Positive parenting, parenting stress, and child self-regulation patterns differ across maternal demographic risk.

We examined relations between positive parenting, parenting stress, and children's regulatory abilities across infancy and early childhood. First-time mothers and their infants (N = 682) were recruited prenatally. Mothers belonged to one of three potential demographic risk groups: adolescent mothers (AM), adult low-educated mothers (LEM), and adult high-educated mothers (HEM). Parent-child interactions were observed in the home and scored for positive parenting (at 4, 8, and 18 months) and child self-regulation (at 4, 8, 18, and 30 months). Parenting stress was measured by questionnaire at 6, 12, and 24 months. A multigroup cross-lagged panel model indicated different patterns of effects for adolescent and adult mothers: for AM, positive parenting and parenting stress were related early in infancy, but no relations emerged with regulation until 18 months. For LEM, parenting related to regulation only at later ages, and for HEM, positive parenting, parenting stress, and regulation were associated early in the infant's life but not later. Differing patterns of influence indicate, perhaps, the importance of considering demographic risk and timing of parenting in childhood in relation to child regulatory outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The importance of early life touch for psychosocial and moral development.

One of the primary means of communicating with a baby is through touch. Nurturing physical touch promotes healthy physiological development in social mammals, including humans. Physiology influences wellbeing and psychosocial functioning. The purpose of this paper is to explore the connections among early life positive and negative touch and wellbeing and sociomoral development. In study 1, mothers of preschoolers (n = 156) reported their attitudes toward positive/negative touch and on their children's wellbeing and sociomoral outcomes, illustrating moderate to strong positive correlations between positive touch attitudes and children's sociomoral capacities and orientations and negative correlations with psychopathology. In study 2, we used an existing longitudinal dataset, with at-risk mothers (n = 682) and their children to test touch effects on moral capacities and social behaviors in early life. Results demonstrated moderate to strong relationships between positive/negative touch and concurrent child behavioral regulation and positive correlations between low corporal punishment and child sociomoral outcomes. In a third study with adults (n = 607), we found significant mediation processes connecting retrospective reports of childhood touch to adult moral orientation through attachment security, mental health, and moral capacities. In general across studies, more affectionate touch and less punishing touch were positively associated with wellbeing and development of moral capacities and engaged moral orientation.

The importance of early life touch for psychosocial and moral development

One of the primary means of communicating with a baby is through touch. Nurturing physical touch promotes healthy physiological development in social mammals, including humans. Physiology influences wellbeing and psychosocial functioning. The purpose of this paper is to explore the connections among early life positive and negative touch and wellbeing and sociomoral development. In study 1, mothers of preschoolers (n = 156) reported their attitudes toward positive/negative touch and on their children's wellbeing and sociomoral outcomes, illustrating moderate to strong positive correlations between positive touch attitudes and children's sociomoral capacities and orientations and negative correlations with psychopathology. In study 2, we used an existing longitudinal dataset, with at-risk mothers (n = 682) and their children to test touch effects on moral capacities and social behaviors in early life. Results demonstrated moderate to strong relationships between positive/negative touch and concurrent child behavioral regulation and positive correlations between low corporal punishment and child sociomoral outcomes. In a third study with adults (n = 607), we found significant mediation processes connecting retrospective reports of childhood touch to adult moral orientation through attachment security, mental health, and moral capacities. In general across studies, more affectionate touch and less punishing touch were positively associated with wellbeing and development of moral capacities and engaged moral orientation. (AU)

Body Mass Index at 3 Years of Age: Cascading Effects of Prenatal Maternal Depression and Mother-Infant Dynamics.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of mothers' prenatal depression on parenting during infancy, ensuing childhood regulation, and body mass index (BMI) at age 3 years. STUDY DESIGN: The sample (N = 284) included teen mothers (n = 157), adult mothers with low education (n = 69), and adult mothers with high education (n = 58), and their first-born children. Maternal depressive symptoms were assessed prenatally through self-report; observational methods and self-report were used to assess mothers' parenting at 4, 6, and 8 months and children's regulation at 18, 24, and 30 months of age. Child BMI was measured at 36 months of age in the laboratory. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling supported mediating processes such that mothers who reported more depressive symptoms prenatally exhibited less positive parenting during infancy. In turn, less positive parenting predicted lower levels of child regulation during toddlerhood, which predicted higher child BMIs at 36 months of age, even after controlling for infant birth weight and concurrent maternal BMI. Models comparing groups (teen mothers, adult low-educated mothers, and adult-high educated mothers) indicated mean differences in maternal depression, parenting, and child regulation, but similar patterns of prediction across groups. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides evidence of cascading psychosocial processes beginning prenatally and continuing through infancy, toddlerhood, and into early childhood. Results have implications for family-wide intervention strategies to help lower the risk for early onset obesity in children.

Maternal history of parentification and warm responsiveness: The mediating role of knowledge of infant development.

Maternal history of parentification in the family of origin poses subsequent risk to parenting quality during the transition to parenthood. The present study builds on prior work by evaluating whether the association between maternal parentification history and warm responsiveness is mediated by maternal knowledge of infant development in first time mothers. Using data from a prospective longitudinal study on the transition to motherhood, maternal knowledge of infant development and observational codings of warm responsiveness were examined across the first 18 months of parenthood for 374 mothers who also provided retrospective reports of their childhood parentification experiences. Results indicated that maternal retrospective reports of higher engagement in parentified roles in family of origin were associated with poorer knowledge of infant development across the first 18 months of parenthood and, in turn, less warm responsiveness with 18-month-old children. However, maternal parentification history did not significantly influence changes in maternal warm responsiveness across the transition to parenthood. These findings suggest that preventive interventions targeting maternal knowledge of infant development as early as the prenatal period may be useful for preventing poor warm responsiveness.

Psychosocial pathways to childhood obesity: a pilot study involving a high risk preschool sample.

This pilot study adopts a systems theory perspective to explore associations between parent and child factors and children's body mass index (BMI). Forty mothers and their preschool-aged children (3-6years) who were eligible for Head Start were recruited. Measures included demographic risk, maternal depression, negative parenting, children's impulsivity, children's approach to eating, and BMI. Structural Equation Modeling supported a mediating model such that mothers who reported greater demographic risk and more depressive symptoms showed higher rates of negative parenting. In turn, more negative parenting predicted higher child impulsivity ratings, which were related to higher food approach scores. Finally, children who scored higher in food approach had higher BMIs. Tests of sub-models excluding any of the mediating variables indicated a significantly worse fit to the data in each case. Results have implications for family-wide intervention strategies to help lower the risk for early-onset obesity in high-risk children.

Randomized trial of a cellular phone-enhanced home visitation parenting intervention.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although home visiting programs have been documented to improve parenting in high-risk families, their effectiveness is diminished when parents disengage from programs. Cellular phones offer an approach to promoting parent engagement and enhancing parenting outcomes. Our objective was to examine whether mothers in a parenting intervention, Planned Activities Training (PAT), or cellular phone-enhanced version (CPAT) of the intervention would demonstrate greater use of parenting strategies after treatment and at 6 months post-treatment compared with a wait-list control (WLC). METHODS: A sample of 371 low-income mothers and their 3.5- to 5.5-year-old children were randomly assigned to condition and assessed at pre-test, post-intervention, and 6 months post-intervention. Treatment efficacy was evaluated through observations of mother-child interactions as well as maternal interviews about depression, parenting stress, and child behaviors. RESULTS: Mothers receiving PAT and CPAT demonstrated more frequent use of parenting strategies and engaged in more responsive parenting than mothers in the WLC. Mothers receiving CPAT used more PAT parenting strategies than mothers in the other 2 groups and experienced greater reductions in depression and stress. Children of mothers receiving PAT and CPAT demonstrated higher rates of positive engagement, and children of CPAT mothers demonstrated higher levels of adaptive behaviors than children in the WLC. Importantly, changes in parenting, depression, and stress predicted positive child behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: PAT and CPAT conditions improved parenting strategies and child engagement and reduced children's challenging behaviors. The addition of cellular phones to a home visiting program enhanced maternal responsivity and reduced depression and stress.

Txt u ltr: using cellular phone technology to enhance a parenting intervention for families at risk for neglect.

One of the biggest challenges facing home visiting programs aimed at high-risk families is keeping families involved in the intervention. Cellular phones afford the opportunity for home visitors to maintain regular communication with parents between intervention visits and thus retain high-risk families in parenting interventions. The use of cellular phones may also increase the dosage of intervention provided to families and the fidelity with which parents implement the intervention, thus resulting in improved outcomes for parents and children. This brief report describes the development and initial testing of a parenting program, Planned Activities Training (PAT), which was enhanced through the use of cellular phones to promote the active engagement of parents. PAT is a five-session intervention aimed at improving parent-child interactions, increasing child engagement in daily activities, and reducing challenging child behaviors. To date, 19 parents have completed PAT and cell phone-enhanced PAT, and all have met the 90% correct mastery criterion and demonstrated improvements in their parenting behaviors. Parents have rated PAT and the text messaging and cellular phone call enhancements very positively.

Cell phones and the measurement of child neglect: the validity of the parent-child activities interview.

Two multisite studies were conducted to assess the feasibility of using cell phone interviews (the Parent-Child Activities Interview) to learn more about the quality of daily parenting among high-risk mothers, including child neglect. In Study 1, 45 primiparous teenage mothers with 3- to 9-month-old infants were recruited and randomly assigned to two groups: one received frequent cell phone interviews and the other group less frequent interviews over their home telephone. Relationships among paper-and-pencil surveys of parenting (gathered in person) and a Parenting Essentials score (coded from the phone interviews) were significantly correlated. In Study 2, adolescent and adult mothers and their first-born children ( n = 544) completed 2 observations of parenting in their home as well as a series of 3 PCA calls at ages 4 and 8 months. Parenting Essentials coded from the interviews were significantly related to observed measures of parenting at both time points. The Parent-Child Activities Interview shows promise as a reliable and valid measure of parenting, capturing frequent and detailed information about daily parenting practices. Cell phones may prove useful in intervening with mothers at risk of suboptimal parenting and child neglect.

Religiosity and the socioemotional adjustment of adolescent mothers and their children.

This study assessed the impact of religiosity on the socioemotional and behavioral outcomes of 91 adolescent mothers and their offspring over 10 years. Religiosity was defined as involvement in church and contact with and dependence on church officials and members. Mothers classified as high in religious involvement had significantly higher self-esteem and lower depression scores, exhibited less child abuse potential, and had higher occupational and educational attainment than mothers classified as low in religious involvement; differences remained when multiple factors, such as stress and grandmother support, were held constant. Children with more religious mothers had fewer internalizing and externalizing problems at 10 years of age, with maternal adjustment mediating this relationship. Religiosity, through increased social support, served as a protective factor for teenaged mothers and their children.

Processes in language acquisition: the roles of gender, attention, and maternal encouragement of attention over time.

This longitudinal study including 87 infant-mother dyads examined the relation between infant temperamental attention, maternal encouragement of attention, language, and the effects of gender. At ages 0;4, 0;8, and 1;0, global attention was assessed from Rothbart's (1981) IBQ; manipulative exploration was assessed with the Bayley (1969) IBR; and maternal verbal, visual and physical encouragement of attention were coded from 5 minutes of mother-infant free-play. At 1;0, language was measured using language items from the Bayley Mental Scale and parent-report items from Hendrick, Prather & Tobin's (1984) SICD-Revised. Multiple regressions indicated that gender, infants' manipulative exploration and maternal physical encouragement of attention at 0;4, and maternal verbal encouragement of attention at 1;0, were all positively related to language at 1;0. Interactions indicated that girls high in 0;8 or 1;0 manipulative exploration had more advanced language skills than girls low in manipulative exploration or than boys, regardless of their attention level. Additionally, maternal verbal encouragement of attention appears to be particularly salient in the development of language for boys.