Mothers’ Intimate Partner Violence Victimization and Depression: Associations with Children’s Behavioral Functioning

Despite robust bodies of literature documenting that both mothers’ intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and mothers’ mental health are consequential for children’s behavioral functioning, the conjunction of these two risk factors is less understood. Findings are mixed as to whether mental health mediates the effect of IPV on behavioral functioning. Such mixed findings may result from literature primarily examining samples selected from clinical, shelter, or intervention settings. Furthermore, few studies have expanded the literature to assess moderation, rather than mediation, effects. While mediation analysis tests whether behavioral problems result from mothers’ IPV because IPV increases depression, moderation analysis instead tests whether mother’s IPV victimization has a different impact for their children based on whether or not the mother is also experiencing depression. The current study uses a representative survey of neighborhoods and households in Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey ( n = 1,913), to examine the combined effects of mothers’ IPV victimization and depression on children’s internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The findings suggest that mothers’ IPV victimization and depression have direct, positive effects on both internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Additionally, there is a moderation effect such that children of mothers who suffer from both IPV victimization and depression have higher levels of internalizing behavior problems. These results emphasize the importance of addressing the mental health of IPV victims, not only for the benefit of the direct victim, but also for the benefit of her children.

Contact with biological parents following placement in foster care: Associations with preschool child externalizing behavior

Externalizing behavior problems are a salient issue in the context of child protection services, where associations with placement stability and caregiving behavior have been documented. Moreover, although research on the association between contact with biological parents and foster child externalizing behavior problems is scarce and has yielded mixed results, several studies have shown links between the two variables. The purpose of this study is to determine the association of face-to-face contact with biological parents and externalized behaviors, while taking into account placement instability and foster parent interactive sensitivity. Fifty preschoolers and their foster parents were visited at home. Child externalizing behavior problems were self-reported by foster parents, foster parent sensitivity was measured via play observations, and information relative to placement was collected through interviews with biological parents and gathered from social services data. Results reveal that more frequent contact with biological parents and lower levels of foster parent sensitivity are independently linked to greater levels of externalizing behavior problems even after controlling for placement instability. Discussion focuses on the importance of children’s relationship experiences during foster care and the necessity to investigate their role to more clearly understand foster child socioemotional development.

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Family Social Capital, and Externalizing Behavior Problems: An Analysis Across Multiple Ecological Levels

Some research on childhood adversity is critiqued for emphasizing the experiences of white, middle/upper-middle-class people and not accounting for adversities faced by more diverse populations. Adversities are also often summed up in ways that are unhelpful for targeting interventions to reduce risk of poor outcomes. I examine adversities across ecological levels—child, parent, family, and neighborhood—to determine the risk of externalizing behavior problems (EBP) using a racially diverse sample from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect ( N = 1058). I consider whether family social capital can offset the effects of adversity across ecological levels. Longitudinal models indicate that adversities across multiple levels and those at the child, parent, and neighborhood levels increase risk of EBP throughout childhood. Cross-sectional models yield that early family social capital is associated with fewer EBP for children with multiple levels of adversity and at the child, parent, family, and neighborhood levels.

Common infectious morbidity and white blood cell count in middle childhood predict behavior problems in adolescence

We examined the associations of middle childhood infectious morbidity and inflammatory biomarkers with adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. We recruited 1018 Colombian schoolchildren aged 5–12 years into a cohort. We quantified white blood cell (WBC) counts and C-reactive protein at enrollment and prospectively recorded incidence of gastrointestinal, respiratory, and fever-associated morbidity during the first follow-up year. After a median 6 years, we assessed adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior problems using child behavior checklist (CBCL) and youth self-report (YSR) questionnaires. Behavior problem scores were compared over biomarker and morbidity categories using mean differences and 95% confidence intervals (CI) from multivariable linear regression. Compared with children without symptoms, CBCL internalizing problem scores were an adjusted 2.5 (95% CI: 0.1, 4.9; p = .04) and 3.1 (95% CI: 1.1, 5.2; p = .003) units higher among children with moderate diarrhea with vomiting and high cough with fever rates, respectively. High cough with fever and high fever rates were associated with increased CBCL somatic complaints and anxious/depressed scores, respectively. WBC >10,000/mm3 was associated with both internalizing problem and YSR withdrawn/depressed scores. There were no associations with externalizing behavior problems. Whether or not decreasing the burden of common infections results in improved neurobehavioral outcomes warrants further investigation.

A Multi-Theoretical and Multi-Method Family Study Approach to Preschool Inhibitory Control: Links to Working Memory, Receptive Vocabulary, Behavioral Maladjustment, and Parent Mental Health in the Context of Temperament and Executive Functioning Perspectives

Inhibitory control (IC) is defined as the executive functioning (EF) and self-regulatory temperamental inhibition of impulsive or pre-potent behavior and has been consistently linked to multiple forms of childhood cognitive and socio-emotional maladjustment including academic and learning challenges, externalizing behaviors, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, the results of relevant investigations are somewhat dependent on the method of IC assessment and the theoretical approach of the researcher. The two primary theoretical perspectives on IC are the temperament and the EF approaches, and although there is considerable overlap between these perspectives, there are some distinctions with regard to assessment and emphases on cognition vs. emotion. Therefore, investigations including both temperament and EF approaches to IC are of considerable interest and will best inform future education, prevention, and intervention efforts. This investigation examined associations between child IC, working memory (WM), receptive vocabulary, externalizing behavioral problems, and primary caregiver depression and anxiety symptoms using a family study design. The sample was composed of 99 families with two typically developing preschool children (n = 198; 2.5–5.5 years old; M = 3.88, SD = 1.04) and one primary caregiver/parent. Child IC was assessed using a multi-method approach consisting of one parent-rated questionnaire, three independent observer rating subscales, two videotaped in-person laboratory temperament episodes, and an EF Stroop task. Child WM and receptive vocabulary were measured in the laboratory using standard assessment techniques, and the remaining measures were parent-reported. Male child participants had significantly higher levels of observer-rated hyperactivity and impulsivity, and females had higher levels of observer-rated attention and Stroop-assessed IC. Correlational results showed that excepting IC-Stroop and a snack delay task, all IC measures were significantly correlated. All IC measures except snack delay were positively correlated with WM, and with receptive vocabulary (except Lab-TAB snack delay and observer-rated hyperactivity), and WM and receptive vocabulary were also positively correlated. All IC variables, WM, and receptive vocabulary were significantly related to externalizing behavior problems. Generally, children with higher IC, WM, and receptive vocabulary had lower levels of behavioral maladjustment. Lower parent-rated IC and higher levels of externalizing behavior problems were positively associated with maternal depression and anxiety (lower receptive vocabulary level was related to depression only). Employing structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses, we further examined the interrelationships among IC temperament variables, IC-Stroop, WM, and receptive vocabulary, controlling for age, gender, externalizing behaviors, maternal depression and anxiety, and the parent-rater variance (the multi-method effect). The results of our hypothesized model showed that the IC Temperament factor, composed of the six temperament IC measures, showed a positive effect on receptive vocabulary, while the IC-Stroop positively predicted WM. The IC Temperament factor and IC-Stroop were positively correlated with each other, and the IC Temperament factor, IC-Stroop, WM, and receptive vocabulary were positively related to age. The IC Temperament factor was also associated with fewer externalizing behavior problems, maternal depression had a negative effect on receptive vocabulary, and females showed lower levels of WM and receptive vocabulary than males. Overall, the IC Temperament factor and other covariates together accounted for 22.5% of the variance in vocabulary, whereas IC-Stroop and other controlled variables could explain 49.8% of the variance in WM. These findings indicate that theoretical perspectives (in this case temperament and EF IC contexts) and the different types of assessments used are crucial considerations when interpreting the results of studies of early childhood IC. Although most assessments of IC were associated with the outcomes under study, we found specific associations between temperament measures of IC and receptive vocabulary as well as externalizing, and IC-Stroop and WM. In addition, maternal depression had an effect on receptive vocabulary, emphasizing the developmental importance of family environment in preschool. These findings are relevant to the field of child development because they address several important questions about child EF and self-regulation. 1. Do temperament and EF conceptions of IC differentially predict outcomes? 2. How does the way we measure IC from the EF and self-regulation/temperament perspectives impact our conceptualizations of these important constructs? 3. How can we reconcile the various ways different disciplines define IC and their independence/overlap? 4. How can multi-method and multi-disciplinary perspectives and data collection approaches be combined to better understand both the temperament and EF conceptions of IC? Future studies with this sample will employ this multi-theoretical and multi-method approach on assessment in preschool to predict temperament, EF, and behavioral and academic adjustment in elementary school longitudinally.

A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of EMDR and TF-CBT in Reducing Trauma Symptoms and Externalizing Behavior Problems in Adolescents

This multi-level meta-analysis tested if evidence-based trauma treatment was effective in reducing trauma symptoms and externalizing behavior problems in adolescents. Based on eight independent samples and 75 effect sizes, results indicated that Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) had a large and significant overall effect ( d = 0.909) on reducing trauma symptoms and externalizing behavior problems. Trauma treatment significantly decreased trauma symptoms (large effect) and externalizing behavior problems (medium effect). Age and type of control group moderated treatment effects. Treatment was more effective in older adolescents. Trauma treatment for adolescents with externalizing behavior problems had a larger effect compared to no treatment, but not compared to treatment as usual. It seems important to provide a broad treatment offer for adolescents with severe externalizing behavior problems, in which, besides trauma treatment, attention is paid to reducing relevant individual risk factors for behavior problems.