Mother–Father–Child Triadic Interaction and Mother–Child Dyadic Interaction: Gender Differences Within and Between Contexts

Differences in mother and father behavior during a triadic interaction session, and differences in mothers’ behavior across triadic and dyadic interaction, were examined in 60 two-parent families with an 11- to 15-month-old child (30 boys, 30 girls). Results revealed that mothers were less involved, less sensitive, and more negative during triadic than during dyadic interaction. Mothers of sons displayed more emotion during triadic interaction than mothers of daughters did. Mothers were more involved with children than fathers were during triadic interaction, whereas fathers displayed more emotion than mothers did during triadic interaction. Fathers were more supportive of mothers, and mothers were more intrusive toward fathers, during triadic interaction. The results are discussed in terms of the role that context plays in gender-typed patterns of family interaction.     

Late Adoptions: Attachment Security and Emotional Availability in Mother–Child and Father–Child Dyads

A growing body of research suggests that a history of neglect, abuse and institutionalization can negatively affect late-adopted children’s attachment representations, and that adoptive parents can play a key role in enabling adopted children to earn secure attachments. Still, only a few studies have explored the quality of caregiver–child interaction in adoptive families. The present study aimed at verifying both the concordance of attachment in adoptive dyads (mother–children and father–children) and the relationship between attachment representations and parent–child interaction. The research involved 20 adoptive families in which the child’s arrival had occurred between 12 to 36 months before the assessment, and where children were aged between 4.5 and 8.5 years. Attachment was assessed through the Adult Attachment Interview for parents and through the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task for children. The emotional quality of parent–child interaction was assessed trough the Emotional Availability Scales. Our results pointed out the presence of a relation between attachment representations of late-adopted children and their adoptive mothers (75%, K?=?0.50, p?=?.025). In addition, we found that both insecure children and mothers showed lower levels of EA than secure ones. Some explanations are presented about why, in the early post-adoption period, child attachment patterns and dyadic emotional availability seem to be arranged on different frameworks for the two parental figures.     

Perceived Parent–Child Relations and Adolescent Self-Esteem

We used data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to assess the independent and interactive correlations of maternal and paternal parenting with adolescent self-esteem. Specifically, ordinary least squares regression was used to provide estimates for a large, culturally diverse sample of married, biological parent-families with adolescent children. Our results suggested that adolescent reports of mothers’ and fathers’ physical availability, involvement, and quality of relations are each independently associated with adolescent self-esteem. In addition, statistically significant interactions indicated the positive associations of one parent’s involvement and high quality relations with self-esteem grow stronger in the presence of high involvement and relationship quality of the second parent. Our study highlights the need to assess the independent and interactive associations parents have with the well-being of their children.     

Gender Differences in Parent–Child Emotion Narratives

Early parent–child conversations about past emotional experiences provide a rich environment for the socialization of emotions. This study explored the role of parent and child gender in this process. Participants were 21 White, middle-class, 40- to 45-month-old children and their mothers and fathers. At separate home visits, each parent discussed with their child four specific past events during which the child experienced happiness, anger, sadness, and fear, respectively. Mothers conversed more overall, talked more about emotional aspects of the experience, and used more emotion words than did fathers. Similarly, girls talked more about emotional aspects of their experiences than did boys. Further, girls used more emotion words when discussing scary events than did boys. Most intriguingly, both mothers and fathers used more emotional utterances when discussing sad events with daughters than with sons. Parent–daughter dyads also placed emotional experiences in a more interpersonal context than did parent–son dyads. Implications for the development of gender, emotional understanding, and clinical repercussions are discussed.     

The Relation between Parent Mental Health and Child Internalizing Symptoms in Parent–Child Interaction Therapy

Journal of Child and Family Studies - The present study evaluated whether families receiving Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) experienced significant improvements in both parent and...     

Marital Satisfaction and Quality of Father–Child Interactions: The Moderating Role of Child Gender

The authors aimed to investigate the prospective links between normative variation in fathers’ marital satisfaction and the observed quality of father–toddler interactions, as well as the moderating role of child gender in these associations. Sixty-three fathers reported on their marital satisfaction when their children were 15 months of age, and were observed interacting with their child at 18 months. The results suggested that marital satisfaction was positively associated with the quality of father–son interactions, while no relations emerged among fathers of girls. These findings reiterate the importance of marital relationships for the quality of fathers’ parenting, while reaffirming previous suggestions that the role of child gender in the marriage-parenting connections requires further investigation.     

Assessing the Quality of the Parent–Child Relationship: Validity and Reliability of the Child–Parent Relationship Test (ChiP-C)

The ChiP-C is a clinically oriented questionnaire for assessing the quality of the child-parent relationship according to the child’s subjective appraisal. The ChiP-C is based on family systems theory and a cumulative vulnerability model. The questionnaire consists of 36 items representing three resource scales, five risk scales, and one additional scale. This article presents the theoretical framework and main psychometric properties of the ChiP-C. A school-based sample of 1,377 youth (ages 10–20; M = 14.4) and a clinic-referred consecutive sample of 197 patients (ages 10–18, M = 14.0) were surveyed. Construct validity was determined by confirmatory factor analyses. The mean of the internal consistencies was 0.79. Systematic correlations between the ChiP-C scales and the German EMBU confirmed the convergent and discriminant validity of the ChiP-C. Moreover, all ChiP-C scales were shown to be significantly correlated with psychopathological symptoms as measured by parent and youth questionnaires. The ChiP-C can be considered an economical screening instrument for a reliable and valid assessment of strengths and disturbances of the child-parent relationship according to the child’s subjective appraisal.     

Effects of a Workplace Intervention on Parent–Child Relationships

This study tested whether effects of a workplace intervention, aimed at promoting employees’ schedule control and supervisor support for personal and family life, had implications for parent–adolescent relationships; we also tested whether parent–child relationships differed as a function of how many intervention program sessions participants attended. Data came from a group randomized trial of a workplace intervention, delivered in the information technology division of a Fortune 500 company. Analyses focused on 125 parent–adolescent dyads that completed baseline and 12-month follow-up home interviews. Results revealed no main effects of the intervention, but children of employees who attended 75 % or more program sessions reported more time with their parent and more parent education involvement compared to adolescents whose parents attended <75 % of sessions, and they tended to report more time with parent and more parental solicitation of information about their experiences compared to adolescents whose parents were randomly assigned to the usual practice condition.     

Child sexual abuse evaluations: the scientist–practitioner model

The scientist-practitioner model is presented as a format for conducting child sexual abuse evaluations. This model bases conclusions on empirically established relationships between data and the behavior of interest, rather than on subjective opinions. Using empirically derived evidence, the scientist-practitioner defines child sexual abuse as a life event rather than a clinical syndrome, relies on base rates of behavior for distinguishing and understanding differences between nonsexually abused and sexually abused children, and considers issues of instrument sensitivity and specificity when utilizing assessment tools in child sexual abuse evaluations. This model enlists safeguards to keep the evaluator from inappropriately forming cause and effect associations between a child's single response (e.g., behavioral and emotional symptoms, interactions with anatomically detailed dolls, drawing genitalia) and the occurrence of an event (e.g., sexual abuse). © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parent–Child Roles in Decision Making About Medical Research

Our objective is to understand how parents and children perceive their roles in decision making about research participation. Forty-five children (ages 4–15 years) with or without a chronic condition and 21 parents were the participants. A semistructured interview assessed perceptions of up to 4 hypothetical research scenarios with varying levels of risk, benefit, and complexity. Children were also administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Third Edition, to assess verbal ability, as a proxy for the child's cognitive development. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed and analyzed for themes related to parent and child decision-making roles. Both parents and children varied in their perceptions of decision-making roles. Child perceptions of parental influence on decision making as knowledge-based increased with cognitive development, whereas perceptions of parental influence as power-based decreased. Both children and parents commented that they would collaborate with each other when making decisions. Collaborative decision making appeared to increase with cognitive development. These findings suggest that approaches to child assent and parent permission should consider the parent–child relationship and how children and families typically make decisions. Future research is necessary to explain variation in the process of research decision making across children and families, explore the role of collaboration on children's decision-making skills, and understand developmental trajectories and mechanisms related to research decision making.     

Parent–Child Joint Reading in Traditional and Electronic Formats

There is little question that parent–child joint reading is related to a number of positive childhood outcomes, such as vocabulary acquisition and school success. With the growth of tablet computers, parents are now able to read to their children using different platforms. This study used a repeated-measures design with parents and their preschool-aged children to test the difference between reading interactions and child comprehension on two platforms: traditional books and electronic iPad books. Results indicated that in the electronic reading condition, parents used more talk about the book format and environment than in the traditional book condition, where they used more evaluative comments about content. Children comprehended significantly more in the traditional book condition than in the electronic book condition. Additional analyses suggested that this finding was related to the increase in distraction talk by parents in the electronic book condition. Results suggest that it is important to consider the specific content of parent–child reading interactions and the increased cognitive load these interactions can place on children, as parent questions about the book format and the environment were related to decreases in child comprehension.     

Spanish-Speaking Parent–Child Emotional Narratives and Children's Social Skills

We examined whether parents' content and style when discussing past positive and negative emotional experiences with their children were concurrently and predictively linked to prekindergarteners' social skills. Sixty-five low-income Spanish-speaking parent–child dyads discussed a past positive and negative emotional experience at the beginning of prekindergarten. Narratives were coded for parents' elaborative style and emotion resolution, cause, and attribution. Children's emotional and cognitive-processing words were also coded. Children's social problem-solving skills and prosocial behaviors were assessed at the beginning and at the end of prekindergarten. Concurrently, children's social problem-solving skills were related to parents' elaborative style when discussing positive emotional experiences and children's use of cognitive-processing words when discussing negative emotional experiences. Predictively, children whose parents offered resolutions when discussing negative emotional experiences at the beginning of prekindergarten had better social problem-solving skills at the end of prekindergarten. Parents who talked about causes or attributed emotions when discussing past emotional experiences did not necessarily have children with better social skills. Findings suggest that parents' scaffolding when discussing past positive and negative emotional experiences offers opportunities for prekindergarteners to develop social abilities crucial for school readiness.     

Training in Mindful Caregiving Transfers to Parent–Child Interactions

In an earlier study, we provided mindfulness training to three caregivers of individuals with profound multiple disabilities. We measured levels of happiness displayed by the individuals during the 8 weeks of mindfulness training of the caregivers, as well as during the 16 weeks following the termination of training. We found that happiness increased markedly when an individual interacted with a caregiver who had received training in mindfulness as opposed to a control caregiver who did not receive such training. In this study, we investigated whether the increased mindfulness of the three caregivers would transfer to interactions with their own children. The children’s non-compliance with their mother’s requests was used as an indirect index of the effects of training their mothers received in mindfulness. Although the ages of the children and their baseline levels of non-compliance were variable, the data showed a decrease in non-compliance during mindfulness training of the caregivers and further decreases following the completion of training. Our data provide preliminary evidence of transfer of mindfulness training from caregiving to parent–child interactions. We speculate as to why this may occur in mindfulness training.     

Predictors of Boys’ ADHD Symptoms from Early to Middle Childhood: The Role of Father–Child and Mother–Child Interactions

This prospective 3 year longitudinal study investigated preschool paternal and maternal parenting predictors of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) in a community sample of 93 school-age boys. Participants were recruited on the basis of inattention-hyperactivity at age 4 and fathers and mothers were observed interacting with their sons. Teachers, fathers, and mothers reported children's ADHD symptoms and impairment. Results from dimensional analysis showed that less observed paternal sensitivity and maternal positive regard predicted higher levels of inattentiveness in middle childhood, and that intrusive paternal behavior was predictive of hyperactive-impulsive behavior at school. In categorical analysis, less maternal warmth and sensitivity were predictive of later ADHD. These predictions held after statistical adjustment for the effects of preschool ADHD behaviors and conduct problems. At follow-up, parents of boys with ADHD reported more negative child-parent relationship perceptions than comparison parents. Findings highlight the importance of examining responsive parenting behaviors of both fathers and mothers in relation to multi-informant ratings of ADHD symptoms.     

Parent–Child Conversations about the Past: Exercises for the Child’s Study of the Present

We outline ideas and research in training parents to help their children to appreciate historical patterns of social contingencies as well as contingencies in the present. Parents’ use of “lessons and dialogue” is presented as a means of guiding the children’s efforts to describe their past experiences in narrative format, along with teaching the children about contingency management in the present. Lessons define this latter type of parent teaching, and dialogue defines the former type. Our focus is on dialogue because it is not well known in the parent training literature. A case study is included to illustrate the potential benefits and problems encountered in training parents to use dialogue.     

The Association Between Reflective Functioning and Parent–Child Relationship Quality

Research consistently links adult and infant attachment styles, yet the means by which attachment is transmitted is relatively elusive. Recently, attention has been directed to the psychological underpinnings of caregiver sensitivity—originally thought to be the mechanism of transmission—as indicated by caregivers’ ability to keep in mind children’s mental states when interpreting children’s behavior, or reflective functioning. Unfortunately for researchers, extant measures of reflective functioning are time-consuming and require extensive observation and coding. A self-report measure could help facilitate the study and assessment of reflective functioning in research and clinical settings. This study investigated the relationship between parental reflective functioning and multiple aspects of the parent–child relationship, by using a new, self-report measure of reflective functioning. Participants were 79 caregivers (M _age = 31.8 years) who completed self-report measures assessing reflective functioning, parent–child relationship characteristics, perceived rejection in early relationships, attachment anxiety and avoidance in current close relationships, depression, and substance use. The results indicated that reflective functioning is a strong predictor of parent–child relationship quality (i.e., parental involvement, communication, parent satisfaction, limit setting, and parental support), independent of other potential indicators. Findings support parental reflective functioning as a contributor to the quality of parent–child relationship and suggest that a parent’s capacity to reflect on the mental states of his or her child in parent–child interactions may provide a key target for interventions that aim to improve parent–child relationships.