Children’s Coping Strategies to Inter-Parental Conflict: The Moderating Role of Attachment

In the literature on inter-parental conflict, little attention has been paid to the relationships among children’s attachment, coping strategies, and coping efficacy. The present study aims to explore whether and how children’s Internal Working Models of attachment moderate the associations among children’s perceived distress during the conflict, coping strategies, and coping efficacy. One hundred eighty-two school-aged children (87 secure, 46 anxious-ambivalent and 49 avoidant) and their parents completed measures of inter-parental conflict, attachment, coping strategies, and coping efficacy. The results indicate that children with different IWMs varied in the relations between coping strategies and coping efficacy. More precisely, the data show that secure children, when distressed, use the all of the coping strategies investigated, but the only ones that mediate the associations between their distress reactions and perceived coping efficacy were the positive cognitive restructuring strategies and the seeking support for feelings strategies. Avoidant children, when distressed, use higher levels of distraction and avoidance strategies and avoidance strategies mediated the effects of the children’s distress reactions on their coping inefficacy. Finally, anxious-ambivalent children, when distressed, activate all the coping strategies, with the exception of distraction and support for feelings. However, none of the strategies are correlated to their perceived coping efficacy.     

Coping with Family Conflict: What’s Helpful and What’s Not for Low-income Adolescents

Family conflict is exacerbated by poverty-related stress and is detrimental to adolescent mental health. Adolescent coping with family conflict has the potential to buffer or exacerbate the negative effects of family conflict on internalizing symptoms. We examined coping with family conflict among 82 low-income adolescents (53.7% female, mean age = 13.5 years at Time 1, SD = 1.98; range 11–18), and their primary caregivers (95% female, mean age = 34.9 years, SD = 7.45). Adolescents were 25.9% Caucasian, 28.4% African American, 38.3% Hispanic, and 7.4% Other (Multi-racial, Native American, or Asian). Results show that family conflict is more strongly associated with internalizing symptoms for adolescents under high levels of poverty-related stress. Regression analyses indicate that secondary control coping moderates the effects of family conflict on internalizing symptoms. In addition, analyses reveal that disengagement coping exacerbates symptoms across time for both adolescent girls and boys. Regression analyses also suggest that primary control coping is helpful for coping with family conflict, but only for girls. Results highlight the importance of examining coping concurrently and across time as well as including moderating effects of gender. Intervention efforts targeting low-income adolescents should incorporate the instruction of secondary control strategies for coping with family conflict.     

Profiles and Correlates of Children’s Self-Reported Coping Strategies Using a Cluster Analytic Approach

We used cluster analysis to identify children’s coping profiles and to examine self- and parent-reported correlates of coping in a community sample. Participants included 135 children (M age = 11.27, s.d. = .59) recruited from local public elementary and junior high schools and 116 of their parents. Analyses included hierarchical cluster analysis (Ward’s method), followed by non-hierarchical (k-means) cluster analysis to confirm the cluster solution. Results yielded four clusters reflecting high, active, low, and indiscriminant patterns of coping strategies. Members of the active coping group self-reported the fewest symptoms of distress and the greatest number of prosocial competencies after controlling for social desirability. No differences emerged for parent-reported psychosocial functioning across coping profiles. Our results suggest that a combination of active coping strategies may be associated with better psychosocial functioning than a combination of active and avoidant coping strategies.     

Caregiver Socialization of Reappraisal and Children’s Cognitive Flexibility Jointly Predict Latinx Children’s Anxiety

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Anxiety disorders are among the most common forms of psychopathology in childhood and represent a particularly concerning issue for Latinx children. Research...     

Independent Female Escort’s Strategies for Coping with Sex Work Related Stigma

Despite the reframing of ??prostitution?? as ??sex work?? in research and advocacy literature, the stigma associated with this activity persists. This study examines how independent female sex workers advertising online as ??escorts?? perceive and manage the stigma associated with their work, and how these coping strategies impact their personal relationships. Thirty escorts participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews; Goffman??s (1963) theory of stigma and information management strategies was used as a theoretical framework to guide the analysis of women??s experiences. Women who engaged in selective disclosure regarding sex work reported greater access to social support, while women who concealed their work from most people often reported feeling lonely and socially isolated. Escorts?? stigma coping strategies may have significant impact on their social relationships and access to social support.     

The Effects of Marital Conflict on Korean Children’s Appraisal of Conflict and Psychological Adjustment

This study examined the effects of marital conflict on Korean children’s psychological adjustment and appraisal of hypothetical marital conflict situations. Children between the ages of 10 and 12 were divided into “high-conflict” (n = 58) and “low-conflict” (n = 58) groups based on their self-reported degree of perceived interparental conflict in the home environment. Hypothetical marital conflict situations were provided in cartoon format, and were differentiated based conflict intensity (verbal versus physical aggression) and content (child-related conflict versus non-child-related conflict). In general, children reported greater negative affect and perceived threat to hypothetical conflict situations involving physical aggression compared to situations involving verbal conflict. In child-related conflict situations, children reported more fear of being drawn in and endorsed coping strategies that involved direct intervention. “High-conflict group” children evidenced stronger reactivity in responding to marital conflict situations in general and endorsed indirect intervention strategies—a finding previously not found in similar studies conducted with European-American children—indicating the possibility of cross-cultural difference in coping preferences in interparental conflict situations. Furthermore, “high-conflict group” children manifested more indices of maladjustment as indicated by externalizing and internalizing behavior problems, in addition to more self-reported depressive symptoms. Results highlight the effects of marital conflict on children’s psychological adjustment and indicate the possibility of cross-cultural differences in preferred coping mechanism in interparental conflict situations for Korean children.     

Longitudinal Relations Between Parent–Child Conflict and Children’s Adjustment: The Role of Children’s Sleep

Sleep was examined as a process variable in relations between verbal and physical parent–child conflict and change in children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms over time. Participants were 282 children at T1 (M age?=?9.44 years; 48 % girls), 280 children at T2 (M age?=?10.41 years), and 275 children at T3 (M age?=?11.35 years). Children reported on parent–child conflict, sleep was assessed with actigraphy, and parents reported on children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Autoregressive effects for sleep and internalizing and externalizing symptoms were controlled to examine change over time. Supportive of intervening processes, physical parent–child conflict at T1 and increased change in internalizing and externalizing symptoms at T3 were indirectly related through their shared association with reduced sleep continuity (efficiency, long wake episodes) at T2. Findings build on a small but growing literature and highlight the importance of considering the role of sleep in relations between family conflict and child development.     

Children’s Maternal Support-Seeking: Relations to Maternal Emotion Socialization Responses and Children’s Emotion Management

The present study examined children’s support-seeking of mothers (SSM) as a moderator of the association between maternal emotion socialization responses and children’s emotion management. Participants included 119 mother–child dyads (63 boys, M age = 9.61 years, 73.1 % Caucasian). Maternal emotion socialization was assessed via observed mother–child interactions and child report. Analyses indicated several main effects such that child-reported maternal reward responses were associated with stronger child emotion management, whereas perceived maternal punishment and neglect were associated with poorer child emotion management. Regarding the significant interactions, observed maternal general unsupportive socialization responses were negatively associated with emotion management. Additionally, for children low in SSM, child-reported maternal overriding of children’s emotions was positively associated with better emotion management. Support-seeking of mothers may mitigate the risk of some unsupportive maternal socialization responses and may be an adaptive strategy in middle childhood in particular contexts.     

The Socialization of Children’s Memory: Linking Maternal Conversational Style to the Development of Children’s Autobiographical and Deliberate Memory Skills

Data from a large-scale, longitudinal research study with an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample were utilized to explore linkages between maternal elaborative conversational style and the development of children’s autobiographical and deliberate memory. Assessments were made when the children were aged 3, 5, and 6 years old, and the results reveal concurrent and longitudinal linkages between maternal conversational style in a mother–child reminiscing task and children’s autobiographical memory performance. Maternal conversational style while reminiscing was also significantly related to children’s strategic behaviors and recall in 2 deliberate memory tasks, both concurrently and longitudinally. Results from this examination replicate and extend what is known about the linkages between maternal conversational style, children’s abilities to talk about previous experiences, and children’s deliberate memory skills as they transition from the preschool years to early elementary school years.     

Turkish Mothers’ Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions: A Brief Report

This study is one of the first to examine emotion socialization behaviors of Turkish mothers; it also provides information on psychometric properties of the Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES; Fabes et al. 1990) in a sample of Turkish mothers of preschoolers. Participants were mothers (M _age = 35.07, SD = 4.14) of 141 children attending daycare centers in middle and upper-middle class suburbs of Istanbul. The patterns of inter-correlations between emotion socialization reactions and general child-rearing behaviors showed that they reflect related but different aspects of broader parenting styles. Both aspects of parenting displayed associations with child emotional reactivity in the expected direction, further confirming patterns previously revealed for emotion socialization in Western samples. The results also confirmed the six emotion socialization behaviors assessed by the CCNES and all dimensions had good internal consistencies. The pattern of inter-correlations among maternal emotion socialization behaviors, general child-rearing behaviors, and child negative emotionality confirmed construct validity of the instrument for Turkish mothers.     

Children’s Evaluation and Categorization of Transgender Children

Despite extant evidence of negative peer treatment of transgender adolescents and adults, little is known about how young children perceive transgender peers, particularly those who have socially transitioned or are living in line with their gender rather than sex at birth. Whereas children have been shown to be averse to gender nonconformity in peers, because many transgender children appear and behave in ways consistent with their expressed gender (but not their sex at birth), it is unclear how children evaluate these identities. In 2 studies, we investigated 5- to 10-year-old children’s (N_total = 113) preferences for transgender versus gender-“typical” peers who either shared their gender identity or did not. We also examined whether children categorized transgender peers by their sex or expressed gender, as it might inform their evaluations. Children preferred cisgender peers over transgender peers; however, they also liked peers of their own gender rather than the other gender (e.g., female participants preferred girls over boys), demonstrating that the oft-documented own-gender bias plays an important role even when children are reasoning about transgender peers. Children did not reliably categorize transgender peers by sex or gender; yet those who categorized transgender peers by their sex showed greater dislike of transgender peers. The current studies are the first to investigate cisgender children’s attitudes toward transgender children and suggest that perceptions of gender categorization and conformity play a role in children’s evaluations of transgender peers.     

Parental Dysphoria and Children’s Adjustment: Marital Conflict Styles,Children’s Emotional Security,and Parenting as Mediators of Risk

Dimensions of martial conflict, children's emotional security regarding interparental conflict, and parenting style were examined as mediators between parental dysphoria and child adjustment. A community sample of 262 children, ages 8–16, participated with their parents. Behavioral observations were made of parents’ interactions during marital conflict resolution tasks, which children later observed to assess their emotional security. Questionnaires assessed parents’ dysphoria, parenting, and children's adjustment. Structural equation modeling indicated that parental dysphoria was linked with child adjustment through specific and distinct mediating family processes, including marital conflict and parenting. Children's emotional security in the context of particular marital conflict styles also mediated relations between parental dysphoria and child adjustment problems, with similar pathways found for mothers and fathers. These pathways remained significant even after significant parenting contributions were considered.     

Predictors of Dutch and Finnish Children’s Satisfaction with Schooling

Considerable research has shown that there are clear links among satisfaction with schooling, overall life satisfaction, and physical and psychological well-being. In this investigation, we expand on that line of research by identifying the predictors of overall satisfaction with schooling of 331 Dutch and Finnish pupils aged 6–13. Similar to previous research, student age, student gender, and teacher likeability were strong predictors of students’ overall satisfaction with schooling. New findings from this investigation were that teacher gender and class size were significant predictors of overall satisfaction with schooling.     

Parents’ Social Status and Children’s Daily Physical Activity: The Role of Familial Socialization and Support

Physical activity is a health relevant factor, particularly in affluent societies where overweight and obesity are increasingly prevalent, even among children. Understanding the development of physical activity patterns in childhood is thus an important issue for health promotion. Following socialization theory, this study describes and explains differences in objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in a socially and ethnically mixed sample of 6- to 11-year-old children in Germany. MVPA levels were objectively measured with accelerometers over the course of six consecutive days (Wednesday to Monday). Parents’ attitudes and practices as well as the family’s socio-economic status (SES) were assessed from the parents via questionnaires. Results indicate that MVPA levels of children vary with gender, but not with age and ethnicity. Moreover, parental SES, parental support for the child’s sports activities, parents’ own sport activities and the parents’ belief in sports’ capacities to foster personality development, character building and social integration significantly predict the MVPA level of children. It is concluded that interventions to promote MVPA among children need to take family interactions and lifestyles into account and should address families in socio-economically underprivileged areas.     

Antecedent Strategies to Promote Children’s and Adolescents’ Compliance with Adult Requests: A Review of the Literature

Compliance with adult requests and directives has often been described as a keystone behavior in children, meaning it is associated with engagement in other desirable and socially appropriate behaviors. As such, a great deal of research has been directed toward identifying strategies that increase compliance in children. Antecedent strategies, which focus on increasing the probability of compliance prior to or during the delivery of the directive or request, are popular because they have the potential to prevent noncompliance; however, it is not clear which of the numerous antecedent strategies are effective or for whom. Therefore, a systematic review of the antecedent strategies for compliance was completed. Forty-two studies were identified evaluating eight different antecedent strategies for children aged 1–19. It was determined that high-probability command sequences, effective instruction delivery, and errorless compliance training may all be considered evidence-based antecedent strategies to increase children’s compliance with adult requests.     

Children’s Coping with In Vivo Peer Rejection: An Experimental Investigation

We examined children’s behavioral coping in response to an in vivo peer rejection manipulation. Participants (N=186) ranging between 10 and 13 years of age, played a computer game based on the television show Survivor and were randomized to either peer rejection (i.e., being voted out of the game) or non-rejection control. During a five-min. post-feedback waiting period children’s use of several behavioral coping strategies was assessed. Rejection elicited a marked shift toward more negative affect, but higher levels of perceived social competence attenuated the negative mood shift. Children higher in depressive symptoms were more likely to engage in passive and avoidant coping behavior. Types of coping were largely unaffected by gender and perceived social competence. Implications are discussed.     

Longitudinal Associations Between Parental and Children’s Depressive Symptoms in the Context of Interparental Relationship Functioning

Using longitudinal, multi-informant data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the present study tested associations between trajectories of parental and child depressive symptoms from ages 11 to 15 years. Consistent with predictions, changes in mothers’ and fathers’ depressive symptoms were positively associated with change in children’s depressive symptoms over time. In addition, youth characteristics of sex and pubertal development moderated the trajectories, with children more advanced on pubertal development showing higher initial levels of depressive symptoms, and girls demonstrating steeper slopes of depressive symptoms over time. The context of interparental relationship functioning (i.e., marital conflict, marital conflict resolution) moderated both the trajectories of child depressive symptoms and the interplay between parental and child depressive symptoms in ways largely consistent with hypotheses. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of treating youth depressive symptoms with a consideration of the broader family context, including parental and interparental functioning.     

Threat is a Multidimensional Construct: Exploring the Role of Children’s Threat Appraisals in the Relationship Between Interparental Conflict and Child Adjustment

Past research has emphasised the importance of children’s appraisals of the threat posed by parent conflict for understanding links between interparental conflict and child outcomes. However, little is known about what it is that children actually find threatening about parent conflict. Children (n = 236) aged 10–16 years were recruited to examine the relative contribution of four specific threat subtypes—fear of parent conflict escalating, fear of being drawn into parent conflict, fear of parent conflict resulting in family breakdown, and fear of parent conflict disrupting parent/child attachment relationships—in explaining links between interparental conflict and child internalising adjustment. Results showed that children’s worries about being drawn into parent conflict mediated the relationship between interparental conflict and child internalising adjustment. Fear of interparental conflict disrupting parent/child attachment bonds mediated the relationship between interparental conflict and child internalising problems for girls, but not boys. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of considering multiple dimensions of threat for advancing understanding of the processes underlying the interparental conflict/child adjustment relationship.

Parent Retrospective Recollections of Bullying and Current Views, Concerns, and Strategies to Cope with Children’s Bullying

In this study, parent history of bullying was examined in terms of general involvement with bullying, specific types of bullying experienced, level of hurtfulness associated with the experience, and when bullying occurred. Parent current views, levels of concern, and strategies used to cope with bullying were also evaluated. Finally, the aforementioned constructs were analyzed for existing predictive relationships. Two-hundred-sixty parents from a public school district in the Northeast completed an online survey. Results revealed that 90.3 % of parents reported seeing and/or engaging in bullying during their youth. Few parents reported involvement as a bully, but comparable numbers of participants indicated being victimized or acting as a bystander. Additional findings suggest that a parent’s historical involvement with bullying was predictive of some of their current views, level of concern, and strategies implemented in association with bullying. Future research should attempt to account for the remaining variance among these variables. Implications for parents and school personnel are described, with recommendations for the increase of involvement by parents in anti-bullying initiatives.