From Parent to Child to Parent: Associations Between Parent and Offspring Psychopathology

Parental psychopathology can affect child functioning, and vice versa. We examined bidirectional associations between parent and offspring psychopathology in 5,536 children and their parents. We asked three questions: (a) are parent-to-child associations stronger than child-to-parent associations? (b) are mother-to-child associations stronger than father-to-child associations? and (c) do within- and between-person effects contribute to bidirectional associations between parent and offspring psychopathology? Our findings suggest that only within-rater bidirectional associations of parent and offspring psychopathology can be consistently detected, with no difference between mothers and fathers. Child psychopathology was hardly associated with parental psychopathology. No evidence for cross-rater child-to-parent associations was found suggesting that the within-rater child-to-parent associations reflect shared method variance. Moreover, within-person change accounted for a part of the variance observed.     

Breaking Down the Coercive Cycle: How Parent and Child Risk Factors Influence Real-Time Variability in Parental Responses to Child Misbehavior

Objective. Parent–child coercive cycles have been associated with both rigidity and inconsistency in parenting behavior. To explain these mixed findings, we examined real-time variability in maternal responses to children’s off-task behavior to determine whether this common trigger of the coercive cycle (responding to child misbehavior) is associated with rigidity or inconsistency in parenting. We also examined the effects of risk factors for coercion (maternal hostility, maternal depressive symptoms, child externalizing problems, and dyadic negativity) on patterns of parenting. Design. Mother–child dyads (N = 96; M child age = 41 months) completed a difficult puzzle task, and observations were coded continuously for parent (e.g., directive, teaching) and child behavior (e.g., on-task, off-task). Results. Multilevel continuous-time survival analyses revealed that parenting behavior is less variable when children are off-task. However, when risk factors are higher, a different profile emerges. Combined maternal and child risk is associated with markedly lower variability in parenting behavior overall (i.e., rigidity) paired with shifts toward higher variability specifically when children are off-task (i.e., inconsistency). Dyadic negativity (i.e., episodes when children are off-task and parents engage in negative behavior) are also associated with higher parenting variability. Conclusions. Risk factors confer rigidity in parenting overall, but in moments when higher-risk parents must respond to child misbehavior, their parenting becomes more variable, suggesting inconsistency and ineffectiveness. This context-dependent shift in parenting behavior may help explain prior mixed findings and offer new directions for family interventions designed to reduce coercive processes.     

From Parental Involvement to Children's Mathematical Performance: The Role of Mathematics Anxiety

This study examined whether children's mathematics anxiety serves as an underlying pathway between parental involvement and children's mathematics achievement. Participants included 78 low-income, ethnic minority parents and their children residing in a large urban center in the northeastern United States. Parents completed a short survey tapping several domains of parental involvement, and children were assessed on mathematics anxiety, whole number arithmetic, word problems, and algebraic reasoning. Research Findings: The results indicated that parents influence children's mathematics achievement by reducing mathematics anxiety, particularly for more difficult kinds of mathematics. Specifically, the mediation analyses demonstrated that parental home support and expectations influenced children's performance on word problems and algebraic reasoning by reducing children's mathematics anxiety. Mathematics anxiety did not mediate the relationship between home support and expectations and whole number arithmetic. Practice or Policy: Policies and programs targeting parental involvement in mathematics should focus on home-based practices that do not require technical mathematical skills. Parents should receive training, resources, and support on culturally appropriate ways to create home learning environments that foster high expectations for children's success in mathematics.     

Parental Psychological Distress,Parent - Child Relationship Qualities,and Child Adjustment: Direct,Mediating, and Reciprocal Pathways

Objective. The purpose of this study was to explicate the role of parenting qualities of acceptance, psychological autonomy, and firm control in the link between maternal and paternal psychological distress and youth adjustment problems. Design. A community sample of 277 families provided information about parental psychological distress, parenting qualities, and child adjustment via mother, father, and child questionnaire ratings. Results. Direct associations among the variables were consistent with predictions. Mediation processes were identified using structural equation modeling. Specifically, parental acceptance and psychological autonomy served as mediators of the association between parental psychological distress and child problems, whereas firm control did not mediate the direct associations. Conclusions. Drawing on a developmental psychopathology perspective, this study's results indicate that the link between mother and father psychological distress and child adjustment problems is accounted for, in part, by parental acceptance and psychological autonomy than by behavioral control. Alternative pathways among these family processes also received empirical support.     

Child Effects on Parental Negativity: The Role of Heritable and Prenatal Factors

This study examined two possible mechanisms, evocative gene–environment correlation and prenatal factors, in accounting for child effects on parental negativity. Participants included 561 children adopted at birth, and their adoptive parents and birth parents within a prospective longitudinal adoption study. Findings indicated child effects on parental negativity, such that toddlers’ negative reactivity at 18 months was positively associated with adoptive parents’ over-reactive and hostile parenting at 27 months. Furthermore, we found that child effects on parental negativity were partially due to heritable (e.g., birth mother [BM] internalizing problems and substance use) and prenatal factors (e.g., BM illicit drug use during pregnancy) that influence children’s negative reactivity at 18 months. This study provides critical evidence for “child on parent” effects.     

Mother and Child Ratings of Child Anxiety: Associations With Behavioral Avoidance and the Role of Family Accommodation

Objective. This study compared mother and child ratings of child anxiety to each other and to an objective measure of the child’s avoidant behavior, using a novel motion-tracking paradigm. The study also examined the moderating role of family accommodation for the link between mother ratings of child anxiety and child behavioral avoidance. Design. Participants were 98 children (7- to 14-years-old) and their mothers. Children met criteria for a primary anxiety disorder. Measures included parent and child versions of the Multi-Dimensional Anxiety Scale for Children and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders. Children also completed the Spider Phobia Questionnaire for children and the Family Accommodation Scale for Anxiety—Child Report. The Yale Interactive Kinect Environment Software platform was used to measure children’s behavioral avoidance of spider images. Results. Mother and child ratings of child anxiety were moderately correlated. Only child ratings of child anxiety were associated with child behavioral avoidance. Child-rated family accommodation moderated the association between parent ratings and child avoidance. When accommodation was low parent ratings correlated with child avoidance, but not when accommodation was high. Conclusions. The findings contribute to understanding commonly reported discrepancies between mother and child ratings of child anxiety symptoms.     

情绪调节在儿童焦虑症治疗中的作用

文章从情绪调节的定义入手,介绍了治疗儿童焦虑症的认知行为疗法,但它只对大约60—70％的儿童是有效的。文中重点介绍了情绪调节在焦虑症儿童治疗中的作用,还介绍了针对改善个体水平以及家庭水平的情绪调节策略。     

大学生自我接纳对社交焦虑的影响———拒绝敏感性的中介作用

采用丛中、高文凤自我接纳问卷、交往焦虑量表和拒绝敏感性问卷测量了632名大学生。结果显示：①大学生自我接纳、拒绝敏感性及社交焦虑在性别、年级和专业上存在显著差异;②自我接纳与社会焦虑呈负相关（r=-0．359,P〈0．01）,与拒绝敏感性呈负相关（r=-0．449,P〈0．01）;社会焦虑与拒绝敏感性呈正相关（r=O．319,P％0．01）;③分层回归分析表明,当拒绝敏感性进入回归方程时,自我接纳对社会焦虑的预测效应从-O．359降到-O．270,拒绝敏感性在社交焦虑自我接纳与社交焦虑之间存在着部分中介作用。     

Parent and Child References to Letters During Alphabet Book Reading: Relations to Child Age and Letter Name Knowledge

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency of extratextual references to letters made by parents and preschoolers during shared reading of an alphabet book. The frequency of letter references was also examined in relation to child age and knowledge of letter names. Participants consisted of 44 preschoolers and their primary caregivers. Videotaped book-reading data were transcribed verbatim and coded for their inclusion of 14 types of letter references (e.g., naming requests, labels, repetitions). Significant findings included the following: Parent labels were significantly correlated with child age; and child knowledge of letter names was significantly correlated with parent naming requests, corrections, and repetitions, and child answers and initiations. Practice or Policy: Findings are discussed in reference to the literature regarding parental sensitivity to child age and knowledge in educational interactions with their child.     

For a Better Understanding Between Parent and Child

Now there is often a misunderstanding between parent and child.Parents often complain that their children are behaving unreasonably while many children would so often say that his or her parents are old fashioned.When the child has a     

Levels of Cognitive Functioning as Related to Anxiety

The relationships between levels of cognitive functioning as suggested by the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I and states of affective arousal as measured by Text Anxiety (the main variable of interest), General Anxiety, and Need for Achievement were investigated. Two separate samples were used: (1) 234 university students, and (2) 319 junior and senior class high school students.

For the university sample significant negative correlations between Text Anxiety and Knowledge (recall of specific facts) and Test Anxiety and Comprehension were found. For the high school sample the negative correlation between Test Anxiety and Comprehension was significant. No significant relations between Test Anxiety and higher levels of cognitive performance were found. The results are discussed in terms of interfering effects to task performance that Test Anxiety may produce when the examinee is given no information to “workwith” and must rely essentially on memory.     

Maternal Sensitivity and Child Wariness in the Transition to Kindergarten

Objective. This study tested maternal sensitivity as a moderator of the stability of wary behavior between 15 months and the transition to school. Design. Observational data from 15-month-old children and their mothers, kindergarten teacher reports, and maternal reports during the transition to kindergarten from 215 children from 3 sites (North Carolina, Virginia, and Arkansas) of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD; 1994), Study of Early Child Care are used. Results. Findings indicate significant stability of inhibition from 15 months to the transition to kindergarten and a significant interaction between maternal sensitivity and 15-month wariness in predicting inhibition in the transition to kindergarten. Among children who displayed wariness at 15 months, greater maternal sensitivity was associated with less inhibition during the transition to kindergarten. For children who did not display wariness at 15 months, there was no relation between maternal sensitivity and inhibition in the transition to kindergarten. Conclusions. These findings suggest moderate stability of this early temperamental characteristic and point to the importance of responsive parenting in its modification.     

Supporting Child Welfare and Parent Involvement in Preschool Programs

This article discusses the findings from a mixed-method study examining the relationship between social resources and levels of parent involvement in state-funded preschool programs in Illinois. Using survey data from the Illinois Birth to Five Evaluation (n = 843) and interviews with ten preschool administrators who completed the survey, the study found the number of social resources provided by a program was positively associated with levels of parent involvement. The correlation analysis (r = −0.22, p = .0001) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) F(2,708) = 23.19, p = .0001 findings both demonstrated positive relationships wherein high numbers of social resources were associated with higher levels of parent involvement in programs. Administrator interviews confirmed survey findings and suggested additional influences on parent involvement levels and use of social resources in programs. Implications for supporting child welfare and policy recommendations for early childhood programs are provided.     

Parent and Adolescent Perceptions of Parental Monitoring and Adolescent Risk Involvement

Objective. To compare parent and youth reports of the extent to which parents monitor their adolescents and to determine whether parents' perceptions of parental monitoring are more predictive of adolescent risk behavior. Design. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional sample of 270 parent - adolescent dyads recruited from rural communities in West Virginia. Parents completed a series of written questionnaires, and adolescents (12-16 years) provided information about their involvement in various risk behaviors. Results. Parent perceptions of parental monitoring efforts did not relate to adolescent perceptions of parental monitoring; parents generally perceived themselves to have more information about their adolescents' whereabouts and activities than their adolescents reported. No main effects of age or gender were found in the discrepancies between parent and adolescent monitoring reports. Adolescent reports of monitoring were negatively correlated with adolescent drinking, marijuana use, and sexual activity over the previous 6-month period. Adolescent risk behaviors were predicted by adolescent reports of parental monitoring alone. Conclusions. Parents and adolescents perceive the magnitude of parental monitoring efforts differently even when both parties perceive parents to know much about adolescent activities. Adolescents' perceptions of how much their parents know about their activities are more predictive of their own involvement in risk behaviors than their parents' perceptions about their own monitoring efforts.     

大学生担忧与焦虑敏感的关系

This research recruited a total of 416 undergraduates to participate in the survey of Peen State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) and Anxiety Sensitivity Index-Revised (ASI-R) to examine the undergraduate worry and anxiety sensitivity. The results showed that the PSWQ total score was moderate, and positively correlated with that of ASI-R and its sub-factors. The multi-regression analysis showed that both psychological concern and social concern positively predicted the PSWQ total score. The path model of ASI-R and PSWQ fit well in with the data, in which the predictive effect of ASI-R on PSWQ was positive, explaining 15% of variance of PSWQ. This suggested that the level of undergraduates’ worry is moderate, and positively correlated with their anxiety sensitivity.     

文学理论及相关课程的生存忧虑与对策

中国当代社会转型背景下的文化建设转型的现实对文学理论相关课程在文学研究及大学教育中的地位和价值提出了再认识的要求,从文学理论的现实处境分析入手,结合学界对此问题的反思,联系现实教学实践中教与学的矛盾,对文学理论课程的教学提出相应的对策.     

Contextual Factors Related to Math Anxiety in Second-Grade Children

As the United States falls farther behind other countries in standardized math assessments, the author seeks to understand why U.S. students perform so poorly. One of the possible explanations to U.S. students’ poor math performance may be math anxiety. However, math anxiety in elementary school children is a neglected area in the research. The author aimed to close the gap in knowledge about math anxiety in children by examining contextual factors related to math anxiety in second-grade children. The author used the theory of triadic reciprocity as the theoretical model in this study in which children (n = 91) and their parents (n = 81) completed a series of self-report measures on math anxiety, math self-concept, reading self-concept, math self-efficacy, and aspects of the home math environment. Results indicated that the strongest predictor of math anxiety in second-grade children was their level of math self-concept. The addition of environmental factors did not significantly increase the amount of variance explained in math anxiety.     

试论亲子教育的内涵与功能

亲子教育的实践先于概念的形成 ,其基础是家庭的早期教育。它包含有亲职教育和亲情教育两个主要部分。在亲子教育指导中 ,要重视亲情教育功能的发挥 ,把亲子关系中建立亲情关系放在首位 ,作为促进婴幼儿身心健康和智能开发 ,人格完善的前提和保证。     

Embracing Death: Mexican Parent and Child Perspectives on Death

A mixed-method approach was used to explore parent and child perspectives on death in Mexico. Parents’ and children’s death-related experiences and understanding of death were examined. While all children in this sample displayed a biological understanding of death, older children were less likely to endorse that all living things die. Children also displayed coexistence of beliefs related to death that can be attributed to both their biological and spiritual understanding of death. We also found that older children were more likely to report that a child should feel sad following the death of a loved one. These findings highlight how cultural practices shape the development of cognitive and affective processes related to death.