Children of mothers being released from incarceration: characteristics and potential targets for intervention

Incarcerated mothers and their children may face a multitude of problems. To identify possible targets for intervention, more clarity is needed about characteristics of these children and their mothers. This study examined children’s life events, behaviour problems and social cognitions and mothers’ parenting behaviours as potential targets for intervention with mothers being released from incarceration, in the Netherlands with a culturally diverse sample. Participants were 121 children of mothers being released from incarceration and 63 children of comparison mothers from disadvantaged areas, without a history of incarceration. Children of mothers being released from incarceration were more disadvantaged in life events, had more behaviour problems, and their mothers’ parenting behaviours were characterized by lower involvement and poorer monitoring compared with children of comparison mothers. Suboptimal parenting behaviours of mothers being released from incarceration were statistically associated with children’s behaviour problems. Hence, these children face more difficulties that may contribute to problematic development than children from another at-risk population.     

Promoting socioemotional competence in primary school classrooms: Intervention effects of the EMOscope

The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of a brief, teacher-led intervention (EMOscope) developed to promote children’s socioemotional competence. Our sample consisted of 339 Polish pupils and their 16 teachers from 16 third grade classrooms. Teachers in the experimental condition (8 teachers) were trained to deliver the EMOscope intervention. Data were collected at pre-test and post-test. Performance tests were administered to measure children’s social understanding and emotional awareness. Furthermore, peer ratings were used to measure children’s cooperative behaviour and teachers’ reported on children’s prosocial behaviour, hyperactivity, emotional problems, conduct problems, and peer problems. Multilevel regression analysis revealed that children in the experimental condition improved significantly on emotional self- and other-awareness and on social understanding. Moreover, they decreased in teacher-rated hyperactivity, conduct problems, and total difficulties. No effects were found, however, on teacher-rated prosocial behaviour, emotional problems, peer problems, and peer-rated cooperative behaviour.     

Self‐Regulation: Relations with Theory of Mind and Social Behaviour

It is argued that self‐regulation skill is necessary both for displaying constructive behaviour and for controlling negative social behaviour, and self‐regulation might affect social behaviours by increasing the ability to understand others' minds. In this research, in order to examine different aspects of self‐regulation and their similarities and differences in terms of their relations with other constructs, we focused on both effortful control and executive function and investigated their concurrent associations with socially competent and aggressive behaviours and theory of mind (ToM). The participants were 212 preschool children in Turkey. We assessed executive functions with behavioural measures and effortful control with mother reports. We used six tasks for comprehensive assessment of mental state understanding. Children's social competency and aggressive behaviour were assessed with teacher reports. Structural equation modelling results showed that when age and receptive language were controlled, ToM was significantly associated with social competence but not aggressive behaviour. Both effortful control and executive functions were significantly related to social competency and ToM; the pathways from each self‐regulation skill were similar in strength. ToM was linked with social competence, but it did not have a mediating role in the relations of self‐regulation with social competence. The findings highlighted the importance of self‐regulation for socio‐cognitive and social development in the preschool years. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

儿童情绪胜任力的研究进展：概念、功能与干预措施

儿童情绪胜任力是指儿童拥有情绪知识,对自身和他人的情绪进行识别和理解,并调节和表达自身情绪的一种综合能力,它在提高儿童的认知能力、促进其身心健康发展、提高社会交往能力以及减少儿童危险行为等方面都有重要作用。研究者开展了以儿童情绪和行为问题改善、压力应对能力提高及情绪识别和管理能力提升为目标的干预项目。未来可进一步探究学校、老师、同伴及儿童自身的人格特点等对其情绪胜任力发展的影响及作用机制,并可从增加个性化干预及提升干预长期效果等视角进一步完善干预措施。     

Showing-off behaviour of nursery children

Assertive behaviours like showing-off have an important role for a child in getting attention from other children in a class without being aggressive. This study presented the showing-off behaviour in an English nursery school, and later it was discussed in comparison with that in the German kindergartens reported by Hold-Cavell. As a result, the English children performed showing-off behaviours at only one-half the frequency of German children. No sex difference was seen in either showing-off or physical aggression in the nursery class. The frequency of showing-off did not correlate with that of physical aggression; this result is discussed in terms of Hinde's motivational postulate. Showing-off behaviour is deserving of the further studies cross-culturally and onto-genetically.     

PATHS in Croatia: A school‐based randomised‐controlled trial of a social and emotional learning curriculum

This study represents the first rigorous evaluation of a social‐emotional learning curriculum, PATHS (P romoting A lternative Th inking S trategies; Kusché & Greenberg, 1994), in elementary schools in Croatia. This study randomly assigned 29 schools to receive the universal preventive intervention or continue with usual practices. Within those schools, this study included 57 classrooms and 568 children. Teachers rated nine child behaviours in the middle of first grade (pre‐intervention) and near the end of second grade (post‐intervention). Hierarchical linear models, nesting children within classrooms, revealed few changes in behaviour across the sample as a whole or among higher risk children. However, there were changes on eight of the nine behaviours for lower risk children. The findings are considered in the context of the classroom culture and teachers' preparation and readiness to implement a social‐emotional learning curriculum in Croatia. This study highlights the need to supplement universal preventive interventions with selective preventive interventions that can provide more intensive and targeted skill practice for higher risk children. This study also highlights the nuanced effects of a universal preventive intervention in helping different children in different ways.     

The relationships between parenting stress,parenting behaviour and preschoolers' social competence and behaviour problems in the classroom

Young children develop social and emotional competence through interactions with others in the two major contexts in which they spend time: home and preschool. This study examined whether parenting stress in the home context is related to the children's behaviour while in preschool. Previous research has suggested that parenting stress negatively influences parenting behaviour, which in turn has been shown to impact children's development. This study examined the direct relationship between parenting stress and children's behaviour in two types of preschool programmes: private day care centres and Head Start. Parenting stress was significantly related to teacher ratings of social competence, internalizing behaviours, and externalizing behaviours, and the effects of parenting behaviour do not appear to mediate this relationship. Parenting stress was most strongly related to children's social competence. Parents' reports of expectations for their child's behaviour appear to weakly moderate the relationship between externalizing behaviour and parenting stress. This study suggests that examination of a parent's level of stress, in addition to parenting practices, may be important in research and interventions with preschool children's behaviour and social competence. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Training parents to help their children read: A randomized control trial

Background . Low levels of literacy and high levels of behaviour problems in middle childhood often co‐occur. These persistent difficulties pose a risk to academic and social development, leading to social exclusion in adulthood. Although parent‐training programmes have been shown to be effective in enabling parents to support their children's development, very few parent interventions offer a combination of behavioural and literacy training. Aims . This paper (1) reports on a prevention programme which aimed to tackle behaviour and literacy problems in children at the beginning of school, and (2) presents the effects of the intervention on children's literacy. Sample . One hundred and four 5‐ and 6‐year‐old children selected from eight schools in an inner city disadvantaged community in London participated in the intervention. Methods . This is a randomized control trial with pre‐ and post‐measurements designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention. The behavioural intervention consisted of the ‘Incredible Years’ group parenting programme combined with a new programme designed to train parents to support their children's reading at home. Results . Analyses demonstrated a significant effect of the intervention on children's word reading and writing skills, as well as parents' use of reading strategies with their children. Conclusion . A structured multicomponent preventive package delivered with attention to fidelity can enable parents to support their children's reading at home and increase their literacy skills. Together with the improvement in child behaviour, these changes could improve the life chances of children in disadvantaged communities.     

Emotion Regulation in At‐Risk Preschoolers: Longitudinal Associations and Influences of Maternal Histories of Risk

Emotion regulation is a key challenge of early childhood. The present study examined emotion regulation behaviour longitudinally from infancy to preschool. The continuity of emotion regulation was explored within the larger ecological context of maternal childhood histories of aggression and social withdrawal and maternal use of constructive and non‐constructive behaviours. Forty‐five mothers with childhood histories of aggression or social withdrawal from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, a prospective, longitudinal, intergenerational study, participated with their preschool children. Infants' emotion regulation behaviour was observed during interactions with their mothers when they were 5½ months of age. Emotion regulation in these same children as preschoolers was coded during an interference task using the Preschooler Self‐Regulatory Scheme. Longitudinal findings demonstrated continuity in children's use of emotion regulation behaviours from infancy to preschool. Higher maternal childhood histories of risk, specifically social withdrawal, contributed to the prediction of preschoolers' increased attention‐seeking behaviours. Mothers' use of non‐constructive verbalizations predicted more maladaptive styles of emotion regulation in their preschoolers. The findings highlight the importance of helping children develop adaptive emotion regulation skills from a young age and have implications for the design of preventive intervention programmes to help parents foster children's emotion regulation abilities. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mind Reading Skills and Empathy: Evidence for Nice and Nasty ToM Behaviours in School-Aged Children

We investigated the social use of theory of mind in school-aged children. The expressions Nice Theory of Mind and Nasty Theory of Mind are used to differentiate behaviours requiring a prosocial use and an antisocial use of ToM abilities respectively. Our goals was to investigate whether and how mind reading abilities and empathy affect nice and nasty ToM behaviours. One hundred and ninety-seven children who were fourth and fifth graders took part in this study. Participants were administered stories that assessed cognitive, affective or moral mental state reasoning abilities and they also completed a self-report measure of empathy. Teachers’ rating on children’s prosocial and antisocial behaviours that underpin ToM abilities led us to identify nice and nasty ToM behaviours. We found that children who engage in nasty ToM behaviour showed good abilities to understand others’ thoughts and beliefs. However, children with nice ToM behaviour showed more moral and emotional sensitivity as compared to children who engage in nasty ToM behaviour. Furthermore, the hot component of empathy is stronger in fostering prosocial behaviours and inhibiting antisocial acts than cognitive component.     

Evaluation eines präventiven Beratungskonzeptes für Kinder körperlich kranker Eltern

Children of parents suffering from a serious disease (e.g. cancer, multiple sclerosis, Aids) are at increased risk for mental health problems. Empirically based interventions for these children are missing. At the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, a preventive short-term counselling service has been existing since July 2000. Results from a 6-month evaluation (n=50) are presented. The evaluation encompasses a retrospective interrogation in a multiperspective und multidimensional approach. Most families experienced the intervention as helpful and supportive in coping with the multiple stressors of the situation. Out of a previously defined list of 12 intervention goals, enhancing anticipatory grief in children, their active coping behaviour as well as parents’ sense of their own parenting competence were identified as the most important foci of the counselling interventions, as reported by parents, children and therapists.     

Children of Mentally Ill Parents Participating in Preventive Support Groups: Parental Diagnoses and Child Risk

In the Netherlands, preventive support groups are offered to children of mentally ill parents. Given the variety of parental diagnoses it might be questionable if offering a standardized program for all these children is the most effective response. While no overall knowledge exists about the type of parental disorder and varying risk levels and support needs among the participating children, we examined whether there are differences between these children that are related to their parents’ diagnoses. With questionnaires we assessed risk factors in 122 mentally ill parents and their children: high parental illness severity, low perceived parental competence, parent–child interaction problems, poor family functioning, difficult child temperament, and low child competence. We also assessed the children’s psychosocial problems and negative cognitions about their parent’s illness. Results showed that most parents had co-morbidity (multiple diagnoses) and/or personality disorders. Children of parents with either of these conditions were more likely to be exposed to the risk factors: high parental illness severity, low perceived parental competence, problematic parent–child interaction, and low perceived child competence, compared to children of parents without these conditions. They were also faced with more risk factors and had more psychosocial problems and negative cognitions. From these results we may conclude that children of parents with co-morbidity and/or personality disorders require more extensive support than children of parents without these conditions. We suggest strengthening the children’s competence and involving parents as important focuses of preventive interventions for children at high risk. Longitudinal studies should test these assumptions.     

Preschoolers’ Emotional Understanding and Psychosocial Adjustment in Korea: The Moderating Effect of Maternal Attitude towards Emotional Expressiveness

The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of maternal attitude towards children’s emotional expressiveness in Korean preschoolers’ emotional understanding and psychosocial adjustment. Preschoolers (N?=?70) participated in an emotional understanding task comprised of identifying cartoon character’s emotional reaction to particular emotion-eliciting situations. Maternal attitude towards children’s emotional expressiveness, as well as teachers’ rating of children’s behavior problems and social competence were measured. Children’s emotional understanding was negatively correlated with teacher-reported behavior problems and positively associated with social competence. In line with recent research on the socialization of emotional expressiveness, controlling maternal attitude towards children’s positive emotional expressiveness was negatively correlated with teacher-reported behavior problems. Conversely, mothers’ accepting attitude towards children’s negative emotional expressiveness was also negatively correlated with behavior problems. Finally, maternal attitude toward children’s positive emotional expressiveness moderated the relationship between emotional understanding ability and behavior problems and social competence. Such findings suggest that maternal attitude, particularly attitude regarding specific type of emotional expressiveness, is one of the key factors that may predict preschooler’s psychosocial outcomes.     

Reciprocal Imitation Following Adult Imitation by Children with Autism

This study examined the effects of adult imitation and adult playfulness on the imitation, social attention and initiation of new behaviours by non‐verbal preschoolers with autism. Videotapes taken from a previous study were recoded for the adult's imitation and playful behaviour and the children's imitation, social attention (looking at the adult's actions) and initiation of new behaviours. In the original study, twenty non‐verbal, 4‐ to 6‐year‐old children with autism were randomly assigned to an imitation or a contingent responsivity group. Both groups of children engaged in an intervention phase (during which the adult imitated the children or contingently responded to them) and a subsequent spontaneous play phase (during which the adult interacted spontaneously with the children). ANOVA for the current study revealed that the imitation group children versus the contingent responsivity group children spent a greater percent time showing social attention and initiating new behaviours during the intervention phase and showing social attention and imitating the adult's behaviours during the subsequent spontaneous play phase. A correlation analysis yielded significant correlations between the percent time the adult imitated the child during the intervention phase and the percent time the child showed social attention during the same intervention phase and imitating the adult during the subsequent spontaneous play phase. Adult imitation and playfulness during the spontaneous play phase were also correlated with the children's social attention during that phase. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do organizational conditions influence teacher implementation of effective classroom management practices: Findings from a randomized trial

Although there is a growing evidence base about effective classroom management practices, teacher implementation of these practices varies due to a number of factors. A school's organizational health is one aspect of the broader social environment that has been hypothesized to influence implementation of interventions. Yet, empirical evidence is limited on whether organizational contexts can influence teacher implementation of effective interventions and subsequently, classroom environments and student outcomes. In the present study, teachers in an urban school district were randomly assigned to receive training in the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management program (IY TCM), a classroom management intervention. We examined how teacher perceptions of their school environment moderated intervention effects for previously established treatment outcomes – implementation of effective classroom methods, students' social behaviors, emotional regulation, and social competence. Results showed that treatment effects on teacher implementation and student outcomes were moderated by teachers' sense of affiliation to their school. Specifically, main effects on implementation of effective classroom management strategies were only observed among teachers whose perceptions of initial teacher affiliation was low or average; whereas main effects on student outcomes were only found for teachers with initial high levels of affiliation.     

Low social inclusion in childhood: adjustment and early predictors

The principal aim of the present study was to obtain a deeper understanding than hitherto of the concurrent correlates and prospective predictors of loneliness and poor peer acceptance, both falling under the umbrella term low social inclusion. Problematic and socially competent behaviours were investigated as possible predictors of low social inclusion in grade 6, as defined by self‐rated loneliness and degree of peer non‐acceptance, respectively. In grade 6 808 children participated whereof 323 were followed longitudinally from first grade. Loneliness in grade 6 was distinctively associated with high levels of internalizing problems, concurrently as well as prospectively. Peer acceptance, on the other hand, emerged as a complex, multifaceted aspect, with concurrent, independent predictions from both externalizing and internalizing problem behaviours as well as social competence, although prospective analyses found early externalizing problems to be the strongest predictor of peer acceptance. Moderating effects of social competence were sparse, although peer nominated social competence buffered peer acceptance for children with high levels of aggression in the concurrent analyses and social competence boosted peer acceptance for children with low problem levels in the predictive analyses. Social competence did not appear to buffer the negative impact of early problem behaviours on peer relations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

父母元情绪理念、情绪表达与儿童社会能力的关系

对341名学前儿童及其父母进行问卷调查, 考察父母元情绪理念、情绪表达与儿童社会能力的直接与间接关系。结果表明：(1) 父亲情绪教导对儿童社会能力有促进作用, 而情绪紊乱对儿童社会能力有阻碍作用; 父亲的积极情绪表达对儿童社会能力有促进作用, 消极情绪表达则有负向作用; 此外, 父亲情绪教导、情绪紊乱除了对儿童社会能力具有直接作用外, 还通过其情绪表达对儿童社会能力具有间接影响。(2) 母亲情绪教导对儿童社会能力具有积极作用, 而情绪紊乱则具有消极影响; 母亲积极情绪表达对儿童社会能力有促进作用, 而消极情绪表达对儿童社会能力无显著预测关系; 母亲情绪教导通过其积极情绪表达对儿童社会能力具有间接促进作用。     

Teacher and Parent Perceptions of Relational and Physical Aggression During Early Childhood

Although links have been found between parents’ and teachers’ (caregivers’) attitudes about aggressive behavior, their responses to aggressive behaviour in children, and those children’s own use of aggressive behaviour, most research has focused on primary and secondary school contexts and has examined the influence of parents and teachers separately. The current study explored both parents’ and teachers’ beliefs and intervention strategies for relational and physical aggression in early childhood settings. Teachers (N?=?18; Mage?=?34.8 years) and parents (N?=?68; Mage?=?32.2 years) were presented with vignettes portraying relational and physical aggression. Following each vignette, their perceptions of the seriousness of the act, empathy for the victim, likelihood to intervene, and intervention strategies used to respond to each vignette were assessed. Teachers were also interviewed about examples of aggression that have been seen in preschool age children. Results indicated that caregivers viewed relational compared to physical aggression as more normative, and had less empathy for, and were less likely to intervene in instances of relationally aggressive behaviour. They also recommended more passive intervention strategies towards relationally aggressive children and more direct strategies towards physically aggressive children. Interview responses indicated that teachers perceived the primary cause of aggression to be related to developmental characteristics of the child. Implications for how these findings about adult–child interactions impact the development of relational and physical aggression are discussed.     

Prosocial and antisocial children's perceptions of peers' motives for prosocial behaviours

This study investigated whether peer‐nominated prosocial and antisocial children have different perceptions of the motives underlying peers' prosocial actions. Eighty‐seven children, aged 10–12 years old, completed peer‐nomination measures of social behaviour. On the basis of numbers of social nominations received, a subsample of 51 children (32 who were peer‐nominated as ‘prosocial’, and 18 who were peer‐nominated as ‘antisocial’) then recorded their perceptions of peers' motives for prosocial behaviours. Expressed motives were categorized predominantly into three categories, coinciding with Turiel's (1978) ‘moral’, ‘conventional’, and ‘personal domains’. Results indicate that children's social reputation is associated with the extent to which they perceive peers' prosocial motives as ‘personal’ or ‘moral’, with more prosocial children attributing moral motives, and more antisocial children attributing personal motives. Although traditionally Turiel's domain theory has been used to understand ‘antisocial’ children's behaviour, the current findings suggest that ‘prosocial’ children's behaviour may also be related to domains of judgment.     

Does a Booster Intervention Augment the Preventive Effects of an Abbreviated Version of the Coping Power Program for Aggressive Children?

Booster interventions have been presumed to be important methods for maintaining the effects of evidence-based programs for children with behavioral problems, but there has been remarkably little empirical attention to this assumption. The present study examines the effect of a child-oriented booster preventive intervention with children who had previously received an abbreviated version (24 child sessions, 10 parent sessions) of the Coping Power targeted prevention program. Two hundred and forty-one children (152 boys, 89 girls) were screened as having moderate to high levels of aggressive behavior in 4th grade, then half were randomly assigned to receive the abbreviated Coping Power program in 5th grade, and half of the preventive intervention children were then randomly assigned to a Booster condition in 6th grade. The Booster sessions consisted of brief monthly individual contacts, and were primarily with the children. Five assessments across 4 years were collected from teachers, providing a three-year follow-up for all children who participated in the project. Results indicated that the abbreviated Coping Power program (one-third shorter than the full intervention) had long-term effects in reducing children’s externalizing problem behaviors, proactive and reactive aggression, impulsivity traits and callous-unemotional traits. The Booster intervention did not augment these prevention effects. These findings indicate that a briefer and more readily disseminated form of an evidence-based targeted preventive intervention was effective. The findings have potential implications for policy and guidelines about possible intervention length and booster interventions.