Parent-Child Communication About Potentially Traumatic Events: A Systematic Review.

Social support plays an important role in children's well-being after experiencing a potentially traumatic event (PTE). One such source of support is the parent-child relationship, specifically by discussing the event. However, current literature provides no consensus on whether parents and children communicate about PTEs, in what way they might communicate and how this affects the child. Hence the goal of the current study is threefold, to explore: (a) whether parents and children communicate about PTEs, (b) what this communication looks like, and (c) how this affects children's well-being. These questions are answered by means of a systematic literature review. Articles were eligible for inclusion if it was an empirical study on communication between parents and children about a PTE that the child (under 18 years) had experienced. Initial searches in electronic databases provided 31,233 articles, of which 26 were deemed eligible for inclusion. Results show that most parents and children have discussed PTEs, but that this may depend on cultural background. What the parent-child communication looks like depends on various factors such as, age of the child, tone, and child's initiation of discussion. Parental post-traumatic stress symptoms seem to negatively impact communication. The results of the impact of communication are less clear-cut, but it seems to have a predominantly positive effect on the child's well-being, depending on parental sensitivity. Clinicians should be watchful for parental symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and can focus on promoting parental sensitivity and responsiveness when discussing PTEs with their child or on creating a joint narrative within families.

The longitudinal link between popularity, likeability, fear of negative evaluation and social avoidance across adolescence.

This study investigated the longitudinal bidirectional associations between likeability, popularity, fear of negative evaluation, and social avoidance, to aid in preventing the negative consequences and persistent trajectories of low social status and heightened social anxiety. In total, 1741 adolescents in grades 7-9 participated at 3 yearly waves. A self-report questionnaire measured fear of negative evaluation. Peer nominations assessed likeability, popularity, and social avoidance. Lower popularity predicted more avoidance, and vice versa. More avoidance was related to lower likeability over time. Being less popular and/or more liked by peers, increased fear of negative evaluation. Support for a transactional model between social anxiety and social status was found, but distinguishing different social status and social anxiety components is necessary.

A Longitudinal Social Network Perspective on Adolescents' Exposure to Violent Video Games and Aggression.

Adolescents play video games as a social leisure activity, yet it is unclear whether peer influences play a role in spreading violent video game exposure (VVE) and aggression. It has been suggested that adolescents' aggression increases because of their friend's exposure to violent video games. This study tests this suggestion by using longitudinal social network analyses to investigate selection and socialization of aggression owing to VVE. A total of 796 adolescents from 34 different classrooms were followed from grade 7 to grade 8 (Mage = 12.60 years, 51 percent male adolescents). Exposure to violent video games, physical aggression, and within-classroom friendships were assessed at both time points. Data were analyzed by means of stochastic actor-based modeling in RSiena to estimate the effects of VVE and aggressive behavior on changes in friendships (selection), and the effects of friendships on changes in participants' VVE and aggressive behavior (socialization). Results showed homotypic selection effects, that is, adolescents became friends with peers who were similar in aggression and similar in violent video game exposure. Furthermore, there was a homotypic socialization effect, as friends became more similar in aggression over time. Friends did not become more similar in VVE over time. Violent games played by friends did not increase adolescents' own aggressive behavior. This suggests that concerns about peer influences on violent video games are unwarranted. Future studies on socialization processes of VVE should focus on influences from closest friends and investigate behavior during actual play.

Friendly fire: Longitudinal effects of exposure to violent video games on aggressive behavior in adolescent friendship dyads.

Research on gaming effects has focused on adolescence, a developmental period in which peer relationships become increasingly salient. However, the impact of peers on the effects of violent gaming on adolescents has been understudied. This study examined whether adolescents' exposure to violent video games predicted their own and their friend's aggression one year later. Among 705 gaming adolescents, 141 dyads were identified based on reciprocated best friend nominations (73.8% male, Mage = 13.98). Actor-Partner Interdependence Models indicated that adolescent males' (but not females') exposure to violent games positively predicted the aggression of their best friend 1 year later. This effect appeared regardless of whether the friends played video games together or not. The study illustrates the importance of peers in the association between violent gaming and aggression.

Bidirectional Effects between Parenting and Aggressive Child Behavior in the Context of a Preventive Intervention.

Over time, developmental theories and empirical studies have gradually started to adopt a bidirectional viewpoint. The area of intervention research is, however, lagging behind in this respect. This longitudinal study examined whether bidirectional associations between (changes in) parenting and (changes in) aggressive child behavior over time differed in three conditions: a child intervention condition, a child + parent intervention condition and a control condition. Participants were 267 children (74 % boys, 26 % girls) with elevated levels of aggression, their mothers and their teachers. Reactive aggression, proactive aggression and perceived parenting were measured at four measurement times from pretest to one-year after intervention termination. Results showed that associations between aggressive child behavior and perceived parenting are different in an intervention context, compared to a general developmental context. Aggressive behavior and perceived parenting were unrelated over time for children who did not receive an intervention. In an intervention context, however, decreases in aggressive child behavior were related to increases in perceived positive parenting and decreases in perceived overreactivity. These findings underscore the importance of addressing child-driven processes in interventions aimed at children, but also in interventions aimed at both children and their parents.

Developmental personality types from childhood to adolescence: associations with parenting and adjustment.

This study examined whether changes in children's self-reported Big Five dimensions are represented by (developmental) personality types, using a cohort-sequential design with three measurement occasions across 5 years (four cohorts, 9-12 years at T1; N = 523). Correlates of, and gender differences in, type membership were examined. Latent class growth modeling yielded three personality types: Resilients (highest initial levels on all Big Five), Overcontrollers (lowest Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Imagination), and Undercontrollers (lowest Benevolence, Conscientiousness). Gender differences in type membership were small. Warm parenting, but not overreactive discipline, in childhood was associated with type membership. The types differed in adjustment problems by the end of middle adolescence. Personality change more likely occurs at the level of dimensions within types than in type membership.