Experience of annual events in the family and social adjustment of school-age children

[Background] Parent–child relationships, the rearing attitudes of parents toward their children as well as the interactive relationships, such as play and cultural activities that parents and children enjoy together, serve as important factors in predicting a child’s growth and development. These experiences of annual events celebrated with the family may be related to the school-age child’s development. However, this relationship has not been investigated sufficiently. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the relationship between the experience of annual events observed in the family and a child’s social adjustment. [Methods] In 2019, a self-administered questionnaire survey targeting fifth graders (ages 10–11) in Japan was conducted with children’s parents. Major survey items included participants’ characteristics (child’s sex, family composition, siblings, household income, and parents’ educational backgrounds), annual events observed in the family (Setsubun or the day before the start of spring, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, the Tanabata or Weaver Festival, Respect for the Aged Day, Winter solstice, etc.), and the child’s social adjustment (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). A total of 653 children who met the criteria of not having any developmental disorders were included as participants for the analysis. [Results] The participants had celebrated an average of 15.47 (± 5.52) annual events with their families that year. The number of annual events celebrated was significantly related to family composition and the parents’ educational backgrounds. We found that children who came from families with numerous experiences of annual events were more likely to have higher prosocial behavior and were less likely to have externalizing or internalizing problems. The same pattern was found even after adjusting for the family’s socioeconomic background and other factors; that is, children who came from families having diverse experiences of annual events were more likely to show prosocial tendencies. [Conclusions] Our findings suggest that the experience of annual events observed with family potentially enhances a child’s prosocial behavior. Thus, celebrating and preserving cultural and personal events in the amily context may be an important developmental experience in terms of children’s social adjustment

Marital relationship, parenting practices, and social skills development in preschool children

Background: This study examined the pathways by which destructive and constructive marital conflict leading to social skills development in preschool children, are mediated through negative and positive parenting practices. Methods: Mothers of 2931 Japanese children, aged 5-6 years, completed self-report questionnaires regarding their marital relationship (the Quality of co-parental communication scale) and parental practices (the Alabama parenting questionnaire). The children's teachers evaluated their social skills using the Social skills scale. Results: Path analyses revealed significant direct paths from destructive marital conflict to negative parenting practices and lower scores on the self-control component of social skills. In addition, negative parenting practices mediated the relationship between destructive marital conflict and lower scores on cooperation, self-control, and assertion. Our analyses also revealed significant direct paths from constructive marital conflict to positive parenting practices, and higher scores on cooperation and assertion. Positive parenting practices mediated the relationship between constructive marital conflict and higher scores on self-control and assertion. Conclusions: These findings suggest that destructive and constructive marital conflict may directly and indirectly influence children's social skills development through the mediation of parenting practices

Predicting the Number of Suicides in Japan Using Internet Search Queries: Vector Autoregression Time Series Model

Background: The number of suicides in Japan increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Predicting the number of suicides is important to take timely preventive measures. Objective: This study aims to clarify whether the number of suicides can be predicted by suicide-related search queries used before searching for the keyword “suicide.” Methods: This study uses the infoveillance approach for suicide in Japan by search trends in search engines. The monthly number of suicides by gender, collected and published by the National Police Agency, was used as an outcome variable. The number of searches by gender with queries associated with “suicide” on “Yahoo! JAPAN Search” from January 2016 to December 2020 was used as a predictive variable. The following five phrases highly relevant to suicide were used as search terms before searching for the keyword “suicide” and extracted and used for analyses: “abuse”; “work, don’t want to go”; “company, want to quit”; “divorce”; and “no money.” The augmented Dickey-Fuller and Johansen tests were performed for the original series and to verify the existence of unit roots and cointegration for each variable, respectively. The vector autoregression model was applied to predict the number of suicides. The Breusch-Godfrey Lagrangian multiplier (BG-LM) test, autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity Lagrangian multiplier (ARCH-LM) test, and Jarque-Bera (JB) test were used to confirm model convergence. In addition, a Granger causality test was performed for each predictive variable. Results: In the original series, unit roots were found in the trend model, whereas in the first-order difference series, both men (minimum tau 3: −9.24; max tau 3: −5.38) and women (minimum tau 3: −9.24; max tau 3: −5.38) had no unit roots for all variables. In the Johansen test, a cointegration relationship was observed among several variables. The queries used in the converged models were “divorce” for men (BG-LM test: P=.55; ARCH-LM test: P=.63; JB test: P=.66) and “no money” for women (BG-LM test: P=.17; ARCH-LM test: P=.15; JB test: P=.10). In the Granger causality test for each variable, “divorce” was significant for both men (F104=3.29; P=.04) and women (F104=3.23; P=.04). Conclusions: The number of suicides can be predicted by search queries related to the keyword “suicide.” Previous studies have reported that financial poverty and divorce are associated with suicide. The results of this study, in which search queries on “no money” and “divorce” predicted suicide, support the findings of previous studies. Further research on the economic poverty of women and those with complex problems is necessary

Association between sleep habits and behavioral problems in early adolescence: a descriptive study

[Background] Sleep habits are related to children's behavior, emotions, and cognitive functioning. A strong relationship exists between sleep habits and behavioral problems. However, precisely which sleep habits are associated with behavioral problems remains unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between sleep habits and behavioral problems in early adolescence. [Methods] This study used data from a larger longitudinal research, specifically, data from the year 2021. First-year junior high school students (12–14 years) in Japan were surveyed; their parents (N = 1288) completed a parent-report questionnaire. The main survey items were subject attributes, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). [Results] Of the 652 valid responses received, 604 individuals who met the eligibility criteria (no developmental disability in the child and completion of all survey items) were included in the analysis. To examine the relationship between sleep habits and behavioral problems, logistic regression analysis using the inverse weighted method with propensity score was conducted with sleep habits (sleep quality, time to fall asleep, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, sleep difficulty, use of sleeping pills, difficulty waking during the day, and sleep disturbances) as explanatory variables and behavioral problems (overall difficulty in SDQ) as objective variables. The propensity score was calculated by employing the logistic regression using the inverse weighted method based on propensity scores. Propensity scores were calculated based on gender, family structure, household income, and parental educational background. The results showed that behavioral problems tended to be significantly higher in the group at risk for sleep quality, sleep difficulties, daytime arousal difficulties, and sleep disturbances than in the group with no risk. [Conclusion] The results suggest that deterioration in sleep quality, sleep difficulties, daytime arousal difficulties, and sleep disturbances may increase the risk of behavioral problems in adolescents

両親の関係性および養育態度と就学前児の社会的スキルの発達

京都大学0048新制・課程博士博士(人間健康科学)甲第20570号人健博第46号新制||人健||4(附属図書館)京都大学大学院医学研究科人間健康科学系専攻(主査)教授 十一 元三, 教授 天谷 真奈美, 教授 今中 雄一学位規則第4条第1項該当Doctor of Human Health SciencesKyoto UniversityDA

The Relationship between Neighborhood Environment and Child Mental Health in Japanese Elementary School Students

Limited research has examined the relationship between neighborhood environment and mental health outcomes in elementary school students (middle childhood). In countries with high relative poverty, little is known about how neighborhood conditions are related to children’s health after controlling for family socioeconomic status; thus, it is necessary to distinguish the particular neighborhood characteristics relevant to behavioral risk in children, independent of socioeconomic position. Using a self-report survey completed by parents, we assessed neighborhood environment characteristics, children’s behavioral outcomes, and family socioeconomic status in fourth grade students from Nagoya, in Aichi prefecture, Japan (n = 695). A multiple linear regression was conducted to evaluate to what extent neighborhood characteristics predict child behaviors, after adjusting for socioeconomic variables. Greater aesthetic quality, walkability, accessibility of healthy foods, safety, and social cohesion were inversely linked to children’s behavioral problems and positively linked to social competence, suggesting that quality of living environment may affect behavioral outcomes in children, even after controlling for socioeconomic factors. Developing a quality environment that matches these characteristics may minimize the negative impact of a family’s socioeconomic distress and is likely to aid socioeconomically disadvantaged parents and their children. Thus, policies and programs that enhance the neighborhood environment for socioeconomically disadvantaged families should be promoted

Maternal Work–Life Balance and Children’s Social Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress and Parenting Practices

The participation of women with young children in the Japanese labor force has increased dramatically in recent years, bringing growing potential for conflict between work and family roles amid inadequate social systems, such as childcare support. Thus, work–life balance (WLB) of mothers may influence their children’s mental health and lifestyle. This study aims to clarify the relationship between parents’ WLB and children’s mental health, as well as the underlying factors of parental stress and nurturing attitude. The study is based on a questionnaire survey administered in 2019 to fifth-grade elementary school students and their caregivers in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The regression results indicated that the higher the work–family negative spillover, the higher the child’s externalizing and internalizing problems, and the higher the positive spillover, the lower the problems and the higher the prosocial behaviors. Path analysis indicates that maternal WLB is negatively and positively related to children’s behavior through maternal stress and parenting practices. The study suggests that maternal WLB is related to children’s emotional and behavioral problems. WLB may impact children’s emotional and behavioral problems through parents’ mental health and involvement with their children, particularly because of work arrangements changing with the COVID-19 pandemic

Role of Parenting Style in Children’s Behavioral Problems through the Transition from Preschool to Elementary School According to Gender in Japan

While ineffective discipline can be attributed to authoritarian and permissive parenting styles, little research has examined the role of gender in the association between parenting style and early childhood behavioral problems. Thus, this study aimed to clarify the effects of authoritarian and permissive parenting on children’s externalizing and internalizing behaviors during the preschool-to-elementary-school transition according to gender in Japan. A sample of 1668 Japanese children (853 boys and 815 girls) were followed longitudinally over one-year intervals, and assessed based on parenting styles (the Parenting Scale), children’s behavioral problems (the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), and family characteristics. Multivariate analyses revealed that, when analyzed by gender, authoritarian discipline influenced externalizing problems in boys (β = 0.048, p = 0.047) and girls (β = 0.067, p = 0.023), while permissive discipline influenced externalizing problems in boys only (β = 0.049, p = 0.038). The results document the relationship between family processes and the development of disruptive behavior disorders in children. Support for parents employing such child-rearing styles in early childhood may be effective in reducing school maladjustment

Marital relationship, parenting practices, and social skills development in preschool children

Background: This study examined the pathways by which destructive and constructive marital conflict leading to social skills development in preschool children, are mediated through negative and positive parenting practices. Methods: Mothers of 2931 Japanese children, aged 5-6 years, completed self-report questionnaires regarding their marital relationship (the Quality of co-parental communication scale) and parental practices (the Alabama parenting questionnaire). The children's teachers evaluated their social skills using the Social skills scale. Results: Path analyses revealed significant direct paths from destructive marital conflict to negative parenting practices and lower scores on the self-control component of social skills. In addition, negative parenting practices mediated the relationship between destructive marital conflict and lower scores on cooperation, self-control, and assertion. Our analyses also revealed significant direct paths from constructive marital conflict to positive parenting practices, and higher scores on cooperation and assertion. Positive parenting practices mediated the relationship between constructive marital conflict and higher scores on self-control and assertion. Conclusions: These findings suggest that destructive and constructive marital conflict may directly and indirectly influence children's social skills development through the mediation of parenting practices