The roles of anxious rearing, negative affect, and effortful control in a model of risk for child perfectionism.

Our understanding of perfectionism and its developmental trajectory and impact on children has experienced a recent growth. Research has shown that child perfectionism is associated with a number of negative outcomes including anxiety and depressive disorders, hopelessness, poor psychosocial treatment outcomes, and researchers have not found it to be associated with actual achievement. As such, research has begun to examine the developmental risk factors that predict for its development. The current study proposes utilizing a developmental psychopathology approach, one that purports a complex interaction among internal, external, risk and protective processes in the developmental of perfectionism. Specifically, the study examined whether negative affect, effortful control, and anxious rearing would predict levels of perfectionism in children using path analysis. Effortful control and negative affect were measured using parent-report, anxious rearing was measured by parent- and child-report, and perfectionism was measured through self-report and a behavioral task. It was hypothesized that child-reported anxious rearing and perfectionism measured with a behavioral task would provide the best fitting model and provide at least an adequate fit for the data. Additionally, it was hypothesized that in this model anxious rearing and negative affect would predict increased levels of child perfectionism, that there would be a significant indirect effect of anxious rearing on the association between negative affect and perfectionism, and that effortful control would interact with negative affect and anxious rearing in the prediction of child perfectionism. Participants were 60 parent-child dyads with children between the ages of 7 and 13 recruited from the community. Overall, results partially supported the hypotheses. The best fitting model used child-reported anxious rearing and behaviorally assessed perfectionism. Within this model, anxious rearing and effortful control significantly predicted for child perfectionism. However, negative affect did not predict child perfectionism. Additionally, there was a significant indirect effect of anxious rearing. Lastly, the interaction between effortful control and anxious rearing and, separately, negative affect did not significantly predict for child perfectionism. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and conceptual implications for the study of child perfectionism and suggestions for future research are presented

An Exploration of Relations among the Wechsler Scales, the Woodcock-Johnson III Cognitive and Achievement Batteries, and Mental Health Measures in a Sample of College Students with Suspected Disabilities

This dissertation reports results of analyses of an archival dataset created at a large Midwestern public university, where staff at the university\u27s resource center for students with disabilities conduct neuropsychological evaluations of students suspected of psychological disabilities, learning disabilities, or both. To explore the relations among the variables, analyses included standardized cognitive and achievement test scores, psychological rating scales results, resource center service utilization, and seven to eight consecutive semesters of grade-point average information of approximately 1292 students evaluated from 2000 to 2012. Descriptions of the cognitive and achievement variables are provided for the largest demographic and diagnostic groups. Demographic groups include male, female, Caucasian, African American, Latino, and Asian/Indian students; diagnostic groups include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - predominantly combined type (ADHD-C), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - predominantly inattentive type (ADHD-I), anxiety, depression, verbal learning disability (VLD), nonverbal learning disability (NVLD), foreign language learning difficulty (FLLD), and No Diagnosis. Results of analyses indicated that 1) The model of latent cognitive abilities suggested by this sample\u27s results largely matches, with minor variations, those of models proposed by researchers who have analyzed the standardization samples of the intelligence and achievement batteries used in this investigation, 2) Cognitive-achievement relations, as suggested by results obtained on two standardized tests of cognitive abilities and selected subtests of a standardized achievement test, generally match, with minor variations, results of past analyses of college students, and 3) A proposed model of the influence of disability services utilization on grade-point average slope was not supported by analyses using structural equation modeling. Latent growth curve analyses indicated, however, that students\u27 grade point average slopes improved after neuropsychological evaluation

Parental responsibility beliefs: associations with parental anxiety and behaviours in the context of childhood anxiety disorders

Background: High levels of parental anxiety are associated with poor treatment outcomes for children with anxiety disorders. Associated parental cognitions and behaviours have been implicated as impediments to successful treatment. We examined the association between parental responsibility beliefs, maternal anxiety and parenting behaviours in the context of childhood anxiety disorders. Methods: Anxious and non-anxious mothers of 7-12 year old children with a current anxiety disorder reported their parental responsibility beliefs using a questionnaire measure. Parental behaviours towards their child during a stressor task were measured. Results: Parents with a current anxiety disorder reported a greater sense of responsibility for their child’s actions and wellbeing than parents who scored within the normal range for anxiety. Furthermore, higher parental responsibility was associated with more intrusive and less warm behaviours in parent-child interactions and there was an indirect effect between maternal anxiety and maternal intrusive behaviours via parental responsibility beliefs. Limitations: The sample was limited to a treatment-seeking, relatively high socio-economic population and only mothers were included so replication with more diverse groups is needed. The use of a range of stressor tasks may have allowed for a more comprehensive assessment of parental behaviours. Conclusions: The findings suggest that parental anxiety disorder is associated with an elevated sense of parental responsibility and may promote parental behaviours likely to inhibit optimum child treatment outcomes. Parental responsibility beliefs may therefore be important to target in child anxiety treatments in the context of parental anxiety disorders

Scale-up of HIV Treatment Through PEPFAR: A Historic Public Health Achievement

Since its inception in 2003, the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has been an important driving force behind the global scale-up of HIV care and treatment services, particularly in expansion of access to antiretroviral therapy. Despite initial concerns about cost and feasibility, PEPFAR overcame challenges by leveraging and coordinating with other funders, by working in partnership with the most affected countries, by supporting local ownership, by using a public health approach, by supporting task-shifting strategies, and by paying attention to health systems strengthening. As of September 2011, PEPFAR directly supported initiation of antiretroviral therapy for 3.9 million people and provided care and support for nearly 13 million people. Benefits in terms of prevention of morbidity and mortality have been reaped by those receiving the services, with evidence of societal benefits beyond the anticipated clinical benefits. However, much remains to be accomplished to achieve universal access, to enhance the quality of programs, to ensure retention of patients in care, and to continue to strengthen health systems

Parent-children discrepancies in the assessment of children’s and adolescents’ happiness

In this study we assessed parent-child agreement in the perception of a child’s general happiness or well-being in typically developing children (10-11 years-olds; N = 172) and adolescents (15-16 years-olds; N = 185). Despite parent and child reporters providing internally consistent responses in the General Happiness single-item scale and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire-short form, their perceptions about children’s and adolescents’ general happiness did not correlate. Parents of 10-11 year-olds significantly overestimated children’s happiness, supporting previous literature on the parents’ positivity bias effect. However, parents of 15-16 year-olds showed the reverse pattern, as they underestimated adolescents’ happiness. Furthermore, parents’ self-reported happiness or well-being (reported six months later) significantly correlated with their estimations of children’s and adolescents’ happiness. Therefore, these results suggest a potential parents’ egocentric bias when estimating their children’s happiness. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and applied implications for research into child-parent relationships

Psychological Intrusion – An Overlooked Aspect of Dental Fear

Dental fear/anxiety is a widely recognised problem affecting a large proportion of the population. It can result in avoidance and/or difficulty accepting dental care. We believe that psychological intrusion may play a role in the aetiology and maintenance of dental fear for at least some individuals. In this narrative review we will take a developmental perspective in order to understand its impact across the lifespan. We will consider the nature of ‘self,’ parenting styles, the details of intrusive parenting or parental psychological control, and briefly touch upon child temperament and parental anxiety. Finally, we draw together the supporting (largely unrecognised) evidence available in the dental literature. We illustrate the paper with clinical examples and discuss possibly effective ways of addressing the problem. We conclude that psychological intrusion appears to play an important role in dental fear, for at least some individuals, and we call for detailed research into the extent and exact nature of the problem. A simple means of identifying individuals who are vulnerable to psychological intrusion would be useful for dentists

The role of experiential avoidance and parental control in the association between parent and child anxiety

Parenting behavior and practices contribute to the intergenerational relationship between parent and child anxiety, with parental control being a consistent predictor of child anxiety. Parental experiential avoidance refers to how a parent copes with their internal world in the context of parenting. Little is known about how this relatively new parenting concept relates to child anxiety. The current study tested the indirect effect of parent anxiety on child anxiety through parental control and parental experiential avoidance; the indirect effect of parent anxiety on parental control through parental experiential avoidance; and the moderating effect of parental experiential avoidance on the relationship between parental control and child anxiety. Using a cross-sectional design, parents (N = 85) from a community sample of 8–12-year-old children self-reported on a survey measuring parent anxiety, child anxiety, parental control, and parental experiential avoidance. A hierarchical regression indicated that parental experiential avoidance significantly predicted child anxiety and accounted for further variance in child anxiety, over, and above parental control. There was an indirect effect of parent anxiety on child anxiety through parental control and parental experiential avoidance. Parental experiential avoidance moderated the relationship between parental control and child anxiety, such that the relationship was only significant at high levels of parental experiential avoidance. The current study provides support for the role of parental experiential avoidance in an intergenerational understanding of anxiety. Future research should replicate the study with a clinical sample. Theoretical and practice implications are considered