Parents Talk Research Articles

ADOPTION AND RACIAL/CULTURAL SOCIALIZATION IN DIVERSE ADOPTIVE FAMILIES: ASSOCIATIONS WITH DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS, ACADEMIC OUTCOMES, AND PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS

As families in the United States (U.S.) are increasingly diverse in race and family structure, it is essential to understand family socialization around identity and possible associations with family relationships and child development. In this study, we investigated adoption communicative openness (i.e., how parents talk about adoption) and racial/cultural socialization among 96 adoptive families (46% completed transracial adoption) with lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parents and school-age children (Mage = 8 years) who lived across the U.S. We found that these practices (described by parents) were associated with children’s reports of parent-child relationships and children’s teachers reports of their academic functioning. We discuss the importance of considering distinct forms of identity socialization practices, as reported by different informants, among adoptive families diverse in race and parental sexual orientation, and as related to associations with individual outcomes and family relationships. We describe how our results could inform future research, policy, and practice.

409The Word Gap: At What Age Does it Emerge? Results from a Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract Background Language is a critical development accomplishment of early childhood, enabling later literacy, education and employment. Previous studies have highlighted socioeconomic inequalities in the amount parents speak to their child, with researchers estimating by age four parents from professional backgrounds spoke 30 million more words to their children, than parents who were on welfare. Methods This study utilises innovative speech recognition technology called Language Environment Analysis (LENA), which counts the number of words children hear and speak over a day. LENA data is collected once every six months from 6 – 48 months of age, across two cohorts of children who are stratified by two levels of maternal education to examine the effects across socioeconomic groups. Results Results from the first three waves of data collection demonstrate that differences between education groups in the number of adult words spoken to the child are not evident until the children are 18 months old. Average change in adult word counts per day by maternal education show there is a difference of 17 words at 6 months, 568 words at 12 months and 3,851 words at 18 months. Conclusions This is the first study to be able to identify the age when socioeconomic differences in the amount of talk emerge. This has significant implications for the timing of interventions aiming to reduce the word gap, suggesting targeting the implementation of programs prior to 18 months. Key messages Socioeconomic differences in the amount parents talk to their children do not emerge until children are 18 months old.

Families on Facebook

This descriptive study of millions of US Facebook users documents "friending" and communication patterns, exploring parent-child relationships across a variety of life stages and gender combinations. Using statistical techniques on 400,000 posts and comments, we identify differences in how parents talk to their children (giving advice, affection, and reminders to call) compared to their other friends, and how they address their adult sons and daughters (talking about grandchildren and health concerns, and linguistically treating them like peers) compared to their teenage children. Parents and children have 20-30 mutual friends on the site, 19% of whom are relatives. Unlike previous findings on family communication, interaction frequency on Facebook does not decrease with geographic distance.

Clause types and speech acts in speech to children

The question of how and when children learn to associate clause type with its canonical function, or speech act, is currently unknown. It is widely observed that declaratives tend to result in assertions, interrogatives in questions, and imperatives in requests. Although such canonical links between clause type and speech acts are principled, they are known to be defeasible. In this corpus study, we investigate how parents talk to their children in the first years of life, and ask how their input might support this mapping, and to what extent it might pose difficulties. We find that the expected link between clause type and speech act is robust in the input, particularly between declaratives and assertions, both of which also occur most frequently. In addition, the non-canonical mappings that do occur are characterized formally, e.g., non-interrogative questions nearly always exhibit rising prosody, and non-imperative requests often contain a modal.

Assessing Family Functioning Before and After an Integrated Multidisciplinary Family Treatment for Adolescents With Restrictive Eating Disorders.

The present study presents an investigation of family functioning in the families of adolescents with severe restrictive eating disorders (REDs) assessed before and 6 months after a multidisciplinary family treatment program that combined psychodynamic psychotherapy, parental role intervention, and triadic or family-centered interventions. Nutritional counseling and neuropsychiatric monitoring of the overall treatment and care process were also provided. Family functioning was assessed using the clinical version of the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTPc), a semi-structured procedure for observing family dynamics, previously validated for this patient population. The LTPc is divided into four phases. In phase 1, the mother interacts with the patient while the father assumes the role of observer. In phase 2, the father plans an activity with the patient while the mother observes. In phase 3, all the family members interact. Finally, in phase 4, the parents talk while the adolescent observes. A significant change emerged in family functioning after the treatment, but only for the interactive phase 2, when the father is required to interact with the daughter while the mother silently observes. The results of this study suggest that a relatively brief multidisciplinary treatment program may significantly improve family functioning in the families of patients diagnosed with severe REDs. Although appropriate clinical trials are needed to further test the efficacy of this treatment, the results also reinforce the concept that treatment programs targeting the individual patient and both the parents should be a first-line approach in adolescents with severe REDs.

Parents as Primary Sexuality Educators for Adolescents and Adults With Down Syndrome: A Mixed Methods Examination of the Home B.A.S.E for Intellectual Disabilities Workshop

Limited research exists on the effectiveness of in-person workshops to help parents talk about sexuality. This study utilizes a parallel mixed methods design to examine the impact of the Home Based Adolescent Sexuality Education (B.A.S.E) for Intellectual Disabilities workshop with 26 parents of individuals with Down syndrome. Quantitative data showed a significant decrease in negative attitudes surrounding sexuality and disability and a significant increase in parents’ self-efficacy discussing sexuality topics. Qualitative data supported these findings, further illuminating parents’ changed behavior. Home B.A.S.E for Intellectual Disabilities is a promising approach to support parents as the primary sexuality educators for their children with intellectual disabilities.

Emerging Ideas Brief Report. How Do Low-Income Mothers Talk to Children About Weight and Body Shape?

Identify mothers' perceptions of how they talk about weight and body shape with their children and examine how approaches vary by mother and child characteristics. Youth who report that their parents talk with them about their weight experience poor health. However, very little is known about the content of these conversations. Mothers and their 6- to 11-year-old children (N = 188 dyads) participated in a mixed-methods study. Themes in mothers' responses to the interview question "How do you talk to your child about weight or body shape?" were identified, and latent class analysis was used to characterize patterns of weight and shape talk. Seven themes of weight and shape talk were identified, including talking about "Healthy Habits" (39.9%), "Avoids Weight and Body Talk" (21.8%), and tells "Cautionary Tales" (18.6%). Three patterns emerged from themes: talk to promote health, avoid talking about weight and shape, and talk to build children's self-esteem. Mothers of children with obesity were more likely to talk to promote health versus other patterns. The content of family conversations about weight and shape is diverse. Future research is needed to understand the impacts of specific ways parents talk about weight and shape.

Documentation status socialization among Latinx immigrant parents.

Discriminatory legislation targeting Latinx immigrants in the United States has shifted how parents communicate with their children about the hostile political climate. One way that Latinx parents talk about and prepare their children to face prejudice is through ethnic-racial socialization, which can promote children's positive development. Few scholars, however, have focused on how Latinx immigrant families with precarious documentation status socialize their children around issues of immigration, documentation status, and the potential for family separation. The current study seeks to broaden our understanding and conceptualization of ethnic-racial socialization practices among Latinx immigrant families living in the United States to include documentation status socialization to better capture the messages parents transmit to their children about the causes and potential impacts of their documentation status. Thirty-nine Latinx immigrant mothers aged 35-53 (M = 41.66), (22 undocumented, 17 documented) were interviewed regarding the ways in which their documentation status informs their ethnic-racial socialization practices. Five subthemes of Documentation Status Socialization were identified among both undocumented and documented parents. Example of subthemes included Limitations and Restrictions of Undocumented Status, and Documentation Privilege, in which parents discussed the limitation of being undocumented as well as the privilege that comes with the legal documentation status with their youth. Our findings yield important implications for practice and research alike.

Efeitos da pandemia da COVID-19 e suas repercussões no desenvolvimento infantil: Uma revisão integrativa

A pandemia pode ter afetado a saúde mental e impactado na rotina das crianças do mundo inteiro. Este estudo objetiva compreender como as crianças estão vivenciando os impactos da pandemia e as suas repercussões no desenvolvimento infantil. Realizou-se uma revisão integrativa da literatura nacional e internacional. A pesquisa foi realizada nos meses de março e abril do ano de 2020, nas bases de dados Pepsic, Scielo e Google Acadêmico. A amostra final foi composta por 12 estudos, estes foram agrupados em quatro categorias temáticas: (1) Tecnologia e saúde mental envolvendo as crianças durante a pandemia da COVID-19; (2) A importância dos pais falarem sobre o processo de morte e morrer com os filhos; (3) A violência infantil no contexto da COVID-19 e (4) Informações para manter a saúde mental das crianças. Verificou-se uso exacerbado das tecnologias, dificuldades dos cuidadores em dialogar com os filhos sobre o processo de morte, bem como aumento de problemas de comportamento, da violência infantil em crianças. Conclui-se que há necessidade de intervenções preventivas que ampliem as estratégias de enfrentamento dos cuidadores de crianças, para minimizar os prejuízos na saúde mental dos pequenos e do grupo familiar durante ou após a pandemia.

Properties of child-directed speech in bilingual parents

Abstract How parents talk to young children matters to language and cognitive development. In the early years the quantity, quality, and diversity inherent in language from parents in the home predict differences in vocabulary knowledge, school readiness, and later academic achievement. However, most of what is known about child-directed speech (CDS) comes from studies of monolingual parents, and little is known about features of speech from bilingual parents. Here, we asked whether degree of bilingualism assessed within a single parent might be positively associated with CDS features that are known to facilitate children’s lexical and grammatical structures across languages – parental partial repetitions. During unscripted narrations (n = 91) of a picture book to their toddlers in English, mothers who reported being more bilingually balanced used a higher proportion of self-repetitions (both single words and 2-word combinations) within a brief time-frame. At the same time, more bilingual mothers preserved the same degree of lexical diversity as more monolingual mothers. The results obtained even accounting for differences in socio-economic status. These findings are discussed in terms of adaptive strategies that bilingual parents may consciously or unconsciously adopt in bilingual language development

The Continuum of Sexual and Reproductive Health Talk Types Daughters have with Mothers and Siblings.

Although sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is considered an important discussion topic for parents and their children, there is great variance in communication style and contradictory results on the effects of these contrasting styles. Research has explored SRH topics, yet still needs to investigate the types of parent-child SRH conversations to investigate how content gets relayed, and their effects, particularly among college-aged children. Data come from qualitative interviews in 2013 with 20 undergraduate Latina students about SRH conversations they had with their mothers and siblings. Analysis revealed that mother-daughter SRH conversation types fell along a four-category continuum, irrespective of daughters' sexual practices, with open (n = 4) and no talk (n = 3) at the poles. The two middle categories, be careful (n = 6) and responsible sex (n = 7), were limited conversations that provided little guidance and tended to use risk language. Daughters in the no talk and be careful conversation categories tended to be more religious and have higher rates of sexual activity. Daughters' conversations with their siblings, particularly sisters, directly reflected the conversation types that they reported having with their moms. Most daughters made assumptions about their mothers' statements and views due to the lack of straightforward communication and reported that most mothers did not alter their conversation styles to match their daughters' specific sexual histories. Moreover, these conversation styles could potentially affect the whole household due to siblings being other sources of sexual socialization and having talk types that reflected parental talk types, irrespective of siblings' sexual activity. We recommend more attention and funding for SRH education programs that include extended family, especially siblings, given their importance in sexual socialization, and include college-aged children who still desire, and need, SRH information. Programs should equip parents and children with the tools to navigate multiple SRH conversations that evolve with and are sensitive to children's specific behaviors and circumstances.

99391 A TL1 Team Approach: The Role of Parents in Physical Activity Engagement Among Adolescents with Comorbid Asthma and Obesity

ABSTRACT IMPACT: Our research highlights the need for both parental and clinical support to promote PA engagement among higher risk youth with comorbid asthma and obesity; these findings will inform research and clinical efforts in the youth development, prevention science, and clinical psychology fields. OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Asthma incidence doubles in youth with obesity. Physical activity (PA) is beneficial for asthma management; however, parental influence on PA levels among youth with asthma and obesity is poorly understood. This study examines the association of parents and PA among youth with asthma and/or obesity, accounting for risk and protective factors. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Data from 5th, 8th, 9th, and 11th-graders were obtained from the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey (N=96,820). Linear regressions examined the impact of parent connectedness on PA across 4 groups (neither asthma nor obesity [OB], asthma only, OB only, comorbid asthma/OB). The p-value for significance was set at p<.001. For PA, youth reported how many days they were physically active (≥60 min/day) in the last week. Two items assessing youth perception of parent care and ability to talk to parents about their problems were used to measure parent connectedness. BMI was calculated using self-report height/weight, age, and gender. Control variables included age, race/ethnicity, and free/reduced lunch eligibility. Models 2-4 retained parent connectedness variables and added risk and protective factors. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: In Model 1, both parent variables significantly predicted PA for each risk group (β ranges: parent care=.07-.09; parent talk=.04-.05, p<.001), except for the asthma/OB group (parent talk: p>.001). Models 2 and 3 added risk factors. Depression was the most salient risk factor, particularly for the highest risk group (asthma/OB; β =-.13, p<.001). Safe neighborhood was positively associated with PA for all groups (βs= .05, p<.001) except the asthma/OB group (p>.001). In Model 4, extracurricular activity involvement (protective factor) was positively associated with PA across all groups (β ranges=: .07-.11, p<.001), and depression remained significant across all groups (β ranges=-.11 to -.14, p<.001). For models 2-4, only parent care remained significant for the neither asthma nor OB group (β =.04, p<.001). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS: Results demonstrate that although parent care is an important protective factor for youth PA engagement, it is less impactful when additional risk factors (e.g., depression) are present, particularly among the highest risk group (comorbid asthma/OB). Thus, clinical support is needed in addition to parent support among higher risk youth.

Sport and Physical Activity Practices Examined Through Parents’ Discourse About Children’s Rugby League

This study examined the ways in which discourses operate when parents talk about their children’s participation in rugby league in New Zealand. The primary interest was in the recruitment and reinforcement of sport and physical activity discourses. The paper uses a critical discursive psychological approach to identify regularities in the ways a sample of parents spoke about their children’s sport and links these patterned ways of speaking to the dominant discourses that they both comprise and are composed of. The navigation of discourses, chiefly those around masculinity, revealed that children’s sport and physical activity are regarded in gendered ways. The parents’ engagement with dominant discourses enabled them to position themselves as both knowledgeable of social norms and acting in the best interest of their child(ren).

Parental reflective function and children's attachment-based mental state talk as predictors of outcome in psychodynamic child psychotherapy.

Mentalization, operationalized as reflective function, is defined as the capacity to understand behavior in terms of mental states. Mentalization can be self-focused (i.e., mentalizing that focuses on one's own thoughts and feelings) or other-focused (i.e., mentalizing that focuses on others' thoughts and feelings). Some studies in adult psychotherapy show the importance of patients' mentalization capacity for treatment outcome; however, this has not yet been investigated in psychodynamic child psychotherapy. This study aimed to investigate whether baseline parental reflective function (PRF) and children's mental state talk (MST) predicted changes in emotional and behavioral problems in psychodynamic child psychotherapy. The sample included 60 Turkish school-age children (Mage = 7.90, SD = 1.35, 43.3% girls) with internalizing (18.3%), externalizing (5%), and comorbid (56.7%) problems, and 20% of the children were in the nonclinical range. The mothers were interviewed using the Parent Development Interview, which was coded for PRF (self- and child-focused). Children were administered an attachment-based story stem task, coded for MST (self- and other-focused). The Brief Problem Monitor was administered every month over the course of treatment for a total of 366 sessions. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that mothers' child-focused PRF and children's self-focused MST predicted changes in problem behaviors. Parents' mentalization about their children and children's mentalization about their own internal states could be predictors of treatment response in psychodynamic child psychotherapy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

When is Parental Suppression of Black Children's Negative Emotions Adaptive? The Role of Preparation for Racial Bias and Children's Resting Cardiac Vagal Tone.

Research demonstrates that Black parents attempt to suppress children's expressions of negative emotions (e.g., anger, fear), in part, to protect them from experiencing racial bias from authority figures. The goal of this study was to examine whether the effectiveness of parental suppression strategies in reducing behavior problems depends on whether parents talk to children about the potential of experiencing racism (i.e., preparation for bias) and children's resting cardiac vagal tone as indexed by baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Ninety-four parents (97% mothers) who identified their child as Black (56% girls) completed questionnaires about their punitive and minimizing responses to their child's negative emotions and their child's internalizing and externalizing problems at ages 5 and 6. Children's baseline RSA was assessed at age 5. Results indicated that parents' suppression of children's negative emotions predicted decreased externalizing behaviors (e.g., acting out) only when parents talked to their children about racism. When parents did not contextualize their restrictions on children's emotional expressions with discussions about race, children with higher baseline RSA demonstrated increased externalizing behaviors, whereas those with lower baseline RSA were unaffected. Parental suppression strategies led to increased internalizing symptoms (e.g., anxiety, withdrawal) among children with higher baseline RSA regardless of whether parents discussed racism. Black parents face a conundrum in which suppressing their children's negative emotions, in hopes of subverting racism, may reduce their children's externalizing problems under some circumstances, but may increase the risk of their children developing internalizing problems. Implications for systemic policy change to combat racism are discussed.

Investigating the role of familial and peer-related factors on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) use among U.S. adolescents

IntroductionTobacco use is a public health concern, and adolescents are at an increased risk of starting and continuing to use tobacco relative to other age groups. Parent involvement and other social environmental factors may influence the development and persistence of tobacco use behaviors in adolescence. This study used the nationally representative Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study data set, and responses from 7025 adolescent participants were analyzed to illustrate the longitudinal relationship between social environment influences and use of adolescent electronic nicotine delivery systems (i.e., ENDS). MethodsSocial environmental factors were assessed at Wave 3 and then compared to electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) status transitions (i.e., initiation, expansion, persistence) at follow-up. Survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression models were used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (AOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). ResultsInitiation and persistence of ENDS use were associated with tobacco availability in the house, perception of having no adverse parent reaction to discovering ENDS use and having a best friend who uses ENDS. Initiation of ENDS use was further associated with having biological relatives who have ever been diagnosed with a substance use disorder (SUD) and persistence of ENDS use was also positively associated with lack of in-house rules. Parents talking about ENDS use with adolescents had no association across all three outcomes. ConclusionsFindings suggest that parental and environmental factors alter the risk of initiation and persistence of ENDS and tobacco use in adolescents, and these should be considered when working with this at-risk population.

Autistic parents’ views and experiences of talking about autism with their autistic children

Little is known about how parents talk about autism with their autistic children, particularly among families in which both a parent and child are autistic. Using an online survey, we gathered quantitative and qualitative data from 34 autistic parents (most of whom had told their children about their diagnosis) to address this knowledge gap. There was considerable overlap between the views and experiences of the autistic parents in this study and the largely non-autistic parent samples in previous research. Specifically, parents emphasised the importance of being open and honest about the diagnosis, disclosing the diagnosis as early as possible, individualising discussions to children’s needs and framing the diagnosis positively. There were, however, areas in which the views and experiences of the current sample differed from previous research on non-autistic samples. First, our sample of autistic parents outlined the benefits of their own experiential expertise, which they felt resulted in heightened understanding and empathy with their children. Second, our sample tended not to express concerns about disclosure potentially having a negative impact. Finally, our participants did not express a want or need for professional support with disclosure. Instead, they reported feeling well equipped to support their children using their own knowledge and lived experience.Lay abstractPrevious research examining how parents talk about autism with their children has tended to focus on parents who are not autistic themselves. We collected information on this topic from 34 autistic parents of autistic children (most of whom had told their children about their diagnosis). We found similarities, but also differences, between the views and experiences of autistic parents in this research and those reported in previous research (in studies of largely non-autistic parents). Similarities include the following: it is important to be open and honest about the diagnosis; the diagnosis should be introduced/discussed as early as possible; discussions should be tailored to each individual child’s needs; and we should not overlook the challenges associated with autism, but it is important to focus on positive aspects too. Differences include the following: autistic parents used personal experiences in conversations about autism, which was felt to result in increased understanding and empathy with their children; autistic parents overwhelmingly focused on more positive aspects of an autism diagnosis; our sample did not express concerns that discussions could have negative consequences too (e.g. making children more anxious); and autistic parents did not want or need professional support to talk about autism with their children (instead, they felt confident in using their own knowledge/experiences to guide discussions).

Parental participation and connectedness through family social capital theory in the early childhood education community

This paper examines the ways in which parents talk about their participation in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), and the factors that, according to them, promote parental participation. A...

Family mealtime behaviors in children who are tube fed and preparing to transition to oral eating: A comparison to other pediatric populations.

This study examined differences in observed mealtime behaviors between children preparing to transition to oral feeding and children with various other chronic illnesses using a standardized measure of mealtime beaviors. The parent-child mealtime relationship can become strained due to problematic mealtime behaviors that limit food intake, as well as inadvertent reinforcement of disruptive behavior by caregivers. Frequency/rate of behaviors were compared between children with tube feeding (CwTF) and from previous studies of children with chronic illnesses using the Dyadic Interactive Nomenclature for Eating (DINE). Parents of CwTF used more coaxing, physical prompts, and reinforcement during meals, while parents of children with chronic illnesses used more direct commands and engaged in more parent talk. Findings support differences in parent-child mealtime interactions and eating behaviors across pediatric illness subgroups.

Triangulating multi-method assessments of parental support for early math skills.

Past research has examined parental support for math during early childhood using parent-report surveys and observational measures of math talk. However, since most studies only present findings from one of these methods, the construct (parental support for early math) and the method are inextricably linked, and we know little about whether these methods provide similar or unique information about children's exposure to math concepts. This study directly addresses the mono-operation bias operating in past research by collecting and comparing multiple measures of support for number and spatial skills, including math talk during semi-structured observations of parent-child interactions, parent reports on a home math activities questionnaire, and time diaries. Findings from 128 parents of 4-year-old children reveal substantial within-measure variability across all three data sources in the frequency of number and spatial activities and the type and content of parent talk about number and spatial concepts. Convergence in parental math support measures was evident among parent reports from the questionnaire and time diaries, such that scale composites about monthly number activities were related to number activities on the previous work day, and monthly spatial activities were correlated with spatial activities the prior non-work days. However, few parent report measures from the survey or time diary were significantly correlated with observed quantity or type of math talk in the semi-structured observations. Future research implications of these findings are discussed.