The stability of parenting behaviors over the first 6 years of life

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relative and absolute stability of parenting behaviors over the first 6 years of children's lives. In 1991, a diverse sample of 1364 participants was enrolled in the Study of Early Child Care at 10 sites across the United States. Parenting behaviors were rated annually over a 6-year period using lab observations and home visits. Eight hundred and ninety-three participants had complete data from each time point to test the hypotheses of interest. The data show that both sensitive and stimulating parenting behaviors display considerable relative and mean level stability over the first 6 years of life, whereas negative aspects of parenting, like detachment and negative regard, do not. Implications for research and interventions are discussed.     

Risk of mother-reported child abuse in the first 3 years of life

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to investigate, within an at-risk population, parent and child characteristics associated with a mother's self-reports of severe physical assault and assault on the self-esteem of the child in the first 3 years of life. DESIGN: The study population consisted of a community-based sample of mothers of newborns identified as at-risk for child maltreatment (n=595). Families were assessed annually from the child's birth through age 3 using instruments with established psychometric properties. Independent variables investigated included: family socio-demographics, parity, mother's social support, maternal depression, maternal problem drug or alcohol use, partner violence, child's age, child's sex, low birth weight/small for gestational age (SGA), and mother's perception of child's demand level. Associations with maltreatment were examined using multivariable methods for longitudinal data. RESULTS: Child severe physical assault was significantly associated with parent characteristics (maternal depression and partner violence); and child characteristics (SGA). Assault to the child's self-esteem was significantly associated with maternal depression, maternal illicit drug use, partner violence and mother's perception of child's demand level. Controlling for family sociodemographic characteristics did not change the associations. Likewise, while mother's perception of child demand level had an independent association with self-esteem assault, the associations described above persisted while demand level was held constant. In this high-risk sample, abuse was not associated with mother's age, education, race, parity, or household income level. CONCLUSIONS: While characteristics such as SGA can serve as markers for increased abuse risk, they are not amenable to intervention after the child is born. However, certain other risk factors, such as maternal depression and domestic violence are malleable and should be targeted for intervention with the goal of preventing child maltreatment.     

Trajectories of motivation and their academic correlates over the first year of college

The first year of college is a pivotal time for academic and personal development, yet there is still much to be learned about motivational change during this period. Using Self-Determination Theory (SDT), we assessed six distinct types of motivation among an initial sample of 776 students at four time points over the first year of college. Latent growth models indicated initially high but declining levels of intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, moderate but increasing levels of positive and negative introjection, and low but increasing levels of external regulation and amotivation. These patterns suggest that, on average, more autonomous types of motivation tend to decrease over the first year of college while more controlled types of motivation tend to increase. Academic functioning was predicted by (a) initial levels of both identified regulation and amotivation and (b) change trajectories for intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, and amotivation. These findings suggest that contextual supports for building autonomous motivation and minimizing amotivation appear to be essential both prior to college entry and throughout the first year.     

Developmental trajectories of children's educational expectations in China: Contributions of academic achievement and maternal expectations

This longitudinal study examined the overall and heterogeneous developmental trajectories of children's educational expectations and the effects of children’'s previous academic achievements and maternal educational expectations on these trajectories. The educational expectations of 3868 Chinese children (1839 girls; M_age = 9.42 ± 0.52) were investigated six times from the 4th to 6th grades. Children's previous academic achievement and maternal educational expectations were also collected during the first wave. The results showed that Chinese children's educational expectations generally increased in middle childhood and could be categorized into four classes: high stable-increasing, low stable-increasing, low quickly-increasing, and high quickly-decreasing. Furthermore, maternal educational expectations have the greatest influence on the initial level of children's educational expectations, whereas previous academic achievement has the greatest impact on the increasing rate of children's expectations. In addition, both factors contribute to classifying children into a high-stable increasing class in comparison to the other three classes. The findings indicate that Chinese children increase their educational expectations in middle childhood and continually adapt their expectations mainly based on their previous achievements. These findings could advance our understanding of the development of children’s educational expectations in the middle childhood period and provide educational practitioners with prospective factors to increase children’s educational expectations.     

Family resources and parenting quality: links to children's cognitive development across the first 3 years

Reciprocal associations among measures of family resources, parenting quality, and child cognitive performance were investigated in an ethnically diverse, low-income sample of 2,089 children and families. Family resources and parenting quality uniquely contributed to children's cognitive performance at 14, 24, and 36 months, and parenting quality mediated the effects of family resources on children's performance at all ages. Parenting quality continued to relate to children's cognitive performance at 24 and 36 months after controlling for earlier measures of parenting quality, family resources, and child performance. Similarly, children's early cognitive performance related to later parenting quality above other measures in the model. Findings merge economic and developmental theories by highlighting reciprocal influences among children's performance, parenting, and family resources over time.     

父母教养方式与初中生年级、性别的关系研究

通过问卷调查法对548名不同年级、性别初中生父母教养方式的研究发现,总体上,初中生父母的教养方式是积极的,父母对初中生的接纳程度超过其干涉、拒绝程度,接纳型是父母的主要教养类型;不同年级、性别的初中生父母教养方式存在显著差异,父母对低年级初中生、女生的接纳程度高于高年级初中生、男生;低年级初中生、女生的父母教养类型以接纳型为主,高年级初中生、男生的父母教养类型以中间型和接纳型为主;父亲教养类型与母亲教养类型在全体被试中的分布不一致,父亲教养类型属于接纳型的被试比例显著高于母亲教养类型属于接纳型的被试比例。     

青春期父母教育方式的调整与亲子关系

父母的教育方式可分为教养类型和教养方式两大类,教养类型指教养风格、价值和态度取向,而教养方式则指父母具体的教养活动;父母的教养类型对子女的影响是间接的,而教养方式的影响却是直接的。不同的教养类型和教养方式与青少年行为有密切的关系。青春期亲子关系会发生微妙的变化,这一时期父母应在子女决策权、对子女的期望等方面作出调整,以便提高亲子教育水平。     

Early parenting and the reduction of educational inequality in childhood and adolescence

Socioeconomic status (SES) differences in parenting are often implicated in widening the SES-achievement gap. Using nationally representative data (N = 12,887), the author tested for variation across SES in the types and intensity of parenting behaviors utilized and then examined SES differences in the relationship between parenting and student achievement growth from kindergarten to Grade 8. Exploratory factor analysis identifies three dimensions of early parenting: Educational engagement, stimulating parent–child interaction, and discursive discipline. Regression results indicate that all three are used most heavily by high-SES families. However, only educational engagement consistently predicts achievement growth. Surprisingly, it is positively associated with achievement for lower-, but not higher-SES students in Grades 1–8. Further, educational engagement is beneficial for low-SES children because it is particularly beneficial for low-achieving students, consistent with a compensatory hypothesis.     

构建和谐社会下农村父母教育观念之探索

采用半结构访谈法,在河南省农村选取114名被试,研究农村父母的教育观念及其特点。研究发现:(1)农村父母在教育观念上明显重男轻女,文化程度越低表现得越严重,母亲比父亲有更多的重男倾向。(2)仍然强调传统的孝道教育。(3)认为影响学业成就的因素有三个:遗传素质、环境教育和个人的主观努力,其中遗传素质起主要作用。(4)对子女学历的追求不高,对子女职业选择抱有较高的希望。(5)对好父母、好孩子标准的认识比较清楚一致。     

I blame the mother: educating parents and the gendered nature of parenting orders

There has been an increasing focus from policymakers, academics and journalists on parents as the source of their child's anti-social behaviour both in and outside of the formal school setting. One intervention proffered is the parenting order. The language of parenting orders and parenting interventions obscures a distinct truth, that parenting orders are really mothering orders. This paper draws on findings generated during interviews with 26 parents attending a parenting education programme in a city in the north of England. This paper explores the gendered nature of parental education, in that the overwhelming majority of parents ordered by the courts to attend parenting classes are women. The paper explores mothers' experiences of receiving coercive parenting education, examines the reasons why mothers were given parenting orders and explores the nature of these mothers' relationships with their child's school.     

The development of self-regulation in the first four years of life

This study examined longitudinally the development of self-regulation in 108 young children during the first 4 years of life. Children's committed compliance (when they eagerly embraced maternal agenda) and situational compliance (when they cooperated, but without a sincere commitment) were studied. Both forms of compliance were observed in "Do" contexts, in which the mothers requested that the children sustain unpleasant, tedious behavior, and in "Don't" contexts, in which they requested that the children suppress pleasant, attractive behavior. Children's internalization while alone in the similar contexts was also studied. Parallel assessments were conducted when the children were 14, 22, 33, and 45 months of age. At all ages, the Do context was much more challenging for children than the Don't context. Girls surpassed boys in committed compliance. Both forms of compliance were longitudinally stable, but only within a given context. Children's fearfulness and effortful control, observed and mother reported, correlated positively with committed compliance, but mostly in the Don't context. Committed, but not situational, compliance was linked to children's internalization of maternal rules, observed when the children were alone in the Do and Don't contexts. These links were both concurrent and longitudinal, context specific, and significant even after controlling for maternal power assertion. There was modest preliminary evidence that committed compliance may generalize to interactions with adults other than the mother.     

Clusters of abusive parenting: A latent class analysis of families referred to Child Protective Services in Portugal

From the perspective of ecological models, it is suggested that a thorough behavior analysis of parental mistreatment and neglect is undertaken from a general approach to a more comprehensive and multi-dimensional perspective. Hence, the main goal of the present study was to determine if meaningful groups or clusters of abusive parenting in Portugal could be identified based on the characterization of the children and adolescents, their parents and context variables. An instrument was developed to assess variables of the children or adolescents, the family and the social context, all of which have been shown to be important in the literature. Child and Youth Protection Commissions from the whole of Portugal participated in the study, a total of 504 cases. Latent class analysis was applied in order to identify distinct parenting abusing behavior. The results showed four distinct clusters of families which are clearly defined in light of the types of risk and associated variables. The four groups are probabilistic and propose the composition of clusters with socio-demographic variables related to the types of risk. The significant interrelationships of different profiling characteristics are directly related to parenting abusing behavior. The results of this study confirmed our hypothesis of heterogeneous abusive parenting in Portugal. The findings yield useful policy-oriented results. Meaningfully organizing abusive parenting may be an important step not only in understanding the origins of abuse and neglect, but also in integrating this information into intervention models with children, young people and their families.     

The development of emotion expression during the first two years of life

This study examines the course of emotion expression development over the first 2 years of life in a sample of full-term and preterm children. 58 mother/infant pairs were videotaped at infant ages of 2 1/2, 5, 7 1/2, and 22 months, recording face-to-face interaction involving play and separation/reunion sessions. The tapes were coded on a second-to-second basis using Izard's facial affect coding system. Data analysis focused on (1) differences in expressive behavior at 22 months as a function of risk status, gender, attachment status, and patterns of earlier maternal contingency behavior; (2) stability of specific emotional expressive patterns across assessment periods; and (3) the relation of expressive behavior and security of attachment at 2 years to qualities of earlier affective interchange. Mother's contingency behavior (both general level and specific contingency patterns) appeared to have a material effect on the course of emotional development, as did birth status and gender. Prematurity was associated with differential socioemotional development well into the second year, much in contrast to the "catch-up effect" observed in linguistic and cognitive functioning. Discrete emotions analysis of attachment groups yielded differentiation along a broad negative/positive dimension, but it also showed that insecurely attached children can be characterized as showing inhibited anger expression. The results of this study are discussed within the framework of organizational models of infant affective development; attachment theory and discrete emotions approaches were found to yield different yet equally informative data on the course of socioemotional development.     

Trajectories of maternal verbal aggression across the middle school years: associations with negative view of self and social problems

Objective

The primary research objective was to explore the relationship between trajectories of maternal verbal aggression (VA) experienced by low-income, community middle school students across a three-year period and outcomes that have been found to be related to VA in previous work, including a negative view of self and social problems.

Method

Longitudinal data were collected from 421 youth (51.8% male) attending two middle schools over 3 years using a multiple-informant survey design. K-means cluster analysis was used to identify trajectories of VA using youth ratings of the Conflict Tactics Scale: Parent-Child (Straus, Hamby, Finkelhor, Moore, & Runyan, 1998). Dependent variables were self-reported depression, self-esteem, delinquency, and peer victimization as well as peer-rated aggression and sensitive-isolated reputation.

Results

Four trajectory groups of VA were identified: Low Stable, Increasing, Decreasing, and High Stable. The 3-year average occurrence of VA was: 1.31, 9.18, 10.24, and 31.14 instances, respectively. Gender-specific MANOVAs revealed dramatic differences between the High Stable and Low Stable groups. High Stable boys reported significantly more depressive symptoms, delinquency, peer overt and relational victimization, and were less likely to have a sensitive/isolated reputation than Low Stable boys. High Stable girls reported significantly more depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, delinquency, peer overt and relational victimization and were rated by peers as having more aggressive/disruptive and relationally aggressive reputations than Low Stable girls. Girls in the High Stable group were more likely than other youth to report levels of depressive symptoms and delinquency >1 SD above the mean, while boys in the High Stable group were more likely to report levels of delinquency >1 SD above the mean. The Increasing and Decreasing groups also demonstrated significantly poorer functioning than the Low Stable group on most outcomes. Growth curve analysis revealed that VA showed a contemporaneous association with self-reported delinquency suggesting these factors are closely related.

Conclusions

Any level of VA greater than the 1–2 instances per year reported by youth in the Low Stable group was associated with less favorable outcomes.     

How (not) to feel: culture and the politics of emotion in the American parenting advice literature

This interpretive critique of the US parenting advice literature explores the underlying cultural values and assumptions concerning emotion and power that are revealed in discourses on child behavior management. The analysis reveals a clear emphasis on the pedagogical and therapeutic role of an emotionally knowledgeable parent in relation to a deficient child. Parents are supposed to teach the child how to handle negative emotions through explicit strategies such as labeling, verbalization, and therapeutic listening, many of which are imbued with cultural and class bias. While emotions appear to be valued, the underlying subtext is one of emotional control and disengagement. The discourse can be read as a window on a contemporary politics of emotion in which freedom of expression and regulation of the self exist in uneasy tension, and in which emotions represent a dangerous terrain of social dis/order.     

彝族俐侎人养育习俗的教育价值对边远民族地区幼儿教育的启示

彝族俐侎人在养育幼儿的过程中主要是向幼儿传授民族生产生活技能、进行宗教信仰的传递以及在生活中进行日常礼仪的训练。养育习俗作为幼儿园教育的补充发挥了积极的教育作用,也对边远民族地区幼儿教育有很大的启示：环境创设应整合本土文化资源;教育内容应贴近幼儿的生活世界;课程创设应融入儿童民间游戏;教育与养育相结合。     

The recognition of facial expressions in the first two years of life: mechanisms of development

In recent years the infant's ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion has attracted considerable attention from developmental psychologists. The rationale guiding much of this research has been that this ability plays an important role in later socioemotional development. In the present article, the research relating to this topic is reviewed and synthesized. It is concluded that the recognition of facial expressions develops slowly over the first 2 years of life, and that even at the end of the second year the infant's understanding of facial expressions is still quite rudimentary. Following this review is a discussion of 2 unresolved issues regarding the development of this ability. 1 issue relates to the biological/experimental basis on which the ability to recognize facial expressions develops. Research with primates is brought to bear on this point, and useful analogues with human infants are sought. From this research it is suggested that a component of the ability to recognize facial expressions is unlearned, although experience of some as yet undetermined nature affects this biological readiness. The second issue relates to the possible neurological mechanisms that mediate this ability. Research with primates, normal adults, and brain damaged adults is used to support the speculation that a posterior region of the right hemisphere is responsible for mediating the recognition of facial expressions.     

从标准化到优质化：上海社区学校发展性评估的实践逻辑

社区学校作为上海社区教育发展的重要载体,在“十二五”至“十四五”期间,经过标准化建设评估、内涵建设评估、优质化建设评估三个阶段的发展性评估实践探索,目标指向各有侧重。社区学校发展性评估作为衡量社区教育质量的重要举措,在评估主体、评估指标、评估方式、评估结果方面也发生了相应改变。应将发展作为评估不变的价值追求,在深入推进社区学校发展性评估的过程中,处理好优质与均衡、阶段与周期、外部与内部的关系,推动社区学校整体提速、提质、提效。     

Stability of biases in self-evaluation and relations to well-being among elementary school children

This paper aims to investigate to what extent a bias in self-evaluation is an enduring characteristic among children, and whether there is a relationship between the trajectory of children's self-evaluation bias over a five-year period and their psychosocial adjustment. 462 children (200 boys) in Grade 3 (mean age = 8.6 years old) or Grade 4 (mean age = 9.7 years old) at the outset of the study participated following their parents’ written consent. The group-based approach using a multinomial modeling strategy allowed identifying five groups based on changes in the children's self-evaluation bias over the five-year period. Children in the stable and highly positive bias group stood out as having markedly more positive scores on all indices of psychosocial adjustment, and also outperformed the other children in achievement in language arts and math.     

Liking to be liked: imitation,familiarity and pedagogy in the first years of life

This paper offers a review of the literature on the role of imitation in the earliest stages of social interaction between babies and familiar partners. The review focuses on the ways in which reciprocal imitation marks familiar relationships that provide special contexts for babies to engage actively and exuberantly in the construction of a shared culture. Because adults' perception of a baby's actions and intentions are filtered by the adult's experience of living within a particular culture, babies can obtain valuable information about this culture from the differences between what they do and how familiar adults respond to them. As they become increasingly interested in the social meaning of people's behaviour, infants also become more sensitive about how their own actions may be interpreted, showing pride and delight when their intentions are realised and embarrassed withdrawal when their efforts fail. When very young children are observed in unfamiliar contexts and when they are cared for and educated in professional settings, they may have relatively few opportunities for lively, joyful exchanges with reassuringly familiar partners and this can distort adults' perceptions of ‘normal’ infant behaviour. It is argued that adults' attentive interest in mutually enjoyable exchanges with young children is an important difference between humans and other apes and provides an essential foundation for pedagogy and for children's active participation in a shared culture.