Maternal anxiety and toddler depressive/anxiety behaviors: The direct and moderating role of children's focused attention

Attention mechanisms have a pertinent role in shaping developmental pathways to anxiety and depressive disorders. The current study examined the direct and interactive associations between maternal anxiety symptoms, children's focused attention, and children’s anxiety and depression behaviors in early toddlerhood. Participants were 150 mother-child dyads (50 % female) that were assessed at two time points. At 12 months of child age, mothers reported about their anxiety symptoms and children's focused attention. Children's focused attention was also observed and rated from an individual play task. At 18 months of age, mothers reported about children's anxiety and depression behaviors. Focused attention predicted child anxiety and depressive behaviors, with different patterns of associations between observed and reported measures of attention. There was also a significant interaction between maternal anxiety symptoms and observed children's focused attention. A positive association between maternal anxiety symptoms and child anxiety and depression symptoms was evident only for children with above-average levels of observed focused attention during play. Results suggest that different aspects of focused attention play a role in maternal reported anxiety and depression behaviors in early development and may modulate the intergenerational transmission of anxiety.     

Social learning in the digital age: Associations between technoference,mother-child attachment,and child social skills

Technoference refers to incidents in which technology use interferes with interpersonal exchanges (e.g., conversations, playing). Although research on technoference is in its infancy, there is preliminary evidence that mothers believe technoference has a detrimental impact on the social-emotional functioning of their child. The current study investigated the degree to which technoference was associated with attachment between mothers and their elementary-aged children. A second aim was to determine if the relationship between technoference and children's social-emotional functioning may be moderated by mother-child attachment. Surveys were completed by a sample of 80 mothers and their elementary-aged children. This study is unique in asking elementary-aged children to report their perceptions of parental technoference and the impact it has on their relationship with their mother and their own social-emotional functioning. More frequent technoference was associated with less secure mother-child attachment as rated by children, but not as rated by mothers. That is, frequent technoference may not significantly influence a mother's attachment to their child, but it is associated with a child's attachment to their mother. More frequent technoference was associated with decreased ratings by mothers regarding their child's social-emotional functioning. Furthermore, maternal attachment moderated the relationship between technoference and child externalizing behaviors, such that a more secure attachment served as a protective factor against the negative impact of technoference on child externalizing behaviors. However, attachment did not moderate the relationship between technoference and most social skills assessed in our study. Implications from this study are discussed, including ways to increase awareness of technoference among school personnel, parents, and youth.     

The Role of Metacognitions in the Association between Children’s Perceptions of Maternal Control and Anxiety

We aimed to bring a developmental perspective to metacognitive theory. The metacognitive model (MCM) was originally developed for adults. However, an increasing number of studies demonstrate the MCM is relevant to child anxiety. Therefore, it is important to understand the origins of anxiety-specific metacognitions. Given the role experiences of controlling parenting play in maintaining and perhaps forming anxious cognitions or a cognitive vulnerability we focused on maternal behavioral and psychological control. Using a cross-sectional design, Danish school children (9–17 years old; N?=?1062) rated their levels of anxiety and anxiety-specific metacognitions, and their mothers' controlling behavior. Child-perceived maternal psychological control was positively correlated with each anxiety specific metacognition (positive and negative worry beliefs, cognitive confidence, need to control, and cognitive self-consciousness). Child-perceived autonomy-granting was negatively correlated with all metacognitions except cognitive self-consciousness. Child perceived maternal psychological control was indirectly associated with anxiety via total metacognitions. Child-perceived autonomy-granting, but not psychological control, was directly related to anxiety. Given the differential findings for psychological control and autonomy-granting, we suggest that specific types of parenting behavior may be related to specific elements of (meta-) cognitive vulnerability. Our findings are theoretically important because they propose maternal psychological control is an environmental factor that may play a role in the development of a metacognitive vulnerability related to anxiety. A potential clinical implication of our findings is that metacognitive therapy for children should include a parental component.     

Parents' cognitions and expectations about their pre‐school children: The contribution of parental anxiety and child anxiety

This study investigated the relative associations between parent and child anxiety and parents' cognitions about their children. One hundred and four parents of children aged 3–5 years completed questionnaires regarding their own anxiety level, their child's anxiety level and their cognitions about the child, specifically parents' expectations about child distress and avoidance, and parents' perceived control over child mood and behaviour. Both parent anxiety and parent report of child anxiety were significantly associated with parents' cognitions. Specifically, parent report of child anxiety correlated significantly with parent locus of control generally and, more specifically, with parental expectations and perceived control of child anxious mood and behaviour. Parent anxiety correlated significantly with locus of control and parents' expectations of child anxious mood and behaviour. Furthermore, when both child and parent anxiety were taken into account, only parental anxiety remained significantly associated with parental locus of control and perceived control of child anxious behaviour. For parents' perceived control of child anxious mood, only child anxiety remained significantly associated. The results suggest that parents' perceived control over their children's behaviour may primarily reflect parental anxiety, rather than child anxiety. Parental anxiety may, therefore, present an important target for interventions that aim to change parent's cognitions and behaviour.     

Differences in child rearing attitudes between immigrant Chinese mothers and Anglo-American mothers

In order to explore cultural differences in child rearing attitudes, we studied 30 Anglo-American mothers and 30 immigrant Chinese mothers in the US, together with their preschool children and the children's teachers. Mothers completed a measure of child rearing attitudes, children were assessed for perceived competence, and teachers rated children's competence. Results showed that immigrant Chinese mothers were more authoritarian overall, as expected from previous research, but that they also were more likely to encourage independence and demand maturity from their children. Chinese-American children scored higher than Anglo-American children on cognitive competence, and their cognitive competence was related to authoritarian child rearing. The results are discussed in the context of Confucian and American cultural values. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parenting behaviour as a mediator between young children's negative emotionality and their anxiety/depression

The goal of this longitudinal study was to examine observed paternal and maternal control (psychological control and autonomy granting) and support (rejection and emotional warmth) as mediators of the relation between children's negative emotionality at 3.5 years of age and depression and anxiety problems at 4.5 years. For 35 children, 60‐min unstructured parent–child interactions were rated at 4.5 years. Results indicated that maternal rejection mediated the relation between children's negative emotionality and their later anxiety/depression. Higher levels of child negative emotionality predicted more psychological control in mothers, but did not predict any parenting behaviours in fathers. Higher levels of paternal autonomy granting were associated with more child anxiety/depression. Unexpectedly, however, more maternal emotional warmth was related to higher levels of child anxiety/depression. The findings offer new insights to guide future research on the (mediating) role of parenting behaviours in the relation between children's negative emotionality and their internalizing problems. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relationship of adolescent mothers' expectations,knowledge, and beliefs to their young children's coping behavior

Developmental researchers have begun to explore parental cognitions in an effort to better understand adolescent parenthood. However, most research on adolescent mothers has failed to relate cognitions of the mother to the child's functioning. To extend the research on adolescent-parent families, we examined the association between adolescent mothers' knowledge of child development, parental expectations, and child-rearing beliefs to their infants' or toddlers' coping behavior. Trained observers rated children on the three subscales of the Early Coping Inventory–Sensorimotor, Reactive Behavior, and Self-Initiated Behavior. The findings indicated that the adolescent mothers' self-reports of their expectations for their own and their children's behaviors and emotions accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in objective ratings of the children's coping behavior in the sensorimotor and reactive behavior domains. Adolescent mothers who reported more positive, more realistic, and more mature expectations about parenting, children, and the parent-child relationship had children who were rated to display more adaptive and effective sensorimotor and reactive behavior coping capacities. An interaction between the adolescent mothers' knowledge and beliefs significantly predicted self-initiated child behaviors. Implications of the findings include the importance of exploring a “good match” in adolescent mother-child relationships.     

Emotional,cognitive, and social functioning in children and early adolescents living in post-armed conflict: Testing mediating mechanisms

This study examined whether, and to which extent, the associations between conflict intensity and children's and early adolescents' functioning problems were mediated through parental harsh discipline in a post-armed conflict setting. Data from 9623 Iraqi mothers and their children who participated in UNICEF MICS showed that the associations between conflict intensity, parental discipline and child functioning were similar for children and early adolescents. Higher conflict intensity was indirectly associated with increased anxiety and depression, greater learning and cognitive difficulties, and greater social and behavioural problems through parental harsh discipline. The proportion mediated effect sizes emphasised the importance of parent-focused interventions in improving child and adolescent functioning outcomes in conflict-affected populations.     

Infant characteristics and parental engagement at the transition to parenthood

Positive engagement activities support children's adaptive development and new parents are encouraged to be highly engaged with infants. Yet, fathers’ engagement is widely understudied and maternal engagement quantity is frequently overlooked. Our study contributes to growing knowledge on associations between infant temperament and parental engagement by testing transactional and moderation models in a recent sample of first-time parents when infants were 3, 6, and 9 months old. Stringent longitudinal, reciprocal structural equation models partially confirmed an engagement “benefit”. Mothers’ engagement marginally contributed to their children's gains in effortful control from 3 to 6 months regardless of child gender. Further, mothers’ engagement reduced infant negative affect from 6 to 9 months regardless of child gender. Mothers’ ratings of infant negative affect were gendered; mothers’ ratings of infant negative affect increases more from 3 to 6 months for boys. Fathers’ engagement was contextually sensitive; child gender moderated the link between negative affect and engagement from 6 to 9 months, such that fathers became more engaged with boys whom they rated higher on negative affect; there was no effect for daughters. Finally, we found that effortful control moderated associations between negative affect and maternal engagement; mothers’ engagement increases from 3 to 6 months were greater for children initially rated lower in effortful control. Implications for future research and parenting education and support services are discussed.     

Pivotal behavior as the mediator of the relationship between parental responsiveness and children's symbolic behavior

Previous research with parents and children with developmental disabilities indicated that the relationship between mothers’ responsive style of interaction and children's rate of development was mediated by the simultaneous relationship between mothers’ responsiveness and children's social engagement, or pivotal behavior. In this study, we attempted to determine whether children's pivotal behavior might also mediate the relationship between responsiveness and child development in a sample of 165 typically developing toddlers and their Taiwanese parents. Child development was assessed with a parent report measure of children's symbolic behavior. Parental responsiveness and children's pivotal behavior were assessed from observations of parent–child play. Results indicated that parental responsiveness was correlated with children's pivotal behavior, and that both of these variables were correlated with children's symbolic behavior. Structural equation models indicated that the relationship between responsiveness and children's symbolic behavior was fully mediated by children's pivotal behavior.     

Parent–child attachment as a mediator of the relationship between parenting style and gelotophobia among adolescents

Fear of being laughed at and family interaction are highly related. Parental over‐control and over‐protection influence children's excessive anxiety over being laughed at. Conversely, parental attachment is an important index of the parent–child relationship and is closely correlated to children's gelotophobia. However, is it the style of parenting or the outcome of parenting (i.e. attachment) that influences a child's gelotophobia? To answer this question, the present study analysed the relationships between gelotophobia, perceived parenting of children and parent–child attachment, as well as the mediating role of attachment between parenting and children's gelotophobia, using a sample of 373 high‐school students. The results show that being highly communicative and close attachment completely weakened the negative correlation between warm, caring parenting and the child's gelotophobia; moreover, being highly communicative and close attachment, together with over‐protective and over‐controlling parenting, influence children's gelotophobia. In sum, this study indicates that parent–child attachment has a direct and indirect influence on perceived parental care and protection and children's fear of being laughed at.     

The Moderation Role of Self‐perceived Maternal Empathy in Observed Mother–Child Collaborative Problem Solving

Based on L. S. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, previous scaffolding studies have examined some factors associated with adjustment of parental support during collaborative problem solving. However, a factor that remains unexplored in the literature is the potential relationship between parental empathy and parental support in collaborative problem solving. The present study addresses this question through the observation of 45 preschool children and their mothers cooperating in a problem‐solving task with two levels of difficulty. Teachers rated the children's fine motor skills, and sampled mothers reported their empathy levels towards their children. Consistent with the notion of scaffolding, negative correlations were found between observed maternal verbal support (cognitive, autonomy, and emotional) and child age, and between observed maternal cognitive support and teacher reports of child motor skills. An analysis of covariance revealed significant empathy‐by‐difficulty interactions for physical and cognitive support after controlling for the effect of child motor skills. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the role of child motor skills and the importance of parental empathy in collaborative problem solving. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intergenerational transmission of attentional bias and anxiety

Earlier evidence has revealed a bi‐directional causal relationship between anxiety and attention biases in adults and children. This study investigated the prospective and concurrent relations between anxiety and attentional bias in a sample of 89 families (mothers, fathers, and first‐born children). Parents’ and children's attentional bias was measured when children were 7.5 years old, using both a visual probe task and visual search task with angry versus happy facial expressions. Generalized and social anxiety symptoms in parents and children were measured when children were 4.5 and 7.5 years old. Anxiety in parents and children was prospectively (but not concurrently) related to their respective attentional biases to threat: All participants showed a larger attentional bias to threat in the visual search (but not in the visual probe) task if they were more anxious at the 4.5 (but not at the 7.5) year measurement. Moreover, parents’ anxiety levels were prospectively predictive of the visual search attentional bias of their children after controlling for child anxiety. More anxiety in mothers at 4.5 years was related to a faster detection of angry among happy faces, while more anxiety in fathers predicted a faster detection of happy among angry faces in children at 7.5 years. We found no direct association between parental and child attentional biases. Our study contributes to the recently emerging literature on attentional biases as a potential mechanism in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety by showing that parents’ anxiety rather than parents’ attentional bias contributes to the intergenerational transmission of risk for child anxiety.     

Maternal Emotion Socialization: The Contribution of Inhibited Behaviour and Mothers' Dissatisfaction with the Parent–Child Relationship

In the present study, we examined the associations between children's inhibited behaviour, mothers' dissatisfaction with the parent–child relationship and mothers' self‐reported reactions to children's emotions. Fifty‐three mother–child dyads visited the laboratory, and mothers completed questionnaires about child temperament and emotion socialization. Maternal stress stemming from dissatisfaction with the parent–child relationship was negatively predictive of mothers' supportive reactions to happiness. In addition, the interaction between children's inhibited behaviour and parent–child relationship dissatisfaction significantly predicted mothers' supportive reactions to children's fear; specifically, mothers who reported the highest levels of dissatisfaction in their relationship with their children and had children who exhibited low levels of inhibition reported the lowest levels of supportive responses to their children's fear. Importantly, mothers reported the highest levels of supportive reactions to children's fear when their children were low in inhibition, and they reported low levels of dissatisfaction in their relationship with their child. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mother–Toddler Affect Exchanges and Children's Mastery Behaviours during Preschool Years

This study examined the longitudinal relations of mother–child affect exchanges at 18 months with children's mastery motivation at 39 months. Observation and questionnaire data were collected from mother–child dyads when children were 18 months; 43 mothers again rated their children's mastery motivation at 39 months. Results suggested that after controlling for gender and the corresponding 18‐month mastery aspect, positive affect exchanges had long‐term positive relationships with children's persistence and competence, whereas dismissed affect exchanges had long‐term negative relationships with children's persistence and independent mastery. Findings suggest that children's autonomous mastery‐oriented endeavours have deep roots in their early mother–child affective interactions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of mothers' trait anxiety on their expectations of approach‐avoidance behaviour in anxious and non‐anxious children

This study investigated estimates of approach and avoidance behaviour in clinically anxious and non‐anxious children, and whether mothers' expectations of their children's avoidance differed as a function of high trait anxiety (HTA) versus low trait anxiety (LTA). Participants were 62 clinically anxious and 60 non‐anxious children aged 7–12 years and their mothers. Estimates of avoidance were obtained using an analogue task in which children and mothers were given threat and pleasant information about two novel animals and were asked to estimate children's avoidance of the threat animal's habitat when the threat animal was present (threat condition) and absent (safe condition) from the habitat and when its presence was uncertain (ambiguous condition). Contrary to expectation, anxious children did not differ from controls in estimates of avoidance in any condition. However, relative to HTA mothers of anxious children and LTA mothers of non‐anxious children, HTA mothers estimated greater approach behaviour by their non‐anxious children in the threat condition. Findings suggest that mothers' expectations of children's approach‐avoidance behaviour is influenced by both maternal and child factors.     

Parent–child talk and children's memory for stressful events

The relationship between parents' styles of talking about past events with their children and children's recall of stressful events was explored. In this investigation, 2‐ to 5‐year‐old children's recall of injuries requiring hospital emergency room treatment was assessed within a few days of the injury and again 2 years later, along with the way their parents reminisced with them about the event. Correlational analyses showed that age and parental reminiscing style were consistently related to child memory; regression analyses showed that although age was most important, parents who were more elaborative had children who recalled more during their initial interview about the harder‐to‐remember hospital event. Thus, an elaborative parental style may help children's recall of even highly salient and stressful events. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parental capacities for triadic relationships during pregnancy: Early predictors of children's behavioral and representational functioning at preschool age

This study examines associations between parental capacities for triadic (mother–father–child) relationships, assessed prenatally, and the representational and behavioral functioning of their offspring at preschool age. Thirty‐eight parental couples were given an intensive psychodynamic interview during their first pregnancy to assess how they anticipated their future parenthood and their relationships as threesomes (mother–father–child). The capacity for triadic relationships (“triadic capacity”) was defined as the capacity of fathers and mothers to anticipate their family relationships without excluding either themselves or their partners from the relationship with the infant. Four years later, the representational and behavioral functioning of their children were assessed in depth using child narrative interviews and parental behavior ratings. The coherence of the children's narratives and the number of positive themes they expressed were significantly negatively correlated with the number of behavioral problems. In the longitudinal analyses, there were significant positive correlations between the parental triadic capacities and the coherence/number of positive themes in the children's narratives whereas parental triadic capacities showed a significant negative correlation with the number of the children's externalizing problems. The significance of triadic relational family processes for the development of children's representational world and behavioral functioning is discussed. ©2005 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

From the child to one's own child: Social dynamics and identities at work

The present research considers how mothers explain the development of characteristics in different targets, namely their own children, children in general and pupils. This study also examines the role played by mothers' occupation in shaping their expressed views. A questionnaire was completed by 415 mothers in different occupations, housewives, office workers and teachers, and with children between four and eight years of age. The questionnaire presented six types of explanation (from intra-individual to societal) regarding the development of four characteristics, autonomy, intelligence, order and obedience. Results indicate that when talking about development mothers use different kinds of explanation depending on the target child. Moreover, mothers' professional role is relevant in shaping explanations of children's development.     

Chinese child unsociability,maternal maladaptive parenting,and peer exclusion among preschoolers: A cross-lagged model

Previous research has consistently found that unsociability is linked to adjustment difficulties in Chinese children. However, far less attention has been paid to how parents and peers react when confronted with unsociable children. In this study, we explored the longitudinal linkages among Chinese preschoolers' unsociability, maladaptive parenting, and peer exclusion. Participants were mothers and teachers of N = 391 (M_age = 4.4 years, SD = 0.91 years; 54.5% boys) preschoolers attending eight kindergartens in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, followed over 8 months. Multi-source assessments were employed. Mothers rated children's unsociability and their maladaptive (physical hostility, verbal hostility, punishment) parenting practices, and teachers rated children's peer exclusion at each time point. Our results indicated that child unsociability contributed to later increases in both maladaptive parenting and peer exclusion. However, maladaptive parenting and peer exclusion could not predict later increases in unsociability. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of unsociability among Chinese children.