Conversations around homework: links to parental mental health, family characteristics and child psychological functioning

Parents are increasingly expected to supplement their children's school-based learning by providing support for children's homework. However, parents' capacities to provide such support may vary and may be limited by the experience of depression. This may have implications for child development. In the course of a prospective, longitudinal study of children of postnatally depressed and healthy mothers, we observed mothers (N = 88) and fathers (N = 78) at home during maths homework interactions with their 8-year-old children. The quality of parental communication was rated and analysed in relation to child functioning. The quality of communication of each of the parents was related to their mental state, social class and IQ. While postnatal depression was not directly related to child development, there was some evidence of the influence of maternal depression occurring in the child's school years. Different aspects of parental communication with the child showed specific associations with different child outcomes, over and above the influence of family characteristics. In particular, child school attainment and IQ were associated with parental strategies to encourage representational thinking and mastery motivation, whereas child behavioural adjustment at school and self-esteem were linked to the degree of parental emotional support and low levels of coercion. Notably, the influence of maternal homework support was more strongly related to child outcome than was paternal support, a pattern reflected in mothers' greater involvement in children's schools and school-related activities. Some parents may need guidance in how to support their children's homework if it is to be of benefit to child functioning.

Family food environment and dietary behaviors likely to promote fatness in 5-6 year-old children

Background: The family food environment (FFE) is likely to exert important influences on young children's eating. Examination of multiple aspects of the FFE may provide useful insights regarding which of these might most effectively be targeted to prevent childhood obesity.

Objective: To assess the associations between the FFE and a range of obesity-promoting dietary behaviors in 5–6-year-old children.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Subjects: Five hundred and sixty families sampled from three socio-economically distinct areas.

Measurements: Predictors included parental perceptions of their child's diet, food availability, child feeding practices, parental modeling of eating and food preparation and television (TV) exposure. Dietary outcomes included energy intake, vegetable, sweet snack, savory snack and high-energy (non-dairy) fluid consumption.

Results: Multiple linear regression analyses, adjusted for all other predictor variables and maternal education, showed that several aspects of the FFE were associated with dietary outcomes likely to promote fatness in 5–6-year-old children. For example, increased TV viewing time was associated with increased index of energy intake, increased sweet snack and high-energy drink consumption, and deceased vegetable intake. In addition, parent's increased confidence in the adequacy of their child's diet was associated with increased consumption of sweet and savory snacks and decreased vegetable consumption. 

Conclusion:  This study substantially extends previous research in the area, providing important insights with which to guide family-based obesity prevention strategies.

A preliminary investigation of the relationship between parental empathy and social anxiety and children's social anxiety

This study investigated the association between parents' social anxiety and empathy, and their children's social anxiety, Twenty-one mothers, 12 fathers and 24 children aged between 7 and 12 years were recruited from state primary schools in the eastern metropolitan region of Melbourne, Australia. Parents completed self-report questionnaires assessing their parental empathy and level of social anxiety. Children completed a modified version of the social anxiety questionnaire. All parent variables, except for maternal anxiety, were related to children's social anxiety. Overall, parental empathy was found to have a considerable association with child social anxiety, which is consistent with arguments that micro-level family mechanisms are important influences on child social anxiety. Future studies of parental empathy with clinical populations and data collection from multiple sources are recommended.

Geographical dislocation and adjustment in university students: the impact of attachment, autonomy and coping behaviour on stress and well-being

The relative contribution of geographical dislocation, attachment styles, coping behaviours, and autonomy, to successful student adjustment, was examined in relation to stress and well-being. A sample of 142 on campus first year university students, across four Victorian university campuses completed self-report questionnaires. Questionnaires included demographic, social network, intrapsychic (attachment and autonomy), and coping variables. Multiple regression analysis revealed that being female, not having made a friend to confide in personal matters, lower achieved autonomy, and use of emotion-focused coping predicted higher levels of student stress. A second multiple regression analysis revealed that living away from home, and preferring others to approach oneself to initiate conversation or friendships predicted lower well-being, whilst increased frequency of phone and email contact, and greater secure parent and peer attachment, predicted greater well-being. Pearson's correlations indicated that securely attached students used more problem focused coping and social support, whereas insecurely attached students used more emotion focused coping. Qualitative data indicated student concerns about being away from family and friends, finance, course direction and structure, social opportunities on campus, and generally adjusting to the university culture. It was concluded that first year on-campus students would benefit from program initiatives targeting enhancement of on-campus social opportunities, development of autonomy, problem focused coping behaviour, interpersonal and social assertiveness.

Distributions of caregiving tasks among family members: the place of gender and availability.

To extend family-oriented approaches to caregiving, participants in 2 studies were asked to distribute tasks among a set of adult children, first with information only about gender and then with systematically varied information about commitments to paid work, marriage, and/or parenting. Making the distributions, using a computer-based program, were 2 groups of older adults (ages 60 to 90 years). In Study 1, gender composition was kept constant (2 sons and 2 daughters). In Study 2, it was varied. The results showed several ways in which people combine attention to gender and to availability. The results also pointed to the need to consider both the number and type of tasks allocated. The results are discussed in terms of implications for the way caregiving is regarded, the development of multiple-factor models for variations among family members, and the possible replications and extensions to other circumstances and populations.

Effects of parental perception of neighbourhood deprivation and family environment characteristics on pro-social behaviours among 4-12 year old children

Objective : To assess the effect family environment stressors (e.g. poor family functioning and parental psychological distress) and neighbourhood environment on child prosocial behaviour (CPB) and child difficulty behaviour (CDB) among 4-to-12 year old children.

Methods : Analysis of the 2006 Victorian Child Health and Wellbeing Survey (VCHWS) dataset derived from a statewide cross-sectional telephone survey, with a final total sample of 3,370 children.

Results : Only family functioning, parental psychological distress, child gender, and age were associated with CPB, explaining a total of 8% of the variance. Children from healthily functioning families and of parents without any psychological distress exhibited greater prosocial behaviours than those from poorly functioning families and of parents with mental health problems. Neighbourhood environment was not found to contribute to CPB. A total of eight variables were found to predict CDB, explaining a total of 16% of the variance. Poor family and parental psychological functioning as well as poor access to public facilities in the neighbourhood were associated with conduct problems in children.

Conclusion : Our results point to the importance of the family environment in providing a context that fosters the development of empathic, caring and responsible children; and in buffering children in exhibiting behaviour difficulties during the formative years of life. Programs aimed at promoting prosocial behaviours in children need to target stressors on the family environment.

Shared parenting : adding children's voices and their measures of adjustment to the evaluation

Shared parenting has been advocated to be a better arrangement for children than sole residence and access arrangements after parental separation. Although there is some research on this issue, studies have been restricted in their reliance on the reports of others. In this paper, we report on a study in Australia, in which children in each of these arrangements were compared with children in intact families on a range of adjustment measures and with each other in relation to their responses to their parents' separation, using both self- and parent-reporting. We found that there was little difference between children in the three family configurations, suggesting that shared parenting is not necessarily associated with better outcomes for the child. On other aspects of adjustment, the children in shared parenting and sole residence/access families did not differ. We also found that parents in all groups underestimated the emotional problems reported by children. In separated families, they also overestimated the children's desire for parents to re-unite. Finally, we found that parents in shared parenting families are more satisfied with their situation than are their children, and fathers are particularly so. The findings suggest that the promotion of shared parenting as the best post-separation family structure is contestable.

Adjustment of chldren who have a sibling with Down syndrome: perspectives of mothers, fathers and children

Background A number of methodological weaknesses have contributed to our relatively poor understanding of the impact on children of having a brother or sister with a disability. These include a focus on poor adjustment, using multidiagnostic groups, inadequate matching, and a failure to consider the perspectives of children and parents together. Method This study compared the adjustment of 53 siblings of a child with Down syndrome with a comparison group of siblings of children who were developing typically. Children were matched on a case-by-case basis for gender, age and position in family. Families were matched for family size and father's occupation. The age range of the target siblings was 7-14 years. Data were gathered from mothers, fathers and siblings. Results There were no significant differences between the groups on adjustment measures. These included parent perceptions of externalizing and internalizing behaviours, parent perceptions of sibling competence, and sibling perceptions of their own competence and self-worth. Associations between measures of adjustment and child reports of their contribution to household functioning depended on sex rather than group membership. There was an association between parental reports of externalizing behaviour and sibling relationships with the brother/sister closest in age. Conclusions Having a brother or sister with Down syndrome does not inevitably lead to poor adjustment. Examination of within-family processes would appear to be more useful in identifying children at risk than merely group membership.

The influence of perception of forgetting and gender, ethnicity, and closeness on likelihood of caregiving

As life expectancy increases, the population of older adults is increasing rapidly. The caregiving of older parents by adult children has become a normative experience. Much of the gerontological literature has examined the caregiving experience, particularly in terms of the stresses involved. However, research is only beginning to examine the factors which motivate adult children to begin caregiving. The research described here examined how an elderly parent's memory behavior might influence caregiving decisions. In addition, gender, ethnicity, and parent-adult child closeness were examined to explore how these individual difference variables might influence those caregiving decisions.^ Participants read one of two vignettes describing a social visit with an elderly widow (target). In the vignette, the elderly target experiences several instances of forgetting. The vignettes depicted forgetting behavior established in pilot work as normal or serious. The normal forgetting vignette did not arouse concern and the serious forgetting vignette did arouse concern when the middle-aged participants imagined their mothers in the role of the vignette target. Participants rated their likelihood of engaging in eight caregiving behaviors if their mothers behaved like the vignette target. They also rated their closeness with their own mothers.^ Multivariate analyses of variance indicated main effects for vignette type, gender, ethnicity, and attachment. The likelihood of caregiving was higher when forgetting was more serious and when participants were female, Hispanic, and were highly attached to their mothers. Interaction effects showed that gender differences decreased with increased seriousness of forgetting, and ethnic differences were only significant for the normal forgetting condition.^ Multiple regression analyses indicated that attachment was the most significant predictor of likelihood of caregiving. Gender and ethnicity predicted specific caregiving behaviors. Females were more likely to engage in phoning and cooking, and Hispanics were more likely to engage in visiting and suggesting mother move in. ^

A study of the relationship between parental self-efficacy and indicators of school involvement exhibited by Hispanic parents of elementary school children

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Hispanic parents' sense of self-efficacy at various degrees of acculturation to the United States and specific indicators of school involvement in their elementary school children's education. It assessed the effects of acculturation on the level of parental self-efficacy and their degree of school involvement. The theoretical framework guiding this investigation was Bandura's theory of self-efficacy which advocates that the amount of effort a person devotes to the accomplishment of a specific outcome is related to a person's beliefs in their capabilities regardless of actual competencies.^ The research method involved a correlational design measuring levels of parental self-efficacy, acculturation, degree of school involvement and related demographic characteristics. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the degree of relationships existing between the predictor variables of self-efficacy and level of acculturation, and level of school involvement. The data was subjected to a path analysis to test the validity of the causal model advanced in this study specifying a positive relationship between the constructs of acculturation, parental self-efficacy and level of school involvement.^ A total of 109 Hispanic parents of students enrolled in five elementary public schools in Dade County, Florida, were selected for participation in the study. Results revealed a significant positive correlation r =.23, p $<$.05 between level of parental self-efficacy and number of hours parents spent helping their children with homework. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between acculturation and level of self-efficacy r =.21, p $<$.05. Statistically significant positive correlations were also found between acculturation and such indicators of parental school involvement as participation in parent-teacher conferences r =.20, p $<$.05, volunteering at school, r =.22, p $<$.05, attendance at school sponsored sports activities r =.26, p $<$.01, and volunteering in field-trips r =.28, p $<$.01.^ The multiple regression analysis equation predicting level of homework assistance provided by parents and self-efficacy was statistically significant, F(2,106) = 3.59, p $<$.03. The beta weights revealed that self-efficacy contributed the most to the prediction of homework assistance by parents, B =.258, p $<$.009. In turn, the variable of acculturation was the most significant predictor of number of school based parent involvement activities, B =.281, p $<$.05 level. The path analysis confirmed the results obtained in the multiple regression analyses, establishing self-efficacy as having a direct effect on the level of homework assistance provided by parents. Conversely, the variable of acculturation had a direct effect on the number of school based parent involvement activities. ^

Indirect Effects of Parental Coping on Children’s Psychosocial Adjustment in the Context of Pediatric Cancer

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08