No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Predictors of Stability/Change in Observed Parenting Patterns Across Early Childhood: A Latent Transition Approach
... The development of personality traits in adolescence is significantly shaped by environmental and familial contexts [1]. Research has consistently shown that high-conflict family settings, socio-economic challenges, and inadequate parental supervision can influence the emergence of maladaptive traits [20], [21], [6]. Adolescents in such contexts often experience self-doubt and a heightened desire for validation, leading to a craving for social recognition and self-gratification [22]. ...
... This reflects the cyclical nature of the VSDT, where self-doubt fosters desire, leading to self-gratification as a coping mechanism for unmet needs [21]. Conversely, parental monitoring emerged as a critical protective factor, reinforcing traits like self-confidence [20]. Narratives revealed that adolescents with strong parental involvement expressed gratitude, resilience, and fulfillment in helping others, behaviors aligned with the Light Triad traits of empathy, altruism, and compassion [84], [30]. ...
This study examines the early developmental predictors of Dark Triad traits, narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy in adolescents using a mixed-methods approach grounded in the Validation Syndrome Diagnostic Triangle (VSDT) framework. The VSDT posits that self-doubt, desire, and self-gratification interact with environmental and familial influences to shape personality traits. Data from the Add Health Longitudinal Study (N = 15,000 adolescents, aged 12–18) were analyzed using Pearson correlations, multiple regression, and thematic analysis. Findings indicate that familial conflict and socioeconomic stress strongly predict Dark Triad tendencies, particularly self-doubt (r = .953, p < .05), self-gratification (r = .898, p < .05), and desire (r = .812, p < .05). Conversely, parental monitoring demonstrated a protective effect, negatively correlating with self-doubt (β = -0.008, p < .05) and self-gratification (β = 0.269, p < .05). Regression analysis identified familial conflict as the strongest predictor of maladaptive traits (β = 0.158, p < .001), accounting for 92.68% of the variance in self-doubt (R² = .927). Thematic analysis corroborated these findings, linking Dark Triad traits to validation-seeking behaviors in adverse familial environments. Adolescents with high Dark Triad tendencies engaged in cyberbullying and manipulative online behaviors, while supportive environments and parental monitoring fostered resilience. These findings validate the VSDT framework, emphasizing the role of familial and environmental factors in adolescent personality development. The findings have implications for forensic cyberpsychology, examining how online interactions shape developmental patterns and influence digital deception. The study provides actionable insights for early interventions to mitigate antisocial behavior. Future research should explore cross-cultural interventions to support healthier adolescent development.
During infancy and toddlerhood, parents show large individual differences in the extent to which they are able to tailor their parenting behaviors to their children’s swiftly changing developmental needs. The first aim of our study was, therefore, to distinguish parenting profiles at three time points during infancy and toddlerhood (i.e., 5, 10, and 36 months) based on mothers’ supportive presence, structure and limit-setting, and quality of instruction, as well as to examine the stability of profile structure and profile membership across time. The second aim was to examine how profile membership and profile transitions at each time point are associated with relevant parental, contextual, and child-specific factors. Data from 244 Dutch mother–child dyads were collected at three waves: when children were approximately 5 months (n = 203), 10 months (n = 181), and 3 years of age (n = 178). We found three types of parenting profiles at each wave: a competent profile, a sufficient profile, and a maladaptive profile. Only the competent parenting profile was found to have a stable structure across all three waves. In general, profile membership was least stable for the maladaptive profile. Results also showed that maternal agreeableness and a higher educational level increased the likelihood to exhibit a more competent parenting profile. Our findings advance our understanding of how parenting profiles might change due to children’s swiftly changing needs and inform efforts to tailor parenting interventions to individual parents.
Latent transition analysis (LTA), also referred to as latent Markov modeling, is an extension of latent class/profile analysis (LCA/LPA) used to model the interrelations of multiple latent class variables. LTA methods have become increasingly accessible and in-turn are being utilized in applied research. The current article provides an introduction to LTA by answering 10 questions commonly asked by applied researchers. Topics discussed include: (1) an overview of LTA; (2) a comparison of LTA to other longitudinal models; (3) software used to run LTA; (4) sample size suggestions; (5) modeling steps in LTA; (6) measurement invariance; (7) the inclusion of auxiliary variables; (8) interpreting results of an LTA; (9) the nature of data (e.g., longitudinal, cross-sectional); and (10) extensions of LTA. An applied example of LTA is included to help understand how to build an LTA and interpret results. Finally, the article suggests future areas of research for LTA. This article provides an overview of LTA, highlighting key decisions researchers need to make to navigate and implement an LTA analysis from start to finish. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Objectives
To explore the impact of poverty on parent–child relationships, parental stress and parenting practices.
Design
A mixed methods study.
Sample
Four hundred and eighty five Hong Kong Chinese parents who had children aged 3-6 years, and who were from low-income families. Eleven of these parents were randomly selected for individual semi-structured interviews.
Measurements
A sociodemographic questionnaire, the parent–child relationship score, the Parental Stress Scale and the Perceived Parental Aggression Scale.
Results
The parents were found to have an impaired relationship with their children. The findings indicated that employment status, parental stress and harsh parenting were significantly associated with parent–child relationships. The qualitative findings revealed that parents from low-income families encountered a wide range of difficulties, which made these parents more likely to experience parental stress, thereby increasing their tendency to adopt harsh parenting practices that undermined parent–child relationships.
Conclusion
This study sheds light on the associations between parent–child relationships, parental stress and parenting practices in low-income families. These findings will enhance nurses' understanding of the impact of poverty on parent–child relationships, and highlight the need for nurses to ensure that underprivileged parents and their children receive adequate primary care to prevent the development of psychological problems in this vulnerable group.
This article demonstrates that the regular LTA model is unnecessarily restrictive and that an alternative model is readily available that typically fits the data much better, leads to better estimates of the transition probabilities, and extracts new information from the data. By allowing random intercept variation in the model, between-subject variation is separated from the within-subject latent class transitions over time allowing a clearer interpretation of the data. Analysis of two examples from the literature demonstrates the advantages of random intercept LTA. Model variations include Mover-Stayer analysis, measurement invariance analysis, and analysis with covariates.
The pernicious consequences of parent psychological control are well-established. Parenting style classification schemes, however, typically exclude this behavioral practice, focusing instead on demandingness and responsiveness. The present study applies a person-oriented approach to the classification of parenting styles, taking into account psychological control. Lithuanian adolescents (239 girls, 215 boys; M age = 15.14 at the outset) completed questionnaires at annual intervals across high school, describing parent behavioral control, support, and psychological control. Longitudinal multidimensional latent class growth analysis (LCGA) yielded four parenting style categories. Two conventional groups emerged: authoritative (highest behavioral control and support, lowest psychological control) and indulgent (high support, low behavioral control, lowest psychological control). Two additional groups emerged in lieu of an authoritarian category: enmeshed (high behavioral control and psychological control, intermediate support) and affectively controlling (highest psychological control, lowest behavioral control and support). Children of authoritative parents reported favorable adjustment on a host of indicators, including behavior problems, school engagement, character, self-esteem and interpersonal caring and connection; children of affectively controlling parents reported the poorest adjustment on all variables measured.
Over the last two decades, technologies available to children have accelerated with the advent of wireless internet and increasing portability and affordability of electronic devices. Children’s technology use is a rapidly evolving challenge for families, organizing their everyday lives and potentially resulting in social disparities in technology use and displacement of healthy behaviors. This study examined time spent on technology use, physical activity, play, and sleep by US children across early (ages 2–5) and middle (ages 6–11) childhood in two cohorts using time diary data with a focus on variation by class and race. Data came from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement in 1997 (N = 2193) and 2014–2016 (N = 1009). Multivariate regression models estimated total time spent engaged in technology use, physical activity, unstructured play, and sleep. Total time spent engaged with technology increased 32% since 1997 in early childhood and 23% in middle childhood. Technology use was lowest for children with the most highly educated parents. In the more recent cohort, technology use was associated with displacement of physical activity in middle childhood but with increased play in early childhood and increased sleep in middle childhood. Results suggest that changes over time in technology use have restructured children’s everyday lives in ways that may be consequential for health and development, but co-occurring declines in physical activity and unstructured play cannot be attributed solely to technology time.
The present meta-analysis integrates research from 1,435 studies on associations of parenting dimensions and styles with externalizing symptoms in children and adolescents. Parental warmth, behavioral control, autonomy granting, and an authoritative parenting style showed very small to small negative concurrent and longitudinal associations with externalizing problems. In contrast, harsh control, psychological control, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful parenting were associated with higher levels of externalizing problems. The strongest associations were observed for harsh control and psychological control. Parental warmth, behavioral control, harsh control, psychological control, autonomy granting, authoritative, and permissive parenting predicted change in externalizing problems over time, with associations of externalizing problems with warmth, behavioral control, harsh control, psychological control, and authoritative parenting being bidirectional. Moderating effects of sampling, child’s age, form of externalizing problems, rater of parenting and externalizing problems, quality of measures, and publication status were identified. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
This study examined the validity of micro social observations and macro ratings of parent–child interaction in early to middle childhood. Seven hundred and thirty-one families representing multiple ethnic groups were recruited and screened as at risk in the context of Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) Nutritional Supplement service settings. Families were randomly assigned to the Family Checkup (FCU) intervention or the control condition at age 2 and videotaped in structured interactions in the home at ages 2, 3, 4, and 5. Parent–child interaction videotapes were micro-coded using the Relationship Affect Coding System (RACS) that captures the duration of two mutual dyadic states: positive engagement and coercion. Macro ratings of parenting skills were collected after coding the videotapes to assess parent use of positive behavior support and limit setting skills (or lack thereof). Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the measurement model of macro ratings of limit setting and positive behavior support was not supported by the data, and thus, were excluded from further analyses. However, there was moderate stability in the families’ micro social dynamics across early childhood and it showed significant improvements as a function of random assignment to the FCU. Moreover, parent–child dynamics were predictive of chronic behavior problems as rated by parents in middle childhood, but not emotional problems. We conclude with a discussion of the validity of the RACS and on methodological advantages of micro social coding over the statistical limitations of macro rating observations. Future directions are discussed for observation research in prevention science.
Seven hundred thirty-one income-eligible families in 3 geographical regions who were enrolled in a national food supplement program were screened and randomized to a brief family intervention. At child ages 2 and 3, the intervention group caregivers were offered the Family Check-Up and linked parenting support services. Latent growth models on caregiver reports at child ages 2, 3, and 4 revealed decreased behavior problems when compared with the control group. Intervention effects occurred predominantly among families reporting high levels of problem behavior at child age 2. Families in the intervention condition improved on direct observation measures of caregivers' positive behavior support at child ages 2 and 3; improvements in positive behavior support mediated improvements in children's early problem behavior.
This study examined the hypothesis that a brief, strengths-based home visiting strategy can promote positive engagement between caregiver and child and thereby reduce various forms of early childhood neglect. A total of 731 low-income families receiving services through the Women, Infants, and Children nutritional supplement program were randomized to the Women, Infants, and Children as usual or the Family Check-Up intervention. Assessments and intervention services were delivered in the home environment at ages 2, 3, 4, and 5. During the assessments, staff videotaped caregiver-child interactions and rated various features of the home environment, including the physical appropriateness of the home setting for children. Trained observers later coded the videotapes, unaware of the family's intervention condition. Specific caregiver-child interaction patterns were coded and macroratings were made of the caregiver's affection, monitoring, and involvement with the child. An intention to treat design revealed that randomization to the Family Check-Up increased duration of positive engagement between caregivers and children by age 3, which in turn was prognostic of less neglect of the child at age 4, controlling for family adversity. It was also found that family adversity moderated the impact of the intervention, such that the families with the most adverse circumstances were highly responsive to the intervention. Families with the highest levels of adversity exhibited the strongest mediation between positive engagement and reduction of neglect. Findings are discussed with respect to developmental theory and their potential implications for a public health approach to the prevention of early childhood maltreatment.
Most theoretical models of developmental psychopathology involve a transactional, bidirectional relation between parenting and children's behavior problems. The present study utilized a cross-lagged panel, multiple interval design to model change in bidirectional relations between child and parent behavior across successive developmental periods. Two major categories of child behavior problems, internalizing and externalizing, and two aspects of parenting, positive (use of support and structure) and harsh discipline (use of physical punishment), were modeled across three time points spaced 3 years apart. Two successive developmental intervals, from approximately age 7.5 to 10.5 and from 10.5 to 13.5, were included. Mother–child dyads (
N =
138; 65 boys) from a lower income longitudinal sample of families participated, with standardized measures of mothers rating their own parenting behavior and teachers reporting on child's behavior. Results revealed different types of reciprocal relations between specific aspects of child and parent behavior, with internalizing problems predicting an increase in positive parenting over time, which subsequently led to a reduction in internalizing problems across the successive 3-year interval. In contrast, externalizing predicted reduced levels of positive parenting in a reciprocal sequence that extended across two successive intervals and predicted increased levels of externalizing over time. Implications for prevention and early intervention are discussed.
Coercion theory posits a cyclical relationship between harsh and coercive parent–child interactions and problem behavior beginning in early childhood. As coercive interactions have been theorized and found to facilitate the development and growth of early conduct problems, early interventions often target parenting to prevent or reduce early disruptive problem behavior. This study utilizes direct observations of parent–child interactions from the Early Steps Multisite study (N = 731; 369 boys) to examine the effect of the Family Check-Up, a family-centered intervention program, on measures of parent–child positive engagement and coercion from age 2 through 5, as well as on childhood problem behavior at age 5. Results indicate that high levels of parent–child positive engagement were associated with less parent–child coercion the following year, but dyadic coercion was unrelated to future levels of positive engagement. In addition, families assigned to the Family Check-Up showed increased levels of positive engagement at ages 3 and 5, and the association between positive engagement at age 3 and child problem behavior at age 5 was mediated by reductions in parent–child coercion at age 4. These findings provide longitudinal confirmation that increasing positive engagement in parent–child interaction can reduce the likelihood of coercive family dynamics in early childhood and growth in problem behavior.
We examined the development of children's inhibitory control from toddlerhood to early school-age (i.e., ages 2 to 7.5 years), investigated the effects of the Family Check-Up on the growth of inhibitory control, and explored whether such effects transferred to the school context. Participants were 731 low-income children (49 % female). Results indicated that parental reports of inhibitory control showed positive, nonlinear increase with the growth decelerating over time. Moreover, children in the intervention condition demonstrated higher levels of growth in parental ratings of inhibitory control compared to the control condition. More importantly, the intervention had indirect effects on teacher reports of children's self-control and oppositional defiant behavior as well as examiner ratings of self-control through its promotion of growth in inhibitory control. The findings are discussed with respect to implications for more specifically targeting the promotion of self-regulation in early childhood in addition to reduction in early problem behavior.
Little research has examined factors influencing statistical power to detect the correct number of latent classes using latent profile analysis (LPA). This simulation study examined power related to inter-class distance between latent classes given true number of classes, sample size, and number of indicators. Seven model selection methods were evaluated. None had adequate power to select the correct number of classes with a small (Cohen's d = .2) or medium (d = .5) degree of separation. With a very large degree of separation (d = 1.5), the Lo-Mendell-Rubin test (LMR), adjusted LMR, bootstrap likelihood-ratio test, BIC, and sample-size adjusted BIC were good at selecting the correct number of classes. However, with a large degree of separation (d = .8), power depended on number of indicators and sample size. The AIC and entropy poorly selected the correct number of classes, regardless of degree of separation, number of indicators, or sample size.
This project examined the hypothesis that the impact of the Family Check-Up on parent use of positive behavior support would indirectly improve academic achievement scores at school age. The study included a sample of 731 high-risk families recruited from Women, Infant, and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program settings in 3 geographically distinct areas. The results demonstrated that changes in positive parenting between the child ages of 2 and 3 were associated with higher scores on children’s school-age academic achievement, as measured by the Woodcock–Johnson III (W-J) Academic Skills composite. Moreover, structural equation modeling revealed that random assignment to the intervention was associated with higher levels of children’s academic achievement at age 5 and age 7.5 indirectly, through greater increases in parents’ use of positive behavior support in intervention families than in control families. Results are discussed with respect to the potential of a brief parenting intervention for improving parenting practices that promote academic achievement up to 5 years later. The results have promising implications for efforts to promote child adaptation in the school environment.
We examined typologies of parenting practices using latent profile analysis (LPA) in a sample of families with young children who had externalizing behavior disorders. We also examined mother and child characteristics associated with class membership using ratings from multiple informants. The sample included pooled data from five parenting treatment outcome research studies on oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and/or conduct disorder (CD) conducted throughout the past 20 years. These studies included 21 separate cohorts of children resulting in a total of 514 families. All children met diagnostic criteria for ODD or CD and 78 % were male. Parenting practices were observed by independent raters using the Dyadic Parent-child Interactive Coding System-Revised (DPICS-R). Four summary scores (i.e., total critical statements, total commands, total positive, total supportive) from the DPICS-R were used as class indictors in the LPA. Four classes best characterized the parenting practices of this clinic sample, roughly comprising a quarter of the sample each: Positive Only, Negative Only, Positive/Negative, and Neither Positive/Negative. High observed child negative behaviors, low observed child warmth, high socioeconomic status, and low academic performance distinguished the two classes with high negative behaviors (Negative Only, Positive/Negative) from the other classes. These results provide markers of the most common parenting profiles at entry into treatment programs for behavior disorders in young children. Findings have significant implications for the tailoring parenting interventions and supports to specific family needs.
The emergence and persistence of conduct problems during early childhood is a robust
predictor of behavior problems in school and future maladaptation. In this study we examined
the reciprocal influences between observed coercive interactions between children and caregivers,
oppositional and aggressive behavior, and growth in parent report of early childhood (ages 2–5)
and school-age conduct problems (age 7.5 and 8.5). Participants were drawn from the Early
Steps multisite randomized prevention trial that includes an ethnically diverse sample of male
and female children and their families (N = 731). A parallel process growth model combining
latent trajectory and cross-lagged approaches revealed the amplifying effect of observed coercive
caregiver–child interactions on children’s noncompliance, whereas child oppositional and
aggressive behaviors did not consistently predict increased coercion. The slope and initial levels
of child oppositional and aggressive behaviors and the stability of caregiver–child coercion were
predictive of teacher-reported oppositional behavior at school age. Families assigned to the
Family Check-Up condition had significantly steeper declines in child oppositional and
aggressive behavior and moderate reductions in oppositional behavior in school and in coercion
at age 3. Results were not moderated by child gender, race/ethnicity, or assignment to the
intervention condition. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect to
understanding the early development of conduct problems and to designing optimal strategies for
reducing problem behavior in early childhood with families most in need.
Objective. This research study tested a social cognitive model in which family socioeconomic status (SES) and neighborhood quality predicted parental efficacy, which then predicted the academic and social-emotional adjustment of adolescents through 3 parental behaviors (monitoring, parental involvement, and parent-adolescent communication). Design. The study investigated parental efficacy among a stratified random sample of 929 parents and their adolescent children in the United States. Parents and adolescents provided reports through telephone interviews. Structural equation modeling tested the model fit for the overall sample and for European American (n = 387), African American (n = 259), and Latin American (n = 283) subsamples. Results. The model fit for the overall sample and for each racial or ethnic group. Paths within each model also were examined. For the overall sample, neighborhood quality predicted parental efficacy, parental efficacy predicted reported parental involvement and monitoring, both of which predicted academic and social-emotional adjustment of adolescents, and parent-adolescent communication predicted social-emotional adjustment. Some racial or ethnic differences in paths emerged. Conclusions. Overall, the study supported predictions made by social cognitive theory. Given the link between parental efficacy, parenting behaviors, and adolescent outcomes, 1 important goal of programs for parents of adolescents might be to bolster parental efficacy.
An important interest in mixture modeling is the investigation of what types of individuals belong to each latent class by relating classes to covariates, concurrent outcomes and distal outcomes, also known as auxiliary variables. This article presents results from real data examples and simulations to show how various factors, such as the degree to which people are classified correctly into latent classes and sample size, can impact the estimates and standard errors of auxiliary variable effects and testing mean equality across classes. Based on the results of the examples and simulations, suggestions are made about how to select auxiliary variables for a latent class analysis.
Attempted (a) to replicate or modify parent-child relationships found in 2 previous studies by D. Baumrind (see record
1967-05780-001) and D. Baumrind and A. E. Black (see record
1967-10271-001); and (b) to differentiate further among patterns of parental authority and measure their effects upon the behavior of preschool children. Data were based upon observational procedures, and were analyzed for boys and girls separately. Ss were 146 white preschool children and their families. Results include the following: (a) authoritative parental behavior was clearly associated with independent, purposive behavior for girls but only associated with such behavior for boys when the parents were nonconforming; (b) authoritative parental control was clearly associated with all indexes of social responsibility in boys compared to authoritarian and permissive parental control, and with high achievement in girls, but not with friendly, cooperative behavior; and (c) contrary to expectations, parental nonconformity was not associated with lack of social responsibility in either boys or girls. (45 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A developmental cascade model linking competence and symptoms was tested in a study of a normative, urban school sample of 205 children (initially 8 to 12 years old). Internalizing and externalizing symptoms and academic competence were assessed by multiple methods at the study outset and after 7, 10, and 20 years. A series of nested cascade models was tested through structural equation modeling. The final model indicated 2 hypothesized cascade effects: Externalizing problems evident in childhood appeared to undermine academic competence by adolescence, which subsequently showed a negative effect on internalizing problems in young adulthood. A significant exploratory effect was consistent with internalizing symptoms containing or lowering the net risk for externalizing problems under some conditions. These 3 cascade effects did not differ by gender and were not attributable to effects of IQ, parenting quality, or socioeconomic differences. Implications are discussed for developmental models of cascades, progressions, and preventive interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Describes the development of the Family Empowerment Scale (FES), a brief questionnaire for assessing empowerment in families whose children have emotional disabilities. The questionnaire is based on a 2-dimensional conceptual framework of empowerment. One dimension reflects empowerment with respect to the family, service system, and larger community and political environment; the other dimension reflects the expression of empowerment as attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors. Analyses of reliability and validity were based on 440 responses of family members of children (aged
Mixture modeling is a widely applied data analysis technique used to identify unobserved heterogeneity in a population. Despite mixture models' usefulness in practice, one unresolved issue in the application of mixture models is that there is not one commonly accepted statistical indicator for deciding on the number of classes in a study population. This article presents the results of a simulation study that examines the performance of likelihood-based tests and the traditionally used Information Criterion (ICs) used for determining the number of classes in mixture modeling. We look at the performance of these tests and indexes for 3 types of mixture models: latent class analysis (LCA), a factor mixture model (FMA), and a growth mixture models (GMM). We evaluate the ability of the tests and indexes to correctly identify the number of classes at three different sample sizes (n D 200, 500, 1,000). Whereas the Bayesian Information Criterion performed the best of the ICs, the bootstrap likelihood ratio test proved to be a very consistent indicator of classes across all of the models considered.
Accounting for both bidirectional and interactive effects between parenting and child temperament can fine-tune theoretical models of the role of parenting and temperament in children's development of adjustment problems. Evidence for bidirectional and interactive effects between parenting and children's characteristics of frustration, fear, self-regulation, and impulsivity was reviewed, and an overall model of children's individual differences in response to parenting is proposed. In general, children high in frustration, impulsivity and low in effortful control are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of negative parenting, while in turn, many negative parenting behaviors predict increases in these characteristics. Frustration, fearfulness, and effortful control also appear to elicit parenting behaviors that can predict increases in these characteristics. Irritability renders children more susceptible to negative parenting behaviors. Fearfulness operates in a very complex manner, sometimes increasing children's responses to parenting behaviors and sometimes mitigating them and apparently operating differently across gender. Important directions for future research include the use of study designs and analytic approaches that account for the direction of effects and for developmental changes in parenting and temperament over time.
OBJECTIVE: The extent to which the severity of exposure to social risk is related to parenting and cognitive development in the first 15 months of an infant's life was studied in a representative diverse sample of families in two rural poor regions in the United States. DESIGN: One thousand two hundred ninety-two families were followed for the first 15 months of the infant's life. RESULTS: Evidence supported a pathway from risk severity through maternal sensitivity and warmth, language and learning activities, and maternal language to child outcomes, with the language and learning activities providing the most consistent independent prediction. Race, age, and geographic isolation moderated the associations between risk and different aspects of parenting. Both level and change in maternal engagement, maternal language input, and overall learning environment were related to early cognitive development. Cumulative risk measured as the mean of risk variables was a stronger predictor of parenting and infant development than when measured as the count of risk factors. CONCLUSION: Severity of risk exposure is negatively related to parenting and to child development for infants as young as 15 months of age. This study provides evidence supporting a pathway from risk severity through parenting to child outcomes and suggests that both initial parenting skills and change in parenting skills during infancy predict infants' cognitive skills.
Maternal depression has been consistently linked to the development of child problem behavior, particularly in early childhood, but few studies have examined whether reductions in maternal depression serve as a mediator in relation to changes associated with a family-based intervention. The current study addressed this issue with a sample of 731 families receiving services from a national food supplement and nutrition program. Families with toddlers between ages 2 and 3 were screened and then randomized to a brief family intervention, the Family Check-Up, which included linked interventions that were tailored and adapted to the families needs. Follow-up intervention services were provided at age 3 and follow-up of child outcomes occurred at ages 3 and 4. Latent growth models revealed intervention effects for early externalizing and internalizing problems from 2 to 4, and reductions in maternal depression from ages 2 to 3. In addition, reductions in maternal depression mediated improvements in both child externalizing and internalizing problem behavior after accounting for the potential mediating effects of improvements in positive parenting. The results are discussed with respect to targeting maternal depression in future intervention studies aimed at improving early child problem behavior.
The Cambridge Handbook of International Prevention Science offers a comprehensive global overview on prevention science with the most up-to-date research from around the world. Over 100 scholars from 27 different countries (including Australia, Bhutan, Botswana, India, Israel, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and Thailand) contributed to this volume, which covers a wide range of topics important to prevention science. It includes major sections on the foundations of prevention as well as examples of new initiatives in the field, detailing current prevention efforts across the five continents. A unique and innovative volume, The Cambridge Handbook of International Prevention Science is a valuable resource for established scholars, early professionals, students, practitioners and policy-makers.
This study identified coparenting patterns using data collected across 2007-2010 from low-income couples (N = 2915; 26.90% non-Hispanic White; 9.41% non-Hispanic Black; 34.24% Hispanic, 29.27% other or mixed race) with young children (M = 3.65 years; SD = 1.31 years; 48% girls) and examined relations with children's social-emotional adjustment. Latent profile analysis revealed four coparenting patterns: mutual high-quality (43.4%), moderate-quality, mothers less positive (31.8%), moderate-quality, fathers less positive (15.9%), and low-quality, mothers less positive (8.9%). When parents' perspectives on coparenting were positive and congruent, children fared best. Children also fared well when coparenting quality was moderate, and mothers were less positive than fathers. When coparenting quality was moderate and fathers were less positive than mothers, children showed the poorest adjustment.
Objective
The aims of this study were (a) to examine how different parenting practices connect to each other and to child conduct problems (variable‐centered approach) and (b) to identify groups of parents who share the same parenting style and identify how these relate to child conduct problems (person‐centered approach).
Background
Substantial evidence indicates that positive parenting practices are associated with lower levels of child conduct problems, whereas negative practices are associated with higher levels of child problem behavior. Research is limited when it comes to examining parenting practices at intake to parent management training in clinical Scandinavian samples.
Method
Participants were 551 Norwegian parents and their children (aged 3–12 years) with moderate to high levels of conduct problems. Parents reported on child conduct problems and parenting practices. Associations between different parenting practices and child conduct problems were examined using network and latent profile analyses.
Results
Three latent profiles of parenting were identified, each related to different levels of child conduct problems. The network of practices showed that parental mental distress and harsh discipline were directly associated with higher levels of child conduct problems. The majority of parents were characterized as permissive and displayed a mix of positive and harsh parenting.
Conclusion
Harsh parenting was related to higher levels of child conduct problems. Discipline skills appeared as especially important in the network analyses.
Implications
Parent training should address harsh discipline practices and parental mental distress, given that these are associated with more child conduct problems. Discipline skills appeared as the most important targets for changing overall parenting practices.
Latent class analysis is a probabilistic modeling algorithm that allows clustering of data and statistical inference. There has been a recent upsurge in the application of latent class analysis in the fields of critical care, respiratory medicine, and beyond. In this review, we present a brief overview of the principles behind latent class analysis. Furthermore, in a stepwise manner, we outline the key processes necessary to perform latent class analysis including some of the challenges and pitfalls faced at each of these steps. The review provides a one-stop shop for investigators seeking to apply latent class analysis to their data.
Jay Belsky’s process of parenting model, published in 1984, continues to be widely referenced within the scientific literature. The main premise of this model is that parenting is multiply determined and is influenced by characteristics of the parent, child, and social context. In this review, we survey the theoretical and empirical literature that has accumulated related to the model within the past 30 years, with a focus on interactions among contextual factors and the applicability of the process model to the parenting of fathers. Specifically, we review in depth the domains of parental personality, parental depression, child negative emotionality, and marital quality, with more concise overviews of literature covering parental developmental history and social support. In line with Belsky’s original article, we focus on predictors of parenting during infancy and the early childhood period (i.e., birth to 5 years). Although in many ways the process model has stood the test of time and continues to be supported empirically, we recommend ways the model could be expanded based on updated current theory and research on the process of parenting in early childhood.
Background
For decades, parental self‐efficacy (PSE), or parents’ belief in their ability to influence their child in a health and success‐promoting manner, has been understood as a key factor in promoting healthy functioning for parents and their children. In that time, an extensive collection of research examining the specific impact of PSE on parents and their children has developed. However, to the authors’ knowledge, no comprehensive and systematic review of the outcomes linked to this factor exists, and the two most closely related non‐systematic reviews were published over 10 years ago.
Methods
Therefore, by utilizing an iteratively optimized set of search terms applied across four databases, the current review sought to systematically collect, synthesize, and present the extant literature concerning the role of PSE in parent and child wellbeing. Results: This search strategy yielded a total of 115 studies, the results of which were organized into three broad thematic categories relating to: the parent and child relationship, parental mental health, or child development.
Conclusions
These results recapitulate the clinical relevance of PSE, and provide an updated and comprehensive understanding of both the role PSE plays in the welfare of parents and children, as well as the gaps in the literature as it currently stands.
This study used a person-centered approach to examine stability and change in parenting typologies across early childhood. Profiles were associated within and across time with contextual covariates, including demographic characteristics, risk factors, and Early Head Start participation. Participants were drawn from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (N = 2, 876). Parenting profiles were identified based on observed parenting dimensions at 14, 24, and 36 months, and pre-Kindergarten (pre-K). Results suggested a four-profile solution at each time point: Supportive, Lukewarm (14 & 24 months)/Sufficient (36 months and pre-K), Harsh, and Detached. Supportive was the largest, most stable, and most likely transitioned into profile while Harsh and Detached represented rare profiles with moderate to low membership stability across time. Depression and family conflict emerged as important correlates of unsupportive parenting profiles both within and across time. Findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for both policy and implementation practices for low-income mothers with young children.
This review attempts to provide an overview of parents’ mobile device distractions while caring for their children and the implications of this distraction on parent-child relationships. This review was conducted on literature published through November 2016, 27 sources were identified. Overall the continual connection provided by phones combined with the social pressure to respond quickly to calls/messages is leading to increased use and reliance on mobile devices. This increases the potential for parents’ mobile device use to disrupt parent-child interactions. Parents who use their phones during parent-child interactions are less sensitive and responsive both verbally and nonverbally to their children’s bids for attention, potentially leading to lower quality parent-child interactions. Children engage in risky attention seeking behaviors, which may be connected to the increase in childhood injuries. Parents and children express concern over device use as well as its contribution to family conflicts. This review also discusses gaps in the existing literature and proposes directions for future research.
For decades, parenting has been characterized in terms of broad global styles, with authoritative parenting seen as most beneficial for children’s development. Concerns with greater sensitivity to cultural and contextual variations have led to greater specificity in defining parenting in terms of different parenting dimensions and greater consideration of the role of parenting beliefs in moderating links between parenting and adjustment. New research includes ‘domain-specific’ models that describe parents as flexibly deploying different practices depending on their goals, children’s needs, and the types of behaviors towards which parenting is directed. These trends are described, and directions for future research are discussed.
This chapter first presents an overview of developmental systems theory and discusses ideas from instances of this perspective pertinent to parenting. Both of the instances of developmental systems theories that are discussed focus on relations as they are embedded in the actual ecology of human development. The authors explain that this emphasis on dynamic relations has important implications for research and, as well, lends itself to a discussion of the application of developmental systems-predicated research to issues of policies or programs that may be used to promote positive development. As such, the authors conclude their presentation with recommendations for future research and a discussion of implications of a developmental systems theory for applications aimed at enhancing the contributions of parents to the healthy development of children and adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The present meta-analysis integrates research from 1015 studies on associations of parenting dimensions and styles with internalizing symptoms in children and adolescents. Parental warmth, behavioral control, autonomy granting, and authoritative parenting showed very small to small negative concurrent and longitudinal associations with internalizing symptoms. In contrast, harsh control, psychological control, authoritarian and, in part, neglectful parenting were associated with higher levels of internalizing symptoms. Parental warmth, behavioral control, harsh control, psychological control, autonomy granting as well as authoritative parenting predicted change in internalizing symptoms over time, with associations of internalizing symptoms with parental warmth, psychological control, and authoritative parenting being bidirectional. Moderating effects of study characteristics are identified. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
We examined the longitudinal effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU) intervention beginning in toddlerhood on children’s peer preference at school-age. Specifically, a sequential mediational model was proposed in which the FCU was hypothesized to promote peer preference (i.e., higher acceptance and lower rejection by peers) in middle childhood through its positive effects on parent-child interaction and child effortful control in early childhood. Participants were 731 low-income families (49 % female). Qualities of parent-child interaction were observed during structured activities at 2 to 5 years, child effortful control was assessed using behavioral tasks at 5 years, and peer acceptance and rejection were rated by teachers at 7.5 to 10.5 years. Results indicated that the FCU indirectly predicted peer preference by sequentially improving parent-child interaction and child effortful control. The findings are discussed with respect to implications for understanding mechanisms by which early parenting-focused programs may enhance child functioning across time and context.
Parent Management Training-Oregon Model (PMTO(®) ) is a set of theory-based parenting programs with status as evidence-based treatments. PMTO has been rigorously tested in efficacy and effectiveness trials in different contexts, cultures, and formats. Parents, the presumed agents of change, learn core parenting practices, specifically skill encouragement, limit setting, monitoring/supervision, interpersonal problem solving, and positive involvement. The intervention effectively prevents and ameliorates children's behavior problems by replacing coercive interactions with positive parenting practices. Delivery format includes sessions with individual families in agencies or families' homes, parent groups, and web-based and telehealth communication. Mediational models have tested parenting practices as mechanisms of change for children's behavior and found support for the theory underlying PMTO programs. Moderating effects include children's age, maternal depression, and social disadvantage. The Norwegian PMTO implementation is presented as an example of how PMTO has been tailored to reach diverse populations as delivered by multiple systems of care throughout the nation. An implementation and research center in Oslo provides infrastructure and promotes collaboration between practitioners and researchers to conduct rigorous intervention research. Although evidence-based and tested within a wide array of contexts and populations, PMTO must continue to adapt to an ever-changing world.
Although parenting is one of the most commonly studied predictors of child problem behavior, few studies have examined parenting as a multidimensional and dynamic construct. This study investigated different patterns of developmental trajectories of two parenting dimensions (harsh discipline [HD] and parental warmth [PW]) with a person-oriented approach and examined the associations between different parenting patterns and child externalizing problems and callous-unemotional traits. Data were drawn from the combined high-risk control and normative sample (n = 753) of the Fast Track Project. Parent-reported HD and observer-reported PW from kindergarten to grade 2 were fit to growth mixture models. Two subgroups were identified for HD (low decreasing, 83.0 %; high stable, 17.0 %) and PW (high increasing, 78.7 %; low increasing, 21.3 %). The majority of parents (67.0 %) demonstrated the low decreasing HD and high increasing PW pattern, while the prevalence of the high stable HD and low increasing PW pattern was the lowest (6.8 %). Parenting satisfaction, parental depression, family socioeconomic status, and neighborhood safety predicted group memberships jointly defined by the two dimensions. Children from the high stable HD and low increasing PW pattern showed the highest levels of externalizing problems in grades 4 and 5. Children from the low decreasing HD and low increasing PW pattern showed the highest levels of callous-unemotional traits in grade 7. These findings demonstrate the utility and significance of a person-oriented approach to measuring parenting as a multidimensional and dynamic construct and reveal the interplay between HD and PW in terms of their influences on child developmental outcomes.
In this article, we consider the broad applicability of latent class analysis (LCA) and related approaches to advance research on child development. First, we describe the role of person-centered methods such as LCA in developmental research, and review prior applications of LCA to the study of development and related areas of research. Then we present practical considerations when applying LCA in developmental research, including model selection and statistical power. Finally, we introduce several recent methodological innovations in LCA, including causal inference in LCA, predicting a distal outcome from LC membership, and LC moderation (in which LCA quantifies multidimensional moderators of effects in observational and experimental studies), and we discuss their potential to advance developmental science. We conclude with suggestions for ongoing developmental research using LCA.
At approximately 30, 42, and 54 months of age (
N
= 231), the relations among children's externalizing symptoms, intrusive maternal parenting, and children's effortful control (EC) were examined. Both intrusive parenting and low EC have been related to psychopathology, but children's externalizing problems and low EC might affect the quality of parenting and one another. Mothers’ intrusive behavior with their children was assessed with observations, children's EC was measured with mothers’ and caregivers’ reports, and children's externalizing symptoms were assessed with mothers’, fathers’, and caregivers’ reports. In a structural equation panel model, bidirectional relations between intrusive parenting and EC were found: EC at 30 and 42 months predicted low levels of intrusive parenting a year later, controlling for prior levels of parenting and vice versa. Moreover, high levels of children's externalizing problems at both 30 and 42 months negatively predicted EC a year later, controlling for prior levels of EC. Although externalizing problems positively predicted high EC over time, this appeared to be a suppression effect because these variables had a strong negative pattern in the zero-order correlations. Moreover, when controlling for the stability of intrusive parenting, EC, and externalizing (all exhibited significant stability across time) and the aforementioned cross-lagged predictive paths, EC and externalizing problems were still negatively related within the 54-month assessment. The findings are consistent with the view that children's externalizing behavior undermines their EC and contributes to intrusive mothering and that relations between intrusive parenting and EC are bidirectional across time. Thus, interventions that focus on modifying children's externalizing problems (as well as the quality of parenting) might affect the quality of parenting they receive and, hence, subsequent problems with adjustment.
Often quantities of interest in psychology cannot be observed directly. These unobservable quantities, known as latent variables, tend to be complex, often multidimensional, constructs. In many cases these constructs are categorical, such that individuals belong to mutually exclusive and exhaustive unobservable subgroups. Latent class analysis (LCA) is a statistical approach to modeling a discrete latent variable using multiple, discrete observed variables as indicators. Examples of latent class variables that appear in the psychology literature include temperament type, substance use behavior, teaching style, stages of change in the transtheoretical model, and latent classes of risk. The first section of this chapter provides a conceptual introduction to the concept of a latent class followed by a technical introduction to the mathematical model, including multiple-groups LCA and LCA with covariates. This is followed by a discussion of parameter restrictions, model selection, and goodness-of-fit. The second section demonstrates LCA using the empirical example of depression subtypes in adolescence. Five latent classes were identified based on responses to eight questionnaire items assessing depression symptoms: Non-depressed (characterized by a low probability of reporting all eight depression symptoms), sad, disliked, sad + disliked, and depressed (characterized by a high probability of reporting all eight depression symptoms). The third section presents longitudinal extensions of the model, including repeated-measures LCA and latent transition analysis (LTA). The empirical example is extended to examine change in depression subtypes over time. The final sections describe recent extensions to the latent class model and areas that merit additional research in the future.
Keywords:
latent class analysis;
latent transition analysis;
latent variable model;
categorical data
“Why do parents parent the way they do?” remains an important question since it concerns both scientific issues, such as the stability or change of childrearing behavior, and clinical issues, such as the way to promote positive parenting in evidence-based programs. Using an accelerated design, the aim of this study was to examine several parental and child predictors of childrearing behavior trajectories among 373 mothers and 356 fathers of 2- to 9-year-old children. Hypotheses were drawn from Belsky (1984) and subsequent studies of the determinants of parenting. The parental and child predictors were assessed and analyzed as time-varying (parental self-efficacy beliefs and child externalizing behavior) or time-invariant (parental educational level and personality traits) predictors, according to their conceptual properties. The results show a linear decrease in both supportive and controlling childrearing behavior in mothers and an improvement in supportive but a decrease in controlling childrearing behavior in fathers over time. Moreover, the results support the idea that childrearing behavior is determined by multiple factors, in particular the parents’ self-efficacy beliefs and the child’s behavior. Finally, the results confirm the hypothesis of a greater influence of child predictors than of parental ones in the case of mothers, while the reverse hypothesis of a greater predictive power of parental variables than of child ones is confirmed for fathers. The results are discussed both for research and clinical purposes.
Growth mixture modeling (GMM) is a method for identifying multiple unobserved sub-populations, describing longitudinal change within each unobserved sub-population, and examining differences in change among unobserved sub-populations. We provide a practical primer that may be useful for researchers beginning to incorporate GMM analysis into their research. We briefly review basic elements of the standard latent basis growth curve model, introduce GMM as an extension of multiple-group growth modeling, and describe a four-step approach to conducting a GMM analysis. Example data from a cortisol stress-response paradigm are used to illustrate the suggested procedures.
We demonstrate that, under a theorem proposed by Q.H. Vuong [Econometrica 57, No. 2, 307-333 (1989; Zbl 0701.62106)], the likelihood ratio statistic based on the Kullback-Leibler information criterion or the null hypothesis that a random sample is drawn from a k 0 -component normal mixture distribution against the alternative hypothesis that the sample is drawn from a k 1 -component normal mixture distribution is asymptotically distributed as a weighted sum of independent chi-squared random variables with one degree of freedom, under general regularity conditions. We report simulation studies of two cases where we are testing a single normal versus a two-component normal mixture and a two-component normal mixture versus a three-component normal mixture. An empirical adjustment to the likelihood ratio statistic is proposed that appears to improve the rate of convergence to the limiting distribution.
The CES-D scale is a short self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptomatology in the general population. The items of the scale are symptoms associated with depression which have been used in previously validated longer scales. The new scale was tested in household interview surveys and in psychiatric settings. It was found to have very high internal consistency and adequate test- retest repeatability. Validity was established by pat terns of correlations with other self-report measures, by correlations with clinical ratings of depression, and by relationships with other variables which support its construct validity. Reliability, validity, and factor structure were similar across a wide variety of demographic characteristics in the general population samples tested. The scale should be a useful tool for epidemiologic studies of de pression.
We obtained normative information for the Parenting Sense of Competence (PSOC) scale from 297 mothers and 215 fathers of 4- to 9-year-old boys and girls. Principal-components analysis of the PSOC revealed two factors: Satisfaction, an affective dimension reflecting parenting frustration, anxiety, and motivation; and Efficacy, an instrumental dimension reflecting competence, problem-solving ability, and capability in the parenting role Significant inverse relationships were found between perceptions of child behavior problems and of parenting. For mothers, reported child behavior problems related to parenting satisfaction. For fathers, child behavior problems related both to satisfaction and efficacy as a parent. Mother and father reports of parenting were positively correlated; however, fathers obtained significantly higher scores than mother, particularly on the Satisfaction dimension. PSOC scores did not vary as a function of child age or sex.
There are several different theoretical and research approaches to the study of socialization, characterized by frequently competing basic tenets and apparently contradictory evidence. As a way of integrating approaches and understanding discrepancies, it is proposed that socialization processes be viewed from a domain perspective, with each domain characterized by a particular form of social interaction between the object and agent of socialization and by specific socialization mechanisms and outcomes. It is argued that this approach requires researchers to identify the domain of social interaction they are investigating, to understand that phenotypically similar behaviors may belong to different domains, and to acknowledge that caregivers who are effective in one type of interaction may not be effective in another.