Transactional paths between children and parents in pediatric asthma: Associations between family relationships and adaptation

Introduction. The particular challenges posed by pediatric asthma may have a negative impact on the adaptation of children and their parents. From a transactional approach it is important to examine how reciprocal links between children and parents contribute to explain their adaptation and under which conditions these associations occur. This cross-sectional study aimed at examining the direct and indirect links between children’s and parents’ perceptions of family relationships and adaptation, separately (within-subjects) and across participants (cross-lagged effects), and the role of asthma severity in moderating these associations. Method. The sample comprised 257 children with asthma, aged between 8 and 18 years-old, and one of their parents. Both family members completed self-reported questionnaires on family relationships (cohesion and expressiveness) and adaptation indicators (quality of life and psychological functioning). Physicians assessed asthma severity. Structural Equation Modeling was used to test within-subjects and cross-lagged paths between children’s and parents’ family relationships and adaptation. Results. The model explained 47% of children’s and 30% of parents’ adaptation: family relationships were positively associated with adaptation, directly for children and parents, and indirectly across family members. Asthma severity moderated the association between family relationships and health-related quality of life for children: stronger associations were observed in the presence of persistent asthma. Conclusion. These results highlight the need of including psychological interventions in pediatric healthcare focused on family relationships as potential targets for improving children’s and parents’ quality of life and psychological functioning, and identified the children with persistent asthma as a group that would most benefit from family-based interventions.This study was supported by the R&D Unit Institute of Cognitive Psychology, Vocational and Social Development of the University of Coimbra (PEst-OE/PSI/UI0192/2011) and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PhD Grant SFRH/BD/69885/2010)

Comparative Network Analysis of Preterm vs. Full-Term Infant-Mother Interactions

Several studies have reported that interactions of mothers with preterm infants show differential characteristics compared to that of mothers with full-term infants. Interaction of preterm dyads is often reported as less harmonious. However, observations and explanations concerning the underlying mechanisms are inconsistent. In this work 30 preterm and 42 full-term mother-infant dyads were observed at one year of age. Free play interactions were videotaped and coded using a micro-analytic coding system. The video records were coded at one second resolution and studied by a novel approach using network analysis tools. The advantage of our approach is that it reveals the patterns of behavioral transitions in the interactions. We found that the most frequent behavioral transitions are the same in the two groups. However, we have identified several high and lower frequency transitions which occur significantly more often in the preterm or full-term group. Our analysis also suggests that the variability of behavioral transitions is significantly higher in the preterm group. This higher variability is mostly resulted from the diversity of transitions involving non-harmonious behaviors. We have identified a maladaptive pattern in the maternal behavior in the preterm group, involving intrusiveness and disengagement. Application of the approach reported in this paper to longitudinal data could elucidate whether these maladaptive maternal behavioral changes place the infant at risk for later emotional, cognitive and behavioral disturbance

The Public Health Impact of Coccidioidomycosis in Arizona and California

The numbers of reported cases of coccidioidomycosis in Arizona and California have risen dramatically over the past decade, with a 97.8% and 91.1% increase in incidence rates from 2001 to 2006 in the two states, respectively. Of those cases with reported race/ethnicity information, Black/African Americans in Arizona and Hispanics and African/Americans in California experienced a disproportionately higher frequency of disease compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Lack of early diagnosis continues to be a problem, particularly in suspect community-acquired pneumonia, underscoring the need for more rapid and sensitive tests. Similarly, the inability of currently available therapeutics to reduce the duration and morbidity of this disease underscores the need for improved therapeutics and a preventive vaccine

Play Behavior and Attachment in Toddlers with Autism

Play helps to develop social skills. Children with autism show deviances in their play behavior that may be associated with delays in their social development. In this study, we investigated manipulative, functional and symbolic play behavior of toddlers with and without autism (mean age: 26.45, SD 5.63). The results showed that the quality of interaction between the child and the caregiver was related to the development of play behavior. In particular, security of attachment was related to better play behavior. When the developmental level of the child is taken into account, the attachment relationship of the child with the caregiver at this young age is a better predictor of the level of play behavior than the child's disorder

Food parenting practices for 5 to 12 year old children: a concept map analysis of parenting and nutrition experts input

Abstract Background Parents are an important influence on children’s dietary intake and eating behaviors. However, the lack of a conceptual framework and inconsistent assessment of food parenting practices limits our understanding of which food parenting practices are most influential on children. The aim of this study was to develop a food parenting practice conceptual framework using systematic approaches of literature reviews and expert input. Method A previously completed systematic review of food parenting practice instruments and a qualitative study of parents informed the development of a food parenting practice item bank consisting of 3632 food parenting practice items. The original item bank was further reduced to 110 key food parenting concepts using binning and winnowing techniques. A panel of 32 experts in parenting and nutrition were invited to sort the food parenting practice concepts into categories that reflected their perceptions of a food parenting practice conceptual framework. Multi-dimensional scaling produced a point map of the sorted concepts and hierarchical cluster analysis identified potential solutions. Subjective modifications were used to identify two potential solutions, with additional feedback from the expert panel requested. Results The experts came from 8 countries and 25 participated in the sorting and 23 provided additional feedback. A parsimonious and a comprehensive concept map were developed based on the clustering of the food parenting practice constructs. The parsimonious concept map contained 7 constructs, while the comprehensive concept map contained 17 constructs and was informed by a previously published content map for food parenting practices. Most of the experts (52%) preferred the comprehensive concept map, while 35% preferred to present both solutions. Conclusion The comprehensive food parenting practice conceptual map will provide the basis for developing a calibrated Item Response Modeling (IRM) item bank that can be used with computerized adaptive testing. Such an item bank will allow for more consistency in measuring food parenting practices across studies to better assess the impact of food parenting practices on child outcomes and the effect of interventions that target parents as agents of change

Introduction

Why do parent\u2013child argumentative interactions matter? What is the reason for such an interest? This chapter provides the reasons that motivated the study of parent\u2013child argumentation with the aim to understand the function of this type of interactions. Focusing on the activity of family mealtime, in the first part, the chapter draws attention to the distinctive features of parent\u2013child conversations. A second section of the chapter is devoted to discussing whether and, eventually, when children have the competence to construct arguments and engage in argumentative discussions with the aim to convince their parents to change opinion. In the last part of the chapter, research questions and structure of the volume are presented

Ephemeral Masculinities? Tracking Men, Partners and Fathers in the Geography of Family Holidays

The discussion presented in the following pages is anchored in data derived from a broader sociological study into contemporary family rituals. The core argument is that in heterosexual couples, the family–centred holidays presents an opportunity for the everyday gendered division of domestic labour and children care work to be negotiated and temporarily restructured. Through its focus on the role men play in family holidays, this chapter makes an important contribution to debates about masculinity, travel and familial relationships within heterosexual couples. While one needs to be attentive to the complex realities of the modern family life and intra-family relations towards travel and tourism, studying the traditional nuclear family remains an exciting and fruitful work to the extent that one cannot neglect the fact that this model is (still) behind many experiences and representations of families on holidays