Protective Factor For Children Research Articles

How to increase academic performance in children with oppositional defiant disorder? An implicit theory effect

The aim of the present study was to determine whether the implicit theory effect extends to children with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), with academic difficulties. Twenty-five male children, aged 8–11 years with ODD were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions (Incremental Theory highlighting the possibility of self-improvement vs. control). An increase of cognitive performance (IQ) was found for children with ODD in the incremental condition, but not in the control condition. This cognitive improvement could be viewed as a protective factor for children and adolescents with ODD on academic setting.

Is there a protective effect of normal to high intellectual function on mental health in children with chronic illness?

BackgroundHigh intellectual function is considered as a protective factor for children's mental health. Few studies have investigated the effect of intellectual function on mental health in children with chronic illness (CI). The aim of the present study was twofold: First, we asked if normal to high intellectual function (IQ) has a protective effect on mental health in children with CI, and secondly, if this effect is more substantial than in their peers (NCI).MethodsThe participants were selected among children who participated in the Bergen Child Study (BCS): 96 children with CI (the CI-group) and 96 children without CI (the NCI-group). The groups were matched on intellectual function as measured by the WISC-III by selecting the same number of children from three levels of the Full Scale IQ Score (FSIQ): "very low" (<70),"low" (70 to 84), or "normal to high" (>84). CI was reported by parents as part of a diagnostic interview (Kiddie-SADS-PL) that also generated the mental health measures used in the present study: the presence of a DSM-IV psychiatric diagnosis and the score on the Children's Global Assessment Scale.ResultsThe risk of a psychiatric diagnosis was significantly lower for children with a normal to high FSIQ-level than for children with a very low and low FSIQ-level in the CI-group as well as in the NCI-group. The group differences were statistically non-significant for all three FSIQ-levels, and the effect of the interaction between the group-variable (CI/NCI) and the FSIQ-level was non-significant on both measures of mental health.ConclusionThe present study showed a protective effect of normal to high intellectual function on children's mental health. This protective effect was not more substantial in children with CI than in children without CI.

Interactions With Parents and Friends Among Chronically Ill Children: Examining Social Networks

Children with medical conditions often experience a combination of positive and negative social interactions with parents and friends. Adult research examining cross-domain buffering effects has documented that supportive social ties can make up for shortcomings in other social relationships. This study examined whether negative effects of strained relationships with loved ones can be buffered when children feel supported by individuals in different support networks (i.e., cross-domain buffering effects). Children with Type I diabetes (n = 56), chronic asthma (n = 54), and cystic fibrosis (n = 17) completed questionnaires during an outpatient hospital visit that assessed perceptions of support and strain from parents and friends, quality of life, self-concept, and emotional/behavioral difficulties. Parental strain was conceptualized as parental overprotection and parental rejection. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that friend support buffered the adverse effects of parental strain on child quality of life, self-concept, and emotional/behavioral difficulties. Interestingly, parental support did not buffer the negative effects of experiencing strained relationships with friends; only main effects on outcome were found. These findings partially support our hypotheses of cross-domain buffering. In this study, friendships were a protective factor for children who experienced strained relationships with parents. In contrast, although parent support had a direct impact on child outcome, it did not make up for feeling rejected by friends. Because close relationships are often strained during medical stressors, findings underscore the importance of promoting social connectedness in chronically ill children to maximize opportunities for experiencing positive social relationships.

The role of child supervision as a risk or protective factor for childhood injury in active play

Introduction: Activity related childhood injury is a worldwide health problem. Inadequate supervision has been linked with injury death and hospitalisation, but the paucity of research has not fully clarified the role of supervision. This study aims to facilitate understanding of parental supervision in active play, specifically in relation to child injury risk. The project is a work in progress, this abstract describes tasks completed to date, and outlines remaining steps required. Methodology: Naturalistic observation and self-report questionnaires were conducted to assess child supervision in play environments and to enable triangulation of collected data. Supervision was categorised based on a modification of the supervision measurement tool developed by Saluja and colleagues. Supervision behaviour was observed in three public child play environments. Study participants were supervisor/child pairs, where children were estimated to be aged 2–14 years and were engaged in recreational play. Results: Preliminary findings from initial data collection will be reported. Descriptive statistical analysis of the collected data will be presented and triangulation results summarised. It is anticipated that findings will provide evidence of the function of supervision as a risk and protective factor for children's injuries. Conclusion: The results of this study will provide important information for the establishment of methodology for investigating the role of supervision in child injury prevention and may serve as a guide for future development of injury and drowning prevention strategies and parental educational programs aimed to reduce children's unintentional injuries in these contexts.

Risk and protective factors for children’s and adolescents’ mental health: results of the BELLA study

Since prevalence rates of mental health problems in children and adolescents are high and of considerable relevance to public health, determinants of mental health, such as risk and protective factors, are of special interest. The present paper reports the frequencies and distributions of potential risk and protective factors and analyses their effects on children's mental health. The BELLA study is the mental health module of the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey among Children and Adolescents (KiGGS). Mental health problems and their assumed determinants are examined in a representative sub-sample of 2,863 families with children and adolescents aged 7-17. In order to identify mental health problems, the extended version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was administered. Data on psychosocial risk factors as well as on protective factors in terms of personal, familial and social resources were collected by questioning the parents and, from the age of 11 years upwards, the children themselves. Adverse family climate stands out particularly as a negative contributor to children's mental health. When several risk factors occur simultaneously, the prevalence of mental health problems increases markedly. Conversely, pronounced individual, family and social resources coincide with a reduced occurrence of mental health problems, especially in children with a limited number of risk factors. The results suggest that differential prevention strategies are needed depending on the risk level: in the low risk group, to which most children belong, effective prevention programmes should define strengthening resources as a key objective. In the smaller group of children with a high number of risk factors, more complex intervention designs are required, which must consider the reduction of risks as well as strengthening resources.

A comparison of salivary calcium, phosphate, and alkaline phosphatase in children with severe, moderate caries, and caries free in Tehran′s kindergartens

The most common dental disease in childhood is dental caries. This study was carried out to recognize the components of saliva which are protective factors in children to evaluate and predict caries susceptible and caries resistant individuals. Unstimulated whole saliva was obtained from 75 children aged 3-5 years. They divided into three groups: decayed missing and filled teeth (dmft) > 6 (severe caries), 1 P > 0.05 ). Although the results showed that salivary phosphate and alkaline phosphatase in caries free group and calcium in the group with severe caries were somewhat more than those in other groups. Despite of the results of the present study, the relationship between salivary components and caries rate in children remains controversial. So more studies are necessary to achieve some practical criteria for predicting dental caries, recognition of susceptible persons, and finally prevention of caries in children.

Positive Adjustment and Associated Protective Factors in Children of Adolescent Mothers

Numerous studies indicate that children of adolescent mothers are at an increased risk for a variety of negative outcomes, even after controlling for diverse social and health factors. However, relatively less research has examined positive adjustment in these children, or protective factors associated with such adjustment. We examined the prediction of positive behavioral, social, and academic adjustment at Grade 3 in a sample of 100 children born to adolescent mothers, followed longitudinally since the children were 1 year old. Individualized testing and parent and teacher ratings were used to measure adjustment outcomes. Predictor variables were selected from characteristics of the child and parenting/family context. Logistic regression analyses indicated that aspects of children's positive adjustment in Grade 3 were predicted by a number of child and parenting/family variables measured at least 4 to 5 years earlier. Significant predictors included lower levels of child externalizing behavior, more advanced language development, lower levels of maternal depressive symptoms, and higher levels of positive parenting. Implications for preventive intervention and future research are discussed.

Are certain preschoolers at risk in the era of welfare reform? The moderating role of children's temperament

The current investigation examined whether two dimensions of children's temperament—effortful control and negative emotionality—moderated links between mothers' welfare and work transitions and preschoolers' developmental trajectories ( N = 445). Data were drawn from a sample of low-income, predominantly ethnic minority children and their mothers, when children were ages 2–4, and again 16 months later. Among children whose mothers' left welfare or entered work, high effortful control and low negative emotionality were not protective factors in children's socioemotional or cognitive functioning. However, when mothers experienced job loss or entered the welfare system, preschoolers with high effortful control displayed better developmental outcomes over time than children with low effortful control.

PROGRAMS FOR PROMOTING PARENTING OF RESIDENTIAL PARENTS: Moving From Efficacy to Effectiveness

This article reviews prevention programs that target primary residential parents as change agents for improving children's postdivorce adjustment. First, we review parental risk and protective factors for children from divorced families, including parenting quality, parental mental health problems, interparental conflict, and contact with the nonresidential parent. Following a discussion of brief informational interventions, we describe the findings of evaluations of three multisession, skill‐building interventions for divorced parents. Impressive evidence is presented that parenting is a modifiable protective factor and that improving parenting leads to improvements in children's postdivorce adjustment. We then discuss, in greater detail, the New Beginnings Program, which we highlight because it has shown repeated, immediate effects on children's mental health outcomes as well as long‐term effects on a wide array of other meaningful outcomes, such as diagnosis of mental disorder in the past year, externalizing problems, alcohol and drug use, and academic performance. Also, mediational analyses have shown that program‐induced changes in parenting accounted for changes in mental health outcomes. The remainder of the article describes a research and action agenda that is needed to successfully implement the New Beginnings Program in domestic relations courts.

Income, family structure, and child maltreatment risk

This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to explore the effects of income, family structure, and public policies on several indicators of child maltreatment. Results suggest that income and family structure affect a family's overall risk of child maltreatment, and that these factors differentially affect various outcome measures. In particular, income impacts routine medical and dental care, the quality of the caregiving environment, and to a lesser extent, spanking behaviors. Single-parent families and families with a biological mother and non-biological father figure tend to have lower quality caregiving environments than mother–father families, and single-mother families with working mothers are at even greater risk of poor caregiving. Finally, this analysis provides some tentative evidence that higher welfare benefits and lower unemployment rates may serve as protective factors for children.

Disclosure, risks and protective factors for children whose parents are undergoing a gender transition

SUMMARY Objective: This study attempts to delineate the effects on children within different stages of development whose parent undergoes a transition to the other sex. Methods: Questionnaires were mailed to therapists who have considerable experience working with gender dysphoric patients. These therapists were queried about their experience with individuals who had children prior to the start of their transition. Variables such as the nature and manner of disclosure to the child and the nature of the relationships between the child and each parent were evaluated. Results: Children in the preschool years were rated as adapting best to the transition, both initially and long-term. Adults also were able to adapt well, so long as the level of conflict between parents was low. Adolescents had the most difficult time adapting to a parental transition. The level of family conflict worsened the child's adaptation across all developmental levels. The therapists delineated both risk and protective factors for chi...

Children exposed to community violence: the rationale for early intervention.

Children are exposed to violence in their homes and communities at extraordinarily high rates. Given the alarming rates of exposure and its known impact on child developmental outcomes, crisis intervention geared at interrupting the negative effects of violence exposure are increasingly important. This review provides a rationale for the implementation of early and crisis intervention strategies for children exposed to community violence and recommends principles for applying these interventions. These principles are based on the body of research concerning risk and protective factors for children who have been exposed to violence. Relevant factors are reviewed and recommended principles are explicated that correlate to these factors. Issues concerning developmentally informed crisis intervention, support of parental executive functioning, and the need for active community partnership to help ameliorate risk factors are highlighted.

Emotion self-regulation in preschool-aged children with and without orofacial clefts.

Emotion self-regulation is an important developmental task in the preschool period that is related to children's emotional and behavioral adjustment in early childhood. Emotion self-regulation and its relation to later adjustment has not been studied in children born with orofacial clefts, despite their risk for externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Eighty-three 5-year-old children with cleft lip and palate, isolated cleft palate, or no cleft condition were videotaped during a laboratory disappointment situation. Results showed that children in the cleft group expressed less disappointment than children in the comparison group. Longitudinal analyses revealed that parenting stress measured when the children were 2 years of age predicted Expressed Disappointment at age 5 years, which, in turn, predicted severity of behavior problems at age 7 years. Although tentative, results indicate that control over mild negative affect may be a protective factor for children with clefts, buffering the effects of early stress on the development of later behavioral and emotional problems. Thus, interventions that reduce parenting stress and enhance children's emotion regulation strategies may decrease the risk for later psychological problems in this population.

Family rituals as a protective factor for children with asthma.

To examine how one aspect of family life, notably family rituals and routines, may protect children with asthma from anxiety-related symptoms. Eighty-six families (43 children with asthma, 43 healthy comparison children) participated in the study. Children completed measures of anxiety (Revised Child Manifest Anxiety Scale) and health. Parents completed measures of stress (Parenting Stress Index), family rituals (Family Routines Questionnaire), and family health. Families that reported more meaning in their family routines had children who reported lower levels of anxiety. Mother endorsement of family ritual meaning and father endorsement of family ritual routine were most strongly related to lower levels of anxiety. Support for the protective function of meaningful family rituals was stronger when a general health stress model was used rather than the presence or absence of asthma alone. Family rituals may serve a protective function for children with asthma under conditions of heightened parenting stress.

Risk and protective factors in children adopted from the former Soviet Union

Risk and protective factors in children adopted from the former Soviet Union

Risk and protective factors in children adopted from the former Soviet Union

Introduction: The former Soviet Union (including the present independent republics of Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Belarus, Lithuania, and Georgia) is the leading source of children adopted from overseas by persons in the United States ( US Department of State, 1998). This study sought to (a) characterize the current social, academic, and conduct competencies of 6- to 9-year-old children adopted from the former Soviet Union who have resided in the United States for at least 2 years and (b) evaluate both risks and protective influences of adoptive families and their relationships to competence via a structural equation model. Method: Telephone interviews and a postal survey of children were drawn from a US community sample of 105 children. Measures included (a) Child Behavior Checklist, (b) Teacher Report Form, (c) Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, (c) Family Environment Scale, and (d) demographic information. Results: Many children had experienced abuse, abandonment, or neglect between birth and entry to the institution. Their mean birth weight was 2637 g, and alcohol abuse by the birth mother was common (41%). Although the children scored below average in competence, adoptive family environments were positive and served as buffers between the risks experienced by the children and the subsequent development of competence within the adoptive family. Conclusion: Children's abilities ranged from severely challenged to developmentally normal. The high rate of fetal alcohol exposure in the children may portend future challenges for families. J Pediatr Health Care. (2000). 14, 109–116.

Early Relationship Quality From Home to School: A Longitudinal Study

The aim of this investigation was to examine the role of social relationships in the home as predictors of social functioning in the first years of school. Longitudinal data gathered on 156 children from urban, low-income families were used to examine the unique contributions of mother-child attachment classification at ages 1 and 2 years, the child's relationship with another adult caregiver, the child's closeness to a sibling, and the child's status in the family relative to siblings between ages 3 and 4 years, to teacher reports of their own relationship to the child and the child's social skills in the classroom and peer relations. The role of family-based relationships as possible protective factors for children at social or demographic risk for problems in school was also tested. Results indicate that quality of different family relationships provides relatively independent and complementary information about early social functioning in school, with more limited evidence for compensatory or protective processes at work.

Risk and protective factors for children's substance use and antisocial behavior following parental divorce.

Social networks and personal resources were examined as risk or protective factors for substance use and antisocial behavior in children five years after parental divorce. Children of divorce reported significantly more substance-using friends and less use of coping and social skills than children whose parents had not divorced. Findings suggest the importance of focusing on substance use as well as mental health outcomes in preventive interventions for children of divorce.

Postpartum depression and child development: An investigation of mothers and fathers as sources of risk and resilience

AbstractWe examined maternal and paternal characteristics at 1 month postpartum as risk and protective factors for children's internalizing and externalizing problems at 2–3 years of age. In a sample of 70 couples and their children, fathers' depressive symptoms at 1 month postpartum predicted children's internalizing and externalizing problems at 2–3 years of age, and the interaction of fathers' and mothers' depressive symptoms predicted subsequent internalizing problems. Mothers' postpartum symptoms did not predict either type of children's behavior problems at age 2–3. When entered in the regression equations, mothers' depressive symptoms when the children were age 2–3 years accounted for all of the effects of paternal and maternal postpartum depressive symptoms. No evidence was found for the protective effects of marital satisfaction or social support, or for low levels of depressive symptoms in a spouse. We highlight directions for future risk and resilience research related to parental postpartum depression.

Review of Studies of Risk and Protective Factors for Psychopathology in Children

Child psychiatry is increasingly focusing on early identification of children at risk and the importance of prevention. Our review attempts to summarize recent studies regarding risk and protective factors in children and address the areas of difficulty inherent in this type of research. Recommendations for future research study design will be discussed.