Emotional facial expressions differentially influence predictions and performance for face recognition

The relative contribution of child and parent trait anxiety on paternal and maternal controlling behaviour was examined. Thirty-seven children, aged 8–11 years, completed two difficult Tangram puzzles, one with their father and one with their mother. Videotapes of the parent–child interactions were rated on parental control and child dependent and withdrawn behaviour. Results indicated that, opposite to expectations, higher mother and father trait anxiety was associated with lower levels of parental control, and that the relation between parent trait anxiety and parental control was curvilinear. Furthermore, a significant stronger effect between child trait anxiety and parental control was found for boys than for girls. Moreover, more child withdrawal during the parent–child interaction was related to more parental control. The findings offer new insights, which may guide future theories on child and parent anxiety and parental control. Specifically, the role of parent and child gender need further conceptualisation and research.     

Subjective Well-Being in Midlife: The Role of Involvement of and Closeness to Parents in Childhood

This study used data from the British National Child Development Study to examine the role of parenting in later subjective well-being (SWB). Parenting was defined as mother involvement and father involvement (measured at age 7) and as closeness to mother and closeness to father (measured at age 16). SWB was measured at age 42 and was defined as life satisfaction, psychological functioning (measured with the GHQ-12), and absence of psychological distress (measured with the Malaise Inventory). Control factors were parental social class at birth, parental family structure throughout childhood, domestic tension in the parental home, parental ill mental health in early childhood, psychological maladjustment in adolescence, financial difficulties throughout childhood, educational attainment, self-rated health in early adulthood, and current socio-demographic correlates of SWB (labour force participation, religion and being partnered). It was found that even after adjusting for these factors closeness to mother at age 16 predicted life satisfaction at age 42 in both men and women, whereas mother involvement at age 7 predicted life satisfaction at age 42 in men. Closeness to mother at age 16 was also negatively related to poor psychological functioning at age 42 in women.     

Parent–child relationships and offspring’s positive mental wellbeing from adolescence to early older age

We examined parent-child relationship quality and positive mental well-being using Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development data. Well-being was measured at ages 13–15 (teacher-rated happiness), 36 (life satisfaction), 43 (satisfaction with home and family life) and 60–64 years (Diener Satisfaction With Life scale and Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale). The Parental Bonding Instrument captured perceived care and control from the father and mother to age 16, recalled by study members at age 43. Greater well-being was seen for offspring with higher combined parental care and lower combined parental psychological control (p < 0.05 at all ages). Controlling for maternal care and paternal and maternal behavioural and psychological control, childhood social class, parental separation, mother’s neuroticism and study member’s personality, higher well-being was consistently related to paternal care. This suggests that both mother–child and father–child relationships may have short and long-term consequences for positive mental well-being.     

Parental attachment,romantic competence,relationship satisfaction,and psychosocial adjustment in emerging adulthood

Research has found significant relations between attachment to parents and psychosocial adjustment. This study explored parental attachment and psychosocial adjustment during emerging adulthood with romantic competence and relationship satisfaction as mediators. In a sample of 188 emerging adult college students, results revealed that mother and father attachment uniquely predicted greater life satisfaction and less distress. Regression analyses showed that romantic competence predicted better psychosocial adjustment, controlling for attachment style and mutuality, and significantly mediated, along with relationship satisfaction, the link between mother attachment and psychosocial adjustment. Additionally, patterns of secure parental attachment, when compared with avoidant or ambivalent attachment, were associated with better psychosocial adjustment. Clearly, secure attachment provides a template for successful romantic relationship development and thereby contributes to greater psychosocial adjustment.     

Perceived Parental Control and Parent–Child Relational Qualities in Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

Chinese secondary school students (N = 3,017) were asked to respond to instruments that measure subjective evaluation of parental behavioral control (indexed by parental knowledge, expectation, monitoring, discipline, and demandingness, as well as Chinese parental control attributes), parental psychological control, and parent–child relational qualities (satisfaction with parental control, child's readiness to communicate with the parents, and perceived mutual trust). Results showed that Chinese adolescents perceived their fathers and mothers to be different in terms of the above indicators, and they suggest that the notion of “strict father, kind mother” in traditional Chinese culture has changed to “strict mother, kind father” in contemporary Chinese culture. Results also showed significant main effects of the child (boys vs. girls) and interaction effects of parents and gender of the child. Finally, parental educational levels were positively related to perceived parental control processes and parent–child relational qualities.     

Perceived Parenting,Self-Esteem,and General Self-Efficacy of Iranian American Adolescents

We examined whether Iranian American adolescents’ perceptions of parental support, parental knowledge, and parental psychological control relate to general self-efficacy directly, and indirectly through positive esteem and self-deprecation. To investigate this, self-report surveys were collected from 158 Iranian American adolescents attending Iranian American youth groups, Armenian private school, and one public school. Results indicated that positive esteem, self-deprecation, mother and father knowledge, and mother and father psychological control were directly related to general self-efficacy. Furthermore, the parenting variables were indirectly related to general self-efficacy through either positive esteem or self-deprecation.     

Perceived parental behaviours and motivational processes among adolescent athletes in intensive training centres: A profile approach

Parental behaviours influence athletes’ psychological functioning in different ways. To date, research has typically explored parental behaviours one by one, and few papers have simultaneously considered sets of parental behaviours. The objectives of this study were to: (a) identify parental behaviours using a person-centred approach and differentiating mother’s and father’s behaviours; (b) explore the changes of parental behaviour profiles across the season; and (c) examine the prospective impact of parental behaviour profiles at the beginning of the season on athlete scores of motivation, satisfaction, and frustration of basic psychological needs at the end of the season. A longitudinal two-wave measurement design (beginning and end of a season) was used in the study. A sample of 226 French athletes completed self-reported questionnaires: (a) at the beginning and end of the season to measure the behaviours of their parents; and (b) at the end of the season to assess their motivation, satisfaction, and frustration of basic psychological needs. Latent profile transition analysis revealed three parental behaviour profiles: (a) moderate parental involvement; (b) moderate to high parental involvement; and (c) moderate mother’s involvement and low father’s involvement. The profiles were based on associated patterns of four mother’s and father’s behaviours: (a) directive behaviours; (b) active involvement; (c) praise and understanding; and (d) pressure. The three parental behaviour profiles remained stable across the season (i.e., inter- and intra-individual stability). Athletes who reported the moderate parental involvement profile at the beginning of the season had lower scores of controlled motivation and frustration of autonomy as well as higher scores of satisfaction of competence and relatedness at the end of the season than their counterparts from the two other profiles. This study contributes to enriching the complex picture of parental involvement in the sport to help sport organisations identify parents at risk of impeding their child’s development.     

蒙汉族大学生父母教养方式、成人依恋与心理困扰的关系研究

通过整群抽样方法抽取了576名大学生,对其施测父母养育方式量表、亲密关系体验量表和心理困扰量表,运用结构方程模型技术,分别考察了父母养育方式的蒙汉族差异以及成人依恋模式在父母养育方式和心理困扰间的中介作用。结果表明:(1) 蒙古族父母对孩子的关爱程度和给孩子的自主性要显著高于汉族;(2) 汉族的成人依恋模式在父母过度保护与抑郁-焦虑-压力之间起着部分中介作用,而蒙古族成人依恋的中介作用不明显,但母亲的冷漠拒绝和过度保护会导致个体依恋回避和依恋焦虑,父亲的冷漠拒绝和过度保护会影响个体的抑郁和焦虑,母亲的过度保护和父亲的冷漠拒绝会影响个体的压力。     

Self-defeating personality and memories of parents' child-rearing behavior: a replication

A recent study of correlations of self-defeating personality and memories of parents' child-rearing behaviour has been replicated on a larger sample. Non-clinical volunteers (145 women and 114 men) were administered Schill's Self-defeating Personality Scale and a short version of the EMBU-Egna Minnen Betr?ffande Uppfostran (own memories of parental education) scale. Replicating previous findings, memories of rejecting or nonsupportive parents were significantly correlated with scores for the Self-defeating Personality Scale for both women (rejecting mother, r = 24; supportive mother, r = -.29; rejecting father, r = .23; supportive father, r = -.36) and men (rejecting mother, r = 40; rejecting father, r = .41; supportive father, r = -.28). Memories of an overinvolved parent were significantly correlated with self-defeating personality scores only among men (mother: r = .41; father: r = .36) as in the original study.     

The influence of perceived parental responsiveness on athletes’ goal accomplishment,trait cognitive sport anxiety,and thriving: A semi-longitudinal study

The purpose of this study was to examine temporally distal influence at a three-month interval of perceived parental responsiveness on athletes’ goal accomplishment, trait cognitive sport anxiety, and thriving. Young players (154 males, 51 females, M = 12.50 years, SD = 0.65) involved in rugby, basketball, and handball participated in the study. Initially, participants set three goals to accomplish over the next three months and completed questionnaires assessing their perceptions of their parents’ responsiveness, perceived self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Three months later, participants completed questionnaires assessing their goal accomplishment, worry about sport performance, and thriving. The results showed that athletes’ perceptions of their mother’s/father’s responsiveness, mediated by perceived athletes’ self-efficacy to accomplish their goals, influenced their goal accomplishment and trait cognitive sport anxiety three months later. The results also showed that athletes’ perceptions of their mother’s/father’s responsiveness, mediated by athletes’ self-esteem, influenced athletes’ thriving and trait cognitive sport anxiety three months later. Overall, the present study uniquely contributes to the understanding of parent-athlete relationships by showing that athletes’ perceptions of their mother’s and father’s responsiveness influence certain distal outcomes three months later (i.e., goal accomplishment, sports anxiety, and thriving) while mediated by self-efficacy and self-esteem.     

Parental Inconsistency: A Third Cross-Cultural Research on Parenting and Psychological Adjustment of Children

Inconsistency in parenting is a factor that may influence children’s mental health. A questionnaire, measuring three parental inconsistencies (temporal, situational, and father-mother inconsistency) was administered to adolescents in nine countries to assess its association with adolescents’ psychological disorders. The results show that parental inconsistency varies across cultures. Temporal inconsistency is not correlated with the other two inconsistencies. Temporal and father–mother inconsistencies, but not the situational inconsistency, were associated with adolescents’ psychological disorders. The associations between parental inconsistency and psychological disorders differed across cultures.     

Family Management of Pediatric Cancer: Links with Parenting Satisfaction and Psychological Distress

Research has long acknowledged the disruptions posed by pediatric cancer diagnosis and treatment to family life. Nonetheless, the mechanisms through which the family response influences parents’ mental health in this adverse context are not fully understood. The main goal of the present study was to examine the direct and indirect links, via parenting satisfaction, between family condition management and psychological distress of parents of children with cancer. Participants were 201 parents (86.6% mothers) of children/adolescents diagnosed with cancer who completed self‐report questionnaires assessing family condition management (family life difficulty and parental mutuality), parenting satisfaction, and psychological distress (anxiety and depression). Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed mediation model. The results showed that parenting satisfaction mediated the association between both the family condition management dimensions (family life difficulty and parental mutuality) and depression. Specifically, greater family life difficulties and lower parental mutuality were associated with lower parenting satisfaction, which, in turn, was associated with higher levels of depression. Additionally, greater family life difficulties and lower parental mutuality were directly linked to higher levels of anxiety. Multigroup analyses suggested that the model was valid across patient age groups (children vs. adolescents) and treatment status (on vs. off‐treatment). These findings reinforce the need for family‐ and parent‐based interventions in the pediatric oncology field. Interventions that target families’ difficulties and promote their resources are likely to foster parenting satisfaction and psychological adjustment.     

震后18个月都江堰地区青少年负性生活事件、父母教养方式与焦虑性情绪的关系

以1021名高中生为被试,于震后18个月用儿童焦虑性情绪筛查量表、父母教养方式问卷、青少年自评生活事件量表等进行评估,探索震后继发的负性生活事件、父母教养方式对青少年焦虑的影响。结果发现:震后18个月都江堰地区青少年焦虑问题仍较为严重;青少年的父亲、母亲过度保护和父亲关怀对震后焦虑问题有直接影响;负性生活事件对青少年焦虑影响显著,母亲过度保护和父亲自主性对这种关系调节作用显著。     

小学高年级儿童亲子依恋的发展及其与同伴交往的关系

以武汉市三所普通小学四、五、六年级的505名学生为被试,用问卷调查、团体施测的方式,探讨亲子依恋与其同伴交往的关系,结果发现:儿童的母—子依恋安全性得分和对父母的信赖有显著年级差异,表现为随着年级的增长而下降,同时母—子依恋安全性得分显著高于父—子依恋;在儿童友谊质量、社交焦虑方面,父、母均有影响,在社会交往行为表现及好朋友提名分方面母亲的作用也是显见的;与双亲建立了双重安全依恋型的儿童获益最大,双重非安全依恋型的儿童损失最惨重。     

Balanced states of mind in psychopathology and psychological well-being

The balanced states of mind (BSOM) model proposes that coping with stress and psychological well-being is a function of the BSOM ratio of positive thoughts to the sum of positive and negative thoughts. Based on different BSOM ratios, different BSOM categories are constructed to quantitatively differentiate levels of coping with stress and psychological well-being. The cognitive content-specificity hypothesis states that there are unique themes of semantic content in self-reported automatic thoughts particular to depression or anxiety. This study investigated the BSOM model and its cognitive content-specificity for depression, anxiety, anger, stress, life satisfaction, and happiness, based on negative and positive automatic thoughts. Three hundred and ninety-eight college students from Singapore participated in this study. First, BSOM ratio and positive automatic thoughts were positively correlated with life satisfaction and happiness, and negatively correlated with stress, anxiety, depression, and anger. In contrast, negative automatic thoughts were positively correlated with stress, anxiety, depression, and anger, and negatively correlated with life satisfaction and happiness. Second, levels of psychopathology and psychological well-being were statistically differentiable among the BSOM categories for depression, happiness, perceived stress, and life satisfaction; and less statistically differentiable among the BSOM categories for anxiety and anger, as expected based on the BSOM model and cognitive content-specificity hypothesis. Third, the results were more supportive of the BSOM model for depression, followed by happiness, perceived stress, life satisfaction, anxiety, and anger in terms of percentage of variance accounted for by BSOM categories, as expected based on the cognitive content-specificity hypothesis. Taken together, the results suggested that the more moderately positive thoughts one has (balanced by negative thoughts), the better mental health outcomes one has. Implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.     

Life satisfaction trajectories among junior high school students in China: The role of parent–child communication

A 3-year follow-up test (from grades 7 to 9) was administered to 807 junior high school students from two regions in Hunan Province, China, using multilevel analysis to examine trends in junior high school students' life satisfaction, differences by gender and location of life and the effects of father–child/mother–child communication on the development of life satisfaction. The results showed that (1) Chinese junior high school students' life satisfaction showed a decreasing trend from the seventh grade to the ninth grade, and there was a significant decreasing process in the eighth grade; (2) father–child communication and mother–child communication had a significant positive predictive effect on Chinese junior high school students' life satisfaction and (3) father–child communication and mother–child communication had a significant negative predictive effect on the decreasing trend of life satisfaction, in which the effect of mother–child communication was particularly significant.     

Perceived Parental Anxiety and Depressive Problems and Emerging Adult Oppositional Defiant Problems: Moderated Mediation by Psychological and Physical Maltreatment and Gender

Recent studies have argued that Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) problems continue into emerging adulthood; however, few studies have examined ODD problems in this population. Moreover, previous studies have found that corporal punishment mediated the relationship between maternal anxiety/depression and child ODD problems in young children and that parental psychopathology is likely to affect child ODD. This study examined how maternal as well as paternal maltreatment (i.e., psychological and physical) mediated the relationship between parental anxiety/depressive problems and emerging adult ODD problems (i.e., irritability and defiance). Furthermore, child and parent gender were examined as moderators (i.e., moderated mediation). Participants included 1,012 emerging adults who completed questionnaires about parental psychological and physical maltreatment, parental anxiety and depression, and affective and behavioral ODD symptoms. Results suggested that mediation occurred for the father–daughter dyad along the perceived paternal depressive problems → psychological and physical maltreatment → irritability paths and for the mother–son dyad along the perceived maternal depressive and anxiety problems → psychological maltreatment → defiance paths. Given that mediation occurred for only these gender dyads, moderated mediation was suggested.     

The inequivalence of self-reports of Type A behavior: Differential relationships of the Jenkins Activity Survey and the Framingham cale with affect,stress, and control

The Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) and the Framingham Type A Scale (FTAS) have been found to have different psychological correlates. The JAS is typically unrelated to anxiety, while the FTAS is consistently correlated with trait anxiety. The present study of 200 male and female college students clarifies further the psychological heterogeneity of these measures. Enhanced motivation to control the environment has been suggested as an underlying psychological component of Type A behavior (Glass, 1977). Dysphoric emotions and the perception of more environmental stresses, on the other hand, are typical of neuroticism or negative affectivity (Watson & Clark, 1984). Although the results indicate that the JAS and FTAS are highly correlated, the JAS is more closely related to control motivation than is the FTAS. Further, compared to the JAS, the FTAS is more closely correlated with dysphoric emotions and perceived daily stresses. Thus, the results indicate that the JAS is closely correlated with core psychological components of the Type A pattern, while the FTAS has a relatively unique association with general emotional distress. Such differences may account for the fact that these measures are related to different disease end points.     

Mothers and Fathers in Family Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Anxious Youth

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety disorders in youth has been evaluated in randomized clinical trials and found to be an efficacious treatment. Studies have investigated the effects of increased parental/family involvement in treatment. In the majority of these studies, however, parental involvement is synonymous with maternal involvement leaving the role of fathers unknown. Studies including parents in treatment have yet to examine the independent contribution of mothers and fathers to child outcome. We examined the relationship between both mother (n = 45) and father (n = 45) attendance and engagement in therapy sessions, maternal and paternal psychopathology, and child (n = 45) treatment outcome when parents were included in a Family CBT program for anxiety-disordered youth. Some indications were found for the notion that greater rates of mother and father attendance in session, as well as higher ratings of mother and father engagement in session, are associated with improved child outcome. Parental psychopathology was not associated with attendance, engagement, or child outcome. Recommendations for future research are offered.     

Parental Control: A Second Cross-Cultural Research on Parenting and Psychological Adjustment of Children

Parental control is among the important factors influencing the psychological development of children. In addition to other questionnaires, a questionnaire of father and mother control was administered to adolescents in nine countries. The results showed that parental control differs across cultures. Parental control was higher in the eastern than western countries. Mothers, particularly in the west, are more controlling than fathers. Fathers’ rather than mothers’ control was associated with adolescents’ psychological disorders in the west, but not in the east. Inconsistent parental control was associated with psychological disorders.