Parental Socialization Research Articles

Suicidal Behavior in Adolescents: An Ecological-Relational Study.

The present study analyzes factors of adolescents' ecological-relational contexts in relation to suicidal behavior. In particular, it examined the role of peer bullying and cyberbullying, classroom climate, violence and partner victimization, parental socialization styles, and child-to-parent violence. The participants are 2,977 Spanish adolescents attending seven secondary schools. They were aged 11-17 ( = 14.0, = 1.40; 51.5% girls). Multivariate logistic regression analyses and a two-step cluster analysis were applied to analyze the data. Findings showed a prevalence of suicidal thoughts in 43.3% of the sample, with 7.7% reporting suicide attempts. Adolescents experiencing high/low victimization (a = 3.10, < .001) and high cybervictimization (a = 1.67, < .001) were at risk. However, high cyberbullying involvement (a = 0.55, < .001) and not having a partner (a = 0.61, < .001) emerged as protective factors. Sex-specific analyses underscored distinct interaction effects, with suicidal behavior in girls being significantly related to maternal negative socialization (a = 1.57, = .05). An ecological-relational and sex approach is needed to understand and prevent suicidal behavior in adolescents.

Role of the Peers Program for Social Skills Training for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study aims to examine the efficacy of the PEERS intervention in enhancing social skills among adolescents diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The current study employed an experimental research methodology to determine the effects of the variables. The sample size was determined using G power. 182 individuals were selected, including 60 ASD adolescents and 40 parents for the experimental group (EG). The control group (CG) consisted of 41 parents of 41 adolescents with ASD. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select individuals within the age range of 15 to 50 years old. The data were collected from two schools in Islamabad and one in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The data was examined utilizing SPSS version 25, and the ANOVA test was employed to check the analysis results. The results demonstrated that the PEERS program is successful in improving the overall socialization of parents and adolescents with ASD. The present study indicated that PEERS has a crucial impact on improving socialization skills in parents and adolescents with ASD.

Understanding the intrinsic and extrinsic factors in financial literacy of the Orang Asli in Malaysia

Purpose: This study aims to examine the financial literacy of the indigenous people known as Orang Asli in Malaysia and examines the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that may influence financial literacy among the Orang Asli in Banting, Selangor, Malaysia. Four factors are chosen namely, financial attitude and financial knowledge which represent the intrinsic factors and parental socialization and peer influence which represent the extrinsic factors.&#x0D; Methodology: The researchers approached the village chief of the Orang Asli in Kampong Tadom, Banting to seek his assistance in conducting the questionnaire survey. The researchers came to the village and distributed the questionnaires to 102 Orang Asli.&#x0D; Findings: According to the findings of this study, only financial knowledge influences the financial literacy of Orang Asli in Banting, Selangor. As a result, JAKOA can implement a few tactics to improve their financial understanding and their financial literacy such as delivering financial education programmes and teaching financial awareness at an early age. However, this factor contributes 60% to the financial literacy of the Orang Asli despite the fact that only financial knowledge significantly influences the financial literacy of the Orang Asli.&#x0D; Practical Implication: The findings of this study provide insights and recommendations to enhance financial education initiatives targeted specifically at Malaysian Orang Asli.&#x0D; Contribution to Literature: The findings of this study contribute to the existing literature on the financial literacy of the Orang Asli.

Maternal and paternal emotion dysregulation profiles: Links to parent and child functioning

This study examined profiles of parental emotion dysregulation among 379 mothers (Mage = 35.99) and 397 fathers (Mage = 34.93) of children aged 8 to 12 using latent profile analyses. Three maternal (Low, Moderate, High Dysregulation) and four paternal (Low, Moderate, High Dysregulation, Emotionally Aware but Extremely Dysregulated) profiles emerged. Low (vs. high) profiles were generally associated with more supportive parental emotion socialization practices, better child emotion regulation, and lower child psychopathology. The Emotionally Aware but Extremely Dysregulated paternal profile was distinct in composition. It was associated with the poorest child psychopathology, but not the poorest child emotion regulation, of all paternal profiles, and with the highest engagement in all socialization practices (e.g., supportive practices). Findings suggest that unique patterns of deficits in parental emotion regulation may play a role in socialization of positive emotion and child functioning, particularly for fathers. These profiles can inform specific emotion-related targets for parent intervention.

A Review Study About Gender Differences in Expressive Language: Spoken And Written Language Differences

This review article aimed at explaining gender differences in expressive language that emerge beginning from the childhood from the biopsychosocial model of perspective. Afterwards, especially parental role on emotional component of expressive language was specified by giving example research studies. The most important finding was that parent and child gender may interact on child’s emotional expressiveness; while mothers tend to encourage their children to emotionally express themselves more than fathers, both mothers and fathers of girls motivate their children more to be emotionally assertive as compared to parents of boys. Parental socialization of expressive language and more specifically of emotional expressiveness results in some gender differences in both oral communication and written language among both adults and adolescents. Similar gender differences can also be observed in online communication. It seems that these differences relate both the level of linguistic effectiveness in general and mostly emotional component of the language, which is emotional expressiveness. Literature indicates that a substantial level of gender differences in language is related to socialization processes that children go through and such gender differences may put especially boys at a disadvantaged position in terms of social and emotional development. Future studies may further investigate gender differences in language and reasons behind such differences from both biological and social perspectives. Since Besides, some intervention programs for gender equality can be developed and applied in related contexts such as families and school environment.

Social Parenthood in Comparative Perspective. Ed. by Clare Huntington, Courtney G. Joslin, Christiane von Bary.

Social Parenthood in Comparative Perspective. Ed. by Clare Huntington, Courtney G. Joslin, Christiane von Bary.

Predictors of academic engagement of high school students: academic socialization and motivational beliefs.

The potential of academic engagement to enhance academic outcomes and well-being has been empirically supported, yet studies addressing its predictors are too limited. Hence, the current study collected self-report cross-sectional data from randomly selected 614 (male = 323) high school students in Ethiopia and examined the relations of academic socialization (parental and peer), self-efficacy, and outcome expectations in explaining variance in academic engagement, guided by an integrative model of engagement. Structural equation modeling with the maximum likelihood method indicated that (a) the hypothesized model fit the data well, (b) direct paths from parental and peer academic socialization to self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and academic engagement were positive and significant, (c) the relationships of the constructs in the model explained a significant portion of the variance in academic engagement, and (d) self-efficacy and outcome expectations significantly and positively but partially mediated the pathway from academic socialization to academic engagement. The findings' implications for boosting student academic engagement were forwarded.

How parental coping socialization influences the adjustment of children and adolescents: Perspectives from long-term and real-time timelines

How parental coping socialization influences the adjustment of children and adolescents: Perspectives from long-term and real-time timelines

A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effectiveness and Mechanisms of Change in a School-Based Intervention Combining Universal and Indicated Prevention for Preschoolers’ Behavior Problems

ABSTRACT The Social-Emotional Prevention Program (SEP) is a multi-focused intervention combining universal and indicated intervention strategies delivered face-to-face and through the use of technology. The study’s objectives were to assess comparatively SEP effectiveness as a function of preschoolers’ baseline risk of externalizing problems and to evaluate its hypothesized mechanisms of action. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted with five schools assigned to either the intervention or to a comparison condition (wait-list control). Structural equation models (SEM) and complier average causal effects (CACE) were conducted to evaluate program effectiveness and mechanisms of change. Research Findings: SEP participation was associated with improved social-emotional competence irrespective of baseline risk and at-risk preschoolers were more likely to exhibit reductions in externalizing problems. However, perceptions about which risk group benefited more varied as a function of rater. Patterns for SEP mechanisms of action suggest that these were similar across risk status with both child emotion regulation and parental emotion socialization practices emerging as paths to improved social-emotional competencies. Practice and Policy: The present findings add to the extant evidence suggesting that multi-focused programs combining universal and indicated prevention strategies could be successfully delivered in schools to promote social-emotional learning.

Resting heart rate moderates the relationship between parental emotion socialization and callous-unemotional traits in children.

Although empirical findings have indicated that both familial and neurobiological risk factors contribute to the development of callous-unemotional (CU) traits in children, relatively few studies have investigated how these two factors interact to influence these traits. The current study focused on the combined effects of parental emotion socialization and child's resting heart rate on CU traits. Parents of Chinese children (N = 166) completed the Coping with Children's Negative Scale when children were 9.39years old (SD = 0.92), while children's resting heart rate data were collected when they were 10.21years old (SD = 0.72). When they were 11.15years old (SD = 0.67), parents completed the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits Short-Form. Results showed that parental supportive emotion socialization was negatively associated with CU traits and Callous behaviors in particular. In addition, resting heart rate moderated the relationship between parental emotion socialization and child's CU traits. Findings provide further evidence that an interdisciplinary approach that combines both psychosocial and biological factors is essential to further our understanding of CU traits in youth.

Behavioural and attitudinal support to zero-COVID policies among adolescents in a Chinese coastal area: direct experience and political socialization

ABSTRACT China implemented the stringent and controversial zero-COVID policies nationally for almost three years during the pandemic, yet little is known why Chinese citizens tolerated and supported the policies. Adopting the explanatory frameworks of direct experience and political socialization, we explored, with data from a representative survey in a coastal area in China, how adolescents in the area formulated their behavioural compliance with and attitudinal trust in the policies. We found that after socio-demographic differences were controlled, negative direct experiences during the pandemic were associated with deviation and distrust while positive direct experiences correlated with compliance and trust. In addition, parental socialization at home and school socialization also affected adolescents in their policy support. Those who enjoyed good communications with parents tended to develop both behavioural compliance and attitudinal trust. Adolescents with college-educated parents were more likely to show trust in the zero-COVID policies, and those who attended elite schools were more likely to comply with them. Attention needs to be paid to the agencies of adolescents embedded in their life environment in developing attitudinal and behavioural policy support, as well as the increasing inequality in China during the pandemic.

Being sensitive in their own way: parental ethnotheories of caregiver sensitivity and child emotion regulation across five countries.

Caregiver sensitivity builds a basis for children's sense of security and effective emotion regulation during their development. Applying a cross-cultural lens, caregiver sensitivity can be divided into two subtypes, reactive and proactive, and its prevalence and meaning may differ across cultures. Guided by the theoretical frameworks of developmental niche and parental ethnotheories, the current study examines culture-specific meanings of caregiver sensitivity across five countries: India, Nepal, Korea, the United States of America (USA), and Germany. We examine the prevalence of maternal reactive and proactive sensitivity, children's emotional lability and regulation, and how mothers' sensitivity types are related to children's emotional characteristics. Participants included 472 mothers from the five countries with children aged between 6 and 7 years. Mothers reported their sensitivity preference in multiple vignettes and completed an emotion regulation checklist to report their children's emotional lability and regulation. A set of analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) found cultural differences in mothers' preference for proactive and reactive sensitivity. Mothers in India and Nepal reported the highest preference for proactive sensitivity followed by Korea and the USA, while German mothers reported the lowest preference for proactive sensitivity. Consequent regression analyses revealed varying associations between proactive sensitivity and child emotional characteristics in all five countries either directly or as moderated by child sex. These results evidence that parental ethnotheories are part of the developmental niche embedded in a larger cultural context. Findings on the differential links between the types of sensitivity and child emotion regulation provide cultural models of parental emotion socialization and children's emotional functioning.

Parent-adolescent Congruence and Discrepancy in Perceived Parental Emotion Socialization to Anger and Sadness: Using Response Surface Analysis to Examine the Links with Adolescent Depressive Symptoms.

Parents and adolescents often hold discrepant perceptions of parental emotion socialization, which reflect misunderstandings in parent-adolescent communication on emotions and have potential detrimental effects on mental health of adolescents. The present study investigated the associations between parent-adolescent congruence and discrepancy in parental emotion socialization perception to two specific negative emotions (anger and sadness) and depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents. A total of 372 adolescents (48.4% female, Mage = 13.43, SDage = 0.49) and their parents (79.6% mother, Mage = 41.15, SDage = 5.46) participated in this study. Both parents and adolescents reported perceived parental emotion socialization to anger and sadness, and adolescents reported depressive symptoms. Data were analyzed using polynomial regression and response surface analyses. Both congruence and discrepancy in parent and adolescent's reports were associated with adolescent depressive symptoms. A higher level of adolescent depressive symptoms was associated with higher parent-adolescent congruence in supportive responses to anger, sadness, and nonsupportive responses to anger. A higher level of depressive symptoms was associated with inconsistent reporting of supportive responses to sadness and nonsupportive responses to anger (only when parents had a more positive view than adolescents). This study highlights the significance of evaluating parent-child communication process by assessing perceived emotion socialization from both parents and adolescents and analyzing the reporting congruence and discrepancy. It also suggests that enhancing effective communication regarding parental emotion socialization could be a promising target for adolescent mental health promotion programs.

Prenatal Exposure to Androgens and Gender Socialisation Effects on Children’s Academic Interests

Previous studies have documented gender differences in fields of study as well as interest in school subjects. Boys are on average more interested in mathematics, and girls show greater interest in languages. The extent to which these disparities are the result of biological or environment influences is still an open debate. On the one hand, brain organisation theory suggests that physiological and behavioural differences may be linked to prenatal hormone levels. On the other hand, sociological and psychological perspectives highlight the importance of gender socialisation. This paper combines biological, psychological, and sociological perspectives to examine the emergence of gendered academic interests in children.The study draws on data from 9‑year-old children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Our results suggest that for both boys and girls, medium to high compared with low prenatal exposure to circulating maternal testosterone might increase children’s interests in mathematics relative to English, although results vary depending on how prenatal testosterone exposure is measured. As the distributions of prenatal androgen exposure and the relationships with maths versus English interests are very similar for boys and girls, prenatal androgen exposure does not contribute to explaining gender differences in academic interests. However, we find some evidence that the relationship with parental gender socialisation varies by prenatal androgen exposure. A more gender-equal parental division of domestic work is more strongly associated with less gendered academic interests for girls with low prenatal androgen exposure and for boys with medium to high androgen exposure.

Predictors of executive function among 2 year olds from a Thai birth cohort

Executive function (EF) is a critical skill for academic achievement. Research on the psychosocial and environmental predictors of EF, particularly among Southeast Asian, agricultural, and low income/rural populations, is limited. Our longitudinal study explored the influence of agricultural environmental, psychosocial, and temperamental factors on children’s emerging EF. Three-hundred and nine farm worker women were recruited during the first trimester of pregnancy. We evaluated the effects of prenatal insecticide exposure and psychosocial factors on “cool” (i.e., cognitive: A-not-B task, looking version) and “hot” EF (i.e., affective, response inhibition) measures of emerging EF. Maternal urine samples were collected monthly during pregnancy, composited, and analyzed for dialkylphosphate (DAP) metabolites of organophosphate insecticides. Psychosocial factors included socioeconomic status, maternal psychological factors, and quality of mother-child behavioral interactions. Backward stepwise regressions evaluated predictors of children’s EF at 12 (N = 288), 18 (N = 277) and 24 (N = 280) months of age. We observed different predictive models for cool EF, as measured by A-not-B task, vs. hot EF, as measured by response inhibition tasks. Report of housing quality as a surrogate for income was a significant predictor of emerging EF. However, these variables had opposite effects for cool vs. hot EF. More financial resources predicted better cool EF performance but poorer hot EF performance. Qualitative findings indicate that homes with fewer resources were in tribal areas where children must remain close to an adult for safety reasons. This finding suggests that challenging physical environments (e.g., an elevated bamboo home with no electricity or running water), may contribute to development of higher levels of response inhibition through parental socialization methods that emphasize compliance. Children who tended to show more arousal and excitability, and joy reactivity as young infants in the laboratory setting had better cognitive performance. In contrast, maternal emotional availability was a significant predictor of hot EF. As expected, increased maternal exposure to pesticides during pregnancy was associated with worse cognitive performance but was not associated with inhibitory control. Identifying risk factors contributing to the differential developmental pathways of cool and hot EF will inform prevention strategies to promote healthy development in this and other unstudied rural, low income Southeast Asian farming communities.

Revised Socialization of Lying Questionnaire: a reflection of parent moral identity?

The current study provides a validated, revised Socialization of Lying Questionnaire (Revised-SoL) and assesses how parent socialization of lying relates to parents’ moral identity more broadly. Four factors were empirically validated: (1) the direct socialization of honesty; (2) indirect socialization via parents’ modeling of lying behavior; (3) parents’ discipline of lying and reinforcement of honesty; and (4) parents’ perceptions of their child’s problematic lying. We found that parents direct and indirect socialization of honesty was associated with having a higher (parent) internalized moral identity and identity of themselves as an honest person. Overall, our results suggest that parents’ own methods for socializing their children about lying and honesty are interconnected with their own moral self-identities and that the revised-SoL is a good measure for capturing both direct and indirect approaches for socializing children about lying and honesty.

Examining the Longitudinal Connection Between Adolescent Delinquency and Risky Sexual Behaviors in a Sample of Males and Females.

Adolescence is a time period that is highlighted by widespread involvement in delinquent behaviors. The long-term consequences associated with engaging in such behaviors is not entirely understood. There is some research showing, though, that adolescents who are involved in delinquency are at-risk for also engaging in an assortment of risky sexual behaviors. Whether this association is causal or the result of selection/confounding remains unclear. The current study sought to add to the literature on this topic by examining whether measures of adolescent delinquency predict later-life involvement in risky sexual behaviors (number of sexual partners, number of one-night stands, and being diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection) in a sample from the United States. To do so, data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) were analyzed (N ranging from 5018 to 5964). The results revealed statistically significant associations between adolescent delinquency and risky sexual behaviors for males and females even after controlling for levels of self-control, exposure to peer substance use, parental socialization, and neighborhood disadvantage. These results suggest that the association between delinquent involvement and risky sexual behaviors is robust and future research should begin to systematically examine the developmental nature of this association.

Maternal supportive responses to adolescents' negative emotions serve as protective factors for adolescents' hostile attribution bias longitudinally.

Existing literature has documented that parenting links to children's hostile attribution biases (HAB). However, little is known about the role played by parental emotion socialization in children's HAB. To address this research gap, the present study investigated the role of parental responses to children's negative emotions (PRCNE) in predicting adolescents' HAB using a longitudinal study. Adolescents (N = 203; Mage = 13.61 years old at Time 1), who were recruited from a city in mainland China, reported on their mothers' PRCNE and their own HAB at two waves over a year. The results showed that mothers' supportive responses (composed of emotion-focused responses and problem-focused responses) significantly predicted adolescents' reduced HAB over time; however, PRCNE including expressive encouragement, minimization, and nonsupportive responses (composed of punitive responses and parental distress) had no significant relation with adolescents' HAB. These findings add to the existing literature investigating antecedents to adolescents' social information processing deficits and biases.

Parenting by mothers in immigrant families from Poland, Russia and Turkey in Germany: Migration-related similarities or origin-related differences?

Even if families in migration contexts have been the subject of an increasing amount of attention in migration research in the recent years, there is a noticeable knowledge deficit with regard to current parenting practices and socialization goals of immigrant families living in Germany. This is particularly striking since child-rearing is of central importance for children’s development and their educational pathways. This paper seeks to fill this gap, drawing on the survey “Growing up in Germany: Everyday Life” (AID:A) provided by the German Youth Institute (DJI). Similarities and differences in attitudes towards parenting among immigrant mothers compared to mothers without migration backgrounds were analyzed with regard to parenting practices (emotional warmth, punishment and child’s active participation) and socialization goals (performance/self-control and positive social behavior). In a sample of 5870 mothers reporting on a child under the age of nine, mothers in families where both they and the father had Turkey, Russia or Poland as their country of origin were included and compared to autochthonic families. The results revealed significant differences in parenting practices and socialization goals between mothers with and without migration backgrounds. Concerning parenting practices, Turkish and Russian mothers differed significantly from German mothers with regard to emotional warmth and punishment. In terms of socialization goals, all immigrant mothers placed more emphasis on both performance/self-control, as well as positive social behavior for their children than mothers without migration backgrounds in Germany.

Age-Varying Associations Between COVID-19-Related Racial Discrimination and Chinese American Adolescents' Political Civic Engagement.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made historically rooted anti-Asian racism, xenophobia, and civic activism in the United States highly salient, creating a heightened need for Asian American youth to redress racial injustice through civic engagement. However, little is known about Chinese American adolescents' civic engagement in response to racial discrimination. The present study investigated the age-varying associations between Chinese American adolescents' experiences of COVID-19-related racial discrimination and their political civic engagement at the intersection of race and gender, as well as the moderating roles of ethnic identity affirmation and parental civic socialization in these associations. The participants were 295 10- to 18-year-old Chinese American adolescents (Mage = 14.1 years, SD = 2.2 years; 52% girls) and their parents (Mage = 44.2 years, SD = 6.0 years; 79% mothers). Time-varying effect modeling showed that experiences of racial discrimination were negatively associated with political civic engagement in middle adolescence. This negative association was found only among girls but not boys. High ethnic identity affirmation and parental civic socialization not only buffered Chinese American adolescents against the impact of racial discrimination but even promoted their greater political civic engagement across adolescence. These findings revealed the age trends and important individual and contextual facilitators of Chinese American adolescents' political civic participation in the context of the racialized pandemic of COVID-19, which can inform culturally and developmentally targeted education and intervention efforts that promote the civic development of Chinese American adolescents.