What if parental love is conditional ? Children's self-esteem profiles and their relationship with parental conditional regard and self-kindness.

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have demonstrated that low, unstable, or contingent self-esteem negatively affects youth development and is linked to adolescent psychopathology. However, most previous studies have applied variable-oriented approaches, and less is known about the natural combination of self-esteem facets in school-aged adolescents, how parental conditional regard affects self-esteem profiles, and how these profiles relate to self-kindness, self-judgement, and life satisfaction. METHODS: By employing a longitudinal person-oriented approach (i.e., latent profile analysis and latent transition analysis) on two-wave longitudinal data from 587 German secondary school students (52.3% female, Mage=13.52 years), this study aims to (1) identify adolescents' self-esteem profiles based on the level, stability, and contingency of self-esteem; (2) examine the impact of parental conditional regard on the self-esteem profiles explained using self-determination theory; and (3) examine these profiles' relationship with self-kindness, self-judgement, and life satisfaction. RESULTS: Four self-esteem profiles were derived: optimal-secure (~ 8%), good (~ 18%), average (~ 36%), and low-insecure (~ 38%). The results reveal a concerningly high proportion as well as a high stability of low-insecure self-esteem (~ 98%) and indicate the strong negative influence of parental conditional regard on the development of optimal-secure self-esteem. Furthermore, the results demonstrate strong correlations between optimal-secure self-esteem, highly developed self-kindness, and high life satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Using a longitudinal person-oriented approach, it was possible to identify a group with highly vulnerable self-esteem, characterised by particularly low self-kindness, strong self-judgment, and lower life satisfaction. The findings of this study support the need for prevention and intervention targeting adolescents with low-insecure self-esteem.

Investigating associations between physical activity, stress experience, and affective wellbeing during an examination period using experience sampling and accelerometry.

Previous studies reported that physical activity could buffer the negative association of psychological stress with affective wellbeing. However, the studies that examined this relation in everyday life have assessed physical activity only by self-report but not with objective measures such as accelerometry. We therefore investigated the associations of both subjectively and objectively measured physical activity with stress experiences and affective wellbeing. A total of 90 university students participated in a 10-day experience sampling and diary study during their examination period and reported about stress experiences, physical activity, and affective states. Physical activity was additionally assessed using accelerometry in 50 of the participants. Subjectively assessed physical activity and objectively assessed light physical activity were associated with feeling less stressed in the evening. Also, light physical activity during the day was associated with a smaller increase/higher decrease in feeling stressed from morning to evening. The association of stress experience with negative affect was moderated by objective light physical activity. No interactive effects of stress intensity and physical activity on affective wellbeing were found. On stressful days, physical activity may buffer the negative association between stress and affective wellbeing. Particularly light physical activity as assessed with accelerometry seems to play an important role. It may be beneficial for students' affective wellbeing to increase or at least maintain physical activity during examination periods.

Facing academic problems: Longitudinal relations between parental involvement and student academic achievement from a self-determination perspective.

BACKGROUND: The relation between parental involvement and student achievement has been of research interest for many decades. Although the idea of reciprocal processes between parent and child was proposed 40 years ago, very few efforts have been made to investigate reciprocal relations between parental involvement and student achievement. AIMS: Using self-determination theory, this study investigated the longitudinal associations of the manner of parental involvement (i.e., autonomy-supportive or controlling) in children's academic problems with children's academic achievement. This study further addressed the recently intensely debated methodological issue of examining reciprocal relations by comparing a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) with the traditional cross-lagged panel model (CLPM). SAMPLE AND METHODS: A RI-CLPM and a traditional CLPM were applied to 5-year longitudinal data including 1465 secondary school students (Mage at T1 = 10.82 years, SD = 0.62). In both models, we controlled for students' gender, school type, socioeconomic status and cognitive ability. RESULTS: The results show that the RI-CLPM fitted the data better than the CLPM. Trait-like stability was found for both forms of parental involvement and academic achievement. At the between-person level, controlling involvement related to lower achievement, whereas no correlation between autonomy-supportive involvement and achievement was found. At the within-person level, there were positive reciprocal relations between autonomy-supportive involvement and achievement, whereas controlling involvement was not associated with achievement. CONCLUSIONS: This study contributes substantially to the understanding of the relations between parental involvement in children's academic problems and children's academic achievement by simultaneously taking between-person differences and within-person processes into consideration.

The Interplay of Parental Response to Anger, Adolescent Anger Regulation, and Externalizing and Internalizing Problems: A Longitudinal Study.

Numerous studies have reported substantive correlations between anger socialization, children's anger regulation, and internalizing/externalizing problems. However, substantially less is known about the interplay among these constructs during the developmental stage of adolescence, and longitudinal studies on causal relations (i.e., parent-directed, adolescent-directed, or reciprocal effects) are rare. It is also unclear whether the development of internalizing and externalizing problems have similar causal relations. We collected three waves of longitudinal data (Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 9) from multiple informants. A sample of N = 634 adolescents (mostly 11-12 years at Time 1; 50.6% male) and their parents (predominantly Caucasian with German nationality) completed questionnaires assessing parents' responses to anger, adolescents' anger regulation, and adolescents' internalizing/externalizing problems at each wave. Comparisons of different cross-lagged models revealed reciprocal rather than unidirectional effects. However, we found more parent-directed effects with respect to the development of internalizing problems, whereas relations regarding externalizing problems were more adolescent-directed, i.e., adolescents' externalizing problems and their anger regulation predicted changes in their parents' responses to anger across time. Adolescent anger regulation was an important maintaining factor of parents' responses to anger in later adolescence. Our findings suggest that assumptions regarding bidirectional relations should be emphasized much more in emotion socialization frameworks, particularly for the period of adolescence. Moreover, our study emphasizes the transdiagnostic importance of parents' responses to anger for both externalizing and internalizing problems and also suggests different underlying mechanisms.

Autonomy-related Parenting Profiles and their Effects on Adolescents' Academic and Psychological Development: A Longitudinal Person-oriented Analysis.

The important role of parenting is widely acknowledged, but as most studies have understood and examined it as a stable attribute (e.g., parenting style), the stability of and changes in parenting are less well understood. Using longitudinal person-oriented approaches (i.e., latent profile analyses and latent transition analyses), this study aimed to examine the stability of and changes in autonomy-related parenting profiles and their effects on adolescents' academic and psychological development. Four autonomy-related dimensions (i.e., autonomy support, warmth, psychological control, conditional regard) were chosen to identify parenting profiles on the basis of Self-Determination Theory. Using five-year longitudinal data from 789 German secondary school students (50.06% female, Mage at T1 = 10.82 years, age span = 10-17), four autonomy-related parenting profiles were found: Supportive (~17%), Controlling (~31%), Unsupportive-Uncontrolling (~17%), and Limited Supportive (~35%). The results suggest that the Supportive profile contributes to adolescents' positive academic and psychological development, whereas the Controlling profile, which thwarts autonomy development, exacerbates the development of psychopathology, and impairs academic achievement. More importantly, the Limited Supportive profile is as maladaptive as the Unsupportive-Uncontrolling profile. Regarding parenting profiles' stability and changes, the results showed that about half of each profile stayed in the same group. Overall, it could be observed that parents became more supportive and less controlling over time. However, the findings also indicate that parenting profiles are less stable than expected and can still change during early-to-mid adolescence.

Assessing Engagement in Chinese Upper Secondary School Students Using the Chinese Version of the Schoolwork Engagement Inventory: Energy, Dedication, and Absorption (CEDA).

The schoolwork engagement inventory: Energy, Dedication, and Absorption (EDA) is a measure of students' engagement in schoolwork and has been demonstrated valid in Western student populations. In this study, we adapted this inventory to and tested its psychometric appropriates in Chinese upper secondary school students (CEDA). Participants were 1,527 general high school students and 850 vocational high school students. The mean age of the total sample was 16.21 years (54.4% females, age span: 15-19 years). The results of confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) showed that a modified one-factor model fitted the data best. The results of the multigroup CFA showed that the factor structure was metrically invariant across school tracks (i.e., general or vocational high school) and scalarly invariant across gender and school types (i.e., ordinary or key school). Moreover, schoolwork engagement was negatively related to emotional exhaustion and positively related to self-efficacy, perseverance of effort, teacher-student relationships, and life satisfaction. Overall, the CEDA can be regarded as a valid measure for the assessment of student engagement in the Chinese upper secondary school context.

The Bright Side of Grit in Burnout-Prevention: Exploring Grit in the Context of Demands-Resources Model among Chinese High School Students.

This study contributes to understanding students' emotional responses to academic stressors by integrating grit into the well-established Job Demands-Resources Model and by examining the relationship between academic demands, grit (consistency of interests, perseverance of effort), burnout, engagement, academic achievement, depression, and life satisfaction in Chinese students. We conducted a self-report study with N = 1527 Chinese high school students (Mage = 16.38 years, SD = 1.04). The results of structural equation modeling showed that after controlling for gender, socio-economic status, and school types, demands positively related to burnout and negatively related to engagement. Both facets of grit negatively related to exhaustion, whereas only perseverance of effort positively related to engagement. Burnout positively related to depression and negatively related to life satisfaction, whereas engagement positively related to life satisfaction. However, neither burnout nor engagement was related to academic achievement. Our findings indicate that grit may be protective against school burnout.

Kids save lives: a six-year longitudinal study of schoolchildren learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation: Who should do the teaching and will the effects last?

AIMS: This prospective longitudinal study over 6 years compared schoolteachers and emergency physicians as resuscitation trainers for schoolchildren. It also investigated whether pupils who were trained annually for 3 years retain their resuscitation skills after the end of this study. METHODS: A total of 261 pupils (fifth grade) at two German grammar schools received resuscitation training by trained teachers or by emergency physicians. The annual training events stopped after 3 years in one group and continued for 6 years in a second group. We measured knowledge about resuscitation (questionnaire), chest compression rate (min(-1)), chest compression depth (mm), ventilation rate (min(-1)), ventilation volume (mL), self-efficacy (questionnaire). Their performance was evaluated after 1, 3 and 6 years. RESULTS: The training events increased the pupils' knowledge and practical skills. When trained by teachers, the pupils achieved better results for knowledge (92.86% ± 8.38 vs. 90.10% ± 8.63, P=0.04) and ventilation rate (4.84/min ± 4.05 vs. 3.76/min ± 2.37, P=0.04) than when they were trained by emergency physicians. There were no differences with regard to chest compression rate, depth, ventilation volume, or self-efficacy at the end of the study. Knowledge and skills after 6 years were equivalent in the group with 6 years training compared with 3 years training. CONCLUSIONS: Trained teachers can provide adequate resuscitation training in schools. Health-care professionals are not mandatory for CPR training (easier for schools to implement resuscitation training). The final evaluation after 6 years showed that resuscitation skills are retained even when training is interrupted for 3 years.

Cross-lagged relations among parenting, children's emotion regulation, and psychosocial adjustment in early adolescence.

Numerous studies have reported substantive correlations between indicators of parenting, children's emotion regulation (ER), and children's psychosocial adjustment. However, studies on underlying mechanisms are scarce. Particularly in early adolescence, it is still unclear whether relations between parenting and ER are caused by adolescent behavior, by parent behavior, or by reciprocal processes. Moreover, it is unclear whether ER can be seen as an antecedent or a consequence of psychosocial adjustment. The aim of this study was to examine predictive relations among parenting and adolescents' ER, and adolescents' ER and psychosocial adjustment, respectively. We collected longitudinal, multiple informant data at two measurement occasions (Grade 6, Grade 7). All told, 1,100 adolescents (10-14 years) and their parents filled out questionnaires assessing responsiveness and psychological control, adolescents' anger regulation, and adolescents' problem and prosocial behavior. Cross-lagged analyses revealed reciprocal effects between parenting, ER, and adjustment for the parent and boys', but not for the girls', report. Moreover, relations were different for adolescents with versus without clinically elevated symptoms of psychopathology. Our findings support the assumption that reciprocal relations between parenting, ER, and psychosocial adjustment are likely to persist until early adolescence. Nevertheless, the moderating role of gender and psychopathology should be taken into account. Possible reasons for the different findings, and practical implications, are discussed.

[Perinatal prevention network for mentally burdened and adolescent mothers]. / Perinatales Präventionsnetz für psychisch belastete und jugendliche Mütter.

Psychiatric disorder in pregnancy and after child birth as well as psychological distress are well known factors that put child wellbeing at risk. They are, however, often estimated as less frequent and less severe then they occur. Postpartum psychiatric disorder meets mothers of all social classes, they are highly stigmatized, therefore often disregarded and remain undetected. The affected mothers socially withdraw themselves due to feelings of shame, fear and guilt. They cut themselves off from psychiatric treatment and from support by child welfare institutions. The regional network "Hand in Hand" in the Rhine-Neckar-area consisting of psychiatrists, psychotherapists, gynaecologists, paediatricians, social workers and midwives uses and connects the resources available in public health and youth aid to support both the child wellbeing as well as the mental health of mothers. Our program begins by identifying risk factors for mothers' postpartum disorders and continues by increasing awareness with the previous named professional groups, so that they act promptly and offer treatment and support. The following paper describes our network activities emphasizing anti-stigma, instruction of professionals and intervention with affected families.

Polymorphic microsatellite sites in the PRNP region point to excess of homozygotes in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease patients.

Polymorphic microsatellite sites within 148 kb of the human prion gene complex, including the genes PRNP, PRND and PRNT, were analysed together with the Codon129 variants regarding 50 CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) patients and 46 non-diseased control persons. Three of the sites (MM03, MM04, Codon129) differed significantly (P<0.05) for their allele frequencies between the two groups--the predominant allele being always more frequent in the CJD group. Deviations from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium were mainly obtained in the CJD group--in all cases with a reduction of the observed heterozygosity. The sites MM03, MM04 and Codon129 were also analysed for their haplotypes. The predominant homozygous haplotype combination was more frequently observed in the CJD group (0.875) than in the non-diseased group (0.38). Thus the different polymorphic sites indicate that high CJD disposition is associated with homozygosity in the PRNP gene.