Mother-child positivity and negativity: Family-wide and child-specific main effects and interactions predict child adjustment

Links between positive and negative aspects of the parent-child relationship and child adjustment are undisputed. Scholars recognize the importance of parental differential treatment (PDT) of siblings, yet, less is known about PDT in the context of the shared (family-wide) parent-child relationship climate, or about the extent to which positivity may buffer children’s adjustment from negativity. Controlling for behavioral stability, we examined the potential for positive and negative parent-child processes to interact across and between child-specific and family-wide levels in the prediction of children’s adjustment. Specifically, in a sample of 2,039 United Kingdom families, we used multilevel models to examine child-specific and family-wide mother-child relationships (at 4 years)—including interactive processes—in the prediction of prosocial behavior and conduct problems (at 7 years). The majority of variance in children’s adjustment resided within-families: siblings were strikingly different. Accounting for behavioral stability, family-wide negativity and negative PDT associated with both prosociality and conduct problems. More important, we demonstrated interactions between, (a) family-wide negativity and negative PDT for conduct problems, as well as, (b) positive and negative PDT in the prediction of both prosocial behavior and conduct problems. Results suggest negative PDT associates with increased conduct problems over time, even when the overall family climate is low in negativity. They also indicate a buffering role of positive PDT on the deleterious effects of negative PDT for children’s adjustment. Implications for both research and practice are discussed, including the importance of information gained by considering more than one child in the family

Child Behavior and Sibling Relationship Quality: A Cross-Lagged Analysis

Bidirectional associations between sibling relationships and children's problem behaviors are robust, and links with prosocial behavior have also been reported. Using cross-lagged models, we were able to conservatively test temporal directions of links between positive and negative aspects of sibling relationships and children's prosocial behavior and conduct problems across a 3-year time span in middle childhood. The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC; http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/researchers/data-access/data-dictionary/ ) is an ongoing population-based study designed to investigate the effects of a wide range of factors on children's health and development. For the purposes of the current analyses, we included 2,043 ALSPAC families who had just 1 older sibling as well as the target child, with an age gap of no more than 5 years. Mothers reported about the quality of the sibling relationship and both children's prosocial behavior and conduct problems when the target child was 4 years of age and again when the target child was 7 years old. Confirming our hypothesis, individual child behavior was predictive of sibling relationship quality, and sibling relationship quality was predictive of later child behavior, providing robust evidence of bidirectionality for both prosocial behavior and conduct problems. It would be consistent to expect that an improvement in either sibling relationship quality or individual children's behavior could have a positive spill over effect. We also found evidence of older sibling dominance in the domain of prosocial behavior and the positive aspects of sibling interaction

Introducing a Novel Online Observation of Parenting Behavior: Reliability and Validation

OBJECTIVE: Observations of parents with their children are important for better understanding the critical role that parents play in their children’s adjustment, but resource limitations commonly compromise assessment. A novel online observation tool, Etch-a-Sketch Online (ESO), is introduced that allows resource-efficient observations in the family home. DESIGN: Study 1 was a preliminary, cross-sectional study of 20 mothers with their singleton children (M = 5.96 years). Mothers were observed using both ESO (recorded via Skype) and a traditional Etch-a Sketch task recorded during a home-visit; mothers’ positive and negative parenting was coded from these observations. Study 2 was a longitudinal study of 119 mothers and their young twins. Mothers’ ESO-observed positive parenting and negative parenting at Time 1 (M = 5.51 years) were examined as predictors of children’s disruptive behavior at Time 2 (M = 6.04 years) controlling for mothers’ Time 2 self-reported positive and negative parenting. RESULTS: Study 1 provided preliminary evidence of inter-rater reliability and convergent validity of ESO-observations. Study 2 supported this evidence of inter-rater reliability and ESO’s convergent validity as well as providing predictive validity. ESO-observed parenting at Time 1 was associated with children’s disruptive behavior at Time 2, over and above concurrent maternal reports of their own parenting. CONCLUSIONS: ESO shows promise in providing the means for detailed assessment of parenting processes in the home

Using Twins to Better Understand Sibling Relationships

We compared the nature of the sibling relationship in dyads of varying genetic relatedness, employing a behavioural genetic design to estimate the contribution that genes and the environment have on this familial bond. Two samples were used—the Sisters and Brothers Study consisted of 173 families with two target non-twin children (mean ages = 7.42 and 5.22 years respectively); and the Twins, Family and Behaviour study included 234 families with two target twin children (mean age = 4.70 years). Mothers and fathers reported on their children’s relationship with each other, via a postal questionnaire (the Sisters and Brothers Study) or a telephone interview (the Twins, Family and Behaviour study). Contrary to expectations, no mean level differences emerged when monozygotic twin pairs, dizygotic twin pairs, and non-twin pairs were compared on their sibling relationship quality. Behavioural genetic analyses also revealed that the sibling bond was modestly to moderately influenced by the genetic propensities of the children within the dyad, and moderately to substantially influenced by the shared environment common to both siblings. In addition, for sibling negativity, we found evidence of twin-specific environmental influence—dizygotic twins showed more reciprocity than did non-twins. Our findings have repercussions for the broader application of results from future twin-based investigations

The Maternal Emotional Climate Predicts Twin Sibling Relationship Quality

We investigated the association between maternal expressed emotion and twin relationship quality, after controlling for a maternal questionnaire measure of the mother–child relationship. This was explored within a community sample of 156 mothers and their two young twin children (M child age = 3.69 years; SD child age = 0.37). Mothers reported on the twin–twin relationship and the mother–child relationship via questionnaire. They were also interviewed about each child using the innovative Preschool Five Minute Speech Sample (Daley et al., 2003), which yields information about relative positive:negative maternal expressed emotion. Mothers who expressed more family-wide positive emotion and less family-wide negative emotion also reported more positivity, but not negativity, within the twin relationship — even when controlling for questionnaire reports of the mother–child relationship. Counter to expectations, discrepancies in mothers’ expressed emotion between their twins also predicted more positive sibling relationships. Our findings corroborate the well established spill-over effect, whereby families are viewed as emotional units of interdependent individuals, none of whom can be understood in isolation from one another. Most importantly, the Preschool Five Minute Speech Sample provides information about mothering that questionnaire reports may not, and thus it is a useful tool in better understanding the twin family system

Spontaneous infection of a stable mediastinal cystic mass: A case report

Mediastinal cysts have an unpredictable course but can cause complications such as infection or local pressure effects. Persons with mediastinal cysts can be asymptomatic for many years or can develop symptoms as a result of complications of the cyst. There is a lack of consensus on the best approach to managing those patients without symptoms. In this case report, a 56 year old woman with an indolent mediastinal cyst initially managed conservatively suddenly developed symptoms suggestive of an infected mediastinal cyst requiring surgical resection

Using twins to better understand sibling relationships

We compared the nature of the sibling relationship in dyads of varying genetic relatedness, employing a behavioural genetic design to estimate the contribution that genes and the environment have on this familial bond. Two samples were used—the Sisters and Brothers Study consisted of 173 families with two target non-twin children (mean ages = 7.42 and 5.22 years respectively); and the Twins, Family and Behaviour study included 234 families with two target twin children (mean age = 4.70 years). Mothers and fathers reported on their children’s relationship with each other, via a postal questionnaire (the Sisters and Brothers Study) or a telephone interview (the Twins, Family and Behaviour study). Contrary to expectations, no mean level differences emerged when monozygotic twin pairs, dizygotic twin pairs, and non-twin pairs were compared on their sibling relationship quality. Behavioural genetic analyses also revealed that the sibling bond was modestly to moderately influenced by the genetic propensities of the children within the dyad, and moderately to substantially influenced by the shared environment common to both siblings. In addition, for sibling negativity, we found evidence of twin-specific environmental influence—dizygotic twins showed more reciprocity than did non-twins. Our findings have repercussions for the broader application of results from future twin-based investigations

Spillway-Induced Salmon Head Injury Triggers the Generation of Brain αII-Spectrin Breakdown Product Biomarkers Similar to Mammalian Traumatic Brain Injury

Recent advances in biomedical research have resulted in the development of specific biomarkers for diagnostic testing of disease condition or physiological risk. Of specific interest are αII-spectrin breakdown products (SBDPs), which are produced by proteolytic events in traumatic brain injury and have been used as biomarkers to predict the severity of injury in humans and other mammalian brain injury models. This study describes and demonstrates the successful use of antibody-based mammalian SBDP biomarkers to detect head injury in migrating juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) that have been injured during passage through high-energy hydraulic environments present in spillways under different operational configurations. Mortality and injury assessment techniques currently measure only near-term direct mortality and easily observable acute injury. Injury-based biomarkers may serve as a quantitative indicator of subacute physical injury and recovery, and aid hydropower operators in evaluation of safest passage configuration and operation actions for migrating juvenile salmonids. We describe a novel application of SBDP biomarkers for head injury for migrating salmon. To our knowledge, this is the first documented cross-over use of a human molecular biomarker in a wildlife and operational risk management scenario

IGF1 genotype, mean plasma level and breast cancer risk in the Hawaii/Los Angeles multiethnic cohort

The insulin-like growth factor 1 gene (IGF1) is a strong candidate gene for a breast cancer susceptibility model. We investigated a dinucleotide repeat 969 bp upstream from the transcription start site of the IGF1 gene for possible associations with plasma IGF1 levels and breast cancer risk in a multiethnic group of postmenopausal women. Furthermore, we investigated the relation between race/ethnicity, mean plasma IGF1 levels and breast cancer rates in the Hawaii/Los Angeles Multiethnic Cohort. The mean age-adjusted IGF1 level among Latino-American women, 116 ng ml(-1), was statistically significantly lower than the mean age-adjusted IGF1 levels for each of the three other racial/ethnic groups, African-American, Japanese-American and Non-Latino White women (146, 144 and 145 ng ml(-1), respectively) (P<0.0001). Latino-American women have the lowest breast cancer rates of any racial/ethnic group in the cohort. These results support the investigation of an expansion of the hypothesis for an important role of IGF1 in breast cancer tumorigenesis to different racial/ethnic groups and to postmenopausal women. It is unlikely that any involvement of IGF1 in breast cancer aetiology is mediated by the IGF1 dinucleotide repeat polymorphism, which was not significantly associated with circulating IGF1 levels nor breast cancer risk in this study. Research into relevant determinants of IGF1 levels in the blood must continue