The Role of Pre- and Postnatal Timing of Family Risk Factors on Child Behavior at 36 months

Children growing up in disharmonious families with anxious/depressed mothers are at risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties, however whether these associations reflect postnatal environment, prenatal exposure, or an overall liability is still unclear. This study used prospectively collected data from 24,259 participants of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Mothers reported on anxiety/depression and family disharmony twice in pregnancy and twice post pregnancy, as well as on their child’s physical aggression and crying behavior at age 36 months. First, results from an autoregressive cross-lagged model showed a substantial stability in both maternal anxiety/depression and family disharmony from pregnancy to 18 months postnatal, but there was no indication that family disharmony led to maternal anxiety/depression, or the other way around. Second, structural equation models further suggests that the main risk derived from an overall liability, that is, a lasting effect of family risks that spanned the two time periods

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 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

Tropical Pacific Near-Surface Currents Estimated from Altimeter, Wind, and Drifter Data

Tropical surface currents are estimated from satellite-derived surface topography and wind stress using a physically based statistical model calibrated by 15 m drogue drifters. The model, assumes a surface layer dominated by steady geostrophic and Ekman dynamics. Geostrophy varies smoothly from a beta plane formulation at the equator to an f plane formulation in midlatitude, with the transition occurring at similar to 2 degrees-3 degrees latitude. The transition is treated with a Gaussian weight function having a meridional decay scale that is found to be approximately the Rossby radius (similar to 2.2 degrees latitude). The two-parameter Ekman model represents drifter motion relative to wind stress, with downwind flow along the equator and turning with latitude. Velocities computed from satellite data are evaluated statistically against drifter velocities and equatorial current moorings. Examples of the geostrophic and Ekman flow fields in the western Pacific during a westerly wind burst in late December 1992 depict a strong eastward flow and equatorial convergence. A comparison between December 1996 and June 1997 illustrates the basin-wide reversal of equatorial surface flow during the onset of the 1997 El Nino

Prospective Relations Between Parental Depression, Negative Expressiveness, Emotional Insecurity, and Children’s Internalizing Symptoms

Building on the conceptual framework of emotional security theory (EST) [1], this study longitudinally examined multiple factors linking parental depressive symptoms and child internalizing symptoms. Participants were 235 children (106 boys, 129 girls) and their cohabiting parents. Assessments included mothers’ and fathers’ depressive symptoms when children were in kindergarten, parents’ negative expressiveness when children were in first grade, children’s emotional insecurity one year later, and children’s internalizing symptoms in kindergarten and second grade. Findings revealed both mothers’ and fathers’ depressive symptoms were related to changes in children’s internalizing symptoms as a function of parents’ negative emotional expressiveness and children’s emotional insecurity. In addition to these similar pathways, distinctive pathways as a function of parental gender were identified. Contributions are considered for understanding relations between parental depressive symptoms and children’s development

Educational Psychology

Learning and teaching is an integrated process, and theory and practice cannot be separated. Educational Psychology 4e incorporates Australasian perspectives and applications using the work of Australasian researchers and teachers.