Large Sample Of Families Research Articles

Parental Experiences of Distance Learning in Families with and without an Adolescent with ADHD/ASD: A Large Qualitative Survey Study.

One of the greatest COVID-19-related challenges for children and their families was managing distance learning due to school closures. We also know from previous research that families with a child with a neurodevelopmental disorder such as ADHD or ASD were struggling more than others but also experienced some positive effects. However, few qualitative studies have been conducted. The present study therefore aimed to investigate parental experiences of the negative and positive effects of distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large sample of families with an adolescent with ADHD and/or ASD and a matched comparison group (n = 682). Data were collected through open-ended questions as part of a larger survey study. Five main themes with different sub-themes were identified for both negative and positive effects: (1) Teaching, (2) Social, (3) Support, (4) Child factors, and (5) Home environment. In addition, the main theme "Technical problems" was identified for negative effects. Families with a child with ADHD/ASD reported negative effects related to "Child factors" and "Support" more frequently than the controls, as well as negative effects related to some aspects of "Teaching" and "Technical problems". Regarding positive effects, significant group differences were primarily found for the theme "Child factors". These findings are discussed both in terms of how to best prepare for possible future pandemics, but also of how to best provide educational support for children with ADHD and/or ASD when schools are open.

The double burden of malnutrition among young Chinese children: a hierarchical structure of socioeconomic inequality indicators

Extant studies have deployed variable-centered methods to examine predictors of children’s nutritional status, and few focus on the double burden of malnutrition among young Chinese children. This paper adopts a person-centered approach and leverages data from large samples of Chinese families (the China Health and Nutrition Survey, CHNS 2004–2015, and China Family Panel Studies, CFPS 2010–2018) to examine trends in the prevalence of stunting, overweight, and stuntingoverweight in early childhood. We developed a hierarchical structure of socioeconomic indicators, including region (Eastern-Central-Western), urbanicity (urban-rural), and family socioeconomic status gradient (four quartiles). We assessed relative risks for malnutrition for 24 subgroups of children from varying socioeconomic strata. Results indicate that the prevalence of stunting decreased consistently while the prevalence of being overweight increased first, followed by a decreasing trend. Moreover, a small group of stuntedoverweight children (4.7%) was identified. Data from the CHNS indicated that children from affluent families in the Central region were prone to being overweight. Data from the CFPS indicate that underprivileged groups (children from poor rural families living in Western China) were at higher risk for both undernutrition and overnutrition than their more advantaged peers. The findings suggest that children in poor, rural areas in Western China should be targeted for malnutrition alleviation.

Avoidant Parent-Child Communication About COVID-19: A Longitudinal Investigation of Associations with Youth Adjustment Across the First 6 Months of the Pandemic.

In the aftermath of discrete disasters, how families discuss the event has been linked with child well-being. There is less understanding, however, of how family communication affects adjustment to a protracted and ongoing public health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research leveraged a large longitudinal sample of families (N = 1884) across the United States and Canada to investigate factors that predicted family communication styles (active versus avoidant communication) about the COVID-19 pandemic and examined the longitudinal sequelae of mental health outcomes for youth associated with different family communication styles. Parents of youth between 5 to 17years old completed surveys about their own mental health, their child's mental health, and family communication about the COVID-19 pandemic at two time points 6 months apart. Overall, findings indicated that poorer parental mental health was related to greater use of avoidant communication, and avoidant communication styles were associated with poorer youth mental health over time. Findings suggest potential perils of avoidant family communication about ongoing threats and can help identify families at risk of negative mental health outcomes.

Mental Health of Mothers and Children During the COVID-19 Lockdown: A Cross-sectional Study on a Large Sample of Italian Families

AbstractIndividuals and communities worldwide have been affected by COVID-19, resulting in stress and emotional instability. Families faced a massive disruption of daily routines, with increased psychological problems for both parents and children. In this cross-sectional study, we explored the emotional impact that health crises have had on Italian families, and in particular on mothers. Nine hundred and seventy-five Italian mothers of children aged 3–18 years participated in this study by completing a survey about maternal and child mental health. The mother’s psychological state was assessed using the GHQ and the PSS, while the children’s psychological state with the SDQ. We also collected family socio-demographic information. We conducted a path analysis through structural equation modeling on this data, with the hypothesis that socio-demographic variables and mothers’ psychological state were related, as well as mothers’ psychological condition and children’s well-being. Our results demonstrated how, during the lockdown, mothers reported a worsening in their psychological state. Furthermore, we found that both educational level and housing type were positively associated with maternal psychological well-being, while remote working was associated with decreased well-being. Maternal mental health had a strong relationship with reported children’s psychological problems. Mothers’ perceived stress was related to decreased prosociality and increased hyperactivity, emotional difficulties, and behavioral problems, while mothers’ general discomfort and depression were related to increased peer problems and emotional problems. This result supports helping mothers find a new balance between work, family, and children as a way to improve family functioning and well-being, as well as children’s mental health and resilience.

Adolescence and Early Adulthood in Context

Adolescence and early adulthood are periods of rapid biological and social change, during which stressors can have large, and long-lasting impacts on stress biology and developmental outcomes. Some have termed adolescence a “second sensitive period” due to rapid changes in biology and increases in stress-sensitivity occurring during this period. Although much early research focused on family and peer stressors and daily life events stress in adolescents and young adults, more recent theory and research has highlighted the important impacts of youth exposure to more structural forms of stress emerging from broader neighborhood, societal, and cultural contexts, such as economic stress, or the stress of discrimination based on race, gender identity and/or sexual orientation, especially among minoritized youth. Recent research has also focused on positive aspects of youth development and youth contexts that may protect youth against the negative impacts of stress or promote positive youth development in the face of high stressor exposure. In this set of four talks, researchers each highlight the impacts of different structural/contextual forms of stressors or supports on multiple stress-sensitive aspects of adolescent or young adult biology, and the implications of stress-related alterations in biology for youth health and wellbeing. In the first presentation, Paul Hastings reviews data from the California Families project, a large longitudinal sample of Mexican-origin families, presenting data on how structural stressors and exposures impact multiple youth neurobiological systems. In the second presentation, Luis Parra presents data from multiple studies on the impacts of heterosexist and racist discrimination and hate violence on the adrenocortical functioning, psychosocial adjustment, and mental health of ethnically/racially diverse LGBQ young adults. In the third presentation, Leah Doane examines the impact of cultural values and cultural contexts on the day-to-day links between sleep and diurnal cortisol patterns among Latino college students. In the final presentation, Lindsay Till-Hoyt presents data from two studies focusing on how macro-level sociopolitical events, the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections, differentially affect youth stress (perceived stress and diurnal cortisol patterns) and youth behavior (e.g. civic engagement) depending on their social positions, identities and experiences. Together, these studies highlight the importance of examining diverse samples of youth and considering how broad social, political, economic and cultural contexts intersect to affect youth exposures to stressors and supports, which in turn impact their stress biology and developmental wellbeing.

The biological embedding of adversity and inequity: Examining the physiological impacts of discrimination and poverty on ethnically and economically minoritized youths

Structural and social inequities have long been recognized as major contributors to mental and physical health problems. The biological embedding hypothesis, or the idea of “stress getting under the skin,” suggests that these adverse effects are conveyed through neurobiological mechanisms. Yet, we are in the early stages of empirical examination of the diverse and complex ways in which inequities can affect psychophysiological development. In this presentation, I will review recent and new research by my colleagues, students and I that utilizes the California Families Project, an ongoing longitudinal study of a large sample of Mexican-origin families in California that began when target youths were in Grade 5 and has followed these youths into emerging adulthood. Although adolescence often is considered a period of prime physical health, these studies document the associations of multiple structural and social determinants of health, including family poverty, peer discrimination, school violence, neighborhood conditions, and pollutant exposure, with the functioning of multiple neurobiological systems, including the brain, adrenocortical system, autonomic nervous system, and immune system. Collectively, this evidence reveals that the pervasive and pernicious influences of structural and social inequities on neurobiological development are evident within adolescence, which may portend and convey risk for a breadth of health problems across adulthood.

A framework for measuring the cost to families of caring for children’s health: the design, methodology, and study population of the r-Kids study

BackgroundAll families experience financial and time costs related to caring for their children’s health. Understanding the economic burden faced by families of children with chronic health conditions (CHC) is crucial for designing effective policies to support families.MethodsIn this prospective study we used electronic health records to identify children between 3 and 17 years old with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), asthma, or neither (control) from three Kaiser Permanente regions and several community health centers in the OCHIN network. We oversampled children from racial and ethnic minority groups. Parent/guardian respondents completed surveys three times, approximately four months apart. The surveys included the Family Economic Impact Inventory (measuring financial, time, and employment costs of caring for a child’s health), and standardized measures of children’s quality of life, behavioral problems, and symptom severity for children with ASD or asthma. We also assessed parenting stress and parent physical and mental health. All materials were provided in English and Spanish.ResultsOf the 1,461 families that enrolled (564 ASD, 468 asthma, 429 control), children were predominantly male (79%), with a mean age of 9.0 years, and racially and ethnically diverse (43% non-Hispanic white; 22% Hispanic; 35% Asian, Black, Native Hawaiian, or another race/ethnicity). The majority of survey respondents were female (86%), had a college degree (62%), and were married/partnered (79%). ASD group respondents were less likely to be employed (73%) than those in the asthma or control groups (both 80%; p = .023). Only 32% of the control group reported a household income ≤ $4,000/month compared with 41% of asthma and 38% of ASD families (p = .006).ConclusionsUtilizing a novel measure assessing family economic burden, we successfully collected survey responses from a large and diverse sample of families. Drawing upon the conceptual framework, survey measures, and self-report data described herein we will conduct future analyses to examine the economic burdens related to CHC and the incremental differences in these burdens between health groups. This information will help policy makers to design more equitable health and social policies that could reduce the burden on families.

The Coronavirus Impact Scale: Construction, Validation, and Comparisons in Diverse Clinical Samples

This report is of the construction and initial psychometric properties of the Coronavirus Impact Scale in multiple large and diverse samples of families with children and adolescents. The scale was established to capture the impact of the coronavirus pandemic during its first wave. Differences in impact between samples and internal structure within samples were assessed. A total of 572 caregivers of children and adolescents or expecting mothers in diverse clinical and research settings completed the Coronavirus Impact Scale. Samples differed in regard to developmental stage, background, inpatient/outpatient status, and primary research or clinical setting. Model free methods were used to measure the scale's internal structure and to determine a scoring method. Differences between samples in specific item responses were measured by multivariate ordinal regression. The Coronavirus Impact Scale demonstrated good internal consistency in a variety of clinical and research populations. Across the groups studied, single, immigrant, predominantly Latinx mothers of young children reported the greatest impact of the pandemic, with noteworthy effects on food access and finances reported. Individuals receiving outpatient or inpatient care reported greater impacts on health care access. Elevated scores on the Coronavirus Impact Scale were positively associated with measures of caregiver anxiety and both caregiver- and child-reported stress at a moderate effect size. The Coronavirus Impact Scale is a publicly available scale with adequate psychometric properties for use in measuring the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in diverse populations.

The Diagnostic Period for Autism: Risk and Protective Factors for Family Quality of Life in Early Childhood.

During the diagnostic evaluation period for autism or intellectual disability (ID), families of young children are at risk for poor adjustment. The present study aimed to document family quality of life (FQOL), along with associated risk and protective factors, during this critical step of families' services trajectory. FQOL was measured in a large sample of families of children recently diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder and examined in relation to the type of services received, children's clinical profile, and family variables. FQOL was related to types of services, children's challenging behavior, parenting stress, and several aspects of family composition and status. These findings highlight a need for mental health support for parents, coaching interventions for challenging behaviors, and family-centered supports.

A phenotypic spectrum of autism is attributable to the combined effects of rare variants, polygenic risk and sex.

The genetic etiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is multifactorial, but how combinations of genetic factors determine risk is unclear. In a large family sample, we show that genetic loads of rare and polygenic risk are inversely correlated in cases and greater in females than in males, consistent with a liability threshold that differs by sex. De novo mutations (DNMs), rare inherited variants and polygenic scores were associated with various dimensions of symptom severity in children and parents. Parental age effects on risk for ASD in offspring were attributable to a combination of genetic mechanisms, including DNMs that accumulate in the paternal germline and inherited risk that influences behavior in parents. Genes implicated by rare variants were enriched in excitatory and inhibitory neurons compared with genes implicated by common variants. Our results suggest that a phenotypic spectrum of ASD is attributable to a spectrum of genetic factors that impact different neurodevelopmental processes.

Stable, longitudinal relations between early paternal supportive parenting and preschool‐age children's self‐regulation

AbstractThe present study assessed longitudinal relations between paternal supportive parenting in infancy (12 months) and toddlerhood (36 months) and children's observed self‐regulation skills at preschool age (48 months) in a large sample of Norwegian families (N = 771; 48% girls, 52% boys, 28% experienced some socioeconomic risk). After accounting for child sex, socioeconomic risk (6 and 12 months), and observed maternal supportive parenting (24 moths), structural equation modeling revealed that observed paternal supportive parenting with children at 36, but not 12, months was independently associated with a latent factor representing children's observed self‐regulation skills at 48 months. Further, a significant indirect pathway emerged such that paternal supportive parenting at 12 months was associated with children's self‐regulation skills at 48 months, via paternal supportive parenting at 36 months. Results are discussed with implications for supporting paternal caregiving during infancy to promote children's emerging self‐regulation skills.

Informal supports, housing insecurity, and adolescent outcomes: Implications for promoting resilience.

Adolescents in low-income, marginalized families are vulnerable to behavior problems that impede healthy functioning and threaten long-term well-being. Informal supports may fill an important gap for these households as they navigate financial and social stressors. Instrumental support from social networks and neighborhood cohesion may promote family stability and youth well-being; further, these informal supports may promote resilience to housing insecurity, which is linked with a range of adverse adolescent outcomes. The present study utilized data from a large sample of at-risk families with children (N = 2425) to investigate whether instrumental support and neighborhood cohesion predicted adolescent behavior problems over 10 years and whether these links were mediated by housing insecurity. Results of structural equation modeling with latent variables showed direct links from instrumental support to anxious/depressed behaviors and from neighborhood cohesion to aggressive behaviors, as well as an indirect link from instrumental support to aggressive behavior via housing insecurity. Findings suggest informal supports are an important source of resilience for low-income families who may be excluded from or are reluctant to engage with formal social systems. Further, stable, connected communities with highly embedded social networks can promote housing stability and youth well-being in a virtuous cycle.

Genetic counseling as preventive intervention: toward individual specification of transgenerational autism risk

BackgroundAlthough autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are among the most heritable of all neuropsychiatric syndromes, most affected children are born to unaffected parents. Recently, we reported an average increase of 3–5% over general population risk of ASD among offspring of adults who have first-degree relatives with ASD in a large epidemiologic family sample. A next essential step is to investigate whether there are measurable characteristics of individual parents placing them at higher or lower recurrence risk, as this information could allow more personalized genetic counseling.MethodsWe assembled what is to our knowledge the largest collection of data on the ability of four measurable characteristics of unaffected prospective parents to specify risk for autism among their offspring: (1) sub clinical autistic trait burden, (2) parental history of a sibling with ASD, (3) transmitted autosomal molecular genetic abnormalities, and (4) parental age. Leveraging phenotypic and genetic data in curated family cohorts, we evaluate the respective associations between these factors and child outcome when autism is present in the family in the parental generation.ResultsAll four characteristics were associated with elevation in offspring risk; however, the magnitude of their predictive power—with the exception of isolated rare inherited pathogenic variants —does not yet reach a threshold that would typically be considered actionable for reproductive decision-making.ConclusionsIndividual specification of risk to offspring of adults in ASD-affected families is not straightforwardly improved by ascertainment of parental phenotype, and it is not yet clear whether genomic screening of prospective parents in families affected by idiopathic ASD is warranted as a clinical standard. Systematic screening of affected family members for heritable pathogenic variants, including rare sex-linked mutations, will identify a subset of families with substantially elevated transmission risk. Polygenic risk scores are only weakly predictive at this time but steadily improving and ultimately may enable more robust prediction either singly or when combined with the risk variables examined in this study.

Colorectal cancer risk in families with Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome increased

ObjectiveBirt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHDS) is an inherited tumour syndrome characterised by three major symptoms: lung cysts with spontaneous pneumothorax, fibrofolliculoma and renal cell cancer. The first family with this syndrome was described in 1975 and one of its members presented with adenomatous colon polyps and colorectal cancer. Since then, it has been a matter of debate whether colorectal cancer is indeed part of the BHDS spectrum and if regular screening should be recommended. DesignWe analysed the frequency of colorectal cancer in a large sample of BHDS families. Clinical data were available from 256 BHDS patients (male 130, female 126) belonging to 83 unrelated families. For controls, 83 index patients who attended our outpatient clinic for non–malignancy-related genetic counselling and their family members (total of 519 controls) were used. ResultsThe patients with BHDS showed a moderately but significantly increased rate of colorectal cancer (5.1% versus 1.5%, p-value .0068). Unexpectedly, 35% of patients with colorectal cancer corresponding to eight of 82 BHDS families fulfilled the revised Bethesda criteria for HNPCC, either because colorectal cancer occurred before age 50 years or because three family members were affected by colorectal cancer. Apart from colorectal cancer, no other HNPCC-associated tumours occurred within the Bethesda criteria–positive families, an observation that argues against a concurrence of BHDS and HNPCC in these families. ConclusionThe results suggest that BHDS is associated with early-onset colorectal cancer, a hypothesis that might have a marked impact on preventive screening recommendations.

Insights into the heritable variation of hypermelanosis in Chinese tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis): Potential for future selective breeding

Flatfish is an important group worldwide aquaculture species, and hypermelanosis on blind side is one of the prevalent and economically important problem which drops market price significantly. Knowledge of whether genetic variation exists for hypermelanosis is needed in order to determine the feasibility of including this trait into the breeding goal. Therefore, the objective of this study was to detect the magnitude of the heritable variation and estimate the heritability for blind-side hypermelanosis by using Chinese tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis). Pigmentation on blind side was defined as three types and fitted in three models respectively, i.e., (i) continuous trait (proportion of non-pigmented area to total area of the blind side) fitted in a linear model (LM); (ii) binary trait (the melanistic scored 1 and the pure white scored 0 by eyes) fitted in cross-sectional threshold model (CTM); (iii) ordinal trait (four categories based on the extent of pigmentation) fitted in ordinal threshold model (OTM). The estimated heritability on observed scale was 0.34 (LM), and on underlying scale was 0.34 and 0.38 for CTM and OTM respectively. All the heritability estimates are associated with large standard errors (SEs) and not significantly different from zero. Anyway, these results point to the existence of genetic variation of blind-side hypermelanosis and the potential for future selective breeding. The greater than zero heritability estimates imply that the selection response is expected by selective breeding in flatfish. Further studies using bigger population data (large family numbers and sample size) are highly recommended.

Life satisfaction in families with a child in an Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome

BackgroundThe article examines life conditions in families living together with a child in an Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS). Such families experience severe stress at financial, logistical, and existential level.MethodsWe investigated a large sample of families living with a UWS child (comprising 13% of the total population) and compared these families with families without a chronically ill child. A set of four questionnaires aimed to evaluate life conditions entails a total of 204 items. One of the questionnaires was developed by the corresponding author specifically for this study. The questionnaires were positively accepted by the persons concerned and permitted us to test six specific hypotheses.ResultsLife satisfaction (LS) in families with a UWS child was significantly lower than in control families. LS was significantly affected by external situational factors (everyday support, home visits, support by a doctor, nursing service, health insurance, etc.). Self-management skills were on average lower in families with a UWS child than in controls. These skills strongly and directly correlated with LS. Further, LS was not significantly related to the acceptance of feelings and negatively correlated with the floods of emotions. The relationship with the own child was equally satisfactory in families with and without a UWS child indicating that the families regard their UWS child as a full family member.ConclusionsThe data show that happy life is possible in families living together with a UWS child. They further specify conditions for satisfactory life under multiple highly severe challenges. Personal self-management skills, coping strategies, and resilience, as well as outside social support, appear to be critical factors.

The circular economy and consumer behaviour: The mediating role of information seeking in buying circular packaging

AbstractThe transition towards a circular economy is a crucial issue to pursue a more sustainable development. In this transition, consumers' comprehension and engagement are necessary points to guide them towards more environmentally conscious purchases. This study extends the understanding of green consumer behaviour by testing an integrated conceptual model that explores the influence of personal concern, other pro‐environmental behaviours, greenwashing beliefs, consumer innovativeness, and personal predisposition to seeking information on the purchasing of circular packaging. We explored both the stand‐alone and the mediating effects of information seeking. Data were collected from a questionnaire‐based survey administered to a large and representative sample of Italian families, using 1,643 valid responses. We used structural equation modelling to test the proposed hypotheses. The results highlight the fundamental importance of seeking information in order to guide consumption choices that are more consistent with the circular economy. For managers, our paper suggests that packaging counts in purchasing decisions and that information is used by consumers to search for consistency between personal attitudes, other pro‐environmental behaviours, and the circular attributes of packaging.

Mothers’ and fathers’ parenting stress, responsiveness, and child wellbeing among low-income families

Robust research shows that parenting stress is associated with lower levels of parental sensitivity toward their children (i.e., parental responsiveness), thus negatively influencing child outcomes. While research supports these associations, most studies utilize self-report measures of parental responsiveness and exclude fathers. This study examines whether observed parental responsiveness mediates the relationship between parenting stress and child cognitive development, prosocial behavior, and behavior problems in a large sample of diverse low-income families. Data were obtained from the Building Strong Families Project (N = 1,173). Dyadic bootstrapped mediation models were estimated in Mplus. For mothers and fathers, parenting stress was negatively associated with responsiveness (B = −0.08, 95% CI = [−0.14, −0.02], p = .012), and responsiveness was positively associated with child cognitive development (B = 0.15, 95% CI = [0.11, 0.19], p < .001) and child prosocial behavior (B = 0.12, 95% CI = [0.08, 0.15], p < .001). Mothers’ responsiveness was negatively associated with child behavior problems (B = −0.07, 95% CI = [−0.13, −0.01], p = .020), but fathers’ responsiveness was not (B = −0.01, 95% CI = [−0.06, 0.05], p = .814). For mothers and fathers, parenting stress was indirectly related to child cognitive development and prosocial behavior via responsiveness. Indirect effects were not found for mothers or fathers when predicting child behavior problems. To improve children’s wellbeing, interventions may consider strengthening responsiveness and reducing parental stress among both mothers and fathers.

Personality, depressive symptoms, the interparental relationship and parenting: Prospective associations of an actor-partner interdependency model.

Grounded on Belsky's process model and family systems theories and using an actor-partner interdependency modeling (APIM) approach (Belsky & Jaffee, 2006; Cox & Paley, 2003), the current study was the first to examine whether Big Five personality characteristics and depressive symptoms of parents and their partners are related to adolescent-perceived parenting behavior directly and indirectly via interparental stress experienced by both parents. Longitudinal data (Time 1: 2001; Time 2: 2007; and Time 3: 2009) from a large community sample of Flemish families was used (N = 455; Time 1 children: Mage = 7.10 years). Results revealed that, for both parents, more agreeableness and autonomy predicted more parental warmth, and more depressive symptoms and lower agreeableness predicted more overreactive discipline (i.e., actor effects). Both parents' depressive symptoms predicted their own interparental stress (i.e., actor effects). Regarding partner-effects, paternal overreactive discipline was shaped by mother's extraversion and experienced interparental stress, and paternal warmth was affected by mother's experienced interparental stress in addition to fathers' own psychological resources. In contrast, maternal parenting was affected by their own psychological resources only. Although no consistent mediating role of interparental stress was found, one small dyadic indirect effect indicated that maternal depressive symptoms were related to more paternal overreactive discipline via heightened levels of interparental stress experienced by both parents. These results provide new support for the idea of interdependency between parents and specifically support the fathering vulnerability hypothesis. Tentatively, this study informs clinical practice by showing that family interventions aiming to improve parenting should pay attention to specific personality characteristics affecting parenting behavior and adopt a dyadic approach including both parents, especially when targeting paternal parenting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Attachment Style and the Association of Spanking and Child Externalizing Behavior.

To examine whether the longitudinal associations between maternal spanking and child externalizing behavior are moderated by attachment style. This study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n = 2211), a large cohort sample of low-income urban families. Multiple-group autoregressive cross-lagged models examined the associations between maternal spanking and child externalizing behavior when children were ages 1, 3, and 5. Moderation by attachment style was examined using structural invariance testing. For children with an insecure mother-child attachment style, spanking at age 1 was associated with externalizing behavior at age 3. However, for children with a secure mother-child attachment style, the association between maternal spanking at age 1 and child externalizing behavior at age 3 was absent. Attachment style did not moderate the association between maternal spanking at age 3 and externalizing behavior at age 5, suggesting that spanking at age 3 is associated with deleterious outcomes at age 5, regardless of attachment style. Results suggest that even in the context of a secure attachment style, spanking is associated with adverse outcomes in early childhood. Findings support the American Academy of Pediatrics 2018 policy statement, which encourages parents to avoid spanking when disciplining children. Results suggest that children, regardless of attachment style, may benefit from policies and services that promote non-violent forms of discipline.