ABSTRACT
The current study investigated whether the relation between child care quality and children's socio-emotional behavior depended on children's affective self-regulation skills and gender. Participants were 545 children (Mage=27 months) from 60 center-based child care centers in the Netherlands. Multi-level analyses showed that children with low affective self-regulation skills or who were male demonstrated less teacher-rated social competence when exposed to relatively low quality child care. In addition, children with low affective self-regulation skills also showed more social competence in the case of relatively high quality child care, suggesting mechanisms of differential susceptibility. No main effects of child care quality or interactions were found for teacher- and parent-rated externalizing behavior. These findings emphasize the importance of considering children's affective self-regulation skills and gender in understanding the effects of child care quality. High quality child care can be a means to strengthen children's social development.
Subject(s)
Affect , Child Behavior/psychology , Child Care/psychology , Child Day Care Centers , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Individuality , Male , Models, Psychological , Parents , Sex Characteristics , Social BehaviorABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Depression and being overweight are correlated health problems in adulthood. Adolescence is a significant period for the onset and increase of depression and obesity, especially among girls. Pubertal development also occurs with concomitant increases in weight. Thus, it is not yet clear whether the association between depression and being overweight can be explained by pubertal development. PURPOSE: We examined the association between depressive mood, body weight, and pubertal status in adolescent girls. METHOD: The design was cross-sectional. In 962 young adolescent Dutch girls (age range, 11.9-15.9) weight and height measurements were used to calculate height, age, and gender-standardized body weight (zBMI). Questionnaires assessed depressive mood (the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression, CES-D, inventory) and menarcheal status (pre or post). RESULTS: The correlation between menarcheal status and body weight (r = 0.34, p < 0.001) was not affected by depressive mood, and the correlation between menarcheal status and depressive mood (r = 0.20, p < 0.001) was not affected by body weight. A small correlation between depressive mood and body weight (r = 0.12, p < 0.01) largely disappeared after controlling for menarche. CONCLUSION: Menarcheal status largely explains the association between weight and depression. It is independently associated with both BMI and depression, suggesting that different mechanisms underlie the post-menarcheal increased prevalence of depression and overweight.
Subject(s)
Affect/physiology , Body Weight/physiology , Depression/physiopathology , Menarche/physiology , Weight Gain/physiology , Adolescent , Age Factors , Child , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
According to J. Belsky's (1984) process model of parenting, both adolescents' and parents' personality should exert a significant impact on the quality of their mutual relationship. Using multi-informant, symmetric data on the Big Five personality traits and the relationship quality of mothers, fathers, and two adolescent children, the current study set out to test this prediction. Adolescents' agreeableness and parents' extraversion emerged as predictors of relationship warmth, whereas parents' openness emerged as a predictor of low restrictive control. In addition, some gender-specific effects emerged. Overall, parents' and adolescents' traits equally predicted the amount of relationship warmth, whereas adolescents' unique personality more strongly predicted the amount of restrictive control. The predictive power of adolescents' personality increased with age. Personality characteristics that affected relationship quality were partly shared between parents and their adolescent children. Findings support Belsky's (1984) notion that both parents' and children's personality predict the quality of their mutual relationship, though the relative predictive power of children and parents depends on the type of outcome variable and the age of the children.
Subject(s)
Father-Child Relations , Mother-Child Relations , Personality Development , Psychology, Adolescent , Temperament , Adolescent , Awareness , Conscience , Cooperative Behavior , Emotions , Extraversion, Psychological , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Gender Identity , Humans , Individuality , Male , Personality Assessment/statistics & numerical data , PsychometricsABSTRACT
Several studies have shown that disturbances in the parent-child relationship in childhood are related to patterns of alcohol abuse in adolescence and young adulthood. Recently some researchers, however, argue that whether poor parenting is detrimental depends on specific child characteristics. Hence, instead of examining overall effects of parenting, it might be more appropriate to search for specific child-environment effects that lead to problematic drinking patterns. In this paper, we investigate the interplay between child characteristics (lack of self-control and aggression) and parenting on problematic alcohol use in young adulthood. Data were used from a longitudinal study that followed 301 children and their parents for a period of 10 years. Both parents and their children were interviewed on parenting practices and child characteristics when the child was a young adolescent (mean age of 12 years at time 1) and extensive information on problematic alcohol use was gathered when the participants were young adults (mean age was 22 at time 3). Findings showed strong effects of childhood aggression (men only) and poor family functioning on enhanced levels of problem drinking in young adulthood. Further, the combination of high levels of aggression and low levels of family functioning were related to problem drinking in men, whereas the combination of low parental control and low levels of affection expression were related to problem drinking in women.
Subject(s)
Aggression/psychology , Alcoholism/psychology , Family Relations , Internal-External Control , Parenting/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Affect , Child , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Parent-Child Relations , Personality Assessment , Social Environment , Statistics as TopicABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine the heritability of age at natural menopause from mother-daughter pairs. DESIGN: Two-generation families were selected to study heritability of menopausal age. SETTING: Subjects were drawn from a population-based study. PATIENT(S): One hundred sixty-four mother-daughter pairs with a natural menopausal age. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The heritability of age at natural menopause estimated by a random-effects model. RESULT(S): A heritability of 44% (95% confidence interval, 36%, 50%) was estimated. CONCLUSION(S): This study confirms that heritable components largely determine the natural age at menopause. Reasons for the differences between heritability estimates based on sibling pairs and parent-child comparisons are discussed.
