Parent Gender Affects the Influence of Parent Emotional Eating and Feeding Practices on Child Emotional Eating

Extant research supports a direct association between parent’s own emotional eating and their child’s emotional eating, and demonstrates correlations among parent emotional eating, feeding practices, and child emotional eating. However, the majority of this work focuses on the separate influences of these factors. The current study aims to add to the literature by simultaneously examining the indirect effects of three major parental feeding practices (i.e., emotion regulation, instrumental, and restrictive feeding) in the association between parent emotional eating and child emotional eating, and exploring how these indirect effects vary based on parent gender. Parents (86 fathers, 324 mothers) of an elementary school-age child (M = 8.35, SD = 2.29, range = 5–13) completed an online survey through Qualtrics Panels. Results suggested that restrictive feeding partially accounted for the association between parent and child emotional eating in the combined sample of mothers and fathers. Exploratory analyses revealed that the indirect effects of parental feeding practices in the association between parent emotional eating and child emotional eating varied based on parent gender. Among mothers, restrictive feeding was the only feeding practice that partially accounted for the association between maternal and child emotional eating, whereas all three feeding practices fully accounted for the association between father and child emotional eating. As the bulk of the literature on parent emotional eating and feeding has solely focused on mothers, these findings offer insight into how feeding practices may differentially function in the relation between parent emotional eating and child emotional eating for mothers versus fathers.

Perceptions of children’s mental capacities and self-reported parenting behavior

We examined whether parents’ mind perception of young children (i.e., perceptions of young children’s cognitive, emotional, and perceptual capacities), as well as their interest in and curiosity about their own young child’s mental states are associated with parenting behavior. In a sample of 234 US parents (58% mothers; Mean age=35.62 years) of 3- to 5-year-olds, we found that mind perception, interest and curiosity, and self-reported positive parenting behavior were all positively related. Mediation analyses suggested that parents who attributed more mental capacities to young children in general were more interested in their own child’s mental states and, in turn, more likely to report engaging in positive parenting behaviors. Compared to fathers, mothers reported perceiving greater mental capacities in young children, and greater interest and curiosity in their own child’s mental states. We explored these perceptions as possible mediators for an association between parent gender and parenting behavior.

CYBERAGGRESSION: THE EFFECT OF PARENTAL MONITORING ON BYSTANDER ROLES

The digital world has created new opportunities for aggression through cyberaggression. Despite growing research interest in cyberaggression, little is known about the various bystander roles in the digital interaction. This paper examines the effect of parental monitoring practices (parental restriction, youth disclosure, and parental solicitation) on five bystander roles: aggressor-supporter, defender, help-seeker, outsider, and passive bystander. Data were derived from self-report questionnaires answered by a sample of 501 adolescents in Israel. The findings indicate that adolescents who share their experiences of cyberaggression with their parents are more likely than others to defend the cybervictim. Interaction effects were found between adolescent gender, installing warning applications, parent gender, and the aggressor-supporter role. Boys whose parents installed warning applications and whose fathers monitored their online activities were positively associated with the aggressor-supporter role, while girls who were higher aggressor-supporter reported that their parents used warning applications but did not monitor their online activities. The discussion focuses on the theoretical and practical implications of the effectiveness of parental monitoring on the cyberaggression bystander’s role.

The My Children’s Future Scale: Construct validity, measurement invariance, and reliability in a Turkish sample

The My Children’s Future Scale (MCFS) measures the support provided by parents for their children’s careers. The aim of this study was to adapt the MCFS to Turkish and examine its psychometric characteristics in a study conducted in the Turkish context. Participants consisted of 280 parents (190 mothers and 90 fathers). The factor structure of the MCFS and measurement invariance across parent gender were examined. The unidimensional factor structure was confirmed and the scale was invariant across parent gender. In addition, the reliability of the MCFS was assessed for internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega coefficients were calculated as .87, and test-retest reliability coefficient as .83. Our findings suggested that the Turkish form of the MCFS can be considered a valid and reliable data collection tool for use in Turkey to measure the support provided by parents for their children’s careers.

Presence of Parent, Gender and Emotional Valence Influences Preschoolers’ PFC Processing of Video Stimuli

Unprecedented increases in child exposure to diverse videos has resulted in a need to understand how children process videos. While children show distinct activations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) when presented with children's movies, multiple factors influence child neural response to screen media, namely, presence of a specific parent, gender differences and emotional valence. Sixty-two children (37 boys) aged 3 to 4 and their parents (33 mothers, 29 fathers) were recruited fora joint video task involving three video clips that varied in emotional valence while children's neural responses were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. We found a significant interaction effect between emotional valence and gender. Children who engaged in joint-viewing with their fathers also showed significantly stronger PFC activity than with their mothers, regardless of emotional valence of video. Our findings suggest how, at a PFC level, different factors interact and influence the joint-viewing experience amongst parent–child dyads.