•34.6% of parents said their child’s behavior had changed since the pandemic.•Two out of five parents met criteria for depression or anxiety disorder.•Parent depression and stress were negatively ...associated with home education.•Parent anxiety and stress were positively associated with child anxiety.•Parents were hugging/ showing affection to child more often during pandemic.
This study reports on parent-child dynamics during initial COVID-19 related school closures, based on cross-sectional analyses of a survey that utilized a convenience sampling approach. Data were collected in April 2020, approximately five weeks after the World Health Organization declared that the Coronavirus was a pandemic. Participants (N = 405) were adults recruited throughout the U.S. This study examines data from parents (69% mothers and 31% fathers) with at least one child 0–12 years of age. The majority were White (71%) and 41% had at least a bachelor’s degree. The majority of parents (78%) were educating their child at home due to COVID-19. Most (77.1%) reported use of online tools for at-home education, including educational apps, social media, and school-provided electronic resources. More than one-third (34.7%) of parents said their child’s behavior had changed since the pandemic, including being sad, depressed, and lonely. Most parents were spending more time involved in daily caregiving of their children since COVID-19. Two out of every five parents met the PHQ-8 criteria for major depression or severe major depression (40.0%) and the GAD-7 criteria for moderate or severe anxiety (39.9%). Multivariate analyses indicated that, compared to non-depressed parents, parents who met criteria for probable major or severe depression (B = −0.16, 95% CI = −0.29, −0.02, p = .021) and parenting stress (B = −0.37, 95% CI = −0.47, −0.27, p < .001) were negatively associated with parents’ perceived preparation to educate at home. Compared to parents with minimal or mild anxiety, parents with moderate or severe anxiety reported higher child anxiety scores (B = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.06, 0.28, p = .002). Parenting stress was also positively associated with higher child anxiety scores (B = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.32, 0.48, p < .001). Content analyses of open-ended questions indicated that school closures were a significant disruption, followed by lack of physical activity, and social isolation. Overall, study results suggested that parents’ mental health may be an important factor linked to at-home education and child wellbeing during the pandemic.
Refugee parents raise their adolescent children in a world that is different from the world they themselves grew up in, often experiencing postmigration stress. This may hamper parents' confidence in ...their parenting skills and make it difficult for them to grant adolescent children the autonomy they desire and need. In this preregistered study, we aimed to advance our understanding of this process by examining, in daily life, whether postmigration stress contributes to less autonomy-supportive parenting through compromised feelings of parental self-efficacy. Fifty-five refugee parents of adolescent children resettled in the Netherlands (72% Syrian; Mage children = 12.81) reported on their postmigration stress, parental self-efficacy, and parental autonomy support up to 10 times a day for 6-8 days. We fit a dynamic structural equation model to test whether postmigration stress predicted reductions in parental autonomy support, and whether parental self-efficacy explained this link. Results showed that when parents experienced more postmigration stress, they granted their children less autonomy at a later timepoint, in part, through parents feeling less efficacious after having experiencing postmigration stress. Findings held after controlling for parents' posttraumatic stress symptoms, and when controlling for all possible temporal and lagged associations. Our results highlight that postmigration stress shapes parenting practices, above and beyond symptoms of war-trauma, in the daily lives of refugee families.
This study aimed to identify factors, particularly positive parenting styles, associated with unmet dental needs, defined as no dental visit for the past 12 months, in children with developmental ...disabilities (DD). Participants included 263 primary caregivers of children with DD. Children exposed to less positive parenting styles were more than two times (aOR, 2.19, 95%CI, 1.12–4.32) more likely to have unmet dental needs. Children who were male (aOR, 1.88, 95%CI, 1.04–3.41), aged < 4 years (aOR, 2.95, 95%CI, 1.2–7.27) or aged ≥ 11 years (aOR, 2.65, 95%CI, 1.25–5.64), had higher illness severity (aOR, 2.04, 95%CI, 1.09–3.81), had primary caregivers with less than or equal to high school education (aOR, 2.45, 95%CI, 1.13–5.30) were also more likely to have unmet dental needs.
Two studies examine the role of compassionate and self-image parenting goals in the experience of mothers of children with autism. In Study 1, a comparison sample was included. Study 1 included ...measures of parenting goals, life satisfaction, family life satisfaction, parenting satisfaction, and meaning in life. Study 2 incorporated a measure of parenting efficacy. Study 1 showed that mothers of children with autism were higher than comparison mothers in compassionate parenting goals. In both studies, compassionate parenting predicted positive outcomes including higher parenting satisfaction (both studies), family life satisfaction, meaning in life (Study 1) and higher parenting efficacy (Study 2). These studies support the notion that compassionate parenting is a key to satisfaction for mothers of children with autism.
Parents of children with autism experience elevated stress that may be influenced by specific characteristics of the child and parent, including cultural norms and beliefs about parenting. However, ...there is little research on families of children with autism from cultural perspectives. The purpose of this integrative review is to identify factors influencing parenting stress in mothers of children with autism in Japan. A final sample of 15 primary research articles (2000-2015) on parenting stress in mothers of Japanese children with autism was selected using several databases. The findings suggested that these mothers experience much greater parenting stress than mothers of typically developing children and children with other disabilities. Japanese mothers also demonstrate stress related to attachment difficulties, low parenting efficacy and lack of support, reflecting Japanese parenting styles and gender ideology. Parent-directed and culturally calibrated interventions are needed to support parents of children with autism, especially cultural minority parents.
Despite existing research, which has focused on the impacts of intimate partner violence (IPV) on mothers and their children, there is a paucity of research specifically examining mothers’ ...perceptions of parenting in the context of IPV. This qualitative study explored parenting capacity and meaning making among a purposive sample of 16 female survivors of IPV who experienced IPV during both childhood and adulthood and had at least one school-aged child. Participants completed semi-structured in-person interviews during which they were asked a series of questions about their experiences with IPV and their parenting practices. Analysis revealed that parenting capacity could be categorized by two capacities: relational and operational. Based on these descriptive accounts of the experiences of parenting in contexts of IPV, a preliminary model suggesting a Dual-Part Model of Parenting (relational and operational capacity) is presented to aid in understanding the complexity and nuance of how parenting capacity may be impacted by IPV exposure throughout the lifespan. Strengths-based approaches to supporting survivors in parenting are explored, and future implications for strengths-based approaches to clinical practice with IPV survivors as well as improved research practices and social policies that emphasize an intersectionality approach are discussed.
Depression in mothers is a significant risk factor for the development of maladjustment in children. This article focuses on modifiable risk processes linking depression in mothers and adaptation in ...their young children (i.e., infancy through preschool age). First, the authors present evidence of the efficacy of interventions for reducing the primary source of risk: maternal depression. Second, they describe a central mechanism—parenting behaviors—underlying the relation between maternal depression and children's adjustment. Third, the authors recommend two different integrated interventions that successfully treat mothers’ depression and enhance parenting skills with infants and young children. Finally, the authors note the possible need for supplementary interventions to address severity and comorbidity of mothers’ depression, barriers to engaging in treatment, and the sustainability of program benefits.
The title for this Special Section is Developmental Research and Translational Science: Evidence‐Based Interventions for At‐Risk Youth and Families edited by Suniya S. Luthar and Nancy Eisenberg
This study describes a test of the Fathers and Sons Program for increasing intentions to avoid violence and reducing aggressive behaviors in 8- to 12-year-old African American boys by enhancing the ...parenting skills satisfaction and parenting behaviors of their nonresident fathers. The study included 158 intervention and 129 comparison group families. Structural equation model results indicated that the intervention was effective for improving fathers' parenting skills satisfaction, which was positively associated with sons' satisfaction with paternal engagement. Sons' paternal engagement satisfaction was positively associated with their intentions to avoid violence. Although aggressive behaviors were lower for comparison group sons, the intervention effectively reduced sons' aggressive behaviors indirectly by enhancing fathers' parenting behaviors. Support for family-centered youth violence prevention efforts is discussed.
Background
Parenting is a modifiable factor proposed to underpin the transmission of anxiety and depression from parents to children. This study examined the role of parenting in the ...intergenerational transmission of anxiety and depression across pre‐ and early adolescence.
Method
Participants were 531 youth (Mage = 11.18, SD = 0.56; 50.85% boys) and their parent. Child and parent anxiety and depression, and parental rejection, warmth and overprotection were assessed annually over 3 years. Bidirectional relationships between parent and child anxiety and depression, and the mediating role of parenting behaviors, were examined using cross‐lagged panel models.
Results
Results suggest bidirectional associations over time between parent and child depression, and parental rejection and child depression. Parental rejection and low warmth were associated with increases in child depression, but did not mediate depression transmission. Parental anxiety was associated with increases in child anxiety and depression, but there was no bidirectional association from child psychopathology to parental anxiety. There was little evidence that parenting predicted changes in child anxiety over time. Child anxiety and depression were associated with subsequent increases in parental depression.
Conclusion
Parental depression, rejection and low warmth are independent risk factors for child depression. Parental rejection may also be a consequence of parenting a depressed youth. Parenting did not account for the apparent transmission of parental anxiety to increased child anxiety and depression. Child psychopathology increases risk of parental depression. Parental rejection may be an important modifiable risk factor for youth depression in early adolescence, and may also reduce later risk of parent depression.
The present study examined both between- and within-person effects of maternal sleep patterns on quality of mothering at bedtime during infants' first 6 months. Participants included 142 mothers who ...reported on their daily fall asleep and wake times across seven consecutive days with a daily sleep diary when infants were 1, 3, and 6 months old. At each age point, maternal emotional availability during one night of infant bedtime was observed and scored by trained observers who were blind to maternal sleep patterns. Multilevel modeling revealed that mothers with irregular sleep patterns, especially later average fall asleep times and greater average variability in sleep period across three age points, showed poorer parenting quality with infants at bedtime than other mothers. In addition, both between- and within-person effects of maternal sleep on bedtime parenting quality changed with infant age. Compared to mothers' individual averages across 1, 3, and 6 months, maternal short average sleep period, increased variability in sleep period, and later fall asleep times predicted poorer bedtime parenting quality at 6 months, but not at 1 or 3 months. Results emphasize the importance of maternal sleep regulation and sleep hygiene for maternal parenting quality, especially as infants get older.
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