Early adversity and children\u27s regulatory deficits: Does postadoption parenting facilitate recovery in postinstitutionalized children?

Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019. Children reared in orphanages typically experience the lack of stable, reliable caregivers and are at increased risk for deficits in regulatory abilities including difficulties in inhibitory control, attention, and emotion regulation. Although adoption results in a radical shift in caregiving quality, there remains variation in postadoption parenting, yet little research has examined postadoption parenting that may promote recovery in children experiencing early life adversity in the form of institutional care. Participants included 93 postinstitutionalized children adopted between 15 and 36 months of age and 52 nonadopted same-aged peers. Parenting was assessed four times during the first 2 years postadoption (at 2, 8, 16, and 24 months postadoption) and children\u27s regulation was assessed at age 5 (M age = 61.68 months) and during kindergarten (M age = 71.55 months). Multiple parenting dimensions including sensitivity/responsiveness, structure/limit setting, and consistency in routines were examined. Both parental sensitivity and structure moderated the effect of preadoption adversity on children\u27s emotion regulation while greater consistency was associated with better inhibitory control and fewer attention problems. Results support the notion that postadoption parenting during toddlerhood and the early preschool years promotes better regulation skills following early adversity

Parental depressive symptoms and adolescent adjustment: a prospective test of an explanatory model for the role of marital conflict

Despite calls for process-oriented models for child maladjustment due to heightened marital conflict in the context of parental depressive symptoms, few longitudinal tests of the mechanisms underlying these relations have been conducted. Addressing this gap, the present study examined multiple factors longitudinally that link parental depressive symptoms to adolescent adjustment problems, building on a conceptual model informed by emotional security theory (EST). Participants were from 320 families (158 boys, 162 girls), including mothers and fathers, who took part when their children were in kindergarten (T1), second (T2), seventh (T3), eighth (T4) and ninth (T5) grades. Parental depressive symptoms (T1) were related to changes in adolescents' externalizing and internalizing symptoms (T5), as mediated by parents' negative emotional expressiveness (T2), marital conflict (T3), and emotional insecurity (T4). Evidence was thus advanced for emotional insecurity as an explanatory process in the context of parental depressive symptoms

Cortisol and parenting predict pathways to disinhibited social engagement and social functioning in previously institutionalized children

© 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Previously institutionalized children on average show persistent deficits in physiological and behavioral regulation, as well as a lack of normative reticence towards strangers, or disinhibited social engagement (DSE). Post-adoption parenting, specifically a combination of supportive presence and structure/limit-setting, may protect against DSE over time via better adrenocortical functioning. This study examined the impact of adrenocortical activity and post-adoption parenting on DSE across the first two years post-adoption (age at adoption: 16–36 months) and observed kindergarten social outcomes in previously institutionalized children (n = 94) compared to non-adopted children (n = 52). Path analyses indicated a developmental cascade from institutional care (operationalized as a dichotomous group variable, age at adoption, and months of institutionalization) to blunted adrenocortical activity, increased DSE, and lower kindergarten social competence. Consistent with a permissive parenting style, higher parental support was associated with increased DSE, but only when not accompanied by effective structure/limit-setting. Further, parental structure reduced the association between blunted adrenocortical activity and DSE behaviors