Parents\u27 versus children\u27s perceptions of interparental conflict as predictors of children\u27s friendship quality

Grych and Fincham\u27s (1990) cognitive-contextual model highlights children\u27s perceptions as potential influences on the extent to which interparental conflict is associated with negative child outcomes. We asked children (n = 40, age 8-12 years), mothers, and fathers to report on multiple dimensions of interparental conflict. As predicted, family members showed greater correspondence in their ratings of the overt properties of conflict than in their ratings of children\u27s subjective distress in response to the conflict. Compared with parents\u27 perceptions, children\u27s perceptions of interparental conflict showed stronger and more consistent associations with multiple dimensions of friendship quality. The results provide further evidence of the utility of assessing children\u27s perceptions of marital conflict, rather than relying solely on parents\u27 reports

Broadening Parental Involvement in Family-Based Interventions for Pediatric Overweight: Implications From Family Systems and Child Health

Parent involvement has been recognized as a promising component in the treatment of pediatric overweight. However, to what extent and how to involve parents remains unclear. Family systems models have been used to treat a range of childhood illnesses and may also provide a useful framework for understanding and treating pediatric overweight. The current review presents relevant literature on family systems and child health, discusses the current state of intervention efforts in pediatric overweight, and utilizes family systems ideas to offer suggestions for practice and directions for research regarding the role of parents in treatment

A Preliminary Investigation of Stimulus Control, Self-Monitoring, and Reinforcement in Lifestyle Interventions for Pediatric Overweight

Objective. The current study examined the use of stimulus control, self-monitoring, and reinforcement by youth, parents, and interventionists as related to weight management in lifestyle intervention programs. Design. Secondary analysis of an existing data set was used to integrate the results of 14 published, randomized treatment–control intervention trials for overweight youth aged 2 to 18 years. Main outcome measure. Between-group differences in weight-related outcomes, including weight, body mass index (BMI), and percentage overweight, measured at the end of treatment, were used to calculate effect sizes for each treatment–control comparison. Additionally, average effect sizes were calculated among sets of comparisons sharing similar approaches to implementing behavioral techniques. Results. Treatment programs that taught youth to use stimulus control, taught youth to self-monitor, and taught parents to use reinforcement, produced significantly larger effect sizes than programs that did not include these components. The beneficial effects of these specific behavioral techniques appeared to be amplified when used with multiple key individuals. Conclusion. This initial study quantitatively demonstrated significant benefits associated with teaching youth stimulus control and self-monitoring, and teaching parents reinforcement to shape health behaviors in lifestyle interventions for pediatric overweight. Furthermore, teaching youth and parents the same techniques may contribute to better weight-related outcomes. These findings and descriptive information on how techniques were described, taught, and delivered may guide future research efforts aimed at identifying and examining the most effective behavioral components to include in brief interventions

External Validity Reporting in Behavioral Treatment of Childhood Obesity

Context—To aid translation of childhood obesity research interventions evidence into practice, research studies must report results in a way that better supports pragmatic decision making. The current review evaluated the extent to which information on key external validity dimensions, participants, settings, interventions, outcomes, and maintenance of effects, was included in research studies on behavioral treatments for childhood obesity. Evidence acquisition—Peer-reviewed studies of behavioral childhood obesity treatments published between 1980 and 2008 were identified from: (1) electronic searches of social science and medical databases, (2) research reviews of childhood obesity interventions, and (3) reference lists cited in these reviews. Included studies: reported on a controlled obesity intervention trial, targeted overweight or obese children aged 2–18 years, included a primary or secondary anthropometric outcome, and targeted change in dietary intake or physical activity behaviors. Evidence synthesis—1071 publications were identified and 77 met selection criteria. Studies were coded on established review criteria for external validity elements. All studies lacked full reporting of generalizability elements. Across criteria, the average reporting was 23.9% (range: 0% to 100%). Infrequently reported were setting-level selection criteria and representativeness, characteristics regarding intervention staff, implementation of the intervention content, costs, and program sustainability. Conclusions—Enhanced reporting of relevant and pragmatic information in behavioral investigations of childhood obesity interventions is needed to improve the ability to evaluate the applicability of results to practice implementation. Such evidence would improve translation of research to practice, provide additional explanation for variability in intervention outcomes, and provide insights into successful adaptations of interventions to local conditions

Parent emotion coaching buffers the psychological effects of poor peer relations in the classroom

Parent emotion coaching (i.e., child-reported parental responses to sadness and anger) was examined as a moderator of peer relations in the classroom (i.e., peer-rated sociability, number of mutual friends, and respect nominations) and self-perceptions of social competence (i.e., loneliness and optimism). Participants were 129 (44% boys; 66% Caucasian) fourth through sixth graders. If parents were perceived as low in emotion coaching, low sociability and low peer respect were associated with greater loneliness; low peer respect was also associated with low peer optimism when combined with low emotion coaching. Importantly, with high parent emotion coaching, there was no significant association between problematic peer relations and negative self-perceptions of social competence. Parent emotion coaching may buffer the effects of poor peer relations

Are only children missing out? Comparison of the peer-related social competence of only children and siblings

In this study, we tested the assumption that having a sibling provides practice with skills that generalize to peer relations, by comparing the peer-related social competence of only children, first-borns with one sibling, and second-borns with one sibling in a sample of 139 elementary school-age children. Only children were similar to classmates in terms of number of close friendships and friendship quality, but were less liked by classmates as a group. Only children were more likely both to be victimized and aggressive in the peer group, suggesting that having a sibling may be especially helpful for learning to manage conflict. Results are discussed in terms of the need to examine multiple levels of social complexity to understand family-peer links

Viewing Fantastical Events in Animated Television Shows: Immediate Effects on Chinese Preschoolers’ Executive Function

Three experiments were conducted to test whether watching an animated show with frequent fantastical events decreased Chinese preschoolers’ post-viewing executive function (EF), and to test possible mechanisms of this effect. In all three experiments, children were randomly assigned to watch a video with either frequent or infrequent fantastical events; their EF was immediately assessed after viewing, using behavioral measures of working memory, sustained attention, and cognitive flexibility. Parents completed a questionnaire to assess preschoolers’ hyperactivity level as a potential confounding variable. In Experiment 1 (N = 90), which also included a control group, there was an immediate negative effect of watching frequent fantastical events, as seen in lower scores on the behavioral EF tasks. In Experiment 2 (N = 20), eye tracking data showed more but shorter eye fixations in the high frequency group, suggesting a higher demand on cognitive resources; this group also did more poorly on behavioral measures of EF. In Experiment 3 (N = 20), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data showed that the high frequency group had a higher concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin (Coxy-Hb), an indicator of higher brain activation consistent with a greater use of cognitive resources; this group also had lower scores on the behavioral EF tasks. The findings are discussed in reference to models of limited cognitive resources

Children’s social status and anticipated shame and guilt experiences

Previous research indicates that the behavioral profile of high-status children is not monolithic but varied. This study contributes to the existing research on high-status children by showing that they are also an emotionally diverse group in terms of their anticipated shame and guilt experiences. Children (N = 163, aged 8–12 years) nominated classmates who were perceived as popular, socially preferred, respected, and overtly aggressive. Regarding anticipated shame and guilt experiences, children also related how much they would experience shame and guilt and display correlated behaviors after reading stories which varied the transgression type (intentional harm, unintentional harm, and incompetent behavior) and the transgression frequency (many times vs. once). We found that children who were perceived by other children to be both highly popular and high in another area of social status related to a communal goal orientation (social preference, respect, and nonaggression) anticipated significantly more shame and guilt feelings than children who were perceived to be only highly popular and children who were low in social status. Moreover, these children also anticipated using significantly more appeasement than apologetic strategies when they imagined acting incompetently many times; a pattern not in evidence with other children. These findings suggest that children who are viewed as both popular and communal are more sensitive to the ways transgressions could influence what they would feel and what they would do, compared to children who are viewed as popular but not communal and children who are neither popular nor communal

Mechanisms Mediating Children’s Perceived Maternal Nonsupportive Reactions to Sadness and Children’s Social and Emotional Functioning

This study examined whether children’s perceptions of maternal nonsupportive reactions to sadness (active discouragement and non-response) influenced children’s loneliness and classroom popularity indirectly through their effects on children’s sadness inhibition and self-perception of social competence. Participants were children in grades 3–6 from a university affiliated public elementary school (N = 175; 53 % females; 37 % racial/ethnic minority). Children reported on the frequency of their mother’s active discouragement and non-response of their sadness, as well their own sadness inhibition, self-perceived social competence, and loneliness. Classroom peers reported on children’s popularity. Results indicated that perceived maternal non-response to sadness was indirectly related to classroom popularity and loneliness through the effect on children’s self-perception of social competence. In contrast, perceived maternal active discouragement of sadness was indirectly related to children’s classroom popularity through the effect on children’s sadness inhibition. These results support the consideration of active discouragement and non-response as distinct constructs and indicate the likelihood of different pathways of influence in predicting emotional and social outcomes such as loneliness and classroom popularity