Children's Adjustment Research Articles

Developmental trajectories of internalizing distress among ethnic minoritized mothers following childbirth: Associations with early child psychological adjustment.

A substantial body of work has established that mothers' internalizing distress can negatively affect children's socioemotional development. Yet few studies have examined how distinct patterns of mothers' distress over time differentially impact child behaviors across early childhood. To address this gap, the current study explored developmental trajectories of mothers' internalizing distress and examined the associations of these patterns with child adjustment outcomes. Mexican immigrant, Dominican immigrant, and African American mothers (N = 272) were annually assessed for internalizing distress over the first 6 years following childbirth. Children's psychological adjustment (internalizing, externalizing, and hyperactivity behaviors) was measured at the last yearly assessment in first grade. A growth mixture model revealed two distinct classes of distress where mothers were classified as having low stable distress (82.4%) or moderate distress that began as stable then declined when their children were 64 months old (17.6%). Children of mothers in the moderate, late decline class showed greater internalizing, externalizing, and hyperactivity behaviors in the first grade compared to children of mothers in the low stable class. Findings highlight the necessity of supporting the mental health of ethnic minoritized mothers following childbirth and further expand our knowledge of family psychopathology to promote healthy psychological adjustment in children.

Association between parental occupations, educational levels, and household income and children's psychological adjustment in Japan

ObjectivesMost research on the association between parental or family socio-economic status and psychological adjustment in children has been performed mainly in Western countries, while there is limited evidence of such research in Asian countries. We examined the association of parental occupation and educational levels and household income with children's psychological adjustment in Japan. Study designThis was a cross-sectional study. MethodsStudy subjects were 6329 children aged 3 years. Children's psychological adjustment was assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. ResultsCompared with having an unemployed father, having a father who worked in an administrative and managerial or clerical job was associated with a lower prevalence of peer problems. Compared with having an unemployed mother, having a mother who worked in the professional and engineering, sales, service, or manufacturing process area was associated with a lower prevalence of low prosocial behaviors, whereas having a mother who worked in the clerical, service, or manufacturing process area was associated with an increased prevalence of emotional problems. Having a mother who worked in a clerical area was associated with a higher prevalence of conduct problems. Higher paternal and maternal educational levels were inversely associated with the prevalence of conduct problems and hyperactivity but were positively associated with low prosocial behaviors. A higher household income was inversely associated with the prevalence of emotional problems, conduct problems, and hyperactivity. ConclusionParental occupation, educational levels, and household income may affect children's psychological adjustment in Japan.

Mindful Parenting Mediated Between Mothers’ Perceived Stress During COVID-19 and Child Adjustment

ObjectivesMaternal stress is associated with a myriad of maladjusted outcomes among children. To identify the role of mindful parenting between mothers’ stress and child adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study tested competing hypotheses with mothers’ mindful parenting as a mediator versus a moderator.MethodsA total of 172 Chinese mothers of preschool-aged children participated in this study. Participants completed a self-report measure of stress during COVID-19 and mindful parenting, as well as a mother-report measure of children’s prosocial behavior, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems. Structural equation models were conducted to examine the mediation versus moderation effects of mindful parenting between mothers’ stress during COVID-19 and child adjustment, after controlling for family income, children’s age, sex, and adjustment at baseline.ResultsFindings indicated that mindful parenting mediated the link between mothers’ stress during COVID-19 and child adjustment, including internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and prosocial behavior. A test of competing hypothesis showed that mindful parenting did not moderate between mothers’ stress during COVID-19 and child adjustment.ConclusionsThis study revealed the mediating effects of mindful parenting between mothers’ perceived stress during COVID-19 and child adjustment. The findings inform researchers and practitioners about mindful parenting as a potential mechanism between maternal stress and child adjustment during the pandemic.

School socioeconomic status context and social adjustment in children.

Social adjustment is critical to educational and occupational attainment. Yet little research has considered how the school's socioeconomic context is associated with social adjustment. In a longitudinal sample of Australian 4- to 8-year-olds (N = 9369; 51% boys) we tested the association between school average socioeconomic status and social skills (parent and teacher reported). Models controlled for age 4 social adjustment and additional covariates. Results showed that children from more advantaged schools are more likely to have better prosocial behavior and fewer peer and conduct problems. An interaction between family and school average socioeconomic status (SES) suggested that this association was mainly present for children from lower SES backgrounds. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Developing a Based-on-play Cognitive-behavioral Educational Package and Determining Its Effectiveness in Improving the Language Disorders and Social Adjustment in Bilingual Children

Background: The present study was conducted to develop a game-based cognitive-behavioral educational package and determine its effectiveness in improving the receptive language disorders and social adjustment of bilingual children. Methods: The current study was applied objectively and in terms of the nature of the data, it was quasi-experimental with a pretest post-test design and follow-up with experimental, control, and pseudo-control groups. The statistical population of the research includes all bilingual children of Bojnord City, Iran who were studying in preschool centers in the academic year 2018-2019. A sample consisting of 60 male and female students was selected using convenience sampling and according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and they were randomly assigned to three experimental, control, and pseudo-control groups (each group with 20 people). In the pretest stages, the participants completed the Nikamer and Hamill language development test and the Dokhanchi social adjustment scale, and then during the intervention process of the experimental group, they received a game-based cognitive-behavioral training program for 12 sessions. The pseudo-control group received a program except for play therapy, and the control group received no intervention. After the end of the intervention, all three groups responded to both scales again in the post-test stages and were re-evaluated after two months. The data were analyzed using the analysis of variance test with repeated measurements and using SPSS software, versian 24. Results: The results showed that the game-based cognitive-behavioral intervention is significantly effective in improving the receptive language disorders and social adjustment of bilingual children compared to the control and quasi-control groups. Conclusion: It seems that game-based cognitive-behavioral interventions can play a significant role in improving the language skills and social adaptation of bilingual children.

How does inhibitory control predict emotion regulation in preschool? The role of individual children's interactions with teachers and peers.

Emotion regulation is foundational to children's psychological wellbeing and future school adjustment. As young children are spending increasing amounts of time in preschool programs, investigating how early childhood classrooms can foster emotion regulation development is warranted. In this study, we tested individual children's interactions with teachers and peers as potential mechanisms through which inhibitory control supports emotion regulation in the preschool classroom. Participants included 767 preschool children (49% female; M = 4.39 years old, SD = .08) from low-income households (income-to-needs ratio M = 1.45, SD = 1.06). Fifty percent of children were Black, 22% White, 13% Latino, and 15% Other race/ethnicity. Children completed direct assessments of inhibitory control in the fall, teachers reported on children's emotion regulation in the fall and spring of the preschool year, and trained observers rated the quality of individual children's interactions with teachers and peers in the fall, winter, and spring. Accounting for earlier emotion regulation, mediation analyses indicated that children's inhibitory control operates through individual children's (a) positive interactions with peers and (b) negative interactions with teachers and peers to support their subsequent emotion regulation. These findings underscore the role of the preschool classroom as an emotion socialization context for children from low-income households, along with providing additional evidence about the importance of social interactions to understand children's emotional development in context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Être parent d’un enfant avec un TDAH : conceptions parentales du trouble et de ses conséquences sur la famille

IntroductionThe ADHD disorder has important consequences on the child's adjustment, but also on family life. Parents are usually involved during the diagnosis process and should be actively involved in the treatment that will follow. However, their representations of the disorder and their experience as parents in the face of the disorder are still poorly documented, especially in the French-speaking context. ObjectiveThe goal of this study is to explore the parents’ views about the etiology of ADHD and the medication, as well as their experiences of the consequences of the disorder on the family, school problems and social relations. MethodAn ad hoc questionnaire assessing the consequences of ADHD in a child was completed online by 128 parents of children between the ages of 5 and 18. ResultsParents mostly agree with the neurodevelopmental origin of the disorder, conception that is related to the use of psycho-stimulants by the child. The majority were satisfied with the effects of the medication, but a significant proportion felt that the efficacy was poor and almost half felt that the side effects were too strong. The experiences of many parents reveal their exhaustion, their worries about their child's health and their own health, as well as the repercussions on their relationship and professional life. ConclusionThis study confirms that the difficulties of families with a child and an adolescent with ADHD should be taken into account in the clinical investigation and in treatment strategies. The results confirm the important place that parental support should take in intervention strategies, including work on co-parenting and involving siblings.

Unsociability and Psychological and School Adjustment in Chinese Children: The Moderating Effects of Peer Group Cultural Orientations

This study examined the moderating effects of cultural orientations of peer groups on the relations between unsociability and psychological and school adjustment in Chinese children. Participants included 1,092 students (527 boys, M age = 12.21 years) in the sixth grade in elementary schools. Data on individualistic and collectivistic cultural orientations, unsociability, and adjustment were obtained from multiple sources including peer nominations, teacher ratings, self-reports, and school records. Using the Social Cognitive Map method, 193 peer groups were identified. Among the results, unsociability was negatively associated with peer preference and academic achievement in groups low on individualistic orientation but not in groups high on individualistic orientation. Unsociability was also negatively associated with peer preference more strongly in groups with higher scores of collectivistic orientation. The results suggested that, in general, unsociable children performed better in social and academical areas in more individualistically oriented groups and less collectivistically oriented groups. The cultural context of peer groups may play a significant role in shaping social and school adjustment of unsociable children.

The impact of life environmental satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents’ social-emotional adjustment: a 15-month latent profile study in Italy

ABSTRACT This study explored the profiles of Longitudinal Life Environmental Satisfaction (LLES) during the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluating their predicting role in social-emotional adjustment in children and early adolescents. 488 children (Mage = 8.54; SD = 0.63), and 129 early adolescents (Mage = 11.08, SD = 0.48) completed two questionnaires, pre-COVID-19 (T1) and in June 2021 (T2). Results showed two profiles, the risk profile characterized by a decrease in LLES and the second profile with stable, high levels of satisfaction. LLES profiles moderated the impact of time on children and adolescents’ social-emotional adjustment. Specifically, children prosocial behaviour decreased in the risk profile, while independent participation remained stable. Self-efficacy decreased in both profiles for early adolescents, but only in the risk profile for children. Findings suggested that only children were able to benefit from systems wellbeing stability during the pandemic, improving their social-emotional adjustment. Findings supported the impact of the pandemic on social-emotional adjustment, especially for those who showed a disruption of systems satisfaction.

Deployment-related PTSD symptomatology and social functioning: Probing the mediating roles of emotion regulation and mentalization in an outpatient veteran sample

Deployment-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) impacts social functioning in families. Therefore, it is important to examine the factors that contribute to social functioning in families that are confronted with deployment-related PTSD. The goal of this study was to assess the association between PTSD symptom severity and social functioning using self-report questionnaires in an outpatient veteran sample and to test the mediating roles of emotion regulation (Study 1, N = 100) and mentalization (Study 2, N = 38). Study 1 demonstrated that emotion regulation problems fully mediated PTSD associated family dysfunctioning. Study 2 did not demonstrate a mediation role of mentalization, but also did not demonstrate an association between PTSD and social dysfunctioning. Maladaptive mentalization was associated with poor child adjustment. Critically, a between-study comparison revealed that PTSD symptom severity was significantly higher in Study 1 than in Study 2. Overall, our findings suggest that social dysfunctioning may only appear when a given severity threshold of PTSD is reached, in which emotion regulation might be a key clinical factor. Maladaptive mentalization may be critical for post-deployment child adjustment. Future research should further examine social functioning in samples with different PTSD severity profiles and include the role of mentalization. Longitudinal data are needed to gain further insight into the causal relationships among the factors considered and the etiological pathways that lead to developing social dysfunction over time.

Shyness and Socio-Emotional Adjustment in Early Childhood in Mainland China: Exploring the Roles of Maternal Parenting Practices and Beliefs about Shyness

Shyness and Socio-Emotional Adjustment in Early Childhood in Mainland China: Exploring the Roles of Maternal Parenting Practices and Beliefs about Shyness

The Effectiveness of Music Therapy on Anxiety, Self-esteem, and Social Adjustment of Children With Cancer in Kerman

Background: Cancer is the second largest cause of child mortality after accidents worldwide. Childhood cancers have an average incidence in Iran, with 176 cases in one million people. The objective of this study was to examine the efficacy of music therapy on anxiety, self-esteem, and social adjustment of children with cancer in Kerman in 2019. Methods: A quasi-experimental method with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group was used in this study. The statistical population of research included all children with cancer admitted to Afzalipour hospital in Kerman (Iran) in 2019, and thirty children were selected by the convenience sampling method and then randomly divided into experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. Data were collected using the children’s Multidimensional Anxiety Scale, the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory, and California Social Adjustment Scale. Finally, the data were analyzed using SPSS22 through the multivariate analysis of covariance. Results: The results indicated that music therapy was effective in reducing anxiety (P<0.001, F=179.29) while increasing self-esteem (P=0.001, F=120.60) and social adjustment (P=0.001, F=48.56) in children with cancer. Conclusion: It can be argued that music therapy in children with cancer has been successful for anxiety, self-esteem, and social adjustment and can be applied to alleviate psychological issues in children with cancer

Trajectory of quality of mother‐child interactions: Prospective links with child socioemotional functioning

AbstractResearch shows that the quality of mother‐child interactions is a robust antecedent of child socioemotional functioning. Yet, relatively little is known about the evolution of this relational quality over time, and even less about how changes in relational quality may bear on child adjustment. This study aimed to describe the trajectory of quality of mother‐child interactions between ages 2 and 7 and to investigate associations between individual differences in this trajectory and child socioemotional functioning at age 8. In a sample of 233 mother‐child dyads primarily comprised of White French‐Canadian mothers, the quality of interactions was assessed during 10‐min play sequences when children were aged 2, 4, and 7 years. Child internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors were reported by a subsample of 171 teachers at age 8. The results showed that on average, quality of mother‐child interactions decreased over time. In terms of individual differences, children who experienced a slower decrease in the quality of interactions with their mother from 2 to 7 years showed less internalizing behavior at age 8, over and above initial quality at 2 years. Children involved in higher quality interactions with their mother at 2 years showed more prosocial and less externalizing behavior at age 8, independent of the subsequent decrease in the quality of those interactions. The findings suggest that initial levels and subsequent changes in the quality of mother‐child interactions are two distinct indicators of their relationship with potentially different implications for child adjustment.

The moderating role of adrenocortical reactivity in the associations between interparental conflict, emotional reactivity, and school adjustment.

This study tested whether the associations between interparental conflict, children's emotional reactivity, and school adjustment were moderated by children's cortisol reactivity in a sample of young children (N = 243; mean age = 4.6 years at Wave 1; 56% female, 44% male) and their parents. Using a longitudinal, autoregressive design, observational assessments of children's emotional reactivity at Wave 2 mediated the relationship between an observational measure of Wave 1 conflict between parents and teacher's report of children's school adjustment at Wave 3. However, children's cortisol reactivity to parent conflict at Wave 1 moderated the first link, such that emotional reactivity operated as a mediator for children with heightened cortisol reactivity but not children with low cortisol reactivity. Moderation was expressed in a "for better" or "for worse" form hypothesized by biological sensitivity to context theory. Thus, children with high cortisol reactivity experienced greater emotional reactivity than their peers when faced with more destructive conflict but also lower emotional reactivity when exposed to more constructive interparental conflict. Results are discussed as to how they advance emotional security and biological sensitivity to context theories.

Triangulation and child adjustment after parental divorce: Underlying mechanisms and risk factors.

Parental triangulation is a particular risk to healthy child adjustment after divorce. However, detailed knowledge is lacking on how triangulation predicts child adjustment, and whether some children are more vulnerable to triangulation's effects. Therefore, the present study used a sample of 135 children (Mage = 11.76) and 130 parents from 77 recently divorced families to identify whether intrapersonal processes (loyalty conflicts, self-blame, and self-esteem) underlie the link between postdivorce triangulation and child adjustment over a period of 2 years. We also explored whether these direct and indirect effects were dependent on children's environmental sensitivity and empathy. By means of path analysis in MPlus, the mediation analyses indicated that more triangulation was only indirectly associated with a relative increase in children's internalizing problems, via experiencing more loyalty conflicts and lower self-esteem. Loyalty conflicts also explained the link between triangulation and children's externalizing problems. Yet, there were no indirect effects via children's self-blame attributions. Second, moderation analyses revealed that the effect of triangulation was dependent on children's level of empathy, but not sensitivity. Children scoring high on empathy showed a stronger association between triangulation and child-reported adjustment problems, both directly and indirectly via loyalty conflicts and self-esteem. There were hardly any significant effects for parent-reported child adjustment. Overall, the present study calls for more awareness on the adversity of postdivorce triangulation for children, its working mechanisms, and the factors that make children more vulnerable to its detrimental effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Associations between partner violence, parenting, and children's adjustment: A dyadic framework.

To date, our knowledge of the effects of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) on children's functioning via parenting have relied on individual approaches, effectively placing parents outside of a relationship context, and greatly neglecting to incorporate fathers. The present study addresses these gaps by utilizing a dyadic model to assess how mothers' and fathers' psychological and physical IPV perpetration in early childhood (age 5 years) predicts both their own and each other's parenting in midchildhood (age 7 years) and, in turn, children's social and scholastic competence in late childhood (ages 11-12 years). Such models reflect the current consensus that bidirectional IPV is the most common pattern among couples. The present study involved 175 children (87 females) of 105 mothers and 102 fathers who were originally in the Oregon Youth Study (OYS, N = 206). Simple mediation results suggest maternal involvement in parenting is an important mediational mechanism for the relation between maternal IPV as a perpetrator and victim and childhood competencies. Similarly, father's involvement with parenting served as a mediational mechanism for social competence but only for his own IPV perpetration. Dyadic actor-partner models with maternal and paternal parenting yielded few significant mediational pathways, which is likely partially due to strong shared variance across partners in both IPV and parenting, leaving little unique variance. Overall, results indicated that father's IPV perpetration adds valuable information in explaining child adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

PSYCHOSOCIAL OUTCOMES OF CHILDREN BORN VIA EMBRYO DONATION

The psychosocial adjustment of children born via embryo donation (ED) has yet to be investigated. The objective of this study was to assess parents’ perception of the psychosocial adjustment of their ED child(ren).

İletişim bozukluğu tanılı çocuklarda duygusal davranışsal sorunlar, ebeveyn tutum özellikleri, ebeveyn stres düzeyi ve ilişkili faktörlerin sağlıklı kontrollerle karşılaştırılması

Purpose: We aimed to compare emotional and behavioral problems, parental attitude characteristics, and the risk of parental anxiety and depression between children diagnosed with a communication disorder and healthy controls.
 Materials and Methods: A total of 117 children diagnosed with a communication disorder in the psychiatric evaluation according to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria and their parents were included in the communication disorder group, whereas 105 children who presented to the outpatient clinics other than child psychiatry and were not diagnosed with a communication disorder, and their parents formed the control group. Sociodemographic Data Form, Child Adjustment and Parent Efficacy Scale (CAPES-TR), The Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire-Short Form (PSDQSF), and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) were filled in by the parents.
 Results: Psychiatric comorbidity was found in 27.3% of the children in the communication disorder group, with the most common diagnoses being Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (n=17, 15.5%) and Conduct disorder (n=4, 3.6%). CAPES-TR child adjustment total difficulty score and the mean scores of emotional problems and behavioral problems were higher in the communication disorder group. The mean CAPES-TR parental self-efficacy score was lower in the communication disorder group. In the communication disorder group, democratic parenting attitudes were lower , whereas authoritarian and permissive parenting attitudes were higher. HAD-D mean score was higher in the communication disorder group. 
 Conclusion: Our study provides essential information such as an increase in emotional and behavioral problems, more authoritarian or permissive parenting attitudes, a decrease in parental self-efficacy, an increased risk of depression in parents in the presence of communication disorder, and studies that deal with these areas together are limited in the literature. Our findings will contribute to the literature regarding the assessment and planning of appropriate intervention programs for factors that are not only child-focused but also related to parental mental health and parenting skills in the presence of communication disorders.

The Mediating Role of Parental Positive Emotional Socialization Strategies in the Relationship between Parental Goals and Child Adjustment

It is known that parenting practices play a critical role in children's social development. The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of parents’ positive emotional socialization strategies in the relationship between parental goals and children’s prosocial and aggressive behaviors. For this purpose, the study was conducted with mothers of 231 children between the ages of 4 and 7 years. The mothers were asked to complete the Demographic Information Form, Parental Goals Scale, the Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale, Ladd and Profilet Child Behavior Scale, and finally the Strength - Difficulties Questionnaire in this study. The results of the mediation analysis conducted with structural equation modeling showed that positive emotional socialization of the parents fully mediated the relationship between parental goals and children's prosocial and aggressive behaviors. Parental goals positively predicted the positive emotional socialization strategies of the parents and parents' positive emotional socialization strategies predicted the child's prosocial behavior positively, while negatively predicting the aggressive behavior of the child. These results emphasize the importance of mothers' child-rearing goals and the positive emotional socialization strategies they use for the early psychosocial adjustment of children.

Social interaction and its relationship to Psychological Adjustment among Kindergarten children from the Perspective of Kindergarten teachers

This research aims to Identify the relationship between social interaction with Psychological adjustment among the children of the kindergarten from the teacher's Perspective and to know the level of social interaction and mental adjustment among children in kindergartens According to these variables (gender ,age, number of children, child sequencing, parent’s education level)
 This research used associative method research society is kindergarten children and kindergarten teachers in the center of Halabja Government. The research Sample is 400 kindergarten children, The research tool is the measure of (social interaction and psychological adjustment) of kindergarten children from the teacher’s Perceptive which was created by the researchers, among the most important statistical tools used (person's correlation with Person, Spearman, Alpha Cronbach , T- test is one example and two examples, the statistical equation of discrimination, One away ANOVA, Colmogrov-Sminroo). One of the most important result of the research was that the level of Social interaction and psychological adjustment among kindergarten children does not differ according to the variables (age, number of children, child sequencing, Father's educational level), but it does differ according to the variable (gender , mother's educational level).and it was also found that the social interaction and mental adjustment among children in kindergarten from kindergarten teachers perspective to have a weak positive correlation