Variability in parenting behaviours during play and during mealtimes with toddlers

Few empirical studies have explored variability in parenting behaviours observed in a mealtime setting as well as in a play setting with young children. We analysed data from 282 parent–toddler dyads who participated in the Play & Grow study in the United States in 2017–2019. Parent–child interactions were video recorded during play in the laboratory when the child was 18 months old and then during mealtime in the home 6 months later. Standardised coding procedures were used to rate parenting behaviours (sensitivity, cognitive stimulation, positive regard, detachment, intrusive control and negative regard). We describe correlations and differences and variability in parenting behaviour between the two assessments and relative to child sex, gestational age, parent education level, household composition and household income. Detachment was lower on average during play at 18 months compared to during mealtime at 24 months (Cohen's d = −0.40), and the other five parenting behaviours were greater on average during play than during mealtime (d = 0.18–0.43). Sociodemographic characteristics were unrelated to the magnitude of individual differences across contexts in any of the parenting behaviours. Implications for research on associations between parent–child interactions and risk for childhood obesity are discussed.     

Perceived parenting and separation-individuation in Belgian college students: associations with emotional adjustment

The present study examined associations among perceived parenting, separation-individuation, and emotional adjustment in a convenience sample of college students in Belgium (N=350; 68% female; aged 18 to 26). In line with a conceptual model advanced in the literature, factor analysis supported the distinction between three dimensions of separation-individuation: overdependence and healthy separation (both of which had already been described in earlier research) and a new dimension, labeled excessive autonomy. Path analysis findings were consistent with a mediational model in which lower quality of perceived parenting predicted more excessive autonomy, which in turn predicted poorer emotional adjustment. In addition, healthy separation predicted superior emotional adjustment, whereas overdependence was not associated with this particular type of adjustment. Implications for current understanding of the process of separation-individuation in college students and of excessive autonomy, in particular, are discussed.     

Aggression in toddlers: Responses to the assertive acts of boys and girls

Sex Roles - Forty-eight toddler boys and girls, 18 to 36 months of age, were observed in play groups. The assertive acts of each child and the responses of peers and teachers were recorded. The...     

Matters of the variable heart: respiratory sinus arrhythmia response to marital interaction and associations with marital quality

Maintenance of relationship quality requires self-regulation of emotion and social behavior, and women often display greater effort in this regard than do men. Furthermore, such efforts can deplete the limited capacity for self-regulation. In recent models of self-regulation, resting level of respiratory sinus arrhythmia, quantified as high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), is an indicator of self-regulatory capacity, whereas transient increases in HF-HRV reflect self-regulatory effort. To test these hypotheses in marriage, 114 young couples completed measures of marital quality and a positive, neutral, or negative initial marital task, preceded and followed by resting baseline assessments of HF-HRV. Couples then discussed a current marital disagreement. Resting HF-HRV was correlated with marital quality, suggesting that capacity for self-regulation is associated with adaptive functioning in close relationships. For women but not men, the negative initial task produced a decrease in resting HF-HRV. This effect was mediated by the husbands' negative affect response to the task and their ratings of wives as controlling and directive. When the subsequent disagreement discussion followed the negative initial task, women displayed increased HF-HRV during the discussion but a decrease when it followed the neutral or positive task. The valence of the initial task had no effect on men's HF-HRV during disagreement. Negative marital interactions can reduce women's resting HF-HRV, with potentially adverse health consequences. Women's reduced health benefit from marriage might reflect the depleting effects on self-regulatory capacity of their greater efforts to manage relationship quality.     

Identity styles in the Georgian context and associations with parenting dimensions

Abstract

Information-oriented, normative, and diffuse-avoidant identity styles represent social-cognitive approaches used by young people to seek and process self-relevant information. The present study is a first investigation of identity styles and their association with parenting dimensions in Georgia – a context that is considerably understudied in identity research. Previous research has indicated that identity styles, along with identity commitment, are linked with maternal and paternal parenting dimensions. In the present investigation we used SEM analysis to study this relationship. We used data from 650 Georgian emerging adults between the ages of 17–30 (46.6% male) using the Identity Style Inventory-5 (ISI-5) and scales for parental support, behaviour control, and psychological control. Findings indicated that the normative and diffuse-avoidant identity styles are positively correlated with each other and negatively correlated with the information-oriented style and with commitment. Only the information-oriented style was positively associated with commitment. Perceived parental support and maternal behavioural control were positively associated with the information-oriented style, whereas both parents’ behavioural and psychological control were more highly correlated with the normative style. Both parents’ psychological control was positively correlated with the diffuse-avoidant style. These results, which indicated considerable differences from the research results in other countries, are discussed in the light of the Georgian context.     

Behavioral strategies for emotion regulation in toddlers: associations with maternal involvement and emotional expressions

Ninety-four mothers and their 18- or 24-month-old children participated in four laboratory episodes designed to elicit fear or anger. Mothers’ behavior was constrained for the first part of each episode; mothers were then instructed to help their children. Toddlers’ behavioral strategies differed as a function of maternal involvement and as a function of the emotion-eliciting context. Only some of the behavioral strategies assumed to minimize expressions of distress truly did so; other behaviors showed maintenance effects on fear and anger expressions. The different pattern of results for the fear and frustration episodes highlights the importance of examining behavioral strategies across contexts designed to elicit different emotions.     

Prospective associations between marital adjustment and life satisfaction

Actor and partner effects for the 2‐year longitudinal associations between marital adjustment and life satisfaction were evaluated in a population‐based sample of middle‐aged and older adults (N = 1,385 couples). Results showed that (a) higher marital adjustment at baseline predicted higher life satisfaction at follow‐up, (b) higher life satisfaction at baseline predicted higher marital adjustment at follow‐up, (c) marital adjustment more strongly predicted life satisfaction than life satisfaction predicted marital adjustment for women, and (d) higher partner marital adjustment at baseline predicted higher life satisfaction at follow‐up. Results suggest that marital adjustment and life satisfaction influence one another in a bidirectional fashion and that the direction is predominantly from marital adjustment to life satisfaction in women.     

Conflict structure moderates associations between cardiovascular reactivity and negative marital interaction.

This study examined the role of marital conflict structure--who desires and requests change versus who responds to the change request--in spouses' cardiovascular responses to marital interactions. Forty-one couples discussed 2 marital topics: one in which the wife desired change in the husband, and one in wich the husband desired change in the wife. Cardiovascular responses were assessed at 2-min intervals. Results indicated that marital conflict structure moderates cardiovascular reactivity during negative marital interactions: Husbands and wives whose interactions were characterized by high levels of negative behavior showed the most pronounced diastolic blood pressure reactivity, but only when they were in the role of desiring change in their spouses. Implications for gender difference in marital conflict physiology are considered.     

Fathers' parenting hassles and coping: associations with emotional expressiveness and their sons' socioemotional competence

The present study examined fathers' daily parenting hassles and coping strategies to (a) determine their association with fathers' emotional expressiveness and (b) predict their sons' development of socioemotional competence. Fathers of 148 preschool‐aged boys reported on their parenting hassles, coping strategies, and emotional expressiveness; mothers also reported on fathers' emotional expressiveness; and teachers reported on boys' socioemotional competence. Parenting hassles were associated with less rational, more emotional, and more avoidance coping as well as negative emotional expressiveness. More emotional and less rational coping responses were related to more negative expressiveness, whereas more rational, more emotional, and less coping were related to more positive expressiveness. Fathers' negative expressiveness was predictive of their sons being rated as more aggressive and disruptive by their teachers. In addition, fathers' parenting hassles and coping both predicted teacher ratings of their sons' aggressiveness. Implications of the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infant temperament,pleasure in parenting,and marital happiness in adoptive families

Temperamental characteristics have been related to later externalizing and internalizing behavioral outcomes. To assess the relationship between temperament and the early family environment, we measured infant temperament, pleasure in parenting, and marital happiness via parent report in 99 families with a nonrelative adoptive infant. Perceptions of child temperament were assessed using two subscales of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ; Rothbart, 1981). Mothers and fathers who rated their adoptive child as showing more Distress to Limitations (on the IBQ) reported less pleasure in routine parenting activities; this effect was mediated by marital happiness for fathers. Mothers reported less pleasure in parenting with infants perceived to be more temperamentally fearful (on the IBQ). The bidirectional relationship between temperamental characteristics and pleasure in parenting is discussed. © 2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Effects of marital conflict on subsequent triadic family interactions and parenting

This study examined marital conflict's indirect effects on children through disruptions in family alliances and parenting. Forty married couples were observed interacting with their 6-8-year-old sons after pleasant and conflictual discussions. After conflictual discussion, fathers showed lower support/engagement toward sons, and coparenting styles were less democratic. Couple negativity was correlated with family negativity, regardless of the topic of discussion, which suggests continuity in the affective quality of the two family subsystems. Mothers' marital satisfaction moderated families' responses to the experimental manipulation. The results provide stronger evidence than previously available of a causal link between conflict and disrupted parenting. Further research is needed to identify which conflict-related disruptions in parenting influence the development of children's problems.     

Dual trajectories of maternal parenting stress and marital intimacy during toddlerhood

Parenting stress disrupts both parenting and child adjustment. Marital intimacy is often conceptualized as a source of support that may reduce parenting stress. We examined the association between mothers' trajectories of parenting stress and marital intimacy when their children were 15–36 month old. We also explored whether maternal depressive symptoms at 15 months accounted for individual differences concurrently or in the trajectories of parenting stress and marital intimacy. Mothers' marital intimacy was negatively associated with their concurrent levels of parenting stress and declines in parenting stress over time. Depressive symptoms were associated with 15‐month parenting stress and marital intimacy. Overall, intimacy within the marriage appears to be a resource that reduces mothers' parenting stress during the toddler years     

Expectant adolescent couples' relations and subsequent parenting behavior

The goal of this study was to test the “spill over” hypothesis—that the quality of relations between expectant couples would predict parenting behavior—among a sample of adolescent mothers and fathers. At Time 1, self‐reported and observational relationship data were collected from 36 expectant adolescent couples. At follow‐up, observational data were collected from both young mothers and fathers who were asked to participate in a structured play activity with their 2‐year‐old children. Logistic and multiple regression analyses were run to examine the correspondence between couples' relationship quality prior to the childbirth and subsequent relationship status (i.e., paternal disengagement or coparenting) and the quality of parenting behavior. Results generally supported the spill over hypothesis. More specifically, findings indicated that the quality of the expectant mother's behavior toward her partner predicted his (paternal) behavior at follow‐up. Couples who reported high positive relations at the prenatal assessment were more likely to remain involved in coparenting. Results underscore the relevance of couples' relations to the development of positive parenting practices among atypical samples of mothers and fathers.     

Prospective associations from family-of-origin interactions to adult marital interactions and relationship adjustment.

To test the social learning-based hypothesis that marital conflict resolution patterns are learned in the family of origin, longitudinal, observational data were used to assess prospective associations between family conflict interaction patterns during adolescence and offspring's later marital conflict interaction patterns. At age 14 years, 47 participants completed an observed family conflict resolution task with their parents. In a subsequent assessment 17 years later, the participants completed measures of marital adjustment and an observed marital conflict interaction task with their spouse. As predicted, levels of hostility and positive engagement expressed by parents and adolescents during family interactions were prospectively linked with levels of hostility and positive engagement expressed by offspring and their spouses during marital interactions. Family-of-origin hostility was a particularly robust predictor of marital interaction behaviors; it predicted later marital hostility and negatively predicted positive engagement, controlling for psychopathology and family-of-origin positive engagement. For men, family-of-origin hostility also predicted poorer marital adjustment, an effect that was mediated through hostility in marital interactions. These findings suggest a long-lasting influence of family communication patterns, particularly hostility, on offspring's intimate communication and relationship functioning.     

Spousal conflict resolution strategies and marital relations in late adulthood

In this study, we examined differences in the spousal conflict resolution strategies of husbands and wives in late adulthood among a sample of 76 married Israeli couples (N = 152). Using dyadic analysis (the actor–partner interdependence model), we examined the impacts of the strategies adopted by each spouse as well as their partner on evaluations of marital life as reflected in their assessments of positive and negative dimensions of marital life. The findings revealed that integration was the most prevalent strategy used by both spouses, whereas dominance and avoidance were the least prevalent strategies. Moreover, integration contributed most significantly to explaining assessments of marital life.     

Parenting stress and marital relationship as determinants of mothers' and fathers' parenting

Using the actor–partner interdependence model, we explore how various sources of stress and support experienced by fathers and mothers influence their own parenting styles and the parenting styles of the partner. Data from 227 couples were analyzed, with mothers and fathers rating their parenting stress and marital relationship and children rating the parenting styles of both mothers and fathers. Structural equation models revealed actor effects of parenting stress on demanding and responsive parenting styles, as well as partner effects between positive aspects of marital relationship and responsive parenting style. The results further indicate that the strength of these pathways is similar for both mothers and fathers and do not support the hypothesis that the parenting of fathers is more vulnerable than the parenting of mothers.     

Bi-directional relations between anti-smoking parenting practices and adolescent smoking in a Dutch sample.

OBJECTIVE: Parenting is generally regarded a determinant of adolescent behavior, whereas the reverse is seldom considered. Reported effects of anti-smoking parenting practices on adolescent smoking are inconsistent. Cross-sectional results may have been misinterpreted and child effects have been overlooked. The main goal of this study was to explain previous inconsistent effects of anti-smoking parenting practices, by examining bi-directional relations between parenting and adolescent smoking. DESIGN AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Bi-directional relations were studied using a cross-lagged model where anti-smoking house rules, communication about smoking, and adolescent smoking were assessed at three subsequent years. RESULTS: The most prominent finding was that adolescent smoking behavior was a stronger predictor of parenting than vice versa. Anti-smoking house rules decreased as a result of adolescent smoking behavior, while communication increased. The reduction in house rules was more pronounced if parents smoked, while the increase in communication was greater for non-smoking parents. Results were independent of adolescent sex. CONCLUSION: Further research is needed to establish which aspects of parenting can be effective in deterring adolescent smoking. This study emphasizes the need for caution in interpreting cross-sectional research findings relating parenting to adolescent smoking.     

That's a boy's toy: gender-typed knowledge in toddlers as a function of mother's marital status

A child who is highly gender schematic readily uses gender when processing new information. In the current study, we examined whether and how family structure predicts a child's level of gender-typed knowledge (as assessed by a gender-stereotype sorting task) once the category of gender is in place (as assessed by a gender-labeling task). It was predicted that children from more "traditional" family structures (married mothers) would have more gender-typed knowledge compared to children from less traditional families (unmarried mothers). Moreover, we explored if this relationship would be related to, at least in part, the greater frequency of androgynous behaviors (i.e., both masculine and feminine household activities) an unmarried mother performs. Twenty-eight children (age 2 to 3) were tested at local childcare centers. The mother of each child reported her marital status as well as how often she engaged in stereotypically masculine and feminine behaviors. As expected, mothers' marital status was associated with children's level of gender-typed knowledge, such that children with unmarried mothers had less gender-typed knowledge, in part due to the unmarried mother's greater frequency of androgynous behaviors. Implications for children's acquisition of gender-related stereotypes and the possible benefit of having mothers model both masculine and feminine behaviors are discussed.     

Parents' and teachers' perceptions of adolescent storm and stress: relations with parenting and teaching styles

The purpose of this study was to determine if parents and teachers differed in their views of adolescent storm and stress, and to examine the relations of these reported perceptions with parenting and teaching behaviors. Subjects were parents and teachers of middle and high school students in three school districts in the Midwest. Storm and stress beliefs were identified as parents' and teachers' perceptions of conflict, moodiness, and risk-taking behavior. Scales assessing classic/conforming and positive adolescent behaviors also were included. Self-report assessments of parenting and teaching were administered as well. Results indicated that whereas both parents and teachers held storm and stress beliefs, teachers maintained stronger perceptions than parents. Teachers also endorsed higher classic/conforming and lower positive behaviors than did parents. The results further indicated that parents' perceptions of storm and stress were related to their degree of parental responsiveness; but teachers' perceptions were not related to their teaching style. These results suggest that stereotypic beliefs of the adolescent period continue to be maintained, and that these may influence how adults interact with adolescents.