Attachment and sensitivity in family context: the roles of parent and infant gender

This study examined the role of child gender in fathers' and mothers' sensitivity to and attachment relationships with their infants from a family systems perspective. Eighty‐seven 1‐year‐olds participated in the Strange Situation with each parent. Parental sensitivity was examined during a competing demands task. Results indicated that fathers and mothers were equally sensitive to sons, but fathers were less sensitive than mothers to daughters, and mothers were more sensitive to daughters than to sons. Although mothers and fathers within the same families were similarly sensitive to daughters and sons, daughters' attachment security with fathers and mothers was similar whereas sons' was not. Further analyses revealed that fathers were more sensitive to sons with an insecure relationship with their mothers. Results of this investigation suggest that child gender is relevant for parent–infant, especially father–infant, attachment relationships. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sadness, Anger, and Frustration: Gendered Patterns in Early Adolescents’ and Their Parents’ Emotion Talk

The present study was designed to investigate gender patterns in early adolescents’ and their parents’ verbal expression of three gender-stereotyped emotions: anger, sadness, and frustration. Parents and their early adolescent children discussed four interpersonal dilemmas and answered questions regarding those dilemmas in mother–child and father–child dyads. Consistent with previous literature regarding gender stereotypes in emotion expression, daughters used a higher frequency of emotion words than sons did during conversations with their mothers and fathers. Additional analyses regarding the three specific emotions under investigation, however, revealed findings that were inconsistent with conventional gender stereotypes. Contrary to expectations, in conversations with fathers, sons used a higher proportion of references to sadness than did daughters. Daughters used a higher proportion of references to frustration than did sons in their conversations with both mothers and fathers. Mothers and fathers used a higher proportion of references to frustration with daughters than with sons. No gender differences were found in parents’ or children’s references to anger. The results call into question culturally accepted gender stereotypes about sadness, anger, and frustration.     

Gender Differences in the ABC’s of the Birds and the Bees: What Mothers Teach Young Children About Sexuality and Reproduction

Sexuality education is heavily gendered at adolescence. This study uses data from a national web survey of 631 U.S. mothers of 3 to 6 year old children to test whether similar gender differences exist in what mothers teach their young children about sexuality and reproduction. We test (a) whether mothers will report talking more with daughters or sons about sexuality related issues, and (b) whether mothers will report greater comfort talking about such issues with daughters or sons. We find (a) that mothers talk more to daughters than sons about romantic relationships, reproductive bodies, and morality, but not about sexual abuse or intercourse/pleasure. We find (b) mixed results regarding mothers’ comfort in talking with daughters or sons about sexuality.     

Gender differences in parent-child conversations about past emotions

In this study, we examined the emotional content of parents’ conversations about past events with their 40-month-old children. Subjects were 24 white middle-class children and their mothers and fathers. At separate home visits, each parent independently engaged the child in conversation about three events that parent and child had experienced together only once before. Mothers and fathers talked about emotional aspects of events in similar ways, but they both used a greater number and variety of emotion words with daughters than with sons. Parents also mentioned sad aspects of events more with daughters than with sons. Implications of the differential socialization of emotion for boys and girls are discussed.     

Mothers’ Mental State Talk and Preschool Children’s Social-Behavioral Functioning: A Multidimensional Account

This study aimed to investigate the multidimensional nature of maternal mental state talk with respect to children’s social-behavioral functioning in a low-income urban preschool sample. Maternal speech data were collected as mothers narrated a wordless picture book depicting a diverse set of mental states to their children (n = 130, 2–4 year olds). Dimensions of maternal mental state talk (i.e., type, direction, causality) were examined with the Coding System for Mental State Talk in Narratives. Approximately half of the sample consisted of higher-risk children who were identified as in need of clinical services by on-site clinicians. Results indicated that mothers’ diversity and causality of mental state talk, their acknowledgement of characters’ negative emotions, and talk about children’s cognitions and their own mental states were associated with children’s socially adaptive behaviors. On the other hand, mothers’ tendency to focus on children’s perceptions during the story-telling task (e.g., “see that?,” “look!”) was linked with lower social competence and internalizing problems. Mothers in the clinical sample used a significantly lower proportion of emotion words compared to mothers in the nonclinical sample. Results suggest that a picture book reading task might provide a cost-effective method for assessing and possibly modifying maternal mental state talk.     

Mothers' and Fathers' Internal State Language with Their Young Children: An Examination of Gender Differences During an Emotions Task

The current study examined gender differences in mothers' and fathers' internal state language (ISL), children's use of ISL, and whether ISL was related to parents' ratings of the children's social skills. Fifty‐seven (28 boys, 29 girls) toddler/preschool children (M age = 32.5 months, SD = 5.38 months) were observed separately with their mothers and fathers in their homes while they discussed pictures of children's facial expressions of emotions. Parents completed a questionnaire concerning their child's social–emotional behaviours (i.e. BASC‐2). Parents used more ISL with sons compared with daughters, and sons used more ISL with mothers than with fathers. No overall differences were found between mothers' and fathers' ISL. Children's social skills as rated by mothers were predicted by mothers' ISL comments, whereas children's social skills as rated by fathers were predicted by children's age and fathers' ISL clarifications. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Caring for infant daughters and sons in dual‐earner households: maternal reports of father involvement in weekday time and tasks

This study focused on maternal reports of gender differences in weekday father involvement with 12‐month‐olds in 47 dual‐earner households utilizing full time infant day care. Three involvement variables were considered: father's time alone with the infant; father's time available to the infant; and father participation in caregiving tasks. The results showed fathers to be available to sons significantly more than daughters. Fathers were also significantly more involved in caregiving tasks with sons than with daughters. There was no difference in father time alone with sons and daughters. Examination of these three involvement measures in relation to demographic, family environment, and infant temperament measures revealed that mothers' reported fathers as being available more to sons than to daughters. In addition, mothers reported fathers to be more available to temperamentally easy sons than to temperamentally difficult sons. Recommendations are made for future research. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mother–Child Book‐Sharing and Children's Storytelling Skills in Ethnically Diverse,Low‐Income Families

The present study examined book‐sharing interactions between mothers and their 4‐year‐old children from African American (n = 62), Dominican (n = 67), Mexican (n = 59) and Chinese (n = 82) low‐income U.S. families, and children's independent storytelling skills one year later. Mothers' book‐sharing style was analysed in terms of how much storyline information they provided (story components), the extent to which they asked children about the story (dialogic emphasis) and which features of the story they highlighted (story content). African American mothers referred to more story components than did Dominican mothers, and Mexican mothers surpassed Dominican and Chinese mothers. Mothers of all groups were low in dialogic emphasis; they predominantly narrated rather than asked about the story, although Mexican mothers asked relatively more questions than did African American and Dominican mothers. In terms of content, compared with other groups, African American mothers were most likely to emphasize ‘individual goals’, and Chinese mothers were most likely to emphasize ‘negative consequences’. Latino mothers were more likely to emphasize ‘emotions’ than were Chinese mothers. Children's storytelling styles partially mirrored those seen in their mothers. Mothers' dialogic emphasis related to children's contributions to book‐sharing, which in turn predicted children's later independent storytelling skills. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mothers’ and Fathers’ Responsive Problem Solving with Early Adolescents: Do Gender,Shyness, and Social Acceptance Make a Difference?

We assessed the extent to which youths’ (n = 231) shyness and social acceptance in preadolescence were associated with parents’ responsive problem solving 1 year later after controlling for initial levels of parents’ problem solving. Teachers (n = 176) completed assessments of youths’ shyness and social acceptance, and parents (n = 231 married pairs) completed assessments of their responsive problem solving with the child. For shy daughters, higher levels of social acceptance from peers predicted more responsive problem solving from fathers. Greater social acceptance predicted marginally less maternal problem solving for sons, but greater social acceptance predicted marginally more maternal problem solving with daughters. Results suggest the salience of child gender, shyness, and social acceptance when considering typical levels of parental involvement with youth. Implications for parents include the importance of successful problem solving discussions with emerging adolescents, especially youth who are shy or excluded by peers.     

Gender Differences in Parent–Child Emotion Narratives

Early parent–child conversations about past emotional experiences provide a rich environment for the socialization of emotions. This study explored the role of parent and child gender in this process. Participants were 21 White, middle-class, 40- to 45-month-old children and their mothers and fathers. At separate home visits, each parent discussed with their child four specific past events during which the child experienced happiness, anger, sadness, and fear, respectively. Mothers conversed more overall, talked more about emotional aspects of the experience, and used more emotion words than did fathers. Similarly, girls talked more about emotional aspects of their experiences than did boys. Further, girls used more emotion words when discussing scary events than did boys. Most intriguingly, both mothers and fathers used more emotional utterances when discussing sad events with daughters than with sons. Parent–daughter dyads also placed emotional experiences in a more interpersonal context than did parent–son dyads. Implications for the development of gender, emotional understanding, and clinical repercussions are discussed.     

Mother-child talk about past emotions: Relations of maternal language and child gender over time

Abstract

Emotional understanding and expression is largely constructed in sociocul-tural contexts; thus examination of the ways in which parents talk about emotions with their young children is critical for understanding emotional socialisation. In this longitudinal research, 18 white, middle-class mothers and their preschool children discussed salient past events when the children were 40, 58, and 70 months of age. Analyses revealed that mothers talked more about emotions and talked about a greater variety of emotions with daughters than with sons. Mothers also focused more on negative emotions with daughters than with sons. Although there were no gender differences between girls and boys at the beginning of the study, by the last phase, girls talked more about emotion and about a greater variety of emotion than did boys and also initiated more emotion-related discussions than did boys. Results are discussed in relation to a growing body of evidence on gender and emotion across the life span.     

Mother–Father–Child Triadic Interaction and Mother–Child Dyadic Interaction: Gender Differences Within and Between Contexts

Differences in mother and father behavior during a triadic interaction session, and differences in mothers’ behavior across triadic and dyadic interaction, were examined in 60 two-parent families with an 11- to 15-month-old child (30 boys, 30 girls). Results revealed that mothers were less involved, less sensitive, and more negative during triadic than during dyadic interaction. Mothers of sons displayed more emotion during triadic interaction than mothers of daughters did. Mothers were more involved with children than fathers were during triadic interaction, whereas fathers displayed more emotion than mothers did during triadic interaction. Fathers were more supportive of mothers, and mothers were more intrusive toward fathers, during triadic interaction. The results are discussed in terms of the role that context plays in gender-typed patterns of family interaction.     

The role of emotion knowledge in the links between shyness and children's socio‐emotional functioning at preschool

The present study investigated the potential protective role of components of emotion knowledge (i.e., emotion recognition, situation knowledge) in the links between young children's shyness and indices of socio‐emotional functioning. Participants were n = 163 children (82 boys and 81 girls) aged 23–77 months (M = 53.29, SD = 14.48), recruited from preschools in Italy. Parents provided ratings of child shyness and teachers rated children's socio‐emotional functioning at preschool (i.e., social competence, anxiety‐withdrawal, peer rejection). Children were also interviewed to assess their abilities to recognize facial emotional expressions and identify situations that affect emotions. Among the results, shyness was positively related to anxiety‐withdrawal and peer rejection. In addition, emotion recognition was found to significantly moderate the links between shyness and preschool socio‐emotional functioning, appearing to serve a buffering role. For example, at lower levels of emotion recognition, shyness was positively associated with both anxiety‐withdrawal and rejection by peers, but at higher levels of emotion recognition, these associations were attenuated. Results are discussed in terms of the protective role of emotion recognition in promoting shy children's positive socio‐emotional functioning within the classroom context.     

Exploring Mothers’ and Fathers’ Relationships with Sons Versus Daughters: Links to Adolescent Adjustment in Mexican Immigrant Families

Drawing on ecological and gender socialization perspectives, this study examined mothers’ and fathers’ relationships with young adolescents, exploring differences between mothers and fathers, for sons versus daughters, and as a function of parents’ division of paid labor. Mexican immigrant families (N?=?162) participated in home interviews and seven nightly phone calls. Findings revealed that mothers reported higher levels of acceptance toward adolescents and greater knowledge of adolescents’ daily activities than did fathers, and mothers spent more time with daughters than with sons. Linkages between parent-adolescent relationship qualities and youth adjustment were moderated by adolescent gender and parents’ division of paid labor. Findings revealed, for example, stronger associations between parent–adolescent relationship qualities and youth adjustment for girls than for boys.     

Stability and change in parental attitudes following an infant's birth into traditional and nontraditional Swedish families

Fifty-one Swedish couples were interviewed in the last trimester of their first pregnancy and again when their infants were 5 months old. Twenty-five of the couples indicated that the mothers would be primary caretakers throughout the first year (traditional families) whereas the other 26 couples said that the fathers would be primary caretakers for between 1 and 6.5 months during the year (nontraditional families). Analyses showed that the value of parenthood and the value of work were stable from the first (prenatal) to the second (postnatal) interview, although prenatally-anticipated paternal involvement was only marginally correlated with actual paternal involvement. Subjects agreed with their spouses when asked about the same issues, suggesting that the constructs had some validity. Parenthood and work were more highly valued by nontraditional parents than by traditional parents. Degree of paternal caretaking was positively correlated with the fathers satisfaction with and value of parenthood and negatively correlated with their resentment of the infant. Correlations differed somewhat among traditional and nontraditional mothers and fathers. Fathers were more involved with "difficult" sons and "easy" daughters than with "easy" sons and "difficult" daughters.     

Coparenting Conflict and Academic Readiness in Children of Teen Mothers: Effortful Control as a Mediator

Children's exposure to coparenting conflict has important implications for their developmental functioning, yet limited work has focused on such processes in families with diverse structures or ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds. This longitudinal study examined the processes by which Mexican‐origin adolescent mothers' coparenting conflict with their 3‐year‐old children's grandmothers and biological fathers (N = 133 families) were linked to children's academic and social skills at 5 years of age, and whether children's effortful control at 4 years of age mediated the link between coparenting conflict and indices of children's academic readiness. Findings revealed that adolescent mothers' coparenting conflict with their child's biological father was linked to indices of children's academic and social school readiness through children's effortful control among girls, but not boys, whereas conflict with grandmothers was directly linked to boys' and girls' social functioning 2 years later. Findings offer information about different mechanisms by which multiple coparenting units in families of adolescent mothers are related to their children's outcomes, and this work has important implications for practitioners working with families of adolescent mothers.     

Parental influence on children's self-estimated agressiveness

Parental influence on children's self-estimated aggressivences was measured with inventories. One hundred seventy-four adolescents (85 girls and 89 boys; mean age 13.6 years, SD 0.7) from a suburban school, known as prone to problems of aggression, served as subjects. The dependent variable aggresive personality was measured with the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory [J consult Psychol 21:343, 1974]. Parental influence was measured with scales specifically developed for the present research. the subjects estimated: 1) their emotional relation to each parent; and 2) their perception of how their parents a and b) behave when angry c) at home and d) with their peers. The results revealed clearly gender-specific efects: mothers and fathers affected sons and daughters differently. According to LISREL analyse, mother had a clearly stronger impact on sons, while fathers had a slightly stronger effect on daughters. In the case of fathers, hiting and alcohol abuse were, in addition to a negative emotional relationship, strong predictors of daughter's aggresivencess. However, aggressive fathers tended in general to get a counterreaction with their sons, leading to low aggressiveness with the same type of behavior in their case. Typical maternal predictors of children's aggressivencess were shouting and a negative emotional relationship. In the case of daughters, the former was a more important predictor than the latter, but in the case of sons, it was the other way around. Modeling effects were revealed: subjects imitated their parents' styles of behavior in anger, however, with different patterns at home and with peers. The results may be interpreted as support for both the cognitive learning and the frustration-aggression hypotheses as sources for aggressive behavior. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

THE MAGIC OF PLAY: LOW‐INCOME MOTHERS’ AND FATHERS’ PLAYFULNESS AND CHILDREN'S EMOTION REGULATION AND VOCABULARY SKILLS

Using data from a diverse sample of low‐income families who participated in the Early Head Start Research Evaluation Project (n = 73), we explored the association between mothers’ and fathers’ playfulness with toddlers, toddler's affect during play, and children's language and emotion regulation at prekindergarten. There were two main findings. First, fathers’ playfulness in toddlerhood was associated with children's vocabulary skills in prekindergarten whereas mothers’ playfulness was related to children's emotion regulation. Cross‐parental effects were found only for mothers. The association between mothers’ playfulness and children's vocabulary and emotion regulation was strengthened when fathers engaged in more pretend play and when children were affectively positive during the play. These findings show that playfulness is an important source of variation in the vocabulary and emotion regulation of children growing up in low‐income families. They also point to domain‐specific ways that mothers and fathers promote children's regulatory and vocabulary skills, and highlight the importance of children's positive engagement in play.     

Mindful Parenting and Emotion Socialization Practices: Concurrent and Longitudinal Associations

Caregivers play a crucial role in the socialization of youth emotion understanding, competence, and regulation, which are implicated in youth social and emotional health; however, there is less understanding of parental psychosocial or cognitive factors, like mindful parenting, that may be associated with the use of particular emotion socialization (ES) strategies. This study tests a model of the cross‐sectional and short‐term longitudinal associations between mindful parenting and supportive and nonsupportive ES strategies in a community sample of parents (N = 246; 63.8% mothers) of youth ranging from ages 3–12. Caregivers reported on mindful parenting and ES strategies at two time points 4 months apart. The structural equation model indicated that higher levels of mindful parenting are positively related to supportive ES responses and negatively related to nonsupportive ES responses both concurrently and over time. The longitudinal association between mindful parenting and nonsupportive, but not supportive, ES was marginally larger for fathers as compared to mothers. Given the documented impact of ES strategies on youth emotional and behavioral outcomes and interventions emerging to educate parents about how to provide a healthy emotional atmosphere, incorporating a focus on mindful parenting strategies may provide one pathway to increase supportive responses and decrease nonsupportive ones.     

Testing a Military Family Stress Model

The current study examines a military family stress model, evaluating associations between deployment‐related stressors (i.e., deployment length/number, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] symptoms) and parent, child, parenting, and dyadic adjustment among families in which a parent had previously deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in the recent conflicts. Married families (N = 293) with at least one child between the ages of 4 and 12 were recruited from a Midwestern state. Service members were from the Reserve Component (National Guard or Reserves); fathers (N = 253) and/or mothers had deployed (N = 45) to the recent conflicts in the Middle East. Multiple‐method (observations of parenting and couple interactions; questionnaires) and multiple informant measures were gathered online and in the homes of participants, from parents, children, and teachers. Findings demonstrated associations between mothers’ and fathers’ PTSD symptoms and a latent variable of child adjustment comprising teacher, parent, and child report. Mothers’ but not fathers’ PTSD symptoms were also associated with dyadic adjustment and parenting practices; parenting practices were in turn associated with child adjustment. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for military family stress research and interventions to support and strengthen parents and families after deployment.