Disentangling the Relations Between Different Components of Family Socioeconomic Status and Chinese Preschoolers’ School Readiness

Family socioeconomic status (SES) has been frequently linked to children’s early development. Treating SES as an aggregated variable has many issues, as different components of SES may relate to child outcomes through divergent mechanisms. The purpose of the study was to examine whether parents’ engagement in home learning activities and children’s participation in extracurricular activities (EAs) would function as pathways through which individual SES components related to children’s school readiness. A total of 588 families with preschool‐aged children were recruited from Guangdong province in China. Children’s receptive vocabulary, Chinese reading, and early math skills were individually assessed at three time points, and children’s social skills were rated by parents. Parents reported their engagement in home learning activities with children and their children’s participation in EAs. The results showed that all three components of family SES were related to multiple aspects of children’s school readiness, but through different pathways. Parental income was related to children’s school readiness through EA participation only; parental education and occupational status were associated with school readiness via both parental engagement and child EA participation. The findings suggest that considering SES components separately will produce a more nuanced understanding of the divergent pathways through which family SES may relate to children’s school readiness. Chinese government may provide parent education programs focused on cognitive stimulation for low‐SES families to promote children’s school readiness. Furthermore, the government needs to ensure children’s equal access to EAs to prevent increasing the developmental gap among children from discrepant socioeconomic backgrounds.     

The Role of Placement History and Current Family Environment in Children’s Aggression in Foster Care

Predictors of the physical and relational aggressive behavior of children in foster care were examined (N?=?160, 50.9% male, M age?=?7.57, SD?=?2.39). First, predictors representative of children’s placement histories were examined in relation to the children’s aggression at T1. Next, predictors representing characteristics of the current family environment were examined in relation to the children’s aggression at T2 (4 months later). Results revealed that a greater number of prior group home placements and being in a non-kinship home were associated with higher physical aggression at T1. A greater number of prior group home placements, a fewer number of regular home placements, being in a non-kinship home, and prior removal from the home due to neglect were associated with higher relational aggression at T1. The results also revealed that higher foster sibling relational aggression at T1 predicted lower child physical aggression at T2. If foster siblings were biological children of the foster parent, higher levels of a foster sibling’s physical aggression at T1 predicted reduced child physical aggression at T2. The opposite pattern was observed if foster siblings were not biological children of the foster parent. Lastly, longer time in the current placement, more children in the home, and the presence of a sibling that was a biological child of the parent predicted higher child relational aggression at T2. These findings provide initial insights into how placement history and current family environment are associated with the physical and relational aggressive behavior of children in foster care.     

Therapeutic Action in the Work of a Playful Clinician: A Reflection on Dr. Silber’s Reimagining of Humpty Dumpty

ABSTRACT

In my discussion of Dr. Silber’s paper, Reimagining Humpty Dumpty: The Therapeutic Action of Play, I mirror Dr. Silber’s playful posture in her use of the Humpty Dumpty fable to talk about children and their care by society. My reflections on Dr. Silber’s therapeutic work with her two young patients focus on her co-creating meaning with each child’s parents as well as with the child. I discuss that by holding in her mind both the subjectivities of the child and his parents, Dr. Silber is able to practice a fundamentally relational therapy. I would have liked to have heard more about her emotional reactions in her work with both cases as another important dimension of her work. Finally, I emphasize through my play with Humpty Dumpty several ways that society can support children and families that are essential for their development: parental leave, developmentally approptiate expectations for children in school, and the facilitation and protection children’s open ended time and ability to play.     

Biblical and Theological Perspectives on Children,Parents, and ‘Best Practices' for Faith Formation: Resources for Child,Youth, and Family Ministry Today

Abstract : One of the most important ways to strengthen the faith formation of children and young people, and child, youth, and family ministries is by engaging and supporting parents or primary care‐givers. This article seeks to address this challenge by mining resources from the Bible and Christian theology about the roles and responsibilities of parents, the complexity and dignity of children, and ways to pass on the faith. By taking into account theological perspectives on parents, children, and faith formation, church leaders can better engage both children and parents, and they can strengthen all areas of their work with or on behalf of children and young people, whether in children's ministry, youth and family ministry, religious education, or child advocacy.     

The experiences of transgender and non-binary children and young people and their parents in healthcare settings in England,UK: Interviews with members of a family support group

Abstract

Background: Transgender and non-binary children and young people and their parents in England, UK are poorly served across a range of healthcare settings. Whilst UK equalities legislation and international guidance on transgender healthcare pathways protects this group from discrimination and mandates an affirmative approach, services in England are not keeping pace.

Aims: This study aims to draw on the experiences of transgender and non-binary children, young people and their parents in a support group in England in order to investigate their experiences of healthcare provision, and to develop some ideas for improvement.

Method: Data was collected with participants in a family support group which offers a parent helpline service, social groups for children and parents, and training for schools and other organizations. 65 parents and children from 27 families from the family support group attended participatory workshops where they were given a range of briefs: “health,” “family,” “friends,” and “education.” Their participation involved being asked to define their own interview questions and collect data by interviewing each other. Their interview notes constituted the raw data. Data was coded inductively by the author with respondent checking as a second stage.

Results: Results constitute the views of a small group of people, so cannot be generalized. However, they do illustrate some of the issues which may arise. Participants’ experiences elicited five key themes: professionals’ perceived lack of clinical and therapeutic knowledge; mental distress caused by excessive waiting lists; professionals’ stereotyped gender assumptions; direct discrimination within healthcare settings; and a lack of attention to parent and child voice, especially in terms of school-based experiences and where a patient had a diagnosis of autism.     

One and One and One is Minus Three: Therapeutic Consultations in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services with Separated and Conflicted Parents

Many children and young people attend mental health services where the conflict and dynamics between their separated parents contribute to their mental health difficulties. Without intervention in the conflicted co-parenting relationship, the child’s mental health may not improve. This article discusses the issues from the position of both children and their parents and describes some psychoanalytic thinking that can be applied in this work. This includes the development of triangular space and a third position in which the relationship itself is seen as a separate third and the understanding of grievance as a state of mind and a psychic retreat. The therapist’s countertransference offers insight into the experience of the child.     

Adoptive versus Mixed Families: Child Adjustment,Parenting Stress and Family Environment

Recent research in adoption has considered the factors and processes that underlie the adjustment of children and families. However, little research has been conducted on certain types of adoptive families, specifically on families with both adoptive and biological children often designated as mixed families. This subject is addressed by the present study which also analyzes the association between the type of adoptive family and children’s outcomes—prosocial and problem behavior—parenting stress and the relational family environment. It also examines whether children’s gender, age at adoption and the number of children in the home moderate these effects. 102 parents of adoptive children (ACF) 33 parents of both adoptive and biological children (ABCF) and 102 parents of biological children (BCF) participated in the study. Target-children were aged from 6 to 12 years. The Portuguese versions of the SDQ-P, PSI-SF and FES (Interpersonal Relationship dimension) were used. Results showed that the type of adoptive family—ACF and ABCF—significantly explained the variance of children’s behavioral problems and parenting stress. The child’s gender was shown to moderate the relationship between ACF parents and their perception of child’s prosocial behavior. The results give relevant clues as to the importance of distinct outcomes in adoptive families—ACF and ABCF—compared to families with only biological children and should, therefore, be a resource for professionals involved in the adopters’ suitability assessment and adoption intervention.     

Culturally Competent Family Therapy with Latino/Anglo-American Adolescents: Facilitating Identity Formation

On two occasions separated by one year, Chinese adolescents (N = 2,758) responded to instruments measuring their perceived parent-adolescent trust (i.e., paternal trust of the child and the child's trust of the parent) and other dimensions of parent-child relational qualities (satisfaction with parental control, readiness to communicate with the parent, and global satisfaction with the parent-child relationship). Results showed that perceived parent-adolescent trust was concurrently and longitudinally related to other dimensions of parent-child relational qualities. Multiple regression analyses suggest that the relations between perceived parent-adolescent trust and different dimensions of parent-child relational qualities over time were bidirectional in nature. Relative to perceived paternal trust of the adolescent child, adolescent child's trust of their parents exerted a stronger influence on different dimensions of parent-adolescent relational qualities, particularly in the father-adolescent dyad. While the influence of the child's readiness to communicate with the parents on parent-adolescent trust was weak in the father-adolescent dyad, the influence of global satisfaction with the parent-adolescent relationship on parent-adolescent trust was weak in the mother-adolescent dyad. The implications of the present findings on parent education and family therapy are discussed.     

Digital play as a spiritually formative activity

The ubiquitous presence of technology in children’s lives and the likelihood that technology will remain a significant part of young people’s culture means that scholars and practitioners need to ask how digital play may exert a positive spiritual influence on children and youth. This essay therefore explores four spiritually nurturing aspects of digital participation: (1) connections between the polyphonic nature of digital identity and the ideal of a spiritual disciple open to divine influence and change through new experiences and habituating practices; (2) ways in which young people’s empowerment as producers of the self and communities may transfer to ‘real’-world transformation efforts; (3) theories suggesting that the relational nature of social networking and gaming encourages and reinforces relational consciousness and increases young people’s conscious participation in relationship building; and (4) links between the imaginative elements of digital play and the facilitation of ritual experience and spiritual self-knowledge. The essay also attends to some of the dangers that lurk in the digital world and suggests how we might discern when young people’s digital play is spiritually healthy and when it veers into spiritual desolation.     

Looking for Solutions: Gender Differences in Relationship and Parenting Challenges Among Low‐Income,Young Parents

The need for parenting and relationship strengthening programs is important among low‐income minority parents where the burden of relational and parental stressors contributes to relationship dissolution. We examine these stressors among young parents. Data were collected from four focus groups (N = 35) with young parents. Data were audio‐recorded and transcribed. Inductive coding was used to generate themes and codes, and analysis was completed using NVivo. Relationship and parenting challenges, values, and areas of need were the three major themes that emerged. Women's relationship challenges were family interference and unbalanced parenting, and men reported feeling disrespected and having limited finances. Common relationship challenges for women and men were family interference and unbalanced parenting. Both genders valued trust, communication, and honesty in relationships. Areas of need for women and men included: improving communication and understanding the impact of negative relationships on current relationships. Parenting challenges for women were unbalanced parenting, child safety, and feeling unprepared to parent; men reported limited finances. Both genders valued quality time with child to instill family morals. Areas of need for women and men included learning child discipline techniques and increasing knowledge about child development. Finally, women and men have relationship and parenting similarities and differences. Young parents are interested in learning how to improve relationships and co‐parent to reduce relationship distress, which could reduce risk behaviors and improve child outcomes.     

Family Cohesion and Health-Related Quality of Life of Children with Type 1 Diabetes: The Mediating Role of Parental Adjustment

Despite the increasing number of studies on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of children with type 1 diabetes (T1D), little is known about the influence of family and parental factors on this outcome. This study aimed to explore whether family cohesion and children’s HRQOL were connected through three indicators of parental psychological adjustment (parenting stress, depressive symptoms, and anxious symptoms) as well as whether these links varied according to the child’s age. Levels of family cohesion, parenting stress, and depression/anxiety symptoms of parents of children with T1D and parents of healthy children were compared. The sample included 88 child–parent dyads composed of children/adolescents (8–18 years old) with T1D and one of their parents and 121 dyads composed of healthy children/adolescents and one of their parents. The parents completed self-report measures of family cohesion, parenting stress, and emotional adjustment, and the children completed measures of HRQOL. Testing of the hypothesized moderated mediational model showed that higher HRQOL ratings in children were associated with higher levels of cohesion through lower levels of parental stress, regardless of the child’s age. Parents of children with T1D perceived less cohesion and felt more anxiety and stress about parenting tasks compared to parents of healthy children. Our findings suggest that parents of children with T1D are at an increased risk of psychological maladjustment. Moreover, this study highlights the interrelation between family/parental functioning and child adjustment and makes an innovative contribution by identifying a mechanism that may account for the link between family and child variables.     

Historical shifts and underlying themes in ideas about rearing young children in the United States: Where have we been? Where are we going?

Common themes in ideas about rearing infants and young children in the United States can be traced from the nation's beginnings to the present day. These themes include a strong concern about child rearing; a belief that human beings are perfectible through better child rearing; an eagerness by parents to listen to the advice of ‘experts’; a belief that infants and young children should be educated in schools or day-care centers by experts, competing with the belief that infants belong at home with their mothers; a commitment to social reform, competing with the conviction that families should be autonomous. These themes provide a background for contemporary research, political controversy, and future discussion concerning how children should be reared. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Role of Gender in Young Children’s Selective Trust of Familiar STEM Characters

Female characters are less likely to engage with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) content than male characters on young children’s television shows. The current study examined how preschool-aged children’s selective trust of male and female characters to teach STEM differed by child gender, and how trust relates to children’s character identification. Forty-eight 3- to 6-year-old children’s selective trust of male and female characters to teach STEM content, gendered character identification, and personal interest in STEM activities was measured. Boys and girls had similar interest in STEM and had greater identification with same-gender characters. Although boys had significantly greater trust in male characters, girls had similar levels of trust in male and female characters. Overall, children had greater trust of male characters to teach STEM content, but this effect was driven by boys, indicating identification and selective trust are related, but not identical constructs. The discussion considers how representations of female and male characters on television may impact children’s trust of educational media characters to teach STEM.     

Children as Research Collaborators: Issues and Reflections from a Mobility Study in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper reflects on issues raised by work with children in an ongoing child mobility study in three sub-Saharan African countries: Ghana, Malawi and South Africa. There are now 70 school pupils of varying ages involved in the project, but the paper is particularly concerned with the participation of those children 14 years and under. We examine the significant ethical issues associated with working with younger child researchers, and linked questions concerning the spaces open to them in African contexts where local cultural constructions of childhood and associated economic imperatives (which commonly drive family and household endeavour) help shape the attitudes of adults to children’s rights and responsibilities and inter-generational power relations.     

Psychological contracting: Processes of contract formation during interviews between nannies and their ‘employers’

Three studies (one exploratory pilot, one concurrent between‐group post‐only, and one prospective between‐group time‐series) are reported that investigate processes of psychological contracting in the context of interviews conducted by parents (i.e. as prospective employers) looking for a live‐in nanny to care for their children (i.e. prospective employee). The qualitative study involved the development of a coding scheme for analysing interviews with 18 experienced nanny‐employer pairs coupled with a focus group comprising five ‘experts’ trained in psychological contract theory. In the two inferential studies, we examined the quantity (frequency) character (explicit or implicit) and content (relational or transactional) of spontaneous discussion about mutual expectations within two types of employment interview (23 first‐time nanny‐employer pairs and 16 experienced nanny‐employer pairs). In particular, we looked at the consequences of those interviews for: (1) perceptions of mutual trust, mutual understanding and perceived reciprocity at post‐interview; and (2) selection decisions. The results showed that clarity of expectation (or experience) was associated with an increased likelihood of time spent referring to, or discussing, expectations—whether explicitly or implicitly (H1a), but did not induce a more explicit discussion (H1b). On the contrary, clarity predicted an increased likelihood of discussing expectations ‘implicitly’, especially relational considerations (H2b). Generally speaking, relational material was discussed more implicitly than explicitly, whereas transactional material was discussed more explicitly than implicitly (H2a). Moreover, what was discussed (relational or transactional) during interviews predicted feelings of mutual trust, not the explicit/implicit nature of the discussion (H3a). However, implicit discussion did mediate the association between discussion of relational material, mutual understanding (H3b) and perceptions of reciprocity (H3b). Finally, selection decisions could not be attributable to the explicit/implicit nature of discussion (H4a); rather, post‐interview outcomes (mutual understanding and trust, perceived reciprocity) mediated selection decisions (H4b). The theoretical and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.     

Practicing Possibilities: Parents’ Explanations of Unusual Events and Children’s Possibility Thinking

Young children tend to judge improbable events to be impossible, yet there is variability across age and across individuals. Our study examined parent–child conversations about impossible and improbable events and links between parents’ explanations about those events and children’s possibility judgments in a reasoning task. Regression analyses revealed that parents’ speculation about potential mechanisms for improbable events during a parent–child book-sharing activity predicted children’s possibility judgments for similar events in an individual task and accounted for more of the variance than children’s age. Also, parents’ skepticism regarding mechanisms for impossible events was negatively correlated with children’s judgments about the possibility of improbable events. Additionally, children’s overall causal justifications for their judgments were correlated with parents’ talk about speculative mechanisms. Results suggest the importance of conversation with parents for young children’s developing understanding of the distinction between impossible and improbable.     

Predictive Genetic Testing of Children for Adult-Onset Conditions: Negotiating Requests with Parents

Healthcare professionals (HCPs) regularly face requests from parents for predictive genetic testing of children for adult-onset conditions. Little is known about how HCPs handle these test requests, given that guidelines recommend such testing is deferred to adulthood unless there is medical benefit to testing before that time. Our study explored the process of decision-making between HCPs and parents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 HCPs in 8 regional genetic services across the UK, and data were thematically analysed. We found that instead of saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to such requests, many HCPs framed the consultation as an opportunity to negotiate the optimal time of testing. This, they argued, facilitates parents’ considered decision-making, since parents’ eventual decisions after requesting a test was often to defer testing their child. In cases where parents’ requests remained a sustained wish, most HCPs said they would agree to test, concluding that not testing would not serve the child’s wider best interest. As a strategy for determining the child’s best interest and for facilitating shared decision-making, we recommend that HCPs re-frame requests for testing from parents as a discussion about the optimal time of testing for adult-onset disease.     

Family Life Around Screens: Some Thoughts on the Impact of ICTs on Psychological Development and the Development of Relationships

ICTs mediate family life even before children are born, from the moment that future parents post their foetus’s ultrasound image on social media. Based on theories and research on the impact of ICTs on psychological development and the development of relationships, this paper attempts to outline the new mediated context within which today’s children are born and grow. The discussion is set around two main properties of ICTs, closely interwoven with the everyday life of children and their families: (i) the oversupply of (globally) pre-constructed homogeneous images and information diffused by all kinds of screens, which occupy mental space and often surpass the child’s cognitive and emotional capacity to handle, and (ii) the new form of mediated relationships promoted by ICTs, where the other is physically absent. The discussion is focused on the impact that ICTs instill on emotional and cognitive development, and the development of relationships.     

Teacher and Parent Perceptions of Relational and Physical Aggression During Early Childhood

Although links have been found between parents’ and teachers’ (caregivers’) attitudes about aggressive behavior, their responses to aggressive behaviour in children, and those children’s own use of aggressive behaviour, most research has focused on primary and secondary school contexts and has examined the influence of parents and teachers separately. The current study explored both parents’ and teachers’ beliefs and intervention strategies for relational and physical aggression in early childhood settings. Teachers (N?=?18; Mage?=?34.8 years) and parents (N?=?68; Mage?=?32.2 years) were presented with vignettes portraying relational and physical aggression. Following each vignette, their perceptions of the seriousness of the act, empathy for the victim, likelihood to intervene, and intervention strategies used to respond to each vignette were assessed. Teachers were also interviewed about examples of aggression that have been seen in preschool age children. Results indicated that caregivers viewed relational compared to physical aggression as more normative, and had less empathy for, and were less likely to intervene in instances of relationally aggressive behaviour. They also recommended more passive intervention strategies towards relationally aggressive children and more direct strategies towards physically aggressive children. Interview responses indicated that teachers perceived the primary cause of aggression to be related to developmental characteristics of the child. Implications for how these findings about adult–child interactions impact the development of relational and physical aggression are discussed.