Collateral benefits of the Family Check-Up on early childhood school readiness: indirect effects of parents' positive behavior support.

The authors examined the longitudinal effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU) on parents' positive behavior support and children's school readiness competencies in early childhood. It was hypothesized that the FCU would promote language skills and inhibitory control in children at risk for behavior problems as an indirect outcome associated with targeted improvements in parents' positive behavior support. High-risk families in the Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program participated in a multisite preventive intervention study (N = 731) with 3 yearly assessments beginning at child age 2 years. Positive behavior support was measured using 4 indicators derived from at-home observations of parent-child interaction during semistructured tasks. Longitudinal structural equation models revealed that parents in families randomly assigned to the FCU showed improvements in positive behavior support from child age 2 to 3, which in turn promoted children's inhibitory control and language development from age 3 to 4, accounting for child gender, ethnicity, and parental education. Findings suggest that a brief, ecological preventive intervention supporting positive parenting practices can indirectly foster key facets of school readiness in children at risk.

Emotional exchange in mother-child dyads: stability, mutual influence, and associations with maternal depression and child problem behavior.

This study examined the stability of the child and maternal affective expression and maternal responsiveness and the mutual influence of child and maternal expression of emotion. The authors tested whether maternal depression and child problem behavior were associated with the pattern of emotional exchange within the mother-child dyads. The sample consisted of 69 mother-child dyads (children aged 2-5 years), with 32 of the mothers having childhood-onset depression. Mothers were mostly stable in their affective expression (positive and negative) and responsiveness, whereas children were only stable in positive expression. Within the dyads, mothers seemed to play a more important role in regulating children's later emotional expression. Maternal depression was associated with concurrent maternal responsiveness and their reduced positive expression over time. Results are discussed in relation to the differential function of parental general positivity and responsiveness and the interpersonal transmission of emotional problems.

Emotion regulation strategies in offspring of childhood-onset depressed mothers.

BACKGROUND: This study examines emotion regulation strategies used by children of mothers with childhood-onset depression (COD) and children of never-depressed mothers (NCOD). METHODS: Participants were 49 COD offspring (ages 4-7) and 37 NCOD offspring (ages 4-7) and their mothers. Emotion regulation strategies were assessed observationally during a laboratory mood induction paradigm. RESULTS: COD offspring were more likely to focus on the delay object or task than NCOD offspring. Daughters of COD mothers were also more likely to wait passively and less likely to engage in active distraction than daughters of NCOD mothers. These findings were replicated using number of maternal depressive episodes. CONCLUSIONS: COD offspring, especially daughters, exhibit a more passive style of regulating emotion that may place them at risk for developing psychopathology.