"Katerina gets mad": Infants' physiological and behavioral responses to co-viewing educational, self-regulatory media.

A growing body of research has focused on the physiological impact of media on older children and adolescents. Less research has been focused on the potential physiological impact of media on infants and younger children, especially media designed to be age appropriate and educational in content. In this study, we examined respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in infants (N = 269, Mage  = 17.13 months) while they co-viewed an educational video clip that modeled emotion regulation and contrasted their physiological response to an unoccupied baseline and a frustration paradigm (arm-restraint). Given parent reports showing the calming effect of educational media viewing in young children, we anticipated that a similar pattern of calming would be observed physiologically in infants. Results showed that relative to baseline, most infants demonstrated an increase in RSA while co-viewing, suggesting greater parasympathetic (regulatory) activation consistent with behavioral calming. However, infants who demonstrated vagal withdrawal during co-viewing (decrease in RSA) were more likely to have parents who used a tablet to help infants go to sleep at night. Vagal withdrawal was also associated with increased levels of negative affect observed during the co-viewing task. Findings are discussed in relation to the contextual effect of co-viewing age-appropriate, educational media on children's physiological responses.

How effective are ACF-funded couple relationship education programs? A meta-analytic study.

Since 2006, the U.S. Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has allocated $1.2 billion to a Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) policy initiative that provides grants to community organizations to support relationship education (RE) services for lower income couples and individuals. The policy aim was to help disadvantaged couples and individuals form and sustain healthy, stable relationships and marriages. A significant body of research on the effectiveness of these programs has now accumulated. This meta-analytic study reviews all evaluation research reports of adult couple relationship education (CRE) programs supported by the ACF policy initiative to examine their impact on an array of couple, family, and individual well-being outcomes. Overall, our review of 32 control-group studies found a range of small but significant effects for couple relationship quality (d = .114), relationship skills (d = .132), mental health (d = .074), and coparenting (d = .033), but non-significant effects for relationship stability, parenting, and child well-being. Supplemental analyses with 19 1-group/pre-post studies showed larger effects. Planned moderator analyses explored significant heterogeneity in most effects, however, revealing interesting implications for practice and research going forward.

Desde 2006, la Administración para los Niños y las Familias (Administration for Children and Families, ACF) de los Estados Unidos ha destinado $1.2 mil millones a una iniciativa de una política de Capacitación en Relaciones y Matrimonios Saludables (Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education, HMRE) que ofrece subvenciones a organizaciones comunitarias con el objetivo de financiar servicios de capacitación en relaciones para parejas y personas de bajos recursos. El objetivo de la política es ayudar a las parejas y a las personas desfavorecidas a formar y mantener relaciones y matrimonios estables y saludables. Actualmente se ha acumulado un número considerable de investigaciones sobre la eficacia de estos programas. En este estudio metaanalítico se analizan todos los informes de evaluaciones de investigaciones sobre programas de capacitación en relaciones de parejas adultas financiados por la iniciativa de políticas de la ACF con el fin de estudiar su efecto en diversos resultados de bienestar en las parejas, las familias y las personas particulares. En general, en nuestro análisis de 32 estudios de grupos de referencia se hallaron distintos efectos pequeños pero significativos para la calidad de la relación de pareja (d = .114), las habilidades relacionales (d = .132), la salud mental (d = .074), y la cocrianza (d = .033), y efectos no significativos para la estabilidad relacional, la crianza y el bienestar de los niños. Los análisis complementarios con 19 estudios previos y posteriores de un grupo demostraron efectos más importantes. Sin embargo, los análisis planificados de moderadores analizaron la heterogeneidad significativa en la mayoría de los efectos y revelaron consecuencias interesantes para la práctica y la investigación en el futuro.

Princess Power: Longitudinal Associations Between Engagement With Princess Culture in Preschool and Gender Stereotypical Behavior, Body Esteem, and Hegemonic Masculinity in Early Adolescence.

Princess culture is criticized for contributing to gender stereotypes and poor body esteem, however, there is little longitudinal research examining these claims. This study examines associations between engagement with princess culture during early childhood and gender stereotypes, body esteem, and adherence to hegemonic masculinity in early adolescence. Participants included 307 children (51% female, Mage = 4.83 years, 87% White) who completed questionnaires at two time points, 5 years apart. The results indicated that early engagement with princess culture was not associated with later adherence to female gender stereotypes. However, princess engagement was associated with lower adherence to norms of hegemonic masculinity and higher body esteem. Socioeconomic status and gender moderated the results. Effect sizes were small to moderate. The changing nature of Disney princesses is discussed in the context of gender development across childhood.

Infants' response to a mobile phone modified still-face paradigm: Links to maternal behaviors and beliefs regarding technoference.

Interruptions to parent-child interactions due to technology, or "technoference," have been correlated with a host of negative child developmental outcomes. Yet, the influence of technoference on parent-infant interactions and infant behaviors has received less attention and more experimental work is warranted. For this study, parent-infant dyads (n = 227) completed a modified still-face paradigm (SFP) using a mobile phone during the still-face phase. Infant responses were coded for positive and negative affect, object and parent orientation, self-comforting, and escape behaviors during the task. Results showed a robust still-face effect, with infants displaying increased negative affect, decreased positive affect, increased self-comforting, object orientation, and escape behaviors during the "still-face" or phone distracted phase of the paradigm and frequently failing to return to baseline during the reunion phase. Older infants (older than 9 months) likewise demonstrated higher levels of negative affect across all three phases of the paradigm relative to younger infants (less than 9 months). Parent reports of technoference behavior were related to increased object orientation for younger infants. Parental technoference behaviors were also linked to more escape behaviors for younger infants and decreased object orientation in older infants during the still-face portion of the SFP. Higher levels of technoference also appear to attenuate the negative emotional response of infants during still face. Results are discussed in relation to infants' increasing exposure to digital technology in the context of early relationships.

Parent-child joint media engagement in infancy.

Early conversations are an important source in shaping children's cognitive and emotional development, and it is vital to understand how parents use media as a platform to engage in conversations with their young children and what might predict the quality of these interactions. Thus, in the current study we explored the nature of parent-child discourse while engaging in media (i.e., joint media engagement) with infants, and how parent (empathic concern and responsiveness) and child (negative emotionality and regulatory capacity) variables might be associated with the quality of engagement. The current study consisted of 269 infants (50% female, Mage  = 17.09 months, SD = 3.93; 59% White) and their primary caregiver (98% mothers) who engaged in a variety of in-home tasks and parental questionnaires. Results established three meaningful codes for both parent and child that assessed positive and negative joint media engagement. Further, results suggested that parental empathic concern was associated with positive parent and child media engagement, while child negative emotionality was associated with lower levels of distraction. Discussion focuses on the importance of studying parent-child discourse in the context of joint media engagement and recommends limiting media exposure before 18 months of age.

Masters of Media: A longitudinal study of parental media efficacy, media monitoring, and child problematic media use across early childhood in the United States.

The development of problematic media use in early childhood is not well understood. The current study examined long-term associations between parental media efficacy, parental media monitoring, and problematic media use across a three-year period of time during early childhood. Participants included 432 parents who reported on their own parenting and their child's use of problematic media once a year for three years (M age of child at Wave 1 = 29.68 months, SD = 3.73 months). Results revealed that early parental media efficacy predicted lower levels of child problematic media use over time. Restrictive media monitoring was also related to lower levels of child problematic media use over time. Additionally, general parental efficacy was related to parental media efficacy and lower child problematic media use, both at the cross-sectional and longitudinal levels. Discussion focuses on encouraging early parental media efficacy (and exploring other potential mechanisms) as a way to mitigate the development of problematic media use over time.