems. It is important to understand which factors that may lead to youth dropping out of high school. The aims were to explore the subjective experiences of people who had not completed high school and who had problems getting work. To examine how the parents’ involvement in the children's lives influenced their schooling experiences. Five Norwegian men and five women (aged 18–28) who had not completed high school and who had not been able to find work were interviewed qualitatively. The interviews were transcribed in full and analyzed drawing on Grounded Theory. The informants had struggled with an accumulation of risk factors constantly challenging their resilience, eventually resulting in dropout. In these individual educational trajectories, one experience was shared by most: the lack of stable parental involvement. Moving between parents or losing contact with parental figures all together made the direct involvement from parents in the child's learning activities over time more complicated. Several had experienced intense levels of marital conflict often ending in divorce with periods of little or no contact with one parent, thus threatening the child's emotional security and resulting in withdrawal or aggressive behavior. The low-achieving boys gave the non-practical focus of the high school curricula as an explanation for dropout. The high-achieving boys reported shyness. The girls focused on social and family issues. This qualitative study suggests that parental involvement may be of importance to drop-out from school.

Asymmetry in children's salivary cortisol and alpha‐amylase in the context of marital conflict: Links to children's emotional security and adjustment

Recent research supports the promise of examining interactive models of physiological processes on children's adjustment. The present study investigates interactions between children's autonomic nervous system activity and adrenocortical functioning in the context of marital discord; specifically, testing models of concurrent responses proposed by Bauer et al. ([2002] Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics 23:102-113) in the prediction of children's behavioral responses to conflict and adjustment. Asymmetry and symmetry in children's salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol were examined in 195 children (M age = 8 years) in response to viewing conflict vignettes. Results were partially consistent with an interactive model in the context of high marital discord; asymmetry among higher alpha-amylase and lower cortisol related to higher emotional insecurity and concurrent and subsequent maladjustment. In contrast, patterns of symmetrical responses were related to greater maladjustment for children exposed to lower levels of marital discord, supporting an additive model. Findings support the importance of a multisystem approach to investigating the adaptiveness of children's physiological stress responses, while also highlighting the value of considering physiological responses in the context of family risk.

Does Witnessing Intimate Partner Violence Contribute to Toddlers' Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors?

This research examines the relationship between witnessing of intimate partner violence (IPV) and externalizing and internalizing behaviors using birth to age 3 data from a longitudinal study (N = 187). We hypothesized that for infants and toddlers, direct witnessing of IPV, compared to living in a household where IPV occurred, would be more disruptive of behavior because it affects the child's emotional security within the family. Findings supported our hypothesis. Children who witnessed IPV displayed more externalizing behaviors at ages 2 and 3 as compared to children who did not witness IPV or whose mothers were not victims. Findings highlight the importance of assessing whether infants and toddlers witness IPV, as this has implications for infant behavior as well as maternal parenting.

Testing a social ecological model for relations between political violence and child adjustment in Northern Ireland

Relations between political violence and child adjustment are matters of international concern. Past research demonstrates the significance of community, family, and child psychological processes in child adjustment, supporting study of interrelations between multiple social ecological factors and child adjustment in contexts of political violence. Testing a social ecological model, 300 mothers and their children (M = 12.28 years, SD = 1.77) from Catholic and Protestant working class neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland, completed measures of community discord, family relations, and children's regulatory processes (i.e., emotional security) and outcomes. Historical political violence in neighborhoods based on objective records (i.e., politically motivated deaths) were related to family members' reports of current sectarian antisocial behavior and nonsectarian antisocial behavior. Interparental conflict and parental monitoring and children's emotional security about both the community and family contributed to explanatory pathways for relations between sectarian antisocial behavior in communities and children's adjustment problems. The discussion evaluates support for social ecological models for relations between political violence and child adjustment and its implications for understanding relations in other parts of the world.

Fathering in family context and child adjustment: A longitudinal analysis.

This study focuses on relations between fathers' behavior in family context and children's adjustment, including the roles of paternal depressive symptoms, paternal marital conflict behaviors, paternal parenting, and children's emotional security. Participants included 235 families with a six-year-old child, with families followed longitudinally each year for three years. In terms of fathers' adjustment, paternal problem drinking was related to paternal negative marital conflict behaviors and decreased positive parenting, which was associated with children's externalizing and internalizing problems. Fathers' depressive symptoms were directly related with children's internalizing problems. Children's emotional security was an intervening variable in relations between father's behavior in family context and children's development.

Exploring Bed-Sharing Mothers' Motives and Decision-Making for Getting Through the Night Intact: A Grounded Theory

Purpose: The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand mothers' motives for sleeping with their babies and to generate a theoretical model that explains mothers' decision‐making process. Background: Mother–infant bed sharing is a controversial practice that is poorly understood. Literature suggests routine bed sharing is underreported in the United States and that it is increasing in prevalence. Methods: Twenty‐four bed‐sharing mothers were interviewed in‐depth about their bed‐sharing practices, motivations, and experiences. Interview transcripts were qualitatively analyzed through constant comparison until theory from the data were generated. Results: Seven thematic motives emerged: (a) child's physical needs and safety, (b) child's emotional security, (c) child's sleep, (d) maternal sleep, (e) nighttime breastfeeding, (f) maternal psychological security, and (g) maternal pleasure. A grounded theory that described the decision‐making process utilized by mothers who bed share was presented. Mothers moved through the process of recognizing needs, making decisions, attending to needs through bed sharing, and evaluating effects in order to meet their children's needs as well as their own. A basic social process of getting through the night intact was described. Conclusion: Motives for mothers to bed share with their babies are interrelated and change over time. Within a complex context, mothers make either intentional or unintentional decisions to bed share in order to meet the needs of their babies and themselves.

Constructive and destructive marital conflict, emotional security and children’s prosocial behavior

This study addresses the gaps in understanding the relationship between constructive and destructive marital conflict and children's prosocial behavior from a process-oriented perspective. Data were drawn from a three-wave study of 235 families with children ages 5-7 at wave 1. Relations between constructive and destructive marital conflict, children's emotional security, warm parenting and children's prosocial behavior were examined through the use of structural equation modeling. Even after controlling for prior levels of children's prosocial behavior at wave 1, children's emotional security acted as an intervening variable between both constructive and destructive marital conflict and children's prosocial behavior over time. These findings advance the relationship between marital conflict and children's adjustment by focusing on children's prosocial behavior and highlight the need to further investigate the impact of positive dimensions of marital conflict on dimensions of children's positive social functioning.

Children's Emotional Security in the Interparental Relationship

In response to the societal premium placed on understanding the difficulties faced by children from high-conflict homes, emotional security theory aims to understand precisely how and why interparental discord is associated with children's psychological problems. One of its main premises is that interparental discord increases children's vulnerability to mental illness by undermining their sense of safety or security in the context of the interparental relationship. In this article, we highlight the main assumptions of a new ethological formulation of emotional security theory and its predictions and findings regarding the organization, precursors, and consequences of individual differences in children's emotional insecurity. We conclude with a synopsis of the value of the new formulation for future work.

Task‐related interactions between kindergarten children and their teachers: the role of emotional security

AbstractThis study examined the emotional security of kindergarten children in dyadic task‐related interactions with their teachers. In particular, it examined the interrelations between security, task behaviours (persistence and independence), social inhibition, and teachers' support. Participants were 79 kindergartners (mean age=69.7 months) and their 40 regular teachers. Children were selected to approach a normal distribution of social inhibition. Children and teachers were filmed during a dyadic interaction task outside the classroom. Three groups of independent observers rated children's emotional security and their task behaviours, as well as teachers' supportive behaviours. Multilevel modelling revealed a positive link between teachers' support and emotional security. This link suppressed a negative relation between social inhibition and emotional security. In addition, emotional security was positively associated with children's task behaviours and mediated part of the positive link between these behaviours and teachers' support. Finally, security moderated the relation between support and persistence, such that the effect of teachers' support on persistent behaviours was amplified for relatively insecure children. These results highlight the importance of considering emotional security when examining the interactions between kindergarten children and their teachers. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Parental Dysphoria and Children’s Adjustment: Marital Conflict Styles, Children’s Emotional Security, and Parenting as Mediators of Risk

Dimensions of martial conflict, children's emotional security regarding interparental conflict, and parenting style were examined as mediators between parental dysphoria and child adjustment. A community sample of 262 children, ages 8-16, participated with their parents. Behavioral observations were made of parents' interactions during marital conflict resolution tasks, which children later observed to assess their emotional security. Questionnaires assessed parents' dysphoria, parenting, and children's adjustment. Structural equation modeling indicated that parental dysphoria was linked with child adjustment through specific and distinct mediating family processes, including marital conflict and parenting. Children's emotional security in the context of particular marital conflict styles also mediated relations between parental dysphoria and child adjustment problems, with similar pathways found for mothers and fathers. These pathways remained significant even after significant parenting contributions were considered.