Risky Parental Practices and Their Implications in Adult Psychopathology

There are many ways in which an individual may fail as a parent. Most parents have good intentions, but that’s the exact reason why there’s an urgent need to clarify good parenting practices. This paper will look at risky parenting practices (e.g., guilt-inducing criticism) and their relationship with psychopathology (depression and anxiety, in this case) using socially prescribed perfectionism as a mediator. All eight mediations turned out to be statistically significant with six out of eight analyses being full mediations. Also, the relationships between the facets of perfectionism, depression, and anxiety are consistent with the findings of other studies up until this point. Considering the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and psychopathology, practical implications are discussed.

Socioeconomic Status, Parental Involvement and Implications for Subjective Well-Being During the Global Pandemic of Covid-19

School closures prompted by the global outbreak of COVID-19 have impacted children’s subjective well-being. In this context, a growing number of studies has pointed out that the experience of learning at home is an essential factor influencing their subjective well-being, raising the importance of parental involvement in the educational process of their children. This article explores the formal and informal parental practices of home learning during school closures period in 19 countries and their explanatory factors, with the further aim of discussing their implications for children’s subjective well-being. The study uses the International COVID-19 Impact on Parental Engagement Study (ICIPES) database and develops a regression analysis of family, child, and school factors predicting parental involvement in homeschooling. The main findings show that parents’ socioeconomic status is a critical predictor of both formal and informal parental practices. In addition, the results denote the impact of other factors, such as the level of parental confidence with the use of technology and children’s age and gender (in the case of informal activities). Based on these findings, the article discusses policy implications to promote parental involvement and children’s subjective well-being.

Caregiving strategies, parental practices, and the use of Facebook groups among Israeli mothers of adolescents

Facebook offers a “village” for mothers to come together and seek and share parenting information, but while there has been substantial research examining both positive and negative aspects of parents’ Facebook use, there is no research on use of Facebook by mothers of adolescents and its association with parent-adolescent relationships. Given the intense challenges of raising adolescents and the dearth of research into potential benefits and drawbacks of mothers of adolescents seeking support from Facebook, we sought to fill this gap by focusing on the caregiving and parenting practices of mothers of adolescents who were members of mothers’ groups on Facebook. The sample included 74 Israeli dyads of mothers (Mage = 43.73, SD = 4.41), who participated in Facebook groups for mothers and their adolescent children (Mage = 12.26, SD = 3.11) during 2019. Mothers reported on their Facebook use and caregiving strategies. The adolescents answered a parenting practices questionnaire. It was found that higher permissiveness and greater psychological intrusiveness were related to higher use of Facebook by the mothers. Among mothers who were high on hyperactivation, greater permissiveness and psychological intrusiveness were related to higher Facebook use to a greater extent than among mothers who were low on hyperactivation. Alongside Facebook’s benefits as a community for mothers come serious risks for some mothers. As research in this area grows, an examination of the characteristics of Facebook use by mothers of adolescent children involved in Facebook mothers’ groups is meaningful.

Africa is not a museum: the ethics of encouraging new parenting practices in rural communities in low-income and middle-income countries

The Nurturing Care Framework for Early Childhood Development urges stakeholders to implement strategies that help children worldwide achieve their developmental potential. Related programmes range from the WHO’s and UNICEF’s Care for Child Development intervention, implemented in 19 countries, to locally developed programmes, such as non-governmental organisation Tostan’s Reinforcement of Parental Practices in Senegal. However, some researchers argue that these programmes are unethical as they impose caregiving practices and values from high-income countries (HICs) on low-income communities, failing to consider local culture, communities’ goals for their children and generalisability of scientific findings from HICs. We explore these criticisms within a public health framework, applying principles of beneficence, autonomy and justice to the arguments. To facilitate the change communities themselves desire for their children, we recommend that practitioners codevelop programmes and cooperate with communities in implementation to harness local beliefs and customs and promote evidence-based and locally adapted practices.

Αντιληπτές γονικές πρακτικές και εσωτερικευμένα συμπτώματα στα παιδιά: ο ρόλος της θυματοποίησης και της ιδιοσυγκρασίας του αρνητικού συναισθήματος μέσα από μοντέλα διαμεσολάβησης και ρύθμισης

The development of internalized symptoms in children is a complex process involving various factors. In particular, research has linked parental practices to the development of internalized symptoms in children. However, this factor alone cannot fully explain the development of internalized symptoms in children, as other factors seem to influence this process. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors and mechanisms by which children develop internalized symptoms. In particular, the research examines how the relationship between parental practices and internalized symptoms is influenced by mediator and moderator factors, such as victimization and temperament. The research includes 374 children and their parents. The children attended the 5th and 6th grade of elementary school and the 1st and 2nd grade of high school and were between the ages of 10 and 14. The children completed the following tools: the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children and the Parental Bonding Instrument. The parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist – Parent Report, CBCL (Achenbach System for Empirically Based Assessment). For the statistical analysis of the data, the process method of the SPSS was used to construct mediation and moderated models that examine the relationship between parental practices and internalized symptoms, with victimization as mediator and temperament of negative affectivity as moderator factor. The results of the research highlighted that the relationship between parental practices and internalized symptoms is mediated by victimization, suggesting that a significant part of the above relationship is due to the mediation of victimization. The research also showed that negative affectivity temperament functions as a moderator factor in the relationship between parenting practices and internalized symptoms, suggesting that children with negative affectivity temperament develop more internalized symptoms when their parents use negative parenting practices. The research findings can contribute to the psychosocial and psycho-emotional empowerment of children, through the design of appropriate prevention and intervention programs.

Parental practices, preferences, skills and attitudes on food consumption of pre-school children: Results from Nutriscience Project

The association between family environment and child’s eating behaviors is well established but a multidimensional approach to study this relation is lacking. This study aimed to assess the proprieties of a questionnaire created to evaluate parental practices, preferences, skills and attitudes regarding fruit and vegetables (F&V), sugar and salt. Participants (n = 714) were families of pre-school children (aged 2–6 years old) of the Nutriscience Project–a web-based gamification program–who answered a questionnaire assessing socio-demographic characteristics, nutrition knowledge, and a scale evaluating parental practices, preferences, skills and attitudes, at the baseline of the project. Exploratory factorial analysis was applied to the scale: 21 items and 5 factors were extracted (52.4% of explained variance) with a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value of 0.770: 1. Modelling/active promotion of F&V consumption (α = 0.73), 2. Skills for choosing/preparing healthy food (α = 0.75), 3. Food preferences and satiety perception (α = 0.70), 4. Awareness regarding sugar/salt intake (α = 0.61), 5. Allowance regarding F&V consumption (α = 0.55). Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were conducted to compare factors according to socio-demographic characteristics. Higher scores for parental modelling and active promotion of F&V consumption were observed in older parents, those with higher nutrition knowledge and who reported to live without income difficulties. Regarding food preferences, higher scores were observed in mothers, with higher nutrition knowledge and from higher educated groups. Higher awareness regarding salt and sugar consumption were observed in older parents, with higher education, higher nutrition knowledge and with female children. Older parents and with female children also registered higher scores of skills for choosing/preparing healthy food. The scale showed satisfactory proprieties and may contribute to assess family food environment using a multidimensional approach. It also highlighted the importance of considering socio-demographic characteristics in interventions to promote healthy eating.

The Impact of Academic Achievement and Parental Practices on Depressive Symptom Trajectories Among Chinese Adolescents

Though depressive symptoms tend to increase in early adolescence, the trajectories of these symptoms may vary strongly. This longitudinal study investigated the extent to which the distinct developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms were predicted by adolescents' academic achievement and perceived parental practices in a sample of Chinese young adolescents (N = 2,576). The results showed four trajectory profiles of depressive symptoms: low-stable (75%), low-increasing (11%), high-stable (9%), and high-decreasing (5%). Adolescents with high academic achievement were more likely to be classified into the low-stable, low-increasing, and high-decreasing profiles than into the high-stable depressive symptom profile. Moreover, students who perceived greater parental autonomy support were more likely to be in the low-stable and low-increasing profiles than the high-stable profile, whereas adolescents perceiving more parental psychological control had higher odds of being in the low-increasing rather than the low-stable profile. Parental educational involvement was unrelated to students' depressive symptom trajectories. In sum, Chinese adolescents with higher academic achievement and who perceived more parental autonomy support, and less psychological control, were at lower risk of experiencing depressive symptoms.

604 The Relationship between Birth Order and Sleep Patterns in 6-Month-Olds

Introduction The influence of birth order has been investigated in many areas of child development, but few studies have examined its relationship with infant sleep; those that have yield contradictory findings. Moreover, nocturnal parental practices may differ depending on the number of children, but these characteristics are rarely studied. This study aimed to compare nocturnal parental practices and sleep patterns of first-born to non-first-born 6-month-olds. Methods The mothers of fifty-two 6-month-olds completed a 14-day sleep diary to record their infant’s sleep. The following variables were averaged: total nocturnal sleep duration (in minutes), longest consecutive sleep duration (without interruption; in minutes) and number of nocturnal awakenings. Independent t-tests were used to compare each sleep variable between first-borns (n = 21) and non-first-borns (2nd, 3rd or 4th born, n = 31). Chi-square tests were used to compare parental sleep practices (breastfeeding frequency and infant sleep location) between first-borns and non-first-borns. Results First-borns had a longer consecutive nocturnal sleep duration (417.83 ± 142.42 vs. 310.08 ± 118.23; p < .01) and fewer nocturnal awakenings (1.69 ± 1.07 vs. 2.57 ± 1.09; p < .01) than non-first-borns. However, first-born and non-first-born infants did not differ in terms of total nocturnal sleep duration (p > .05). Breastfeeding frequency and sleep location differed as a function of birth order: 57.9% of first-born infants were exclusively breastfed, compared to 89.7% of non-firstborn infants (χ2 (1, N = 52) = 6.56; p < .05). Furthermore, 20.0% of first-borns slept in the parents’ room, compared to 56.7% of non-first-borns (χ2 (1, N = 50) = 6.62; p < .05). Conclusion First-born infants had longer periods of consecutive sleep and fewer nocturnal awakenings than non-first-borns; however, birth order was not associated with maternal reports of total nocturnal sleep duration. These results suggest that non-first-borns have more fragmented sleep. Moreover, sleep-related practices also differed between mothers of first-born and non-first-born infants. A study conducted in a larger sample and using objective sleep measures could clarify whether these different sleep patterns reflect specific nocturnal parental sleep-related practices, or if the presence of other children in the home play a role in infant sleep consolidation. Support (if any) SSHRC, FRQS

Changing parental feeding practices through web-based interventions: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Web-based parent interventions designed to promote children’s healthy eating patterns can enhance parents’ engagement and facilitate behavior change. However, it is still unclear how much the existing programs focus on changing parental feeding practices, and if so, which behavioral methodologies are used and how effective these interventions are in changing these parental behaviors. This systematic review and meta-analysis studied randomized controlled trials of web-based interventions targeting parents of 0-12-year-old children, aiming to promote children’s healthy diet or prevent nutrition-related problems and reporting parental feeding behaviors as one of the outcomes. We conducted an electronic search in four databases from the earliest publication date until February 2020. Of the 1271 records found, we retained twelve studies about nine programs, comprising 1766 parents that completed the baseline evaluation. We found recent interventions, mainly directed to parents of young children, with small, non-clinical samples, and mostly theory-based. The programs were heterogeneous regarding the type of intervention delivered and its duration. The most assessed parental feeding practices were Restriction, Pressure to eat, and Food availability/accessibility. The behavior change techniques Instruction on how to perform the behavior, Demonstration of the behavior, and Identification of self as role model were frequently used. Meta-analytic results indicated that most programs’ effects were small for the evaluated parental practices, except for Food availability/accessibility that benefited the intervention group only when all follow-up measurements were considered. The development of high-quality and controlled trials with larger samples is needed to determine with greater certainty the interventions’ impact on parental feeding behaviors. The more frequent inclusion of measures to evaluate parental practices to support children’s autonomy and of self-regulatory strategies as intervention components should be considered when designing programs.