Parenting a child with Down syndrome: A qualitative study on parents' experiences and behaviors from a self-determination theory perspective.

PURPOSE: Raising a child with Down syndrome (DS) brings unique challenges to parents' psychological functioning. Extensive quantitative research has shown that these parents tend to experience higher levels of parental stress and lower well-being. However, a more in-depth and balanced insight is essential to fully grasp the complexity of parenting a child with DS. To address this gap, this study uses a qualitative approach to explore the experiences and behaviors of parents raising a child with DS. DESIGN AND METHODS: By adopting the Self-Determination Theory as a comprehensive theoretical framework, this study attends to both opportunities and challenges for parents' psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence, and provides insights into how they support the psychological needs of their child with DS. Eleven in-depth interviews were conducted with parents of a child with DS (aged 4 to 23 years). RESULTS: Through thematic analysis, six themes of parental experiences and three themes of parenting behaviors were distinguished. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicated that parents experience many opportunities for need satisfaction, predominantly in their need for relatedness. However, raising a child with DS also involves challenges for the parents' family relationships, personal freedom, professional ambitions, and feelings of competence. Regarding their parenting behaviors, parents considered stimulating independence, tuning into the child's mental world, and being patient as essential practices when raising a child with DS. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This study provides important clues to promote parents' well-being as well as their engagement in need-supportive parenting practices towards their child with DS.

Coping, (mal)adaptive personality and identity in young adults: A network analysis.

Coping, personality, and identity are three well-known constructs within the field of psychology. Yet, findings regarding how these constructs relate to each other have been inconsistent. The present study employs network analysis to investigate coping, adaptive and maladaptive personality, and identity and how they are related, using data from the Flemish Study on Parenting, Personality, and Development (FSPPD; Prinzie et al., 2003; 1999-current). Young adults (N = 457; 47% male), aged between 17-23 years old, completed a survey on coping, adaptive and maladaptive personality, and identity. Results indicate clear associations between coping and both adaptive and maladaptive personality within the network, suggesting coping and personality are distinct, yet highly related constructs whereas identity proved largely unrelated. Potential implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Parenting and Child Personality as Modifiers of the Psychosocial Development of Youth with Cerebral Palsy.

This two-year longitudinal study addressed the joint contribution of parent-rated parenting behaviors and child personality on psychosocial outcomes in 118 families of children with Cerebral Palsy (M age Time 1 = 10.9 years old, 64.4% boys). Latent change modeling revealed intra-individual changes in children's psychosocial development as internalizing and externalizing behaviors increased from the first to the second assessment and psychosocial strengths increased from the second to the third assessment, whereas externally controlling and autonomy-supportive parenting behavior remained stable over time. Externally controlling parenting related to higher levels of, and increases in behavioral problems, with these associations being most pronounced among children low on Extraversion, Conscientiousness, or Imagination. Autonomy-supportive parenting related to higher levels of psychosocial strengths, with this association being most pronounced among children high on Emotional Stability.

Daily parenting of children with cerebral palsy: The role of daily child behavior, parents' daily psychological needs, and mindful parenting.

The purpose of this study was to advance the current understanding of the daily dynamics that are involved in raising a child with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Specifically, we examined the role of mindful parenting and of day-to-day variation in parents' psychological needs and child behavior in explaining day-to-day variation in parents' autonomy-supportive, psychologically controlling, and responsive parenting behavior. Parents (N = 58) of children with CP (Mage = 12.68 years) participated in a 7-day diary study. Multilevel analyses indicated that parents' autonomy-supportive, psychologically controlling, and responsive behaviors fluctuate considerably between days. Further, daily fluctuations in both child behavior and parents' own psychological needs were found to be associated with this daily variability in parenting. In addition, interindividual differences in mindful parenting were associated positively with parents' responsiveness and negatively with psychologically controlling parenting across the week. These findings point towards the changeability of parenting behavior among parents of a child with CP and suggest that interventions targeting parenting behavior in the context of CP will be most effective when taking into account both the parents' and the child's functioning.

Parents' Need-related Experiences and Behaviors When Raising a Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

PURPOSE: Research suggests that parenting a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) brings about major challenges to parents' own psychological resources. Considered through the lens of Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2017), parents rearing a child with ASD particularly face challenges to their psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In turn, these challenges potentially jeopardize parents' capacity to attune to their child. This qualitative study aims to advance insight into (the interplay between) parents' experiences and parenting behaviors when raising a child with ASD, thereby using SDT as a framework to understand how these experiences and behaviors relate to the psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence. DESIGN AND METHODS: Fifteen parents of children with ASD, aged 6 to 17, participated in an interview concerning their behaviors and experiences in raisin their child with ASD. RESULTS: Four sets of parental behaviors and five sets of parental experiences were identified, with the majority being relevant to the psychological needs postulated by SDT. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study provide (1) a deeper understanding of the threats and opportunities for the well-being of parents of children with ASD, (2) an in-depth insight into how these parents adjust their parenting behaviors to their child, and (3) an understanding of how parents' need-related experiences and parenting behaviors are dynamically intertwined. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: By structuring how parents perceive threats and opportunities when raising a child with ASD within the SDT-framework, important targets for parent-support are identified.

Examining bidirectional relationships between parenting and child maladjustment in youth with autism spectrum disorder: A 9-year longitudinal study.

Longitudinal bidirectional effects between parents and children are usually studied in samples of typically developing children, but remain understudied in families with a child with autism spectrum disorder. This three-wave longitudinal study examined how parents and children with autism spectrum disorder influence one another, relying on parent reports of parenting behaviors and children's problem behaviors across 9 years, in a sample of 139 youngsters (M age Time 1 = 10.2 years, 83% boys). Cross-lagged analyses indicated that children's externalizing problems at Time 1 predicted negative controlling parenting 6 years later (Time 2) that in turn predicted externalizing problems 3 years later (Time 3). Negative parental control at Time 1 also increased the risk for internalizing problems at Time 2. It was surprising that externalizing problems at Time 2 also predicted positive parental involvement at Time 3. Thus, although results indicate that externalizing problems generally elicit maladaptive reactions in parents, this study also suggests that parents adjust their way of reacting to externalizing child problems as their child reaches adolescence/emerging adulthood. Implications for future research on parenting dynamics in families with a child with autism spectrum disorder are discussed.

Long-Term Developmental Changes in Children's Lower-Order Big Five Personality Facets.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined long-term developmental changes in mother-rated lower-order facets of children's Big Five dimensions. METHOD: Two independent community samples covering early childhood (2-4.5 years; N = 365, 39% girls) and middle childhood to the end of middle adolescence (6-17 years; N = 579, 50% girls) were used. All children had the Belgian nationality. Developmental changes were examined using cohort-sequential latent growth modeling on the 18 facets of the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children. RESULTS: In early childhood, changes were mostly similar across child gender. Between 2 and 4.5 years, several facets showed mean-level stability; others changed in the direction of less Extraversion and Emotional Stability, and more Benevolence and Imagination. The lower-order facets of Conscientiousness showed opposite changes. Gender differences became more apparent from middle childhood onward for facets of all dimensions except Imagination, for which no gender differences were found. Between 6 and 17 years, same-dimension facets showed different shapes of growth. Facets that changed linearly changed mostly in the direction of less Extraversion, Benevolence, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Imagination. Changes in facets for which nonlinear growth was found generally moved in direction or magnitude during developmental transitions. CONCLUSION: This study provides comprehensive, fine-grained knowledge about personality development during the first two decades of life.

[Formula: see text] Interventions to improve executive functions in children and adolescents with acquired brain injury: a systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis.

To investigate the effectiveness of interventions aiming to improve hot and cold executive functions (EFs) in children and adolescents with acquired brain injury (ABI) and to examine whether characteristics of the intervention, participants, etiology of ABI (Traumatic-brain-injury [TBI] or non-TBI), time of assessment, or study quality moderate intervention effects. Whereas cold EFs refer to purely cognitive EFs, hot EFs refer to the affective aspects of these cognitive skills. A total of 970 participants from 23 randomized-controlled-trial studies (112 effect sizes [ES]) were included. A three-level random effects approach (studies, ES, individual participants) was used. Moderation analyses were conducted through meta-regressions. The three-level random effects model showed a better fit than the two-level model. Almost all individual studies showed non-significant ES across outcomes but in combination interventions were effective (Cohen's d = 0.38, CI 0.16 ~ 0.61). Lower methodological quality, inclusion of participants with non-TBI, and parental participation predicted larger ES. Participants' age, time of assessment, number of sessions, and focus on hot or cold EFs were not related to ES. We found no evidence of publication bias. Interventions are effective with small to medium ES according to conventional criteria. Intervention effects do not seem to fade away with time. Parent participation in the intervention is important to improve EFs. The efficacy of interventions seems larger when non-TBI is part of the etiology of ABI. Variation between studies is relevant for tracing the effective intervention characteristics. Most studies are conducted in adolescence, and studies in early childhood are needed.

"I Grew Up Amidst Alcohol and Drugs:" a Qualitative Study on the Lived Experiences of Parental Substance Use Among Adults Who Developed Substance Use Disorders Themselves.

Experiencing parental substance use (PSU) has been associated with a heightened risk of developing substance use disorders (SUDs) in offspring. The primary goal of this study was to explore perspectives of adult children with lived experience of PSU who also developed SUDs themselves through first-hand experience. This study was conducted in Flanders (Belgium). A qualitative exploratory research design was applied. Seventeen semi-structured interviews were conducted with adult children of parents with SUDs (range: 29-48 years) who themselves had developed SUDs. All interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Three overarching themes emerged through thematic analysis: 1) loneliness and neglect in childhood; 2) stigma and the self; and 3) the role of social connection in substance use and recovery. The narratives highlighted the central role of feelings of loneliness, isolation and belonging among children of parents with SUDs in childhood and adulthood. Increasing public awareness on the impact of PSU on children and accessible support is needed to overcome stigma and remove barriers to social inclusion for children of parents with SUDs. Findings may prove valuable in informing policy, program and treatment development aimed at breaking maladaptive intergenerational cycles.

Expressed Emotion in Families of Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome: Relations with Parenting Stress and Parenting Behaviors.

This study examined the family emotional climate as assessed by Five Minute Speech Samples and the relation with parenting stress and parenting behaviors among parents of children (6-17 years, 64.7% boys) with autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and without any known disability (n = 447). The large majority of parents (79%) showed low levels of Expressed Emotion, an indicator of a positive family climate. In all groups, more Emotional Over-involvement, more Criticism and fewer expressions of Warmth were associated with higher levels of parenting stress. Across groups, Emotional Over-involvement was related to more autonomy-supportive parenting, Criticism to more psychologically controlling and overreactive parenting, and Warmth was associated with more responsive and less psychologically controlling and overreactive parenting.

International comparisons of behavioral and emotional problems in preschool children: parents' reports from 24 societies.

International comparisons were conducted of preschool children's behavioral and emotional problems as reported on the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 1½-5 by parents in 24 societies (N = 19,850). Item ratings were aggregated into scores on syndromes; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-oriented scales; a Stress Problems scale; and Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems scales. Effect sizes for scale score differences among the 24 societies ranged from small to medium (3-12%). Although societies differed greatly in language, culture, and other characteristics, Total Problems scores for 18 of the 24 societies were within 7.1 points of the omnicultural mean of 33.3 (on a scale of 0-198). Gender and age differences, as well as gender and age interactions with society, were all very small (effect sizes < 1%). Across all pairs of societies, correlations between mean item ratings averaged .78, and correlations between internal consistency alphas for the scales averaged .92, indicating that the rank orders of mean item ratings and internal consistencies of scales were very similar across diverse societies.

Negative Controlling Parenting and Child Personality as Modifiers of Psychosocial Development in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A 9-Year Longitudinal Study at the Level of Within-Person Change.

This nine-year longitudinal study addresses the joint contribution of parent-rated negative controlling parenting and child personality on psychosocial outcomes in 141 families of children with autism spectrum disorder (83% boys, mean age Time 1 = 10.1). Latent change modeling revealed substantial variation in within-person change in parenting and psychosocial outcomes across a six- and three-year-interval. Over time, negative controlling parenting and child personality were consistently related to externalizing problems, whereas child personality was differentially related to internalizing problems and psychosocial strengths. Three personality-by-parenting interactions were significant, suggesting that children with less mature personality traits show more externalizing behaviors in the presence of controlling parenting. This study identified both parenting and child personality as important modifiers of developmental outcomes in youth with autism.

The relationship between social-cultural attitudes and behavioral measures of cognitive style: a meta-analytic integration of studies.

The present meta-analysis investigates the relationship between social-cultural right-wing attitudes and objective measures of cognitive style on a set of 124 unique samples, with a total of 29,209 participants. Intolerance of ambiguity and cognitive ability yielded relationships of moderate strength with right-wing attitudes, whereas only mixed evidence was obtained for rigidity, complexity, and field dependence. In the discussion, we compare the present weak to moderate relationships with a meta-analysis conducted by Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, and Sulloway (2003b), included predominantly self-report measures of cognitive style, reporting moderate to strong relationships between conservatism. The need to study cognitive ability as a basis of ideological attitudes is also discussed.

Temperament, personality and developmental psychopathology: a review based on the conceptual dimensions underlying childhood traits.

The numerous temperament and personality constructs in childhood impede the systematic integration of findings on how these individual differences relate to developmental psychopathology. This paper reviews the main temperament and personality theories and proposes a theoretical taxonomy representing the common structure of both temperament and personality traditions within one conceptual framework. This integrated lexicon of childhood temperament/personality traits facilitates an overview of the most important research findings on the role of temperament and personality in the development of anxiety, depression, ADHD, proactive and reactive antisocial behavior. Several directions for future research are discussed to further validate and refine these reviewed relationships.

Live well and die with inner peace: The importance of retrospective need-based experiences, ego integrity and despair for late adults' death attitudes.

Given that prior research has provided evidence for the role of late adults' attitudes towards death in their mental health, we sought to understand its underlying sources. Guided by Self-Determination Theory and Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, two cross-sectional studies examined whether older individuals' psychological need-based experiences, as accumulated during life, relate to their death attitudes and whether their experienced ego integrity and despair play an intervening role in these associations. Whereas Study 1 (N = 394 late adults; Mage = 75.14; SD = 6.52; 62.9 % female) involved an assessment of need satisfaction only, in Study 2 (N = 126 late adults; Mage = 78.09; SD = 7.17; 61.9 % female) both need satisfaction and need frustration were assessed. Structural equation modeling showed that, across studies, experienced need satisfaction related positively to ego integrity and negatively to despair. Need frustration was related to despair only. In turn, ego integrity related positively to death acceptance and negatively to death anxiety, while despair related positively to death anxiety. Finally, the contribution of need satisfaction to death attitudes was mostly mediated by individuals' ego integrity. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Towards a detailed understanding of preschool children's memory-related functioning and emotion regulation: The role of parents' observed reminiscence style, memory valence, and parental gender.

This study examined the role of parents' reminiscing style in preschoolers' memory-related functioning and general emotion regulation. In 87 families, each parent rated their child's (Mage = 4.07 years, SD = 0.80) emotion regulation and discussed a positive and a negative memory with their child (resulting in 275 conversations). Multilevel analyses showed that children's rated engagement during the conversation was higher when parents were observed to use autonomy-supportive, elaborative, and positive evaluative reminiscing, while children's rated disaffection was predicted by low autonomy support, low elaboration, and negative evaluation. Parental positive evaluation also related positively to children's memory performance. With respect to emotion regulation, only parents' negative evaluation when talking about negative memories related to higher emotional lability. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Personality symptoms and self-esteem as correlates of psychopathology in child psychiatric patients: evaluating multiple informant data.

Research on adulthood posits personality and self-esteem as important predictors of psychopathology. In childhood, however, the study of these relationships is complicated by the lack of consensus on how to combine data from multiple informants of child behavior. This study evaluates the relationships among personality symptoms, self-esteem and psychopathology in 60 child psychiatric patients (M (age) = 10.6) using principal component analysis (PCA) to aggregate data from multiple informants and compares this strategy with a single informant approach. When predictor and criterion measures were rated by a single informant, strong and differential relationships between personality symptoms, self-esteem and psychopathology are found. When multiple informant data were combined into composite scores by PCA, correlations decreased but remained significant. Hierarchical regression analyses affirm the robustness of the following pattern: Emotional Instability, Introversion and Global Self-Esteem are associated with internalizing whereas Disagreeableness and Behavioral Conduct primarily relate to externalizing problems.

Mothering, Substance Use Disorders and Intergenerational Trauma Transmission: An Attachment-Based Perspective.

Background: A growing body of research underlines that interpersonal trauma in childhood leads to heightened susceptibility for substance use disorders (SUDs) in later life. Little research has been conducted on parenting experiences of mothers in recovery from substance use, taking into account their own upbringing as a child and the potential aftermath of interpersonal childhood trauma. Methods: Through in-depth qualitative interviews, 23 mothers with SUDs reflected on parenting experiences and parent-child bonding, related to both their children and parents. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and data were analyzed adopting thematic analysis. Results: Throughout the narratives, consequences of trauma on mothers' sense of self and its subsequent impact on parenting arose as salient themes. Five latent mechanisms of intergenerational trauma transmission were identified: 1) early interpersonal childhood trauma experiences in mothers; 2) trauma as a precursor of substance use; 3) substance use as a (self-fooling) enabler of parental functioning; 4) continued substance use impacting parental functioning; and 5) dysfunctional parental functioning and its relational impact upon offspring. Discussion: Findings suggest disruptive attachment can increase the vulnerability for SUDs on the one hand, but can be an expression of underlying trauma on the other, hence serving as a covert mechanism by which trauma can be transmitted across generations. Results indicate the need for preventive, attachment-based and trauma-sensitive interventions targeted at disruptive intergenerational patterns.

The moderating role of adolescent personality in associations between psychologically controlling parenting and problem behaviors: A longitudinal examination at the level of within-person change.

Although abundant research has demonstrated associations between psychologically controlling parenting and adolescent problem behavior, little is known about the moderating role of adolescent personality herein. This study examined whether adolescent personality moderates the associations between parental psychological control and internalizing and externalizing problems at the level of within-person change. A 3-wave longitudinal design (N = 198 families, Mage adolescent = 14.89 years, Mage mother = 45.14 years, Mage father = 46.79 years), with 1-year intervals between waves, and using multi-informant assessment was conducted. Multilevel analyses demonstrated that changes in parental psychological control related positively to changes in multi-informant scores of both internalizing and externalizing problems. Evidence for the moderating role of personality was found for only 1 out of 25 interactions in a variable-centered approach and for 2 out of 8 interactions in a person-centered approach. The interactions obtained indicated that a mature personality (i.e., higher scores on emotional stability or membership in a resilient profile in comparison to an overcontrolled profile) buffered against the detrimental effects of psychologically controlling parenting on problem behaviors. Overall, the number of interactions was limited, suggesting only a modest moderating effect of adolescent personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).