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Family Routines and Rituals: A Context for Development in the Lives of Young Children
Abstract
Naturally occurring family routines and meaningful rituals provide both a predictable structure that guides behavior and an emotional climate that supports early development. In this article, we highlight recent evidence that suggests that variations in the practice of family routines and the meaning connected to family rituals are associated with variations in socioemotional, language, academic, and social skill development. We offer definitions of routines and rituals and contrast their different elements. We briefly review how variations in routines have been found to be associated with variations in language development, academic achievement, and social skill development. We examine how variations in the emotional investment in family rituals are associated with variations in family relationship satisfaction. We place our review in the framework of the transactional model whereby characteristics of the child and parent affect each other in the creation and sustainability of routines over time. Potential mechanisms of effect (parental efficacy, behavior monitoring, family relationship coherence) are discussed. We conclude with a brief description of methods of assessment and intervention suitable for practitioners working with families of young children.
... Parents, through the implementation of consistent and predictable routines, provide their children with environmental stimuli that promote children's compliance and ensure that they perform daily tasks, in line with parental expectations (Sytsma et al., 2001;Urcuioli 2005). Furthermore, a stable and peaceful family environment encourages the active participation of children in planning and carrying out daily activities, allowing them to become active agents in their educational process (Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). ...
... In this sense, parents' involvement in their children's daily lives allows everyday monitoring and control over children's behavior, which, consequently, promotes the development of a sense of parental competence (Evans & Rodger, 2008;Fiese et al., 2002;Rania et al., 2018). Research focused on the relationship between family routines and parental competence suggests that a stable and affective environment promotes positive interactions between parents and children (Brody & Flor, 1997;Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). In turn, this leads to the adoption of positive parenting practices and increased levels of parental self-efficacy, satisfaction, and competence, which consequently results in the implementation of structured and consistent family routines (Ferretti & Bub, 2017;Jordanr, 2003). ...
... Since the CRQ-PT measures child routines in the family context, we expected that it would be positively associated with the dinner time subscale of the FRQ (Fiese & Kline, 1993), which has been used to assess mealtime routines in families with children (e.g., Friend et al., 2015;Jones et al., 2014). In line with research that suggests that routines in the family are associated with parental competence (e.g., Ferretti & Bub, 2017;Spagnola & Fiese, 2007;Jordan, 2003), we also expected that the CRQ-PT scores would positively correlate with perceived parenting efficacy and satisfaction, as evaluated by the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC; Johnston & Mash, 1989). ...
Child routines have been recognized as positive contributors to children’s development. However, in Portugal there is still a lack of instruments available to assess school-age child routines. The purpose of this study was to present the translation, adaptation, and validation studies of the Portuguese version of the Child Routines Questionnaire (CRQ), a parent self-report measure developed to assess school-age child routines. A total of 460 parents of children aged between 6 and 12 years-old participated in the study. Two studies were conducted to define the CRQ-PT factor structure. In Study 1 (n = 204 children from 6 to 12 years-old), findings from the exploratory factor analysis provided evidence for a four-factor structure (for 32 items), which explained 43.53% of the total variance. In Study 2 (n = 256 children from 6 to 9 years-old), results from confirmatory factor analysis showed good model fit indices (CFI = 0.84, RMSEA = 0.06). The total scale of the CRQ-PT (α = 0.89) and its subscales showed good internal consistency. Further evidence of construct validity was shown by weak to moderate correlations with measures of parental sense of competence and family mealtime routines. Relevant contributions of the study are underscored, namely the availability and usefulness of a reliable and valid assessment tool to evaluate the routines of Portuguese school-age children for clinical practice and research purposes.
Keywords Child routines · school-age · validation · CRQ
... In EI/ECSE, family-centered practices are operationalized by the use of natural learning environment practices (NLEP; Davis, 2014;Dunst et al., 2001Dunst et al., , 2006McWilliam, 2010;Spagnola & Fiese, 2007) and a coaching interaction style (Rush & Shelden, 2020). The two sets of practices (NLEP and coaching) together make up relational and participatory family-centered helpgiving practices that have grounded the work of EI/ECSE for more than 40 years (Bailey et al., 1992;Bruder, 2000;Mas et al., 2019) and are reinforced in the DEC Recommended Practices (2014) and more recently in the Initial Practice-Based Professional Standards for EI/ECSE (2020). ...
... NLEP includes the use of everyday activities and routines, child interests, and caregiver/adult responsiveness to the child (Dunst et al., 2001. The focus of NLEP is to use naturally occurring child learning opportunities (i.e., family activities and routines; Spagnola & Fiese, 2007) and responsive caregiving practices (e.g., following the child's ...
... The Child Interest Activity Plan / Davis et al. Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). Over five iterations during a 3-year period, the tool was tested by a team of practitioners who provided survey and focus group feedback leading to revisions. ...
... Dr. Fiese (2007) touches upon the problem of regulation of spiritual and moral education of moral and psychological support of youth and forming the modern strategy of upbringing and education in the context of the urgent problems of spiritual and moral development of students [2]. ...
... Dr. Fiese (2007) touches upon the problem of regulation of spiritual and moral education of moral and psychological support of youth and forming the modern strategy of upbringing and education in the context of the urgent problems of spiritual and moral development of students [2]. ...
This article deals with the problem of inducting children and youth into the prevailing culture in the modern computer era and the generation transfer of moral and social values, beliefs, and behaviors to future group members. Undoubtedly, man being the social origin and social aspects of child development constitutes the basis of his human life. Nowadays this is a complex endeavor that involves several institutions as well as grave burdens of responsibility for those engaged in the process. The author focuses on computers impact, which becomes a reason for fragmentation as well as contradiction of values, of sociopolitical interests, norms and goals that have partially obliterated traditions that once guided participants in such social institutions as the family, the school, and the wider community in their efforts to socialize the young. Also this article contributes to a better understanding of the processes by which various elements of our social environment change in value during our socialization process. We can conclude that on the one hand, the main problem is that young people consider their parents as technological outsiders, persons without modern knowledge that could be useful in their future, but on the other hand, the global widening of the information gap and the polarization of information immersion, leading to the appearance of the phenomenon of information outsiders among the older generation, who have lost their previous status in society and don’t have any effective opportunities for resocialization. These results argue for greater attention to the significance of family socialization, and to the persistence of social beliefs across generations.
... Routines are considered one of the basic foundations of proper psychoaffective development. 21 Without them, babies and young children are more prone to develop the above-mentioned symptoms. More specifically, children with ASD experienced more emotional dysregulation behaviors, with repercussions on their development and family dynamics. ...
... In fact, the available evidence suggests that the greater involvement of children with parents may have had several benefits, including an increase in positive interactions, closeness, and demonstration of love and affection. (19,21) -School-aged children Children between 6 and 11 years old are often referred to Child Psychiatry consultation due to difficulties related to school, namely worries about academic performance, difficulties in adjusting to the school environment, and interaction and socialization issues. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is undoubtedly the most frequent psychiatric diagnosis in this age group, but anxiety and other emotional/behavioral disorders, specific school learning, and other neurodevelopmental disorders are also prevalent. ...
Given the atypical scenario caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years and the changes it brought to daily routines, particular attention should be paid to the mental health of children and adolescents. During this period, child and adolescent psychiatrists faced challenges in their clinical practice and had to adjust to the new reality. There was a significant increase in consultation referrals due to eating disorders, self-harm behaviors, and anxiety symptoms. This paper describes the experience of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of Centro Materno-Infantil do Norte, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto, in the outpatient, inpatient, and Emergency Room care of children and adolescents in different age groups during this period. It also highlights the need for special attention to the psycho-affective development of these groups and to the role of family and school. Overall, the pandemic had a number of detrimental effects on children and adolescents, but also on their families. At this time, it is still difficult to ascertain what long-term consequences it will have, particularly in the first years of life. Joint efforts should be employed by health and community systems to create adequate conditions for assessing the mental health of these groups and developing appropriate support and prevention strategies.
... The importance of daily practices, habits and routines in creating and sustaining different forms of social life is also shown by research. Family bonding and a sense of shared identity are achieved through, among other methods, shared meals and the rituals that accompany them (Spagnola, Fiese 2007;Wright-St Clair et al. 2005). Family rituals are also important means of socialisation (Schuck, Bucky 1997). ...
... Family rituals are also important means of socialisation (Schuck, Bucky 1997). A structured daily life has a positive effect on a child's development, well-being and social skills, and the rituals present are also conducive to a positive effect (Spagnola, Fiese 2007;Malaquias et al. 2015). ...
According to the proponents of the sociology of everyday life, the practices of everyday life maintain the order of social life. Berger and Luckmann argue that such practices are characterised by habitualness and unreflectiveness; they seem natural and self-evident, not requiring justification. However, their statement is no longer valid. It was not only the COVID-19 pandemic that violently disrupted the established order of everyday life. Even before the pandemic, processes of social change had occurred, and these processes shattered the unified vision of the world, the nomos in which all social practices found their justification. The sheer multiplicity of knowledge and belief systems that now exist, as legitimate as they are, forces individuals to be reflexive and to make choices from among different patterns of action. At the same time, new processes of change are constantly taking place that challenge the validity of previous choices. The COVID-19 pandemic did not start these processes, but it did exacerbate these processes. The question for researchers is how do individuals construct the order of their everyday life in these uncertain and risky conditions, an order whose constancy and predictability, as Giddens states, has always been a bulwark against fear and insecurity.
... In our model, the components of these competencies are offering guarantees of security (physical, emotional, and psychosexual), constructing contexts in which children are treated well, providing daily care, organizing daily life, and connecting children with support networks. The literature has shown the importance of protective parental competencies in development (Appleyard et al., 2005;Barudy & Dantagnan, 2005;Cyr et al., 2010;NSC, 2012;Rodrigo et al., 2015;Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). For example, the systematic review by Loveman et al. (2015) showed that when parents improve the daily care associated with feeding, children improve their nutrition and health indicators, and the meta-analysis by Eltanamly et al. (2019) showed that protective parenting practices are linked to the recovery of children after a war event. ...
... In our scheme, this corresponds to thinking about the importance of building contexts in which children are treated well. Family routines and rituals have been associated with differences in language development; academic achievement; and the development of social skills in infancy, childhood, and adolescence (Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). They have also been identified as mediating mechanisms of emotional and behavioral regulation in preschool (Zajicek-Farber et al., 2012). ...
This study investigated the reliability and validity of the new versions of the Positive Parenting Scale (E2P), a series of eight questionnaires designed to assess the frequency of parenting practices in parents of children from 0 months to 17 years of age. Participants were Chilean parents of healthy children (N = 3187) residing in an urban city of Chile. Content validity granted by independent expert judges and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted for each questionnaire. Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity with other scales was also collected. The new versions of E2P Positive Parenting Scale demonstrated robust evidence of structural and content validity, and a pattern of correlations between independent scales and E2P factors consistent with hypothesized expectations, that serve as evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Reliability of the eight final questionnaires was good to excellent. Considering this evidence, we concluded that the new versions of E2P Positive Parenting Scale are a valid, reliable, feasible, and free access measures for assessing parenting practices in parents of children from 0 months to 17 years in Chilean families. The findings of the confirmatory factor analysis provide support to the theoretical scheme of relational, formative, protective, and reflective parental competencies on which the questionnaire is based.
... The increased irritability and distress associated with SOR can lead some parents to try to minimize their child's distress. To meet the child's sensory needs, parents build strategies and routines which enable participation in activities within the home (Spagnola and Fiese, 2007). These efforts include changing schedules and finding resources to meet their child's needs, which can disrupt family cohesion (Spagnola and Fiese, 2007). ...
... To meet the child's sensory needs, parents build strategies and routines which enable participation in activities within the home (Spagnola and Fiese, 2007). These efforts include changing schedules and finding resources to meet their child's needs, which can disrupt family cohesion (Spagnola and Fiese, 2007). Parents of children with ASD, described the difficulty that arises from trying to balance responding to the child's sensory difficulties, while maintaining flexibility in daily routines (Schaaf et al., 2011). ...
Family accommodation refers to the attempt of family members (most often parents) to prevent their child’s distress related to psychopathology. Family accommodation can limit meaningful participation in personal and social routines and activities. Accommodation has been studied extensively in the context of childhood anxiety and has been linked to greater impairment, and poor intervention outcomes. Like anxiety, sensory over-responsivity (SOR) symptoms are associated with heightened distress and thus, may also be accommodated by family members. The current study describes the validation of a new pediatric family accommodation scale for SOR. Parents of 301 children ages 3–13 years completed an online survey, of which 48 had medical or developmental conditions. The survey included the Child Sensory Profile 2 and the newly developed family accommodation scale for sensory over-responsivity (FASENS). Three Sensory Profile 2 scores were analyzed: SOR, sensory under-responsivity and sensory seeking. The FASENS consists of 18 items; 12 describing the frequency of accommodation behaviors and 6 describing the impact of the accommodation on the wellbeing of the family and the child. Results indicated that the FASENS has high internal consistency (α = 0.94) as well as a significant 3-factor confirmatory model fit: (1) accommodations (i.e., avoidance and changes), (2) family impact, and (3) child impact. FASENS scores significantly correlated with SOR symptoms (r = 0.52–0.60, p < 0.001). However, they also correlated with under-responsivity and seeking (r = 0.33–0.42, p < 0.001). Parents of children with health conditions reported significantly higher FASENS scores (p < 0.002), which corresponded with their child’s significantly higher sensory scores (p < 0.001). Family accommodations for SOR occur to some extent in the general population, but their prevalence and impact are significantly greater when the child has a health condition, in addition to SOR. Additional research is needed to explore whether these accommodations are adaptive and whether families and children would benefit from learning to reduce them, as with anxiety.
... Family life revolves around behavioural routines [1]. From morning to mealtimes to bedtime each family develops and implements their own routines and rituals that both complement their schedules and accomplish important tasks for the day [1]. ...
... Family life revolves around behavioural routines [1]. From morning to mealtimes to bedtime each family develops and implements their own routines and rituals that both complement their schedules and accomplish important tasks for the day [1]. Those routines might differ among families with some key similarities with regards to the behaviours that take place during these routines and rituals [2]. ...
Background
Bedtime routines are highly recurrent family activities with implications for children’s wellbeing, development and health.
Aims
The objective of this study is to co-develop and test in a feasibility, proof-of-concept study a bedtime routines intervention using text messages aimed at first-time parents with young children.
Methods
Fifty first-time parents with children aged 1–3 years were recruited for this study. Parents received a text message-based intervention for 7-consecutive nights which provided support and information on achieving optimal bedtime routines. Parents completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires focusing on children’s sleep, bedtime routines and parental mood disturbance. Feedback was provided at the end of the study.
Results
Recruitment target and high retention with 98%, or 49 out of 50 participants completing the study were achieved. Pre- and post-intervention, there were improvements in total children’s sleep with children sleeping longer and having less disrupted sleep overall (MD = − 7.77 (SD = 17.91), t (48) = − 3.03, p = .004, CI (− 12.91, − 2.63) and in overall quality of bedtime routines (MD = − 5.00, SD = 7.01, t (48) = − 4.98, p < .001, CI (− 7.01, − 2.98). Parental mood disturbance decreased pre- to post-intervention (MD = 5.87, SD = 15.4 3 , t (48) = 2.66), p = .010, CI (1.44, 10.30). Parents provided positive feedback about the intervention and valued the support that was provided to them.
Conclusions
Bedtime routines were successfully altered with short-term benefits for children’s sleep and parental mood. Future research will need to utilize a more robust, longitudinal approach for a definite exploration of sustained changes in bedtime routines and their long-term implications for children and parents.
... An under-researched, but potentially important factor in this work, is the role of self-regulation. Routines embedded within structured days may promote children's ability to self-regulate, the capacity to monitor and control one's thoughts and emotions to meet the demands of a situation (19,20). Self-regulation may be a key mechanism for maintaining a healthy weight as poor self-regulation in early childhood is linked to overweight and obesity later in life (21,22). ...
... While these ndings are preliminary, they are suggestive that summer programming may indeed improve a child's selfregulation which may in-turn reduce accelerated summer BMI gain. This nding is consistent with past research that has shown that the routines embedded within structured days are related to children's self-regulation (19,20). ...
Background
This study assessed initial feasibility and preliminary efficacy of providing children a free summer day camp and a parent intervention to improve self-regulation and mitigate accelerated summer BMI gain.Methods
This pilot 2x2 factorial randomized control trial used a mixed methods design to evaluate providing children a free summer day camp (SCV), a parent intervention (PI), and the combination of these two strategies (SCV + PI) to mitigate accelerated summer body mass index (BMI) gain. Feasibility (i.e., recruitment capability, retention, compliance, treatment fidelity, acceptability) was examined using means, standard deviations, and percentages for relevant variables. Changes in BMI were estimated using intent-to-treat and post-hoc dose response analyses via multilevel mixed effects regressions.ResultsA total of 89 families participated, with 24 participants randomized to the PI group, 21 randomized to the SCV group, 23 randomized to the SCV + PI group, and 21 randomized to the control. Parents and children found the summer program acceptable but attendance at the summer program and engagement in the PI were low due to COVID-19 and lack of transportation. Intent-to-treat analyses showed no statistically significant difference between groups in summer BMI gain. Post-hoc dose response analyses showed that for each day (0 to 29) of summer programming children attended they gained − 0.009 (95CI= -0.018, -0.001) less in BMI z-score.Conclusions
Engagement in both the SCV and PI was not ideal and was likely due to COVID-19 and lack of transportation. Providing children with structured summer programming to mitigate accelerated summer BMI gain may be an effective strategy. Thus, a larger trial may be warranted, but more work is needed to ensure children attend the programming.Trial registration: The trial reported herein was prospectively registered at clinicaltrials.gov. Trial #:NCT04608188.
... From a sociological perspective, family rituals -and family practices and routines in a wider sense -unveil the intricacies of and diverging loyalties in families by showing how family is "done" (Baxter & Braithwaite, 2006;Fiese et al., 2002;Morgan, 1999Morgan, , 2011b and may even define and reify family boundaries (e.g., Allan et al., 2011, pp. 69-71;Finch, 2007;Richlin-Klonsky & Bengtson, 1996;Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). ...
... If they are absent from the child's birthday, this could have implications for the strength of family relationships in the new stepfamily. A joint celebration with both the ex-partner and current partner might imply greater availability of social capital to parents and children (Widmer, 2006) and greater child well-being (King, 2006;Spagnola & Fiese, 2007), but potentially also loyalty conflicts (see Fiese et al., 2002). Second, a closer understanding of the forces that shape who celebrates family rituals together after divorce adds to existing theoretical explanations of the forces that shape postdivorce family interactions and how family is done after divorce (Fiese et al., 2002;Morgan, 2011a). ...
Objective: To investigate if divorced parents celebrate their children's birthdays with their respective ex-partner and current partner, and whether they do so "jointly" with both.
Background: Family rituals like birthday celebrations are important and meaningful events in people's lives, but little is known about who partakes in these in contemporary postdivorce families.
Method: We assessed whether divorced parents celebrated their child's birthday together with their ex-partner (i.e., the child’s other biological parent), current partner (i.e., the child’s stepparent), and jointly with both. Dutch Data (N=2,451) was analyzed using linear probability models.
Results: Most parents celebrated the child's birthday without the ex-partner, but with the current partner. One quarter celebrated with both. The ex-partners' presence was more likely when parents' and their current partners' relationship with the ex-partner was good; and less likely when parents had repartnered and when the ex-partners had sole custody or additional biological or stepchildren. The presence of the current partner was more likely in case of coresidence with the biological parent and when the ex-partner had a new partner; and less likely when the ex-partners had sole custody and when parents’ relationship with the ex-partners was good.
Conclusion: Child-related family rituals mostly involve the "new" stepparent rather than both biological parents. The effects of relationship quality, co-residence, repartnering, and having additional biological or stepchildren highlight the importance of (step)parents' willingness to interact with each other, structural opportunities for parent-child interactions, and parents’ shifting loyalties from their ex-partner to their new family.
... In the current study, we adapted Fiese et al.'s (2002) and Spagnola and Fiese's (2007) concepts of family rituals and routines to define family routines. Family routines are defined as specific customary or non-customary tasks that family members must complete periodically and consistently to maintain family stability and identity and ensure positive developmental outcomes. ...
Background
Family scientists strongly purport that structured family routines are associated with family stability and identity and may mediate the individuals' positive developmental outcomes. Family routines enhance the predictability of ambiguous situations, promote members' cohesion, and provide security and warmth. Investigating adverse changes in family routines during COVID-19 can inform on support required by families from other larger systemic institutions.
Theoretical background
Historically, family routines have universally been a gendered realm, and the contributions of females have been salient in maintaining them. Established and gendered contributions pre-COVID-19 predicted who does what and how much in the household. After the spread of COVID-19, the gendered practice continued and, in many households, strengthened. Therefore, exploration of proximal processes in the microsystem, such as family routines through the Bioecological perspectives, may offer insights into the historical rationale and repercussions of the gendered division of household labor on individual family members, especially women, and in times of crisis, such as a pandemic.
Purpose and method
The health implications of COVID-19 led to restrictive mandates, including remote employment and education directives resulting in additional stress and uncertainty in carrying out daily routines. Thus, there is a need to explore whether restrictive mandates during COVID-19 changed specific family routines and gender outcomes. In the current study, we surveyed (online) 378 adult participants about changes (disruptions) in their family routines, perceptions of disruptions in routines, and perceived stress levels. The research questions are:
(1) Does participants' gender continue to determine specific family routines?
(2) What are participants' perceptions of disruptions in family routines, and do those responses to family routines differ significantly by participants' gender?
(3) Are there significant gender differences in perceptions of stress among participants?
Findings and conclusions
Data analyses indicated that during COVID-19, both males and females were equally affected by changes in routines and had similar perceptions of disruptions and high-stress levels. However, item-level analyses indicate that females significantly spent more time on chores that would benefit others, whereas male participants spent more time on routines that would benefit them. Both males and females reported high-stress levels but differed in symptomatology. We provide a few selected narratives to supplement gender-based quantitative findings and establish descriptive evidence for differences in disruptions in routines and stress. In the end, implications for future practice and research are discussed.
... Naturalistic environments provide the optimal context for realistic learning experiences and caregiver-child interactions to promote the child's language and communication skills (ASHA, 2008;Woods et al., 2011). These naturalistic environments are often embedded within family routines, and it has been shown that these routines are effective in the social skill building and academic achievement of the child (Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). Common family routines may include preparing and eating a meal, completing chores/errands, and reading. ...
Purpose
This study included two parts: a descriptive study followed by an integrative review. The purpose of the study was to converge finding from the descriptive study and summarize relevant findings from existent literature to identify potential culturally responsive early language and literacy intervention strategies for Native American caregivers and their children.
Method
This study included a nonexperimental descriptive design and integrative review. The descriptive study analyzed the language behaviors and shared book interactions of Native American caregivers with their young children ( N = 21) and included results from a caregiver teaching questionnaire. The integrative review evaluated relevant literature and identified strategies that were described in these sources. These findings were combined with the descriptive study findings to identify promising culturally consistent language and literacy strategies.
Results
Caregivers' shared book behaviors were associated with caregivers' vocabulary usage and children's shared book behaviors. Caregivers reported a number of language and teaching strategies they frequently employed; this information was integrated with other sources to identify promising approaches. A total of 20 potential strategies were identified.
Conclusions
The purpose of this study was to describe potential early language and literacy strategies for Native American families. It would be impossible to develop early language interventions to meet the needs of all Native American families and children; thus, this study is a preliminary step in identifying strategies that may be culturally responsive for some families. The integrative review supported the use of shared book reading with young Native American children. Promising language and early literacy strategies included play-based strategies, teaching new words, questioning strategies, using descriptive language, and other language and interaction enhancements. The effectiveness of these strategies should be further evaluated in future research or treatment studies.
... Information on socialemotional development, skills necessary to regulation emotions, build relationships, and explore environments, was included due to its close relationship with early language development and future academic success (Pontoppidan et al., 2017). Topics included infant brain development and serve and return interactions (Harvard Center on the Developing Child, 2018), the importance of everyday routines for learning (Spagnola & Fiese, 2007;Tamis-LeMonda, 2019), the development of early vocalizations, shared attention, and gestures (Rowe & Goldin-Meadow, 2009;Wetherby et al., 2007) as well as strategies to increase children's use of each skill like responding, using descriptive language, and expanding child communication (Roberts et al., 2014). We also included content intended to support teachers' feelings of self-efficacy and satisfaction in their role as teachers of infants and toddlers. ...
Unlabelled:
High-quality early care and education is a known protective factor for infants and toddlers who experience early childhood poverty, especially for early communication outcomes. However, the quality of care is variable in the United States, and efforts to increase the quality of interactions is impeded by cost and high rates of turnover in the field. In this paper, we explore a low-cost, light touch social media intervention that uses the TikTok platform to increase infant-toddler teachers' (ITTs) knowledge of early communication and social interactions while validating the important role that ITTs play in the lives of young children. We use a mixed method, pre-post design to explore the feasibility and acceptability of the BabyTok project from the vantage point of the ITT participants. Teachers offered positive feedback about the content, delivery of the intervention through TikTok and the impact on their feelings about their role in helping young children learn.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10643-022-01426-y.
... Given a wealth of previous social science literature documenting the salutary influence of regular family dinners on parent-child relationships and several child outcomes (Fiese & Schwartz, 2008;Hammons & Fiese, 2011;Spagnola & Fiese, 2007), our quantitative findings regarding the positive correlations between family dinners and "positive impact" and "family closeness" are more confirmatory than surprising. As we take a closer look, our project's qualitative data offer some additional depth and insights regarding why these correlations recurred. ...
In the context of the COVID-19 shutdowns, we explored associations between family dinner and family well-being among 731 adult parents in the United States who currently had at least one child residing in their home. The panel survey was administered during the summer of 2020 (June 18 through July 22). Participants were asked to respond to questions about relational processes before the COVID-19 shutdowns, at the height of the shutdowns, and currently (i.e., at the time of data collection). Results suggest that maintaining regular family meals or increasing the frequency of these meals was associated with increased closeness and more positive perceptions of the impact of the pandemic. Participants’ qualitative responses to several open-ended questions are used to provide additional insights and nuance to the quantitative findings.
... In order to understand successful, meaningful participation in family life, one place to start is to explore how parents structure family life which for autistic children typically involves the use of routines (Boyd et al., 2014). The adoption of routines in family life is typically associated with transmission of family and cultural values, as well as providing structure to family occupations (Boyce et al., 1983;Spagnola and Fiese, 2007). For families of autistic children, predictability within their daily life is an important feature (Boyd et al., 2014). ...
Autistic children with sensory processing differences successfully navigate and engage in meaningful family daily occupations within home and community environments through the support of their family. To date however, much of the research on autistic children with sensory processing differences, has primarily been deficit focused, while much of the caregiver research has focused on issues of distress, burden, effort, and emotional trauma in coping with their child's diagnosis. This study aimed to conduct a qualitative evidence synthesis, using a meta-ethnographic approach to explore the gap identified in understanding successful occupational experiences of family participation and daily family routines when supporting an autistic child with sensory processing differences and to offer an alternative strengths-based perspective. Inclusion criteria were studies which were peer-reviewed qualitative design, published from 2000 to 2021, and that concerned parents/caregivers' perspectives of family occupations of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Studies were electronically searched in eight databases from October to December 2021 and 23 studies were identified which met the inclusion criteria. Noblit and Hare's seven step approach for conducting analysis in meta-ethnography was used, and three themes identified: (1) sensory processing differences in daily life, (2) what is hard about hard, and (3) orchestrating family life. Results identified the centrality of sensory experiences in understanding family life. Living with unpredictability while orchestrating certainty through routines was core to successful participation. This review provides insights into how parents negotiate the complexities of constructing family life when living with an autistic child. The results can inform the design of future interventions that specifically address the relationship between meaningful participation in family occupations and daily routines and sensory processing in autistic children.
Systematic review registration
https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022298938 , identifier CRD42022298938.
... Therefore, having daily routines support families in maintaining healthy family relationships such as parent-child harmony, parenting competence, and marital satisfaction (Brody & Flor, 1997;Fiese et al., 1993Fiese et al., , 2002. For children's socioemotional, language, cognitive, and physical development, routines serve as an essential factor (Fiese et al., 2002;Spagnola & Fiese, 2007;Sytsma et al., 2001). ...
Children’s routines, including bedtime, have been disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. How parents engage in their children’s bedtime routines has not yet been examined in Turkey. The purpose of the current study was to understand the nature of children’s bedtime routines and how these routines contributed to their sleep behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mothers of 313 (143 girls) children aged between 16 and 84 months old (M = 52.42, SD = 12.36) completed questionnaires regarding children’s bedtime routines and sleep behaviors. The structure of the bedtime routines questionnaire was confirmed. Results from the regression analyses showed that routine environment was related to both bedtime resistance and sleep duration. Reactivity during bedtime was related to bedtime resistance. Results highlight the importance of consistent bedtime routines for quality sleep.
... Time im omogućujemo sudjelovanje u aktivnostima te anticipaciju događaja (Schaaf, Toth-Cohen, Johnson, Outten, & Benevides, 2011). Kroz rutine djeca s teškoćama razvijaju nove socijalne vještine, uče se prihvatljivim oblicima ponašanja, a obitelj ih pritom vodi i usmjerava te na kraju potkrepljuje njihovo ponašanje (Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). Isti autori ističu i kako se obiteljske rutine razlikuju te ovise o djetetovu i roditeljskom temperamentu. ...
Problems of practice, in order to make business as optimal as possible, often require us to determine a location that is connected to three or four given destinations by communications of the total minimum length. That there is an answer to this challenge, we owe gratitude to the remarkable book: “What is Mathematics” ?, (An Elementary Approach to Ideas and Methods) – “What is Mathematics” (Elementary Approach to Ideas and Methods), by Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins - Richard Courant and Herbert Robins, which in one part actualizes the work of Jakob Steiner, a Swiss mathematician. We owe a special momentum and new contributions to the solutions to this problem to the emergence of Informatics, which, thanks to the unprecedented development of its hardware and software components, easily and accurately solves the challenge for more than four destinations. The aim of this paper is to solve complex problems with a better approach and ways of solving tasks so that students can improve their quality through development.
... These included trust, respect, consistency, correct timing, sensibility or intuitiveness, and consideration of personal space or boundaries. Literature supports the importance of these foundations in both contexts: Trust (Dinkmeyer & McKay, 1990;Carlsson et al., 2014;Frewin & Gardiner, 2005;Ghiringhelli, 2016;Peterson & Green, 2009);respect (Badejo, 2010;Carlsson et al., 2014;Dinkmeyer & McKay, 1990;Frewin & Gardiner, 2005;Guilamo-Ramos & Bouris, 2008;Horner & Sugai, 2005); consistency (Brandt, 2004;Goodnight, 2007;Hausberger et al., 2007;Ryan et al., 2013;Spagnola & Fiese, 2007); correct timing (Fingerman et al., 2004;Goodnight, 2007); sensibility (Brandt, 2004(Brandt, , 2006Burgon, 2011;Kohanov, 2001;Laursen & Collins, 2004;Lentini & Knox, 2009); and respecting personal boundaries (Badejo, 2010;Birke, 2007;Burgon, 2011;Ferguson, 2010;Horner & Sugai, 2005;Kohanov, 2013). ...
The aim of this study was to explore and describe adult horse riders’ perceptions regarding their communication with horses and how it translates to their communication with family. A qualitative explorative, descriptive research design was implemented. The sample group, which was recruited through either a purposive or snowball sampling technique, included nine participants between the ages of 19 and 53. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and analyzed with the use of thematic analysis. The findings reveal similarities between the communication that takes place between the participants and horses, and between the participants and their family members. These similarities make it possible for the communication in one context (with horses) to be translated to the other context (with family members), and the findings suggest that such a translation is possible and is supported by the systems theory.
... However, for families with children with special needs, changes in family routines are often necessary. As a result, these changes can lead to an imbalance in the family's daily functioning, which may be subtle, when families have strong networks of support and resources, or significant, when families have few networks of resources and support (Spagnola and Fiese, 2007). ...
The Routine-Based Interview is a promising method to collect information in Early Intervention, since it focuses on all members of the family and their routines, while seeking to highlight what parents consider a priority in the intervention. For that reason, in this paper we aim to analyze the kind of benefits and difficulties that may be found in the Routine-Based Interview's implementation process. The present research comprises the qualitative interview method, according to which semi-structured interviews were carried out by eight Portuguese professionals enrolled in the Portuguese System for Early Intervention. The professionals highlight the benefits of the Routine-Based Interview as a way to clearly and objectively evaluate and identify the concerns and priorities of the family, as well as the child's competencies and the functional goals that will be included in the intervention plan. All participants stress the need for more training in the Routine-Based Interview process.
... Time im omogućujemo sudjelovanje u aktivnostima te anticipaciju događaja (Schaaf, Toth-Cohen, Johnson, Outten, & Benevides, 2011). Kroz rutine djeca s teškoćama razvijaju nove socijalne vještine, uče se prihvatljivim oblicima ponašanja, a obitelj ih pritom vodi i usmjerava te na kraju potkrepljuje njihovo ponašanje (Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). Isti autori ističu i kako se obiteljske rutine razlikuju te ovise o djetetovu i roditeljskom temperamentu. ...
Društvene mreže kao snažan medij omogućavaju dvosmjernu komunikaciju ipojavu influencera sa značajnim utjecajem na druge ljude, posebice djecu i mlade u vrijeme njihovog intenzivnog razvoja. Influenceri svoje djelovanje ostvaruju konceptima parasocijalne povezanosti i identifikacije želja kao i influence marketingom. Medijske ličnosti danas preuzimaju jednu od socijalizacijskih uloga u odgoju te je iz tog razloga jedna od važnih uloga roditelja pomoći djeci u „odgoju za medije“ kako bi minimizirali manipulaciju djecom i njihovo uvođenje u neki iluzorni svijet koji im se prezentira kao „suvremena neminovnost“. Jedan od ciljeva istraživanja bio je problemu utjecaja influencera pristupiti s pedagoškog stajališta budući ovakav način ispitivanja na nacionalnom i širem planu izostaje. Putem posebno kreiranog anketnog upitnika ispitalo se mišljenje učenika 7. i 8. razreda (N = 51) osnovnih škola i njihovih roditelja (N = 26) o spoznajama influencerskog utjecaja i mogućih posljedica na djecu. Istraživanje je provedeno u 5 riječkih osnovnih škola. Rezultati pokazuju snažan influencerski utjecaj među učeničkom populacijom koji se ostvaruje kroz fenomene parasocijalne povezanosti, identifikacije želja i influence marketinga. Istovremeno roditelji pokazuju neinformiranost o problemu, nepoznavanje utjecaja influencera na djecu, dok neki ne uviđaju negativne utjecaje ili su prema problemu indiferentni. Istraživanje ukazuje na potrebu poticanja intenzivne komunikacije roditelja i djece o medijskom sadržaju i medijskim ličnostima kako bi se djecu osposobilo za kritički odnos prema njima. Istraživanje otvara i niz drugih istraživačkih pitanja na koje bi pedagogijska znanost trebala odgovoriti, a prvenstveno kreirati suvremene načine educiranja i osnaživanja roditeljskih odgojnih kompetencija posebice iz područja medijske pismenosti.
... Evidence suggests predictability, consistency, and routine at home can mediate the effects of parental efficacy on child positive outcomes (Spagnola and Fiese 2007). Yet, participants in this study vividly depicted an unpredictable childhood involving frequent fluctuations in health conditions and ongoing responsibilities at home, relatable to the relentlessness of young caring captured by Bolas, Wersch, and Flynn (2007). ...
Caring when young can have long-term negative consequences. Recently, more nuanced accounts have revealed potential positive impacts. The aim of this study was to give voice to participants from NI to gain a better understanding of the lived experience of childhood caring. Individual interviews were conducted with six females aged between 19 and 24. Unstructured interviews were transcribed verbatim, analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), and had a participatory element. Presented are findings showing four superordinate themes: Making sense of childhood experiences through adult eyes; An unpredictable and stressful childhood; Key people and their understanding; Onwards and upwards in transitioning forward. Participants reported difficulty understanding their caring experiences as children and how with age and comparison to others their knowledge increased. They detailed unpredictable, stressful childhoods involving juggling responsibilities in an attempt to cope. The quality of relationships with others appeared to influence resilience levels and their ability to manage stress. Participants were not hidden from view but often felt ignored especially at school. Participants though had a remarkable ability to spontaneously find benefit from their caring childhoods which seemed vital when deriving meaning from the experience and moving forward. Findings are discussed and future implications are recommended.
... Time im omogućujemo sudjelovanje u aktivnostima te anticipaciju događaja (Schaaf, Toth-Cohen, Johnson, Outten, & Benevides, 2011). Kroz rutine djeca s teškoćama razvijaju nove socijalne vještine, uče se prihvatljivim oblicima ponašanja, a obitelj ih pritom vodi i usmjerava te na kraju potkrepljuje njihovo ponašanje (Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). Isti autori ističu i kako se obiteljske rutine razlikuju te ovise o djetetovu i roditeljskom temperamentu. ...
INTRODUCTION TO THE EMOTIONOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD (WITH AN APPENDIX TO CHILDREN'S LITERATURE) The paper provides an overview recent literature of the emotionology of childhood in historiography and in the history of children's literature, in reviewing the history of childhood emotionology in the Middle Ages and parents' feelings towards children to Stearns' reading of modern children's emotions, problematized by the notion , , Happy Children” as a product of popular American emotional culture. Correlated with the historical overview, emotiology will be explored as a modern method of approaching the literary text of children's literature. Since the field of children's literature has not been researched in Croatian literary studies by using emotionology as a methodological framework, the aim of this paper is to increase interest in literary emotionology, expand the overview of research methodology in the scientific community and thus popularize the field, especially in terms of new emotional research of children's literature in Croatia, which are given a guide by this introduction. Following the example of the history of emotions in historiography, the aim is to encourage literary emotionology to write a systematic emotionological study of literary-historical periodization of (dominant) emotions in various periods of children's literature, from the beginning of children's literature to the present day (emotionology has evidently been lacking so far). The possibility of scientific resistance is expected due to the introduction of the literary theoretical discipline of emotion, as a modern research paradigm, in the study of children's literature (as advocated by the author of this paper), just as resistance arose due to several different works of children's literature. , no longer just a moral component, but also a child’s psyche, like Pippi Longstocking (1945) by Astrid Lindgren, although it was clear that a whole new and very successful genre was emerging. Always, when it comes to newspapers, there is resistance to the new and different (Piskač, 2018), and in the world of the Internet Y and Z generation (children of the 21st century) and the growing insistence on artificial intelligence - emotional literacy, emotional intelligence, ultimately , emotional science, is also important as a predilection for maintaining a healthy childhood. The conclusion is that neither methodological, terminological or interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary problems in the study of feelings should distract us from the continuous research of emotionology at various social levels, a topic that is important in itself (Stearns and Stearns, 1985) and which - if we look at emotionology as a valent anti-essentialist feature of identity (whether real or literary) - begins its development in early childhood, which gives the topic a specific merit.
... Time im omogućujemo sudjelovanje u aktivnostima te anticipaciju događaja (Schaaf, Toth-Cohen, Johnson, Outten, & Benevides, 2011). Kroz rutine djeca s teškoćama razvijaju nove socijalne vještine, uče se prihvatljivim oblicima ponašanja, a obitelj ih pritom vodi i usmjerava te na kraju potkrepljuje njihovo ponašanje (Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). Isti autori ističu i kako se obiteljske rutine razlikuju te ovise o djetetovu i roditeljskom temperamentu. ...
The family as a natural support provider is an indispensable factor in a child's development. The birth of a child brings happiness to every family, but also a certain amount of stress. Special attention should be paid to the families of children with disabilities who are exposed to additional levels of stress. However, it often happens that the families of children with disabilities are left to fend for themselves in a system that does not allow them to meet their own needs and the needs of their own child and ultimately exercise basic human rights. The aim of this research was to examine the self-confidence in parenting abilities of parents of children with disabilities in the city of Mostar and the surrounding area. The study involved 25 parents of children with disabilities. Descriptive statistics methods and appropriate nonparametric statistical methods were used for data processing. The obtained results indicate that there is no statistically significant difference in the level of self-confidence of parents of children with disabilities about their age. The obtained results indicate that there is no statistically significant difference in the level of self-confidence in parenting abilities of parents of children with disabilities with regard to the age and working status of parents. Knowledge of parents' self-confidence is important not only for science, but also for the development and selection of appropriate intervention support programs for children with disabilities and their families. Due to the fact that the adverb was used in the research, the generalization of the obtained results is limited and there is a need for further research on this issue.
... Time im omogućujemo sudjelovanje u aktivnostima te anticipaciju događaja (Schaaf, Toth-Cohen, Johnson, Outten, & Benevides, 2011). Kroz rutine djeca s teškoćama razvijaju nove socijalne vještine, uče se prihvatljivim oblicima ponašanja, a obitelj ih pritom vodi i usmjerava te na kraju potkrepljuje njihovo ponašanje (Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). Isti autori ističu i kako se obiteljske rutine razlikuju te ovise o djetetovu i roditeljskom temperamentu. ...
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Soon, the classic way of attending schools, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, was interrupted all over the world. With the interruption of the classic way of attending school, distance learning began. So school, parents, and pupils were forced to a more intensive cooperation and coordination. The aim of this study was to determine whether there are differences in the frequency of contact between parents and professionals in regular primary schools and primary schools for children with disabilities. The sample consisted of two groups of respondents. The first group of respondents was 23 parents of children with disabilities attending regular primary schools and primary schools for children with disabilities. The second group of respondents was 34 educational staff. Parents of children attending regular primary schools and parents of children attending school for children with disabilities were found to be equally satisfied with the online support received given the frequency of support and the availability of professionals outside working hours. In addition, the results showed that parents of children with disabilities attending regular schools and parents of children attending schools for children with disabilities had equally frequent contact with professionals and the school in general.
... 198). In the family, meaningful routines and rituals provide a predictable structure that guides behaviors and the emotional climate, which support the child's development (Spagnola and Fiese, 2007). However, these routines, such as predictable and repetitive behaviors and interactions among family members may change after parental divorce. ...
Purpose
Divorce has negative effects on children, although emotions that children experience after parental divorce are open to different interpretations. Accordingly, this study was conducted to explore loneliness in children of divorce.
Design/methodology/approach
A constructivist grounded theory study was carried out through the lens of definitive guidelines provided by Charmaz (2006). The participants were 15 female children aged 11–12 years, who were purposively selected. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and memos. To analyze data, the authors used four coding techniques, including initial, focused, axial, and theoretical coding. Also, to examine the links between the identified themes, the authors focused on three factors: conditions, actions/interactions, and consequences.
Findings
The analysis of the obtained data through the above-mentioned stages led to the identification of three main themes, including parental unavailability, rejection, and mistrust, which shaped children's experience of loneliness through lack of physical access, lack of emotional access, low levels of parental expectations, lack of supervision, absence of belongingness, being ignored, pessimistic views, and insecure relationships.
Originality/value
As was suggested by attachment theory, children of divorce lost their attachment bonds with their parents that intensified their perception of loneliness and negatively affected their social and academic performance. It was revealed that, effects of divorce went beyond the loss of the attachment bonds in families because our participants talked about their relationships with peers and their position in a society, where divorce carries the social stigma and children of divorced mother are marginalized.
... Previous studies have shown that family rituals enhance parentchild interaction and that the amount of parent-child interaction affects children's language ability and development [25]. In addition, family rituals are associated with positive outcomes such as family quality of life, psychological functioning, and health-related behaviors [26,27]. These findings suggest that family rituals may enhance children's social adjustment. ...
Background
Parent–child relationships, the rearing attitudes of parents toward their children as well as the interactive relationships, such as play and cultural activities that parents and children enjoy together, serve as important factors in predicting a child’s growth and development. These experiences of annual events celebrated with the family may be related to the school-age child’s development. However, this relationship has not been investigated sufficiently. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the relationship between the experience of annual events observed in the family and a child’s social adjustment.
Methods
In 2019, a self-administered questionnaire survey targeting fifth graders (ages 10–11) in Japan was conducted with children’s parents. Major survey items included participants’ characteristics (child’s sex, family composition, siblings, household income, and parents’ educational backgrounds), annual events observed in the family ( Setsubun or the day before the start of spring, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, the Tanabata or Weaver Festival, Respect for the Aged Day, Winter solstice, etc.), and the child’s social adjustment (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). A total of 653 children who met the criteria of not having any developmental disorders were included as participants for the analysis.
Results
The participants had celebrated an average of 15.47 (± 5.52) annual events with their families that year. The number of annual events celebrated was significantly related to family composition and the parents’ educational backgrounds. We found that children who came from families with numerous experiences of annual events were more likely to have higher prosocial behavior and were less likely to have externalizing or internalizing problems. The same pattern was found even after adjusting for the family’s socioeconomic background and other factors; that is, children who came from families having diverse experiences of annual events were more likely to show prosocial tendencies.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that the experience of annual events observed with family potentially enhances a child’s prosocial behavior. Thus, celebrating and preserving cultural and personal events in the amily context may be an important developmental experience in terms of children’s social adjustment.
... A characteristic of family resilience includes the ability of families to maintain routines and rituals flexibly [41]. Families discussed how the transition to remote schooling became easier once children adjusted to the new home routine, and research has found that establishing predictable family routines can help foster a positive emotional climate [42], which may have been particularly important during this time. Lockdowns may have created opportunities for families to find novel ways to be together, and parents in the current study shared that the increased time spent together was a pleasant aspect of the pandemic. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic upended family life, forcing many families to reorganize their daily routines. Hispanic families have been especially affected by the pandemic, experiencing cumulative stressors and increased risks of contracting the virus, hospitalization, and morbidity. To date, there is limited research examining home life within Hispanic families during the pandemic. Given the extended amount of time for which families have been isolated at home together, identifying factors that may enhance or detract from well-being within the home is important in advancing efforts to support at-risk families. In this qualitative study, 29 Hispanic parents (primarily mothers) living in California participated in one of eight focus groups conducted in Spanish. Parents described activities and behaviors during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The following six themes were identified using reflexive thematic analysis: (1) parents focused on family time; (2) children adapted to the changes of the pandemic; (3) parents and children engaged in physical activity; (4) children mainly entertained themselves with screens; (5) COVID-19 media coverage was accessible in the home; and (6) parents worried about the virus, and its effects on the future. While findings include anxiety around the virus and its attendant effects, family strengths were also present throughout the discussions. Public policy should consider ways to leverage family strengths to preserve family relationships and routines during future public health crises.
... Rituals are important as they contribute to maintaining the structure and emotional climate of daily family life. The emotional connections are made when family members gather together over time and can make positive or negative exchanges (Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). According to Wolin and Bennett (1984), there are three types of family rituals: Family celebrations, Family traditions, and Patterned interactions. ...
Background
Families, as a network of emotional connections, assume a particularly important role when there is a member with intellectual disabilities (ID). The main aim of the study is to explore the perceptions of parents of persons with ID about their family relationships.
Method
Ten parents of persons with ID, four of which were fathers, were interviewed using photo-elicited interviews and 60 photographs were analysed.
Results
Persons depicted in the photographs were mainly members of the nuclear family, and the moments captured were mostly family rituals. Joy was the most present feeling in the photographs and “saudade” the most evoked feeling when viewing them. Family relationships assume an essential role for parents, and acceptance and inclusion emerged as central concepts.
Conclusions
The core value of family relationships for parents, as a resource to deal with the challenges brought on by the condition, should be taken into account in interventions.
... Ample evidence suggests that our early environments tend to be more periodic, across multiple temporal scales (de Barbaro and Fausey, 2021;Warlaumont et al., 2022). For example, early language-based interactions often rely more heavily on nursery rhymes and rhythmic singing (Britto et al., 2002;Markova et al., 2019;Mendoza and Fausey, 2021); sub-second-level amplitude modulations patterns in infant-directed speech are more periodic compared to adult-directed speech (Goswami, 2018;Hilton et al., 2021;Leong, Kalashnikova et al., 2017;Goswami, 2015, 2015); attentional foraging patterns are more profoundly periodic during early life (Robertson, 1985(Robertson, , 1993; and daytime routines are often more consistent during early childhood (Spagnola and Fiese, 2007). And as we noted above (in Section 3), some authors have also reported that infants who show stronger periodicities in their patterns of self-generated behaviours show superior attention and learning (Feldman et al., 1996;Feldman and Mayes, 1999;Frensch et al., 2011). ...
An individual’s early interactions with their environment are thought to be largely passive; through the early years, the capacity for volitional control develops. Here, we consider: how is the emergence of volitional control characterised by changes in the entrainment observed between internal activity (behaviour, physiology and brain activity) and the sights and sounds in our everyday environment (physical and social)? We differentiate between contingent responsiveness (entrainment driven by evoked responses to external events) and oscillatory entrainment (driven by internal oscillators becoming temporally aligned with external oscillators). We conclude that ample evidence suggests that children show behavioural, physiological and neural entrainment to their physical and social environment, irrespective of volitional attention control; however, evidence for oscillatory entrainment beyond contingent responsiveness is currently lacking. Evidence for how oscillatory entrainment changes over developmental time is also lacking. Finally, we suggest a mechanism through which periodic environmental rhythms might facilitate both sensory processing and the development of volitional control even in the absence of oscillatory entrainment.
... Moreover, besides the beneficial influence of family functioning, family regularity has been shown to be beneficial for children's development. Routines in families can be viewed as "powerful behavior organizer[s] within the family system" (Bao et al., 2019, p. 936;Fiese, 1992) and involve symbolic communication, repeated practices, and meaningful daily interactions (Bao et al., 2019;Spagnola & Fiese, 2007). The concept family regularity refers to the "consistency of day-to-day family routines," which can take place, for instance, during mealtimes and bedtimes (Rijlaarsdam et al., 2016, p. 782). ...
In this preregistered study, we studied the extent to which family functioning and family regularity compensated for (compensatory model of resilience, Garmezy et al., Child Development 55:97–111, 1984) and buffered against (risk-protective factor model of resilience, Fergus and Zimmerman, Annual Review of Public Health 26:399–419, 2005) the influence of cumulative risks (CRs) on young children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. We conducted path analyses on multi-informant, longitudinal data from 3159 families enrolled in the Generation R Study, a large prospective birth cohort in the Netherlands. Children self-reported on internalizing and externalizing problems at age six. Mothers and fathers reported on 48 CRs between birth and child age five. Mothers reported on family regularity items at child ages two and four, and on family functioning at child age four. CR was positively associated with girls’ and boys’ internalizing problems, and with boys’ externalizing problems. We did not find support for a compensatory or buffering role of family functioning on the association between CR and children’s internalizing or externalizing problems. Our findings suggest that the use of a CR index may be beneficial for identifying children who are at higher risk for developing internalizing and externalizing problems in the early school years, as well as for planning treatment and intervention. Keywords: Cumulative risk, Internalizing problems, Externalizing problems, Family functioning, Family regularity, Early childhood.
This article addresses the methodological challenge of capturing and comparing children’s experiences of everyday life by using a novel rhythmanalysis approach to explore the experiences of a small sample ( N = 16) of home based children aged 7–10 in England and Greece during the 2020 global lockdown. The children kept a 1 day diary in which they recorded their activities and feelings at regular intervals during their waking hours. The data collected indicates that the children’s lives were both disrupted and synchronised during this period, and highlights how their individual experiences were interconnected in time and space by shared rhythms which underpinned the patterns of their day. The paper highlights the utility of the specially designed rhythmanalysis data collection tool and analytical approach for future comparative international studies of children’s everyday lives.
This study is based on the European project "The Impact of Technological Transformations on the Digital Generation"-DigiGen (financed by the European Union's Horizon 2020 1) and has the scope to present the implications of the accentuated usage of digital technologies (DT), by children aged 5−6 and 8−10, during the period COVID-19 pandemic, on parents' and children's perception of family dynamics. Based on the methodology of the DigiGen consortium, we analyse interviews conducted with twelve children and two family members for each child, with the purpose of understanding their family interactions related to DT. The findings of the Romanian part of the DigiGen report 2 indicate that both children and parents actively use mediation and negotiation strategies to be in control over their DT usage. Generally, both parents and their offspring acknowledge the role parents have in monitoring children's digital activities and competence development, though parents often fail to impose rules and offer the necessary support.
Parenting is a critical influence on the development of children across the globe. This handbook brings together scholars with expertise on parenting science and interventions for a comprehensive review of current research. It begins with foundational theories and research topics, followed by sections on parenting children at different ages, factors that affect parenting such as parental mental health or socioeconomic status, and parenting children with different characteristics such as depressed and anxious children or youth who identify as LGBTQ. It concludes with a section on policy implications, as well as prevention and intervention programs that target parenting as a mechanism of change. Global perspectives and the cultural diversity of families are highlighted throughout. Offering in-depth analysis of key topics such as risky adolescent behavior, immigration policy, father engagement, family involvement in education, and balancing childcare and work, this is a vital resource for understanding the most effective policies to support parents in raising healthy children.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including family dysfunction as well as abuse and neglect, have enduring effects on development. Research across diverse populations documents that ACEs are prevalent and cumulative, influencing children’s developing mental, emotional, and physical systems that affect long-term physical and mental health, social relationships, and parenting attitudes and behaviors. Protective and compensatory experiences (PACEs), including nurturing relationships and stable, supportive environments, can mitigate the effects of ACEs, disrupting the intergenerational transmission of adversity. In this chapter, we summarize the effects of ACEs on neurobiological, cognitive, social, and emotional development. Next, we discuss the effects of cumulative protective experiences and the introduce the concept of Balanced Parenting to promote resilience in the face of adversity. We include examples of how parents and other caregivers can effectively parent children with a history of ACEs at different developmental stages, and conclude with a discussion of new directions for research and practice.
The purpose of the present study was to provide a Turkish cultural adaptation (EFORTS-T) of the Executive Functions and Occupational Routines Scale (EFORTS) and to investigate its psychometric quality in children with dyslexia. We culturally adapted the original English version of this instrument with internationally suggested methods. Participants included the mothers of either randomly selected children with dyslexia (study group, n = 158) or age and sex-matched typically developing children (control group, n = 167). These participants completed a demographic form, the EFORTS-T, and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Parent form (BRIEF-P). For internal consistency, the alpha coefficient of the new instrument was excellent (.93), and it showed satisfactory test-retest reliability over a 14-day interval (.91). The criterion-related validity between the EFORTS-T and the BRIEF-P was moderate (.73). Fit indices of the model supported its factor structure. In conclusion, our findings support the validity and reliability of the new Turkish version of EFORTS for evaluating EF and contributing to the daily occupational routines of children with dyslexia for Turkish respondents. Further studies are needed to apply this instrument to children of different age groups and psychiatric conditions.
Background
The home environment and caregiver interactions have an impact on infant development. However, there is a paucity of research surrounding the home environment and its relation to early feeding outcomes within the first year of life. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the home environment and infant bottle feeding outcomes at 3 and 12 months of age.
Methods
Seventy-two full-term infants completed this study at 3 months of age and fifty-five infants completed the study at 12 months. Data in the current study were collected from a larger, ongoing study completed in the infant's home at 3 and 12 months of age. The Infant-Toddler Home Observation for Measurement of Environment Inventory (IT-HOME) was utilized to assess the infant's home environment. The Oral Feeding Skills (OFS) scale was completed while the infant was observed during a bottle feed. Caregivers completed a questionnaire about their infant's feeding abilities via the Neonatal Eating Assessment Tool (Neo-EAT) at 3 months and Pediatric Eating Assessment Tool (Pedi-EAT) at 12 months.
Results
At 3 months of age, the IT-HOME Involvement subscale was associated with an increase in the amount of milk provided in the infant's bottle. There were no significant associations between the IT-HOME and caregiver report of feeding at 3 months of age. At 12 months of age, the IT-HOME Acceptance subscale was associated with an increase in oral transfer rate and the IT-HOME Variety subscale was associated with a decrease in oral transfer rate. Additionally, the IT-HOME Organization subscale was associated with caregiver report of feeding on the following Pedi-EAT scales: Mealtime Behaviors, Selective Restrictive Eating, and Oral Processing at 12 months.
Conclusions
These findings reveal that the home environment is significantly related to different infant bottle feeding outcomes over the first year of life. At 3 months, IT-HOME Involvement was associated with the amount of milk offered in the bottle, whereas at 12 months of age, subscales of the IT-HOME were associated with oral feeding transfer rate and caregiver report of feeding. Clinically, these findings point to the importance of considering the infant's bottle feeding skills in conjunction with certain aspect within the infant's environment. Additional research is needed to further explore these relationships in greater detail, with a larger sample size and across patient populations.
Of all years of elementary school, kindergartners and first graders are disproportionately absent. To address this, there is a growing effort among both research and policy communities to identify and develop which school resources might be leveraged to improve absenteeism. This study contributes in this domain, by examining whether serving school breakfast in the classroom (as opposed to elsewhere at school) might be linked to better attendance outcomes for students in both kindergarten and first grade. Using nationally representative data (Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Class of 2010-11) and controlling for unobserved confounding individual-level factors, our study finds that when schools moved breakfast into the classroom (from the cafeteria, for instance), children had fewer days absent as well as a decrease in the likelihood of being chronically absent. The results were not differentiated by specific student or school characteristics, thereby suggesting a generalizability across all students in the sample. These findings should motivate a policy conversation around ways to best leverage and change existing school settings to reduce children’s absenteeism.
The Routine-Based Interview is a promising method to collect information in Early Intervention, since it focuses on all members of the family and their routines, while seeking to highlight what parents consider a priority in the intervention. For that reason, in this paper, we aim to analyse the kind of benefits and difficulties that may be found in the Routine-Based Interview’s implementation process. The present research comprises the qualitative interview method, according to which semi-structured interviews were carried out by eight Portuguese professionals enrolled in the Portuguese System for Early Intervention. The professionals highlight the benefits of the Routine-Based Interview as a way to clearly and objectively evaluate and identify the concerns and priorities of the family, as well as the child’s competencies and the functional goals that will be included in the intervention plan. All participants stress the need for more training in the Routine-Based Interview process.
The foundations of an applied family social systems theory for explaining the multiple determinants of child well-being, learning, and development, parenting beliefs, behavior and practices, and family well-being are described. The theory is derived from tenets of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and other social, family, and contextualized theories. The applied theory was used to develop an activity setting model of young children’s everyday learning opportunities and a family systems intervention practices model for ensuring parents and other caregivers have the time and psychological energy to provide young children with development-instigating and development-enhancing learning opportunities in the contexts of everyday family and community life. Results from three different lines of research are described which provide support for the applied systems model and the two associated intervention models. Results showed that different child characteristics, setting characteristics, parenting behavior and practices, family and social systems variables, and practitioner measures were empirically related to variations in child, parent, and family outcomes. There were also discernable pathways of influence between family systems intervention model practices, parenting practices, and child outcomes mediated by parent self-efficacy beliefs and parent well-being. The contributions of the theory, models, and research findings to child studies are described.
Young children with visual impairment and their families often require specialized assistance through early intervention to develop adaptive routines, cues, and environmental settings during mealtimes and other daily tasks. There is little empirical data in the area of mealtime routines available to support families of young children with visual impairment, and the need for research-based interventions is great. The purpose of this initial needs assessment survey was to gather information as little is already known about what teachers of students with visual impairment trained in early intervention (TSVI-EIs) and other early interventionists who work with infants and toddlers with visual impairment already know about the development of independent mealtime skills. The results of this survey indicate that early intervention professionals would like additional opportunities to learn about mealtime routine strategies for young children with visual impairment, confirm their current experiences and knowledge, and identify additional training and resources.
Background
In all 50 states, early intervention (EI) services to improve long-term child cognitive and academic outcomes are provided to infants and toddlers with suspected or diagnosed developmental delays. When mothers of EI-enrolled children experience depressive symptoms, uptake of EI services can be compromised.
Aims
The purpose of the article is to present a depressive symptom screening intervention for mothers consisting of toolkit development for EI staff and families, symptom screening for mothers and follow-up protocol. To formally evaluate the implementation of the intervention, our research team followed the consolidated framework for implementation research (CFIR).
Methods
Participants were 12 EI service coordinators across two offices. Focus groups and individual interviews were used to develop the toolkit and education module. Through the five CFIR domains, we evaluated the implemented intervention in order to allow other teams to learn from our experiences.
Results
Our team successfully partnered with SCs to develop the intended deliverables. Still, the SCs found it challenging to conduct the screenings and reported mixed success.
Conclusions
Preparation of EI SCs to integrate mental health screenings into their existing skillsets requires a high level of support from the research team, resulting in a rich understanding of the barriers—and potential rewards—for staff and families.
Objective
To explore changes in family-based nature activities (FBNA) across five developmental stages and investigate whether frequency and type of FBNA across the early life course is associated with greater family relationship quality in emerging adulthood.
Method
Retrospective survey data was collected from 451 undergraduate students who primarily identified as Asian American (44.9%) and Latinx (42.7%).
Results
Multilevel models showed that participants who showed greater stability in FBNA across the early life course reported more positive family relationship quality in emerging adulthood. Higher income participants' FBNA declined more rapidly as they aged, whereas lower income participants showed greater stability across five developmental stages. Greater participation in social, physical, nature, and travel types of outdoor family activities were associated with more positive family relationship quality in emerging adulthood, whereas sports and entertainment were not significantly associated.
Conclusion
Findings support the FBNA framework, suggesting that continued participation in outdoor family rituals across the early life course is associated with positive family relationship outcomes in adulthood.
Implications
Results are discussed in relation to the importance of studying outdoor family leisure rituals in the field of human development and family studies.
In this article, we describe the development and investigation of the social validity of Parents Plus, a parent-implemented intervention for preschool children with developmental language disorder. Parents Plus is a fully online intervention that is delivered through three components: (a) training delivered through an app that educates parents on how to use focused stimulation (FS), a language facilitation strategy; (b) parent implementation of FS during naturally occurring routines; and (c) remote practice-based coaching provided by a coach via Zoom. Parents Plus was developed in three steps: (a) initial content development with input from parents and professional advisory board members, (b) brief field test with five parent–child dyads, and (c) full-length field test with seven parent–child dyads. Throughout the development process, we collected social validity data on the intervention's goals, procedures, content and outcomes. Each step was followed by revisions to Parents Plus. Findings suggest that Parents Plus has strong social validity. Recommendations for early intervention practice are provided based on lessons learned, such as different methods to scaffold learning experiences for parents.
Objective:
Evidence of poor sleep health among children in foster care continues to mount, but information about whether and how sleep problems are addressed is unavailable. The goal of this study was to begin to fill these significant knowledge gaps.
Methods:
Four hundred eighty-five foster caregivers from across the United States completed a survey focused on the sleep health of one child, 4 to 11 years (M = 6.4; SD = 2.2) currently in their care. Caregivers provided quantitative and qualitative responses to questions regarding training, information, and services received in relation to their child's sleep. Caregivers also reported on the factors and strategies they perceived as most important for helping children in their care sleep well.
Results:
Only 13% of caregivers reported receiving any information/education about sleep from agencies or case workers, whereas 55% had sought help from a health provider related to their child's sleep. Nearly half of all caregivers (46%) reported giving their child melatonin. Caregivers reported that a bedtime routine/consistency, reassurance of safety/love, and a calming environment were most important for helping their child sleep well. A recurrent theme in qualitative responses was a need to mitigate child fear/anxiety at night.
Conclusion:
Children in foster care face a range of risk factors that increase the likelihood of poor/insufficient sleep, but these findings suggest this critical aspect of health requires greater clinical and research attention. As these data were collected during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, replication studies are necessary.
In recognition of the family as central to health, the concept of family, rather than individual, health has been an important area of research and, increasingly, clinical practice. There is a need to leverage existing theories of family health to align with our evolving understanding of Life Course Health Development, including the opportunities and constraints of the family context for promoting lifelong individual and population health. The purpose of this article is to propose an integrative model of family health development within a Life Course Health Development lens to facilitate conceptualization, research, and clinical practice. This model provides an organizing heuristic model for understanding the dynamic interactions between family structures, processes, cognitions, and behaviors across development. Potential applications of this model are discussed.
The goal of the present study was to examine associations among parent perceptions of child care stability during the prekindergarten year and behavioral outcomes (i.e., externalizing and internalizing problems) that same year and during the early elementary grades in a sample of children from low-income households. A second aim was to explore the extent to which the relation between parent perceptions of child care stability in prekindergarten and externalizing and internalizing behaviors in the early elementary years is mediated by prekindergarten behavior problems. Data were obtained from the Head Start Impact Study. The sample included 4442 children (50% male) who were eligible for Head Start. At the start of prekindergarten, children were on average a little over 4-years-old (M = 4.16 years, SD = 0.43). The sample was ethnically/racially diverse and had a range of maternal education levels. Data were collected at baseline (fall of 2002) and in the spring of prekindergarten, kindergarten and 1st grade. When controlling for a set of demographic, family, and child covariates, results indicated that prekindergarten parent perceptions of child care stability was directly associated with externalizing and internalizing problems that same year and was also directly associated with 1st grade internalizing problems. In addition, stability had small indirect relations with internalizing behaviors in kindergarten and 1st grade, mediated through these same skills in prekindergarten. Implications of study findings and directions for future research are discussed.
This paper adopts hierarchical regression and ANOVA techniques to analyse the data from ‘Child Well‐being Study in Greater Taipei’ in view of examining the association between the practice of family routines and different work schedules for parents with children in primary school. The findings conclude that family routines are relatively unstable when parents work atypical hours, with this association more significant for mothers than for fathers. Moreover, the practice of family routines becomes more unstable when the number of parents working atypical hours increases, while there is no significant change when more parents take jobs with flexible working hours.
Introduction to Family Processes: Diverse Families, Common Ties serves to provide an explanation of the complex workings of inner family life. The text primarily focuses on family processes and dynamics (the "inside" of families) as opposed to sociological trends, political topics, or the individual psychological approach. The text further presents the research underlying these processes and effectively presents ways to increase the positive aspects of family life. Great book for introduction to family classes, as well as overview for graduates/professionals working with families.
https://www.routledge.com/Introduction-to-Family-Processes-Diverse-Families-Common-Ties/Bodman-Van-Vleet-Day/p/book/9781138312876
Background: Emotional eating has been linked to child temperament and family environment factors, such as household chaos. However, few studies have examined how child and home characteristics independently and together influence children's overeating and undereating in response to negative emotions. Objective: The current study examined associations among child temperament, household chaos, and emotional eating in children 18-24 months of age, and interaction effects were also tested. Methods: The study included an analysis sample of 371 families participating in the larger STRONG Kids2 longitudinal birth cohort study (N = 468). The Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire was used to assess child temperament at 18 months, and the Confusion, Hubbub, and Order Scale was used to assess disorganization in the household at 24 months. Child emotional eating at 24 months was assessed using parental reports of the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Results: Negative affectivity and household chaos were independently associated with child emotional overeating. Negative affectivity, effortful control, and household chaos were significantly associated with emotional undereating. No significant interactions were found. Conclusions: Child temperament and household environment independently influence emotional eating in young children, highlighting the need to consider these factors in early prevention. Longitudinal studies are warranted to determine mechanisms that may be involved in these relations.
Forty-seven couples who were first-time parents were assessed in late pregnancy and again at 6 and 18 months postpartum. Fifteen couples not yet decided about having a baby were assessed at equivalent times. Actual involvement in household, decision-making, and childcare roles was determined by responses to a 36-item "Who Does What?" questionnaire. Psychological involvement in parent, partner, and worker roles was also determined, as was each partner's satisfaction with behavioral and psychological involvement in each domain. On the basis of global analyses, previous studies have suggested that new parents adopt more traditional roles. Item analyses indicated that men's and women's roles change in both traditional and nontraditional ways during the transition to parenthood, depending on the item and the time of assessment. Measures of individual and couple adaption were also obtained: self-esteem, parenting stress, and marital satisfaction. Men's involvement in family tasks was correlated with their own or their wives adaption in pregnancy but became linked with adaptation at 6 months postpartum. However, at 18 months after birth husbands' involvement in family tasks was correlated only with wives' adaptation. For both parents, satisfaction with family task arrangements becomes correlated with self-esteem, parenting stress and marital quality after childbirth; these measures of adaptation are more closely linked with role satisfaction than with actual sharing of family work.
Every cultural community provides developmental pathways for children within some ecological‐cultural (ecocultural) context. Cultural pathways are made up of everyday routines of life, and routines are made up of cultural activities children engage. Activities (bedtime, playing video games, homework, watching TV, cooking dinner, soccer practice, visiting grandma, babysitting for money, algebra class) are useful units for cultural analysis because they are meaningful units for parents and children, and they are amenable to ethnographic fieldwork, systemic observation, and interviewing. Activities crystallize culture directly in everyday experience, because they include values and goals, resources needed to make the activity happen, people in relationships, the tasks the activity is there to accomplish, emotions and motives of those engaged in the activity, and a script defining the appropriate, normative way to engage in that activity. The Ecocultural Family Interview provides a window into children's and families' daily routines and activities.
The applicability of teaching communication replacement behavior for challenging behavior has not been fully recognized by early interventionists Working With young children in their natural environments. This article describes hoW challenging routines for families can be converted into opportunities to teach communication skills and increase participation in family activities. A case description is presented to illustrate hoW routines-based intervention can extend the process and procedures of functional assessment and positive behavior support interventions to ongoing early intervention that facilitates increasingly more sophisticated communication skills. We demonstrate hoW communication skills can be targeted in an individualized fashion first as a replacement behavior serving the same function as the challenging behavior for the child and second to correspond to the interests and concerns of the family and child. This approach offers flexibility in applying a variety of effective intervention strategies Within a family-guided process.
We conducted an observational study of parentchild interaction in home activity settings (routines) of families raising young children with developmental disabilities and problem behavior. Our aim was to empirically investigate the construct validity of coercion in typical but unsuccessful family routines. The long-term goal was to develop an expanded ecological unit of analysis that may contribute to sustainable behavioral family intervention. Ten children with autism and/or mental retardation and their families participated. Videotaped observations were conducted in typical but unsuccessful home routines. Parentchild interaction in routines was coded in real time and sequential analyses were conducted to test hypotheses about coercive processes. Following observation, families were interviewed about the social validity of the construct. Results confirmed the presence of statistically significant, attention-driven coercive processes in routines in which parents were occupied with nonchild-centered tasks. Results partially confirmed the presence of escape-driven coercive processes in routines in which parent demands are common. Additional analysis revealed an alternative pattern with greater magnitude. Family perspectives suggested the social validity of the construct. Results are discussed in terms of preliminary, partial evidence for coercive processes in routines of families of children with developmental disabilities. Implications for behavioral assessment and intervention design are discussed.
Objective. This study explores middle-class Anglo and Puerto Rican mothers' beliefs and self-reported practices related to infant feeding, sleeping, and toilet training. Design. Open-ended interviews were conducted with 60 mothers (Anglo = 32, Puerto Rican = 28) in their homes when their infants were 8 months of age. Results. Compared to Puerto Rican mothers, Anglo mothers had earlier age expectations regarding feeding-related milestones, were more likely to use the strategy of providing opportunities for learning, more likely to refer to emotional components of the learning process, such as pride or self-esteem, and less likely to use parental control or guidance. Puerto Rican mothers emphasized instrumental independence, or the ability to perform tasks without help, whereas Anglo mothers focused on emotional autonomy, or concern about the child's inner self. Conclusions. Puerto Rican mothers' emphasis on encouraging instrumental independence suggests a more nuanced perspective regarding such broad rubrics as "individualism" and "sociocentrism." In particular, Puerto Rican mothers tended to view instrumental independence as necessary for meeting societal expectations. Thus, independence need not solely be associated with the values of mothers from individualistic cultures. However, Puerto Rican mothers' focus on instrumental independence is distinct from Anglo mothers' emphasis on emotional autonomy and appears to serve larger sociocentric goals.
The domain of narrative is often assumed to be the first extended discourse genre accessible to young children, and a natural mode for representing and remembering information. Ultimately, however, children must move beyond narrative to include other genres within their competency, such as explanation. Furthermore, narrative and explanation share a number of features that might lead one to expect more or less parallel development. We studied the occurrence of narrative and explanatory sequences of talk during mealtimes in 31 lowincome families with preschool-aged children. Narrative and explanatory sequences constituted approximately equal percentages of the total talk, but explanatory sequences were much briefer and more frequent than narrative sequences. Equivalent measures of narrative and explanatory talk showed moderate correlations, suggesting that families that engaged in one type of discourse also engaged in the other; this suggestion was confirmed by the finding that a large proportion of explanatory utterance were also parts of narratives. As 3- and 4-year-olds, children participated more competently in narrative than in explanatory discourse, though they requested many explanations at all ages.
(Discourse Genres; Explanation; Development)
The relationship between different models of family level interventions and two components of practitioner helpgiving (relational practices and participatory practices) was examined in two studies of parents of young children involved in different kinds of family oriented helpgiving programs. Relational and participatory aspects of helpgiving were found to be practiced less often in professionally centered programs compared to other kinds of family oriented programs. Participatory helpgiving practices that provided parents with (a) choices and options and (b) opportunities to be involved in both solutions to problems and acquisition of knowledge and skills that strengthen functioning were more likely to be found in programs that were family centered. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of the models used to structure social and human services program practices.
Guided by the emotional security hypothesis, this study examined whether links between marital relations and children's adjustment were mediated by children's emotional security, as evidenced by their emotional reactivity (e.g., vigilance, distress), regulation of exposure to parent affect (avoidance, involvement), and internal representations in the context of interparental relations. Multiple methods and contexts were used to assess 6- to 9-year-olds' emotional security in response to standardized, simulated conflicts involving parents. Latent variable path analysis supported a theoretical pathway whereby marital dysfunction was linked with adjustment problems as mediated by response processes indicative of emotional insecurity in relation to parental conflicts. Emotional reactivity and internal representations were most closely linked with marital relations and child adjustment, especially with regard to internalizing symptoms. The importance of understanding children's emotional security in the context of the marital subsystem is discussed.
A family process model was tested, linking adequacy of family financial resources to academic and psychosocial adjustment among 156 African American 6- to 9-year-old children with single mothers who lived in the rural South. Seventy five percent of the sample lived in poverty. Lack of adequate financial resources was associated with more depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem among mothers. Self-esteem was linked with family routines and mother-child relationship quality. The paths from mother-child relationship quality and family routines to child academic and psychosocial adjustment were mediated by the development of child self-regulation. An alternative partially mediated model improved the fit of the data for families with boys.
Guided by the emotional security hypothesis, this study examined whether links between marital relations and children's adjustment were mediated by children's emotional security, as evidenced by their emotional reactivity (e.g., vigilance, distress), regulation of exposure to parent affect (avoidance, involvement), and internal representations in the context of interparental relations. Multiple methods and contexts were used to assess 6- to 9-year-olds' emotional security in response to standardized, simulated conflicts involving parents. Latent variable path analysis supported a theoretical pathway whereby marital dysfunction was linked with adjustment problems as mediated by response processes indicative of emotional insecurity in relation to parental conflicts. Emotional reactivity and internal representations were most closely linked with marital relations and child adjustment, especially with regard to internalizing symptoms. The importance of understanding children's emotional security in the context of the marital subsystem is discussed.
To examine functioning during a dinner meal in families of a child with a chronic illness that requires dietary treatment recommendations, as compared to families of a child without a chronic illness.
Ratings of seven dimensions of family functioning on the McMaster Mealtime Family Interaction Coding System (MICS) were obtained on 29 families of children with CF and 29 families of children with no chronic illness, ages 2 to 6 years, during a videotaped dinner meal at home.
Ratings of families with a child with CF were significantly lower than those for families of children without a chronic illness on Overall Family Functioning and five of the six MICS dimensions: Communication, Interpersonal Involvement, Affect Management, Behavior Control, and Role Allocation and approached significance on the Task Accomplishment dimension. The ratings of families of a child with CF were in the "clinically significant" range on all subcales, including Task ACCOMPLISHMENT.
This study suggests that family functioning at mealtimes may be different in families of children with CF in which explicit dietary guidelines exist than in families of children with no illness or dietary guidelines. These results are discussed in terms of global family functioning and treatment approaches to dietary treatment recommendations.
Validating the cultural context of health is important for obtaining accurate and useful information from standardized measures of child health adapted for cross-cultural applications. This paper describes the application of ethnographic triangulation for cultural validation of a measure of childhood disability, the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) for use with children living in Puerto Rico. The key concepts include macro-level forces such as geography, demography, and economics, specific activities children performed and their key social interactions, beliefs, attitudes, emotions, and patterns of behavior surrounding independence in children and childhood disability, as well as the definition of childhood disability. Methods utilize principal components analysis to establish the validity of cultural concepts and multiple regression analysis to identify intracultural variation. Findings suggest culturally specific modifications to the PEDI, provide contextual information for informed interpretation of test scores, and point to the need to re-standardize normative values for use with Puerto Rican children. Without this type of information, Puerto Rican children may appear more disabled than expected for their level of impairment or not to be making improvements in functional status. The methods also allow for cultural boundaries to be quantitatively established, rather than presupposed.
Personal narratives are receiving considerable interest as reflections of important psychological processes. Less attention, however, has been paid to how narratives are constructed among family members and serve as markers of family relationship functioning that directly affect child development. As a group activity, the telling of family stories may be one way that families regulate social interactions. As reflections of individual and family beliefs, family stories also may be a way that representations of relationships are passed down across generations. The Family Narrative Consortium was formed by a group of family researchers who aimed to devise a system by which family stories could be coded reliably. The consortium members were interested in how narratives about personal experiences could be considered a central aspect of the family's attempt to make sense of their social world and to share representations of relationships with their children. The narratives used in the collaborative project came from family interviews conducted with four different samples using four different interview protocols. The data sets were originally part of larger research projects aimed at studying a variety of family processes including intimate couple formation, family rituals, family adoption, and effects of parental psychiatric illness on the family. Three dimensions were proposed as part of the coding scheme: Narrative Coherence, Narrative Interaction, and Relationship Beliefs. Family narratives are proposed to involve the process of creating a coherent statement about family events, the exchange of information among family members, and attribution of meaning to family experiences. Analyses conducted across the samples and within each site provided support for the reliability and validity of the narrative scales. The consortium members conclude that narratives provide access to the insider's view of the family, can detect interactional and representational as pects of family process, and are important markers of family functioning. Furthermore, the study of family narratives emphasizes how the meaning-making process comes to life in family interaction and transacts with representations of family relationships.
In light of the increasing interest in the role of family rituals in promoting mental health, a self-report questionnaire was developed. The Family Ritual Questionnaire (FRQ) assesses family rituals across 7 settings ranging from dinnertime to religious celebrations and across 8 dimensions ranging from roles to symbolic significance. Four studies were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the FRQ. Adequate internal consistency, construct validity in comparison to the Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1986), test-retest reliability, and within-family agreement were established. The symbolic significance associated with family rituals was positively related to adolescent self-esteem and negatively related to adolescent anxiety. Clinical implications for the importance of symbolic meaning associated with family rituals are discussed.
Organization of the family system at two points in early parenthood was examined through the study of family rituals. Fifty-four couples whose oldest child was 12 months of age or less and sixty-one couples whose oldest child was between 24 and 66 months of age participated in the study. Family rituals were assessed through the Family Ritual Questionnaire and couple interviews. Marital satisfaction was assessed through the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. As predicted, the preschool family group reported the practice of more family rituals and ascribed more meaning to their family rituals than did the infant family group. Significant main effects for group and family ritual meaning were found for mothers' and fathers' marital satisfaction. The protective function of family rituals for marital satisfaction was examined through cluster analyses. Preschool families who reported more meaningful family rituals also reported more marital satisfaction.
Objective To examine, using direct observation methodology, differences in family functioning at mealtime between families of school-age children with cystic fibrosis (CF) and families of school-age children without a chronic illness. Method Family functioning was rated using the McMaster Mealtime Interaction Coding System (MICS) during a videotaped dinner among 28 families of children with CF and 27 families of non-ill, age-matched peers. Families were rated on overall family functioning and on six dimensions of the MICS: task accomplishment, communication, affect management, interpersonal involvement, behavior control, and role allocation. Results Ratings for families of a child with CF were significantly lower than they were for comparison families on overall family functioning and on four of the six MICS dimensions: communication, affect management, interpersonal involvement, and behavioral control. Moreover, a significantly greater percentage of families of children with CF were rated in the unhealthy range on overall family functioning and on five of six MICS dimensions. There was no relationship between family functioning and child weight status for children with CF. Conclusions The current study suggests that for families of school-age children with CF, the family system is negatively affected during mealtime. Dietary interventions need to address family-centered, as well as child-centered, interventions to help families manage challenges presented during the family meal.
This article reports findings of the NASP-KSU nationwide study of the impact of divorce on children. Results are based on a multifactored assessment of children's adjustment using a number of social, academic, and health criteria. The role of selected family environment factors in facilitating children's post-divorce adjustment is examined, utilizing the nationwide sample of 341 divorced family children. Concurrent and longitudinal predictions of children's adjustment from selected home environment factors provide valuable information for professionals working with divorced families. The significance of family interpersonal relationships, childrearing styles, parental satisfaction, and home routines for facilitating children's post-divorce adjustment is discussed.
Children with complex disabilities such as autism spectrum disorders and Landau Kleffner syndrome often lack means to participate in everyday family routines. Serious problem behaviors may result from their challenges in responding to and initiating communicative interactions. These behaviors can change routine family activities such that the child and other family members (parents, siblings) are dissatisfied with these routines. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of functional assessment and positive behavior support carried out in equal partnership with family members to reduce a child's challenging behavior and increase his or her engagement in three family-chosen home activities. A multiple-baseline design across routines was used to determine the effectiveness of intervention in reducing challenging behavior and increasing engagement in the routines. Additionally, the study explored outcomes for positive and negative parentchild interactions within the three targeted routines. Following parent implementation of positive behavior support, results indicated (1) reductions in challenging behavior, (2) increases in the child's engagement, (3) increases in positive parentchild interactions, (4) decreases in negative parentchild interactions, and (5) increased number of days that the child slept through the night. Social validation by parent observers provided additional support for the effect of the intervention on the child's behavior and childparent interaction.
Effects of instructing caregivers to implement teaching strategies within daily routines were investigated using a multiple baseline design across caregiver strategies and participants. Four toddlers with developmental delays participated in intervention conducted by their primary caregiver within the family's preferred play routines. To assess generalization, caregiver teaching strategy use was observed during other caregiving and outdoor play routines. Caregiver strategy use increased subsequent to instruction within indoor play routines. Generalization to other routines, however, was limited in three of the four dyads. All four children demonstrated gains in communication objectives and test scores across multiple developmental domains improved. This study demonstrates the viability of teaching caregivers to embed effective teaching strategies within daily routines to improve the communication skills of toddlers.
In response to legislative mandates, the focus in early childhood special education has shifted from the child to the child in the context of the family. This shift has major implications for assessment as well as for intervention. In this article we describe an ecocultural approach for assessing families of young children with developmental problems. It is an approach that has grown out of empirical work and that we believe has clinical utility in designing interventions for young children and their families.
A family process model was created to explore the direct and indirect links between financial resources, maternal optimism, maternal depression, routine, and various indices of adolescent adjustment among urban African American families. These processes have been explored among rural African American and European American families but not urban African American families. The sample consists of interview data from 164 low-income African American mothers and their adolescent children. The results are congruent with the hypothesized model of family processes. Financial resources are significantly associated with maternal optimism and depression but not routine. Also, maternal optimism is significantly associated with routine although depression is not. Routine is significantly associated with academic self-concept and school engagement but not depression and problem behavior. Maternal optimism and depression do not mediate the relation between financial resources and routine.
Children with autism often engage in problem behavior that can be highly disruptive to ongoing family practices and routines. This case study demonstrated child and family outcomes related to two distinct treatment approaches for challenging behavior (prescriptive vs. contextualized) in a family raising a child with autism. The processes of behavior change directed either solely by the interventionist (prescriptive) and in collaboration with the family (contextualized) were compared. The family-directed intervention involved an assessment of family context (i.e., via discussion of daily routines) to inform the design of a behavioral support plan. Information gathered from the assessment of family routines was used to (a) help select specific behavioral strategies that were compatible with family characteristics and preferences, and (b) construct teaching methods that fit with the family's ongoing practices, routines, and interaction goals. More favorable results (i.e., reductions in challenging behavior, an increase in on-task behavior) were observed within the contextualized treatment-planning phase than were observed within the prescriptive treatment-planning phase. The procedures and results are discussed in relation to the emerging literature documenting the importance of contextualizing behavioral supports applied within family settings.
This study examined the relation between mothers’ long-term socialisation goals and the social networks they construct for their infants. Middle class Anglo (n = 32) and Puerto Rican (n = 28) mothers were interviewed regarding: (a) their long-term socialisation goals; (b) how often their infants’ typically have contact with friends and family members; and (c) specific family circumstances which might influence contact with relatives, including geographic distance, maternal employment status, and child care arrangements. Study results indicated that mothers’ long-term socialisation goals were correlated with the type and frequency of social contacts they structured for their infants. Moreover, limited evidence was found for the influence of group membership on frequency of contact with relatives, despite individual variations in family circumstances. Results are interpreted as illuminating one aspect of the interface between cultural beliefs and socialisation practices within the constructs of individualism/sociocentrism.
This paper asks how an interest in culture and in development can be combined to the benefit of both and at the level of theory and procedures. Three steps are considered, noting for each some existing moves and some recommended extensions. The first step has to do with the sampling of people. Here the main existing move has been toward greater social diversity in sampling. The extensions have to do with giving closer attention to the bases for choice, the ‘subjects’ view of events, within‐group diversity or consensus, and one’s own culture. The second step has to do with sampling tasks and situations. Here the existing moves have been toward the greater use of everyday tasks, life‐course problems, and tasks that involve two or more people: all shifts based on changes in concepts of ability and its bases. The extensions have to do with considering larger groups (going beyond dyads), the impact of audiences, the expectations people hold about appropriate contributions to shared tasks, and the conceptual bases for choice. The third step consists of alertness to unexpected or missing pieces in data or theory. It is illustrated by progressions within research by Peggy Miller and by the author and her colleagues (e.g., progressions in the latter case from Piagetian tasks to parents’ concepts of development and household divisions of labour).
Previous work suggests that the degree of match or congruence between the behavioral characteristics of infants and their families may significantly influence the nature of their interactions and the success of their mutual adaptation. We examined this hypothesis in a cross-sectional study of infant-family congruence on 1 behavioral measure: the degree of rhythmicity, defined for both infants and families as the extent of predictable regularity in ongoing daily life. Questionnaires sampling demographic, behavioral, and adaptive outcome variables were completed by 285 mothers who had infants ranging in age from 2 to 13 months and who had at least 1 other child. Infant rhythmicity was measured using the Perception of Baby Temperament Scale, and family rhythmicity was assessed with the Family Routines Inventory. Multivariate analyses confirmed that the level of congruence between infant and family rhythmicity was significantly associated with mothers' perceptions of overall family adjustment, controlling for other, potentially confounding independent variables. Results are discussed in the context of prior studies examining goodness-of-fit between the characteristics of children and their caregivers.
Over the past feW years, a number of studies have demonstrated the efficacy of combining positive behavior support and family-centered intervention in home settings. Family-centered positive behavior support is often conducted Within the context of natural routines that occur regularly in home or community settings. The purpose of this article is to describe many of the unique challenges and benefits related to assessment, intervention design, and implementation that are inherent in parent—professional collaboration for positive behavior support. This is accomplished through an example of a partnership that resulted in the provision of a variety of visual supports to a young child With autism Who exhibited severe problem behaviors during daily routines.
Studied differences between intact families (IFs) and divorced families (DFs) in the US, and predictors of adjustment of DF children, using data provided by 144 psychologists on 341 children from DFs and 358 from IFs in 1981–1982 and 2-yr follow-up data provided by 32 psychologists on 46 children from DFs and 77 from IFs. Initially, Ss were in Grades 1, 3, and 5; IF Ss did better in classroom behavior; communication, social, and daily living skills; full-scale IQ; and reading, spelling, and math. IF Ss had higher peer popularity, less school absenteeism, more internal locus of control, and better general health, which persisted to a greater extent for boys than girls at follow-up. Issues of DF Ss' socioemotional and academic adjustment are childrearing practices, home routines, family interpersonal relations, custodial parenting satisfaction, cognitive mediators, income and other socioeconomic status (SES) variables, family and community support, and classroom environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In light of the increasing interest in the role of family rituals in promoting mental health, a self-report questionnaire was developed. The Family Ritual Questionnaire (FRQ) assesses family rituals across 7 settings ranging from dinnertime to religious celebrations and across 8 dimensions ranging from roles to symbolic significance. Four studies were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the FRQ. Adequate internal consistency, construct validity in comparison to the Family Environment Scale (R. H. Moos and B. S. Moos, 1986), test–retest reliability, and within-family agreement were established. The symbolic significance associated with family rituals was positively related to adolescent self-esteem and negatively related to adolescent anxiety. Clinical implications for the importance of symbolic meaning associated with family rituals are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
the goal of this presentation is to expand upon our understanding of the environment in order to lay a basis for more complex paradigms in both research and practice [on child development]
developmental models / transactional model [biological basis of developmental models, regulatory systems] / applying the transactional model [remediation, redefinition, reeducation] / understanding environments (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The association of maternal and contextual risk factors with whole-family, marital, and parent–child levels of family functioning was examined. Maternal mental illness and multiple contextual risk best predicted whole-family functioning, but each was related to marital and parent–child levels as well. Nonspecific indicators of maternal illness, rather than diagnostic category, were the better predictors of family functioning. The multiple contextual risk index was the variable most associated with all levels of family functioning, more so than any indicator of maternal illness. These results indicate (a) that maternal mental illness and family functioning are strongly associated and (b) that variation in the conceptualization and measurement strategy for risk and family functioning affects the conclusions of research. The importance of clear conceptualization of family levels and psychopathology risk in families of young children is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the importance of a sense of time, its evolution in early socialization, and the relationship of parent–child interactions to the development of a sense of time. Ss were 26 low-income mothers with high school educations or less and their children who had been participating in a 9-yr longitudinal study of the environment and early development of low-income children. Mothers and children were videotaped in the hospital at birth and in the home. Children completed the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities when 3 yrs old. Children whose mothers spoke to them more about time in daily conversations tended to rank higher on seriation measures than did children whose mothers talked to them less about time. Children whose mothers talked to them using the quantitative, objective units of physical time tended to score higher on seriation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
To examine how family management styles, garnered from parent interviews about the effect of asthma on family life, are related to medical adherence and health care utilization.
Eighty parents with a child with asthma were interviewed. Computerized monitoring of medication use was collected every 2 months for 1 year. Parents and children completed measures of medical adherence and health care utilization at the time of the interview and at 1-year follow-up. Three categories of disease management were identified: reactive, coordinated care, and family partnerships. Group comparisons were made by using analysis of variance with medical adherence and health care utilization as dependent variables.
Management strategies revealed in the interview were distinguishable by adherence rates at the time of interview and 1 year after. Interview categories were also predictive of emergency department use at 1-year follow-up. The reactive group received a diagnosis of asthma 1 year after noting symptoms, in contrast with the other groups, who received a diagnosis within 6 months.
The use of semistructured interviews may reveal important information about how families manage asthma. Further work may help identify areas amenable to intervention and provide a better understanding of why some families delay treatment.
The ordinary discourse of parents, and to a lesser degree young children, includes a surprising amount of attention to language. The dinner table conversations of 22 middle class families, each with a child between 2 and 51/2 years of age, were recorded. Transcripts of these conversations were analyzed for the presence and function of language-focused terms, words such as say, ask, tell, and speak. More than 11% of mothers’, 7% of fathers’, and 4% of children’s utterances contained a language-focused term. Metalinguistic uses (e.g., reporting and commenting on speech) exceeded pragmatic uses (e.g., controlling when and how speech occurs). Mothers more than fathers, and fathers more than children, talked about language. Mothers’, but not fathers, use of language-focused terms was positively correlated with children’s use of language-focused terms. The findings suggest that in the course of routine social interactions, parents provide children with potentially important information about the communicative functions of language.