Parents' Nonstandard Work Schedules and Adolescent Social and Emotional Wellbeing

Increasing evidence shows that parents’ work schedules in evenings/nights have a negative impact on children's physical and mental health. Few studies examine adolescents and joint parental work schedules. We investigate the association between joint parental work schedules and adolescent mental health and test parental time spent with adolescents and parenting style as potential mediators. We analysed one wave of the Raine Study data, focusing on adolescents who were followed up at ages 16-17 and lived in dual-earner households (N=607). Adolescent mental health is measured in the Child Behavioural Checklist (morbidity, internalising behaviour, externalising behaviour, anxiety/depression). Parental work schedules were defined as: both parents work standard daytime schedules (reference), both parents work evening/night/irregular shifts, fathers work evening/night/irregular shifts - mother daytime schedule, mothers work evening/night/irregular shifts - father daytime schedule. Compared to the reference group, when one or both parents worked evening/night/irregular schedules, there was a significant increase in total morbidity, externalising behaviour and anxiety/depression in adolescents. Fathers' evening/night/irregular schedule was associated with a significant increase in total morbidity and externalising behaviour. Inconsistent parenting partially mediated this association. Mothers' evening/night/irregular schedule was not associated with adolescent CBCL scores. Our findings underscore the importance of fathers' work-family balance for adolescent mental health.

Parenting Programs for Disruptive Child Behavior in China: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Purpose: To synthesize evidence of parenting program effects on disruptive child behavior in China and compare three program approaches: behavioral, relational, and cognitive. Methods: We searched five databases (four English and one Chinese) and identified 45 studies; 29 studies were included in a multilevel meta-analysis (92 effect sizes; total N total = 3,892; M child age = 6.12 years). Results: We found large overall effects on reduced disruptive child behavior ( d = −1.28, 95% CI [−1.86, −0.70], p < .001), reduced harsh and inconsistent parenting ( d = −1.70, 95% CI [−2.91, −0.49], p <.001), and improved parental warmth and positive behavioral management ( d = 2.67, 95% CI [0.41, 4.93], p <.001). Behavioral programs were more effective than relational programs (Δ d = .89, 95% CI [−1.7, −0.13], p = .034), and cognitive programs were too rare to analyze separately. Conclusions: Parenting programs for disruptive child behavior can effectively support Chinese families, especially those adopting a behavioral approach.

Building Healthy Children: A preventive intervention for high-risk young families

The Building Healthy Children (BHC) home-visiting preventive intervention was designed to provide concrete support and evidence-based intervention to young mothers and their infants who were at heightened risk for child maltreatment and poor developmental outcomes. This paper presents two studies examining the short- and long-term effectiveness of this program at promoting positive parenting and maternal mental health, while preventing child maltreatment and harsh parenting. It also examines the intervention's sustained effect on child symptomatology and self-regulation. At baseline, young mothers and their infants were randomly assigned to receive BHC or Enhanced Community Standard. Families were assessed longitudinally across four time points. Data were also collected from the child's teacher at follow-up. Mothers who received BHC evidenced significant reductions in depressive symptoms at mid-intervention, which was associated with improvements in parenting self-efficacy and stress as well as decreased child internalizing and externalizing symptoms at postintervention. The follow-up study found that BHC mothers exhibited less harsh and inconsistent parenting, and marginally less psychological aggression. BHC children also exhibited less externalizing behavior and self-regulatory difficulties across parent and teacher report. Following the impactful legacy of Dr. Edward Zigler, these findings underline the importance of early, evidence-based prevention to promote well-being in high-risk children and families.

Mothers’ Satisfaction with Childcare Services

Choosing the right childcare service for one’s child to compensate for parents’ professional working time is a significantly important decision for a mother. The study aimed to analyze whether parental styles are predictors of satisfaction with childcare services among mothers. This link was tested on a sample that consisted of 200 adult women (Mage = 32.39 years; SDage = 4.47) who were mothers of children aged 18 to 36 months. The results indicated that accepting and autonomous parenting styles were related to higher satisfaction with childcare services. In contrast, excessively demanding, protective, and inconsistent parenting styles were related to lower satisfaction with childcare services. However, given the intercorrelations between parenting styles, we found that two of them sufficiently predicted satisfaction with childcare services: acceptance (positively) and overly protective style (negatively).

The interplay of perceived parenting practices and bullying victimization among Hong Kong adolescents

This study explored the interplay of adolescents’ perceived maternal and paternal practices and their associations with traditional and cyberbullying victimization experiences among adolescents. Participants included 439 Grades 7–11 adolescents (242 girls) from five secondary schools in Hong Kong. Moderation analyses were conducted controlling for adolescents sex. No strengthening effects were found between maternal × paternal control and maternal × paternal autonomy-support in relation to bullying victimization experiences. No buffering effect of parental autonomy-support was evident in the association between parental control and traditional bullying victimization. However, high levels of paternal autonomy-support were associated with more frequent reports of cyberbullying victimization at high levels of maternal control but not low levels. A similar pattern emerged for maternal autonomy-support and paternal control. These findings imply that inconsistent parenting might increase adolescents’ likelihood for cyberbullying victimization.

Shaping practice: prescribing assessment

This chapter reviews the use of attachment theory in practice guidance and child welfare policy, focusing on social work in England. In refashioning the role of social workers, the increasing social acceptance of attachment theory, and its concomitant discourse, influenced and guided the UK government's attempt to define and restructure what social work practice was. The attachment story in use offered explanations for how children become harmed by insensitive, unresponsive, and inconsistent parenting. Such ideas fed into the government's agenda for social work practice: namely to assess (needs) and refer (to services) or remove (to prevent harm). Social workers were, therefore, directed to assess parents' capacity to meet the needs of their children from the perspective of attachment theory. Ultimately, attachment theory has become institutionalised into the profession.