Middle childhood and adolescent contextual and personal predictors of adult educational and occupational outcomes: a mediational model in two countries

The authors examined the prediction of occupational attainment by age 40 from contextual and personal variables assessed during childhood and adolescence in 2 participant samples: (a) the Columbia County Longitudinal Study, a study of 856 third graders in a semirural county in New York State that began in 1960, and (b) the Jyv?skyl? Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, a study of 369 eight-year-olds in Jyv?skyl?, Finland, that began in 1968. Both samples were followed up during adolescence and early and middle adulthood. Structural modeling analyses revealed that in both countries, for both genders, children's age 8 cognitive-academic functioning and their parents' occupational status had independent positive long-term effects on the children's adult occupational attainment, even after other childhood and adolescent personal variables were controlled for. Further, childhood and adolescent aggressive behavior negatively affected educational status in early adulthood, which in turn predicted lower occupational status in middle adulthood.     

Mechanisms by which childhood personality traits influence adult health status: educational attainment and healthy behaviors.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to test a life span health behavior model in which educational attainment and health behaviors (eating habits, smoking, and physical activity) were hypothesized as mechanisms to account for relations between teacher ratings of childhood personality traits and self-reported health status at midlife. DESIGN: The model was tested on 1,054 members of the Hawaii Personality and Health cohort, which is a population-based cohort participating in a longitudinal study of personality and health spanning 40 years from childhood to midlife. OUTCOME: Childhood Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Intellect-Imagination influenced adult health status indirectly through educational attainment, healthy eating habits, and smoking. Several direct effects of childhood traits on health behaviors and health status were also observed. CONCLUSION: The model extends past associations found between personality traits and health behaviors or health status by identifying a life-course pathway based on the health behavior model through which early childhood traits influence adult health status. The additional direct effects of personality traits indicate that health behavior mechanisms may not provide a complete account of relations between personality and health.     

Parental facilitation of children's preparatory play behavior in a stressful situation

Parental behavior has often been cited as a crucial factor in children's ability to cope with stress. However, there has been little study of ways parents help their children adjust to stressful life events. In the present study, 34 parents and children (ages 4–9) were observed preparing for a stressful life event (elective surgery). Parents were asked to prepare their children for the upcoming stress and were given stress-related hospital equipment to use with their child. Specific hypotheses were selected to study the relationships of five parent helping behaviors to children's active preparatory play with stress-relevant materials. Children's preparatory play alone and with an examiner were also observed to test for effects of children on their parents' helping behavior. As expected, parent helping behaviors were significantly related to children's active preparatory play. With the exception of highly directive behavior, however, the relationship of parent helping behavior to child play was dependent on the child's age. This study suggests the importance of further investigating parental involvement in studying the process of children's coping with stress.     

Cognitive function in older adults according to current socioeconomic status

Cognitive function may be influenced by education, socioeconomic status, sex, and health status. Furthermore, aging interacts with these factors to influence cognition and dementia risk in late life. Factors that may increase or decrease successful cognitive aging are of critical importance, particularly if they are modifiable. The purpose of this study was to determine if economic status in late life is associated with cognition independent of socioeconomic status in early life. Cross-sectional demographic, socioeconomic, and cognitive function data were obtained in 2592 older adults (average age 71.6 years) from the Center for Disease Control’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and analyzed with linear regression modeling. Cognitive function, as measured with a test of processing speed, was significantly associated with poverty index scores after adjusting for educational attainment as an estimate of childhood socioeconomic status, ethnic background, age, health status, and sex (P < 0.001). Our findings suggest that current economic status is independently associated with cognitive function in adults over age 60 years.     

儿童早期的母亲生活压力对其5岁行为问题的预测效应：链式中介分析

通过对107名幼儿及其母亲历时5年的5次追踪测量, 考察了儿童早期(9~38个月)母亲生活压力对5岁时儿童行为问题的预测效应及其作用机制。结果发现, 在儿童早期, 母亲生活压力具有相对的稳定性, 但引起母亲生活压力的主要生活事件排序有所变化; 儿童早期母亲生活压力对儿童行为问题的作用机制有两种方式：一方面表现为母亲生活压力对儿童5岁时的情绪症状和品行问题的直接效应; 另一方面表现为通过减少母亲积极养育行为进一步影响儿童情绪症状和同伴问题的间接效应; 此外, 儿童早期母亲生活压力还通过积极养育和儿童努力控制的链式中介作用对儿童过度活跃和亲社会行为产生影响。结论:母亲生活压力对儿童行为问题具有预测效应, 这种效应的机制包括母亲生活压力的直接效应以及通过积极养育、努力控制的间接效应。     

Social predictors of unsuccessful entrance into the labour market—A socialization process perspective

Social determinants over the life course, including childhood family characteristics, were studied in predicting unsuccessful entrance into the labour market at the age of 31 years. Among men, unsuccessful entrance into the labour market was predicted prospectively by the mother's receptive attitude towards receiving social aid and contentment with existing circumstances in early childhood, the family's low social status in adolescence, and low vocational education in early adulthood. Among women, it was predicted prospectively by low school attainment in adolescence and low vocational education in early adulthood, and associated cross-sectionally with having more than two children. Among both genders having a low income, poor subjective health and poor life satisfaction, as well as receiving little social support associated with unsuccessful entrance into the labour market. The results emphasize the role of childhood social factors in preventing long-term unemployment in young adulthood.     

Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Stressful Life Events Predict the Long-term Adjustment of Survivors of Childhood Cancer and Their Mothers

Objectives: To examine prospectively the impact of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in response to childhood cancer and treatment on general adjustment while accounting for the role of other stressful life events and appraisal of life threat and treatment intensity. Methods: As part of a larger study assessing PTSS, 56 childhood cancer survivors, aged 8 to 18, and 65 mothers completed self-report measures of PTSS and appraisal of the intensity and life threat associated with cancer treatment at time 1 and self-report measures of stressful life events and general adjustment at time 2 (approximately 18 months after time 1). Results: For child survivors and their mothers, posttraumatic stress at time 1 significantly predicted general adjustment at time 2, over and above the significant contribution of lifetime stressful events. The life events variable did not function as a mediator in the association of PTSS and general adjustment. Conclusions: Trauma responses to childhood cancer and its treatment have implications for the long-term adaptation of children and their families. Early signs and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and stressful life experiences require early assessment and intervention.     

Skin conductance level reactivity moderates the association between harsh parenting and growth in child externalizing behavior

Skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR) was examined as a moderator of the association between harsh parenting at age 8 years and growth in child externalizing behavior from age 8 to age 10 (N = 251). Mothers and fathers provided reports of harsh parenting and their children's externalizing behavior; children also provided reports of harsh parenting. SCLR was assessed in response to a socioemotional stress task and a problem-solving challenge task. Latent growth modeling revealed that boys with higher harsh parenting in conjunction with lower SCLR exhibited relatively high and stable levels of externalizing behavior during late childhood. Boys with higher harsh parenting and higher SCLR exhibited relatively low to moderate levels of externalizing behavior at age 8, but some results suggested that their externalizing behavior increased over time, approaching the same levels as boys with higher harsh parenting and lower SCLR by age 10. For the most part, girls and boys with lower harsh parenting were given relatively low and stable ratings of externalizing behavior throughout late childhood. Results are discussed from a developmental psychopathology perspective with reference to models of antisocial behavior in childhood.     

Intelligence,social class of origin,childhood behavior disturbance and education as predictors of status attainment in midlife in men: The Aberdeen Children of the 1950s study

In a birth cohort of 6281 men from Aberdeen, Scotland, social class of origin, childhood intelligence, childhood behavior disturbance and education were examined as predictors of status attainment in midlife (46 to 51 years). Social class of origin, intelligence and behavior disturbance were conceptualized as correlated predictors, whose effects were hypothesized to be partially mediated by educational qualifications. A structural equation model using Full Information Maximum Likelihood estimation confirmed that education had the strongest direct effect on status attainment at midlife. Furthermore, education partially mediated the effects of social class of origin and childhood intelligence, and fully mediated the effects of behavior disturbance on status attainment. Social class of origin, childhood intelligence and behavior disturbance were strongly inter-correlated. After controlling for these associations, educational and social status attainments were influenced to a considerably greater extent by childhood intelligence than by social class of origin.     

Early Exposure to Parental Depression and Parenting: Associations with Young Offspring’s Stress Physiology and Oppositional Behavior

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity to stress is posited to play a role in the intergenerational transmission of risk for psychopathology and other negative outcomes in the offspring of depressed parents. We tested the hypothesis that the joint, interactive effects of exposure to parental depression during early childhood and parental hostility impact the development of young children’s stress physiology and early emerging behavior problems. A sample of 165 preschool-age children (81 boys, 84 girls), of whom 103 had a parent with a history of depression, was exposed to a stress-inducing laboratory task, and five salivary cortisol samples were obtained. Parents completed clinical interviews and an observational parent–child interaction task. We found that the offspring exposed to maternal depression during early childhood and whose parents displayed hostile parenting behaviors during an observational task evidenced high and increasing cortisol levels in response to a laboratory stressor. In addition, the total amount of exposure to maternal depression over the child’s life exerted a dose–response effect on the positive relation between parental hostility and child observed oppositional behavior. This study underscores the importance of the early rearing environment on young children’s stress physiology and early emerging behavior problems.     

Life stress and maladaptation of children

Social environmental variables differentiating maladapting children from matched controls in four inner-city elementary schools were investigated. Teacher selection was used to identify the maladapting children. Identified maladapting children were more likely to have been on welfare and to have experienced significantly more stressful life events during the previous year than the matched control children. The maladapting group was subdivided into welfare and non-welfare groups. Comparisons between groups on the life stress event measures indicated that the nonwelfare maladapting group experienced more life events than either the nonwelfare controls or the maladapting welfare children. The measures of life events correlated with parent ratings of behavior problems for the nonwelfare maladapting group but not for the welfare maladapting or the control groups.     

Decomposing the social gradient in children’s vocabulary skills at 3 years of age: A mediation analysis using data from a large representative cohort study

Disparities in children’s expressive language by socio-economic status are evident early in childhood and impact children’s development and educational attainment. This study investigated the processes by which maternal education, as a powerful indicator for socio-economic status, affects early expressive language. A nationally representative cohort study of 8,062 children resident in the Republic of Ireland were assessed on the British Ability Scales (BAS) Naming Vocabulary Test at 36 months. A significant difference of almost six points was found between the mean vocabulary test scores of children whose mothers had completed the minimum level of educational attainment compared with children whose mothers had a degree-level qualification. Mediation analysis revealed that 78% of the difference was explained by mediating variables, with differences in household income, parental practice, and material resources accounting for most of the variation. The findings support interventions which redress gaps in maternal education, income, and caregiving.     

Like Father,like Child: Early Life Family Adversity and Children’s Bullying Behaviors in Elementary School

Family adversity has been associated with children’s bullying behaviors. The evidence is, however, dominated by mothers’ perceptions of the family environment and a focus on mothers’ behaviors. This prospective population-based study examined whether children’s bullying behaviors were associated with mother- and father-reported family adversity, assessed before and after child birth. Peer-nominations were used to assess bullying behaviors of 1298 children in elementary school (mean age 7.5 years). The following paternal risk factors were prospectively associated with children’s bullying behaviors: (1) father-reported prenatal family distress, (2) fathers’ hostility at preschool age, and (3) fathers’ harsh disciplinary practices at preschool age, but effect sizes were relatively small. The effect of maternal risk factors was less consistent, only mother-reported family distress in childhood was associated with children’s bullying behaviors. The associations were independent of background family risk factors (i.e., life stress, contextual factors, and other background factors such as parental education and risk taking record) and early childhood externalizing problems. Moreover, our results indicated that father-reported family adversity predicted children’s bullying behaviors over and above the background family risk factors, early childhood externalizing problems and mother-reported family adversity. We also demonstrated that the association of fathers’ prenatal hostility and family distress with subsequent bullying behavior of their child at school was partly mediated by fathers’ harsh disciplinary practices at preschool age. Our findings highlight the importance of fathers’ behaviors in the development of children’s bullying behaviors.     

Life Stress and Major Depression

ABSTRACT— People have long believed that adversity and stress contribute to emotional problems in general and to depression in particular. A considerable body of research has supported this intuition, documenting a consistent association between major stressful life events and the onset of clinical depression. However, most individuals under stress do not become depressed, sometimes depression develops without prior stress, and distinguishing psychological distress from major depression can be diagnostically challenging. In varying forms and degrees, life stress may play multiple roles in relation to major depression. In this article, we outline the opportunities and obstacles associated with conceptualizing depression from a life-stress perspective and discuss the implications for future research.     

Happily Stressed: The Complexity of Well-Being in Midlife

Previous studies provided mixed findings of well-being in midlife, so the present study sought to add new dimensions to this area of research by investigating diverse aspects of midlife well-being, including sources of enjoyment and stress. In a national sample of 834 Americans ages 40–60, overall well-being was high, and most participants agreed that their current time of life is “fun and exciting” (71%), a time of freedom (71%), and a time when “anything is possible” (77%). They also regarded themselves as being in a time of life for focusing on themselves (56%) and “finding out who I really am” (55%). However, 65% assessed this time of their lives as stressful (65%), and many agreed that they often feel anxious (39%), depressed (25%), or that “my life is not going well” (27%). Regression analyses revealed no notable variations in well-being by gender, ethnicity, educational attainment, work status, or relationship status. In sum, among Americans in midlife, well-being is generally high even as it coexists with stress and other mental health challenges.     

Links between family gender socialization experiences in childhood and gendered occupational attainment in young adulthood

Gendered occupational segregation remains prevalent across the world. Although research has examined factors contributing to the low number of women in male-typed occupations – namely science, technology, engineering, and math – little longitudinal research has examined the role of childhood experiences in both young women's and men's later gendered occupational attainment. This study addressed this gap in the literature by examining family gender socialization experiences in middle childhood – namely parents' attitudes and work and family life – as contributors to the gender typicality of occupational attainment in young adulthood. Using data collected from mothers, fathers, and children over approximately 15 years, the results revealed that the associations between childhood socialization experiences (~ 10 years old) and occupational attainment (~ 26 years old) depended on the sex of the child. For sons but not daughters, mothers' more traditional attitudes toward women's roles predicted attaining more gender-typed occupations. In addition, spending more time with fathers in childhood predicted daughters attaining less and sons acquiring more gender-typed occupations in young adulthood. Overall, evidence supports the idea that childhood socialization experiences help to shape individuals' career attainment and thus contribute to gender segregation in the labor market.     

The developmental origins of cognitive vulnerability to depression: temperament, parenting, and negative life events in childhood as contributors to negative cognitive style

Cognitive models of depression have been well supported with adults, but the developmental origins of cognitive vulnerability are not well understood. The authors hypothesized that temperament, parenting, and negative life events in childhood would contribute to the development of cognitive style, with withdrawal negativity and negative parental feedback moderating the effects of negative life events to predict more depressogenic cognitive styles. These constructs were assessed in 289 children and their parents followed longitudinally from infancy to 5th grade; a subsample (n = 120) also participated in a behavioral task in which maternal feedback to child failure was observed. Results indicated that greater withdrawal negativity in interaction with negative life events was associated with more negative cognitive styles. Self-reported maternal anger expression and observed negative maternal feedback to child's failure significantly interacted with child's negative events to predict greater cognitive vulnerability. There was little evidence of paternal parenting predicting child negative cognitive style.     

Relations between first grade stress, temperament, and behavior problems

This paper examines relations between first grade stress, temperament, and behavior problems in 164 children after the completion of first grade. Specifically, the goals of the study were (a) to examine relations between both child and parent reports of the child's stress in first grade and behavior problems in school, (b) to determine if school stress interacts with the moderator variable temperament in predicting behavior problems, and (c) to examine such relations separately for boys and girls to assess if gender differences are present. Child and parent reports of the occurrence and upsettingness of 18 items associated with first grade were collected. Parents completed a temperament inventory; behavior problems were assessed by teacher ratings. Both child and parent reports of event upsettingness correlated significantly with externalizing behavior problems for boys, and with both internalizing and externalizing problems for girls. There was also evidence for interactions between first grade stress and temperamental characteristics in predicting externalizing behavior problems. Implications for research on childhood stress resulting from developmentally relevant life transitions are discussed.     

Age differences in personality traits from 10 to 65: Big Five domains and facets in a large cross-sectional sample

Hypotheses about mean-level age differences in the Big Five personality domains, as well as 10 more specific facet traits within those domains, were tested in a very large cross-sectional sample (N = 1,267,218) of children, adolescents, and adults (ages 10-65) assessed over the World Wide Web. The results supported several conclusions. First, late childhood and adolescence were key periods. Across these years, age trends for some traits (a) were especially pronounced, (b) were in a direction different from the corresponding adult trends, or (c) first indicated the presence of gender differences. Second, there were some negative trends in psychosocial maturity from late childhood into adolescence, whereas adult trends were overwhelmingly in the direction of greater maturity and adjustment. Third, the related but distinguishable facet traits within each broad Big Five domain often showed distinct age trends, highlighting the importance of facet-level research for understanding life span age differences in personality.     

Inhibitory control and set shifting describe different pathways from behavioral inhibition to socially anxious behavior

Individuals with a behaviorally inhibited (BI) temperament are more likely to develop social anxiety. However, the mechanisms by which socially anxious behavior emerges from BI are unclear. Variation in different forms of top‐down control, specifically executive functions (EF), may play distinct roles and characterize differential pathways to social anxiety. Here 291 children were assessed for BI in toddlerhood (ages 2 and 3), parent‐reported inhibitory control and set shifting during middle childhood (age 7), and multidimensional assessment of socially anxious behavior completed during late childhood and early adolescence (ages 9 and 12). Structural equation modeling revealed that early variation in BI predicted the development of socially anxious behavior through either higher levels of parent‐reported inhibitory control or lower levels of parent‐reported set shifting. These data reinforce the notion that top‐down control does not uniformly influence relations between temperament and socially anxious behavior. These data suggest novel approaches to thinking about the role of EFs and social anxiety outcomes as children approach adolescence.