Talking About Sexting: Association Between Parental Factors and Quality of Communication About Sexting With Adolescent Children in Jewish and Arab Society in Israel.

Sexting (sending and receiving sexual messages online), a legitimate means of communication if there is mutual consent, may put adolescent users at risk. Hence, parents must be able to address their children's sexuality and be capable of mediating the implications of sexting for them. Cultural differences may play a role in this important discourse. The current study sought to identify parental factors that lead to low-quality communication about adolescent sexting in Jewish and Arab societies in Israel. Participants included 427 Israeli parents (Jewish N = 242, 56.7%, Arab N = 185, 43.3%) who answered seven online questionnaires. Results revealed ethnic differences between Arab and Jewish parents with regard to the quality of parent-child communication about sexting. Arab parents tended more toward low-quality communication about sexting than did Jewish parents. Perceived severity of sexting and perceived susceptibility to sexting led to more low-quality communication by Arab than by Jewish parents. Mothers in both societies were better able to mediate sexting and displayed higher parental efficacy than did the fathers. These findings provide useful insights for therapists and parents into the link between parental factors and the quality of communication about sexting with adolescent children.

Dysfunctional Parent-Child Communication About Sexting During Adolescence.

Sexting (sending, receiving, and forwarding nude, semi-nude, or sexually explicit content) entails risks for adolescents; therefore, it is important for parents to be able to communicate with their children about its implications. The goal of the present study was to identify parental characteristics that lead to dysfunctional communication (lower quality of communication) about sexting, on a sample of 427 parents (336 mothers and 91 fathers) of Israeli adolescents aged 10-18 years and to determine whether parents' perceived severity of sexting and the degree to which they perceive their adolescent to be susceptible to sexting function as mediating factors. Parents completed a set of questionnaires online. Findings indicated that authoritarian and permissive parenting styles were positively associated with dysfunctional parent-child communication about sexting. Authoritative style was inversely related to dysfunctional communication and was mediated by positive attitudes toward sex education. Additionally, authoritative parents were capable of assessing the severity of their children's sexting activities, and the degree to which their children were susceptible to engage in sexting. The quality of the discussion initiated by authoritative parents appears to have enabled them to be aware of adolescent behaviors and to adjust their communication about the inherent risks. Findings suggest that the perception of sexting as too risky diminishes parents' ability to conduct a high-quality discussion about it. In conclusion, research findings emphasize parents' role in mediation of the online experiences of their children and conducting a constructive discussions with them about sexting.

Time Organization Patterns of Adolescents: Agreement between Self- Report and Parent Report.

AIMS: Occupational therapy services include measurement and promotion of time organization as important for adolescents' daily life management and well-being into adulthood. This study examined the internal consistency reliability of the Time Organization and Participation Scale (TOPS) among adolescents and their parents, associations between time organization and age, gender differences in time organization, and agreement levels between adolescents' and parents' perceptions of time-organization abilities. METHODS: Seventy-five adolescents with typical development and their parents completed the TOPS self-report and parent versions. RESULTS: Both TOPS versions showed high internal consistency (.80-.94). No significant correlations were found between age and time-organization patterns. Girls self-reported significantly more emotional response following disorganization in time. Parents' total scores explained 52.1% of the variance in their children's total scores. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescence, a critical transitional period of preparing for independent adult life, involves a continual interaction between person, occupation, and environment while using skills to organize in time. The TOPS's self- and parent-reports are reliable and can raise awareness of time-organization deficiencies in daily activities and emotional consequences. The use of the TOPS to assess adolescents' time-organization abilities can inform intervention design to help adolescents develop an awareness of their time use and foster their daily performance.

Plasticity in attention: implications for stress response in children.

Attention bias has been suggested as an etiological and maintaining factor in anxiety. However, empirical evidence establishing this causal association is scarce and has been provided only in adults. In this preliminary study, we tested whether an induction of attentional bias can cause changes in vulnerability to stress in children reporting normal anxiety levels. Twenty-six 7-12 year-old children were randomly assigned to two groups. One group was exposed to a training condition designed to induce an attentional bias away from threat. The other group was exposed to a training condition designed to induce an attentional bias toward threat. Children who were trained to attend to threat developed attentional vigilance to threat-related information. The training procedure was ineffective with children who were trained to avoid threat, and their attention remained unbiased. Children from both training groups reported elevated depression scores following stress-induction. However, only the children who were trained to attend to threat subsequently reported elevations in anxiety. The findings suggest that biased attentional responses to threat, among children, can exert a specific influence on the tendency to experience anxiety in the face of stress.

Establishing reliability and validity for "Make My Day"--a new tool for assessing young Arab-Israeli children's typical daily activities.

There is a paucity of literature regarding the daily routines of young children (4-7 years) and their perception of their performance. Research indicates that children's involvement in treatment therapy improves their self-consciousness, which contributes in return to the therapy's progress. Until recently, occupational therapists set goals for children by involving their parents in the planning. However, recent studies indicate that children are aware of their performance and can provide reliable data, given an evaluation that is adapted to their stage of development. "Make My Day" (MMD) is a new evaluation developed for young children, which provides information regarding the child's performance with respect to their daily activities. The MMD incorporates two versions--one for the children's self-report and the other for the parent's report. Participants included 62 healthy 4- to 7-year-old children of Arab-Israeli decent and their parents. They were assessed using the MMD, Perceived Efficacy and Goal Setting (PEGS), Time Organization and Participation (TOPS) and a socio-demographic questionnaire. Correlations between the MMD and the TOPS/PEGS were examined regarding the differences between children's and parents' reports of performance in three age groups (concurrent validity). Results demonstrated that children's self-report of their occupational performance in daily tasks are reliable and valid. Thus, occupational therapists may obtain data from the child himself or herself and not only from the parents. Further research on the MMD is recommended in other clinical populations to increase our knowledge of their daily functioning and of MMD's validity.