Effective parental strategies against problematic smartphone use among adolescents: A 6-month prospective study.

Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU) among adolescents is growing problem worldwide and multiple studies investigated its associated parental risk and protective factors. The available studies, however, typically do not address the multidimensional nature of PSU. They also rely heavily on cross-sectional designs with a small number of potentially contributing variables. This 6-month prospective study examines the relationships between a large range of parental factors with the three known dimensions of PSU: social environment pressure, emotional gain, and addiction-like behaviors. Specifically the study examines whether, and to what extent, the various dimensions of current and future PSU are related to parental support giving, general quality of communication, specific communication about smartphone use, and the four common mediation strategies. The sample comprised 1187 triads of mothers, fathers, and adolescents. The data-analysis pipeline consisted of three consecutive phases: (1) analyses of parental factors at baseline, (2) analyses of parental factors change over 6-months, and (3) interaction analyses between parental factors and the time-period of the study. The pipeline elicited three factors that moderated the change in PSU over time: Communication about smartphones with mothers, parental support giving, and parental co-use. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the existing literature and the familial, microsystem theoretical framework. Altogether, this prospective study scrutinized key parental factors and strategies that could be utilized by parents for coping with one of the most difficult parenting challenges of the digital era. Further research may build upon these findings to develop designated interventions to reduce PSU.

Parental Perspectives Regarding the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Their Children.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought profound changes to the health of families worldwide. Yet, there is limited research regarding its impact on children. The pandemic may exacerbate factors associated with excess weight, which is particularly concerning due to the potential association between excess weight and severity of COVID-19 infection. This study investigates parental perspectives of changes in fruit/vegetable (FV) intake, processed food (PF) intake, outdoor playtime (OP), physical activity (PA) levels, and recreational screen time (RST) among children living in Michigan during the pandemic. Methods: The study team and community partners developed and distributed a survey using snowball sampling to reach families living largely in Central and Southeastern Michigan. Nonlinear mixed-effects proportional odds models were used to examine associations between child weight status along with demographic/household factors and changes in five weight-related behaviors. Results: Parents (n = 1313; representing 2469 children) reported a decrease in OP, FV, and PA levels, while there was an increase in RST and PF intake among their children. Household income was protective against a decrease in OP, PA, and FV but was associated with increased RST. Children's weight status was associated with decreased FV. Age was negatively associated with OP and PA, and positively associated with RST. Conclusions: These findings suggest an adverse influence of the pandemic on weight-related behaviors, particularly among adolescents in families with lower incomes and those with excess weight. Further work is needed to measure any impact on BMI trajectory and to identify interventions to reverse negative effects.

Brief report: Parent-guided movements during play with children with autism spectrum disorder.

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate social and communication impairments from an early age. While researchers have long investigated parenting behaviors in relation to children's social and communication development, fewer studies have examined the relevance of movement-based parenting behaviors to facilitating communication and social engagement with young children. The present study aimed to investigate: (1) parent-guided movements (PGMs) within dyads of parents and typically developing (TD) children and children with ASD; and (2) children's ASD diagnostic and receptive language scores as predictors of PGM frequency. Method: Video-recorded play interactions of 33 TD dyads (mean age: 20.4 months) and 31 dyads with ASD (mean age: 32.6 months) were matched on child's expressive language. Data were obtained from a longitudinal study on developmental language trajectories in ASD and coded for PGMs. Results: Overall, parents of children with ASD initiated PGMs more frequently than parents of TD children during play (U = 269.00, z = - 3.58, p < 0.001). PGM frequency was predicted by children's ADOS scores (X 2 = 5.46, p = 0.02, OR = 1.26, 95% CI [1.04, 1.54]) and receptive language (X 2 = 4.15, p = 0.04, OR = 5.43, 95% CI [1.10, 27.67]). Conclusions: Findings suggest that parents of children with ASD and low receptive language may utilize more movement-based strategies to compensate for their children's impaired social engagement and verbal comprehension. This study offers insight on a particular movement-based modality characterizing ASD dyads that can be used as a measure in parent-mediated interventions.

The Strategies of Parental Involvement in Adolescents' Education and Extracurricular Activities.

Different parental strategies in education are bound to produce various effects: not all of these strategies are equally productive in their application. At the same time, the impact of parental involvement in general education on their children's extracurricular activities has not been thoroughly studied. This article attempts to fill this gap by analyzing the relationship between strategies of parental involvement in education and adolescents' participation in extracurricular activities. The data source for this study were parents whose children attend general education institutions (N = 3,887; Mage of children = 12.4, SD = 3.1; 55.6% female). A latent class analysis identified three categories of parental participation in education: "Intrusive", "Supervisory", and "Detached". Each category showed different patterns of involvement from primary to high school, distinguished by the type of extracurricular participation encouraged by parents. In primary school, children of "Intrusive" parents attended the highest number of extracurricular activities. In secondary school, they attended fewer activities compared to the children of "Supervisory" parents. Children of "Supervisory" parents often chose to participate in activities on their own, and continued to attend the selected activity, or change activity on their own initiative. The children of "Detached" parents were less involved in extracurricular activities in primary school. In some cases, they chose their own extracurricular activities as they grew older. The study demonstrates that parental involvement is related to adolescents' participation in extracurricular activities. Parents' strategies should be considered instrumental as they produce a variety of different outcomes, depending upon the adolescents' age and type of activities. The identified strategies may serve as a basis for recommendations for development of parental competencies, consultations, and family education.

Estratégias de regulação emocional de pais: uma revisão da literatura / Parents' emotional regulation strategies: a literature review / Estrategias de regulación emocional de los padres de familia: una revisión de la literatura

A regulação emocional é uma habilidade importante na vida das crianças, que se desenvolve, sobretudo, por meio das interações sociais com seus pais ou cuidadores primários. Mães e pais podem ajudar usando estratégias de regulação para o manejo das emoções. O objetivo deste estudo foi traçar um panorama atual, examinando características de publicações científicas com esse tema, entre 2008 e 2017. Realizou-se uma revisão integrativa da literatura para organizar uma síntese de conhecimentos a respeito. Dezesseis artigos foram selecionados nas bases de dados Web of Science, PsychInfo, PubMed e LILACS, sendo preestabelecidas algumas categorias para analisar os estudos. Verificou-se predomínio da perspectiva conceitual da cognição social e de delineamento transversal. A reavaliação cognitiva se destacou nas estratégias empregadas, de modo a favorecer a ressignificação da experiência emocional. A maior parte dos estudos foi realizada nos Estados Unidos e as amostras foram constituídas, sobretudo, por mães e não pais. Foi possível apontar lacunas na produção, em especial a carência de estudos em diferentes culturas. Argumenta-se a necessidade de estudos brasileiros sobre o tema em que se explore a diversidade de contextos socioculturais.

Emotional regulation is an important skill in the lives of children, which develops primarily through social interactions with their parents or primary caregivers. Mothers and fathers can help by using regulation strategies for managing emotions. The objective of this study was to draw a current panorama, by examining the characteristics of the scientific publications on this theme, between 2008 and 2017. An integrative literature review was formulated to organize a synthesis of knowledge on the matter. Sixteen articles were selected in the Web of Science, PsychInfo, PubMed and LILACS databases, with some categories being pre-established to analyze the studies. There was a predominance of the conceptual perspective of social cognition and cross-sectional design. The cognitive reevaluation was highlighted in the strategies employed, in order to favor the re-signification of the emotional experience. Most of the studies were conducted in the United States, and the samples consisted mainly of mothers rather than fathers. It was possible to point out gaps in production, especially the lack of studies in different cultures. It is argued there is a need for Brazilian studies on the subject in which the diversity of socio-cultural contexts could be explored.

La regulación emocional es una habilidad importante en la vida de los niños, que se desarrolla principalmente a través de las interacciones sociales con sus padres o cuidadores principales. Las madres y los padres pueden ayudar utilizando estrategias de regulación para controlar las emociones. El objetivo de este estudio fue dibujar un panorama actual, examinando las características de las publicaciones científicas sobre este tema, entre 2008 y 2017. Se organizó una revisión integradora de la literatura para organizar una síntesis del conocimiento al respecto. Se seleccionaron dieciséis artículos en las bases de datos Web of Science, PsychInfo, PubMed y LILACS, con algunas categorías preestablecidas para analizar los estudios. Predominó la perspectiva conceptual de la cognición social y el diseño transversal. La reevaluación cognitiva se destacó en las estrategias utilizadas, con el fin de favorecer la re-significación de la experiencia emocional. La mayoría de los estudios se realizaron en los Estados Unidos y las muestras consistieron principalmente de madres y no de padres. Fue posible señalar brechas en la producción, especialmente la falta de estudios en diferentes culturas. Se argumenta la necesidad de estudios brasileños sobre el tema para explorar la diversidad de contextos socioculturales.

Nonapeptides mediate trade-offs in parental care strategy.

Parental care represents a suite of distinct behaviors performed by parents to maximize fitness. Dynamic shifts in parental care behaviors, such as between nest defense and direct provisioning of the offspring, are required in response to environmental variation. However, the neural mechanisms which mediate such behavioral shifts remain a mystery. The anemonefish, Amphiprion ocellaris, represents an experimentally valuable model in social neuroscience which is conducive to manipulating the environment while simultaneously measuring parental care. The goal of this study was to determine the extent to which arginine vasotocin (AVT) and isotocin (IT) signaling are necessary for males to shift between direct egg care and aggressive nest defense in the presence of intruders, Domino damselfish (Dascyllus trimaculatus). The IT receptor antagonist desGly-NH2-d(CH2)5[D-Tyr2,Thr4]OVT, significantly reduced direct egg care, while at the same time increased levels of aggressive nest defense relative to vehicle. Conversely, blockade of AVT using the antagonist d(CH2)5[Tyr(Me)2]AVP, reduced aggression and tended to increase egg care. Results demonstrate that male anemonefish alter their parental strategy in response to allospecific intruders, and that IT and AVT signaling oppositely regulate parental care displays of aggression versus egg care.

Optimists or realists? How ants allocate resources in making reproductive investments.

Parents often face an investment trade-off between either producing many small or fewer large offspring. When environments vary predictably, the fittest parental solution matches available resources by varying only number of offspring and never optimal individual size. However when mismatches occur often between parental expectations and true resource levels, dynamic models like multifaceted parental investment (MFPI) and parental optimism (PO) both predict offspring size can vary significantly. MFPI is a "realist" strategy: parents assume future environments of average richness. When resources exceed expectations and it is too late to add more offspring, the best-case solution increases investment per individual. Brood size distributions therefore track the degree of mismatch from right-skewed around an optimal size (slight underestimation of resources) to left-skewed around a maximal size (gross underestimation). Conversely, PO is an "optimist" strategy: parents assume maximally good resource futures and match numbers to that situation. Normal or lean years do not affect "core" brood as costs primarily fall on excess "marginal" siblings who die or experience stunted growth (producing left-skewed distributions). Investment patterns supportive of both MFPI and PO models have been observed in nature, but studies that directly manipulate food resources to test predictions are lacking. Ant colonies produce many offspring per reproductive cycle and are amenable to experimental manipulation in ways that can differentiate between MFPI and PO investment strategies. Colonies in a natural population of a harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex salinus) were protein-supplemented over 2 years, and mature sexual offspring were collected annually prior to their nuptial flight. Several results support either MFPI or PO in terms of patterns in offspring size distributions and how protein differentially affected male and female production. Unpredicted by either model, however, is that supplementation affected distributions more strongly across years than within (e.g., small females are significantly rarer in the year after colonies receive protein). Parental investment strategies in P. salinus vary dynamically across years and conditions. Finding that past conditions can more strongly affect reproductive decisions than current ones, however, is not addressed by models of parental investment.

Between Concealing and Revealing Intersexed Bodies: Parental Strategies.

Parents of intersex children are perceived in many studies as hopeless, highly dependent on the medical system, and as gate keepers of normative gendered bodies. In this article, we challenge these perceptions and argue that parents of intersex children are problematically positioned between their children's needs for care and well-being and the socialmedical forces that aim to "normalize" them. Their in-between position leads them to establish different parental strategies within and outside of traditional sex/gender norms. We focus on three intertwined parental strategy frameworks: bodily dialogue, sex/gender framing, and concealing/revealing practices, and describe how, in each of these strategic frameworks, the parents maneuver, act in accordance with or against, react to, and challenge the medical system, social interactions, and the sex/gender paradigm. This is a comparative study based on narrative interviews with 22 parents of intersex children in Germany and Israel.

Validation of the modified Parenting Strategies for Eating and Physical Activity Scale-Diet (PEAS-Diet) in Latino children.

Research shows that Latino parenting practices influence children's dietary and weight outcomes. Most studies use parent-reported data, however data from children may provide additional insight into how parents influence their children's diet and weight outcomes. The Parenting Strategies for Eating and Activity Scale (PEAS) has been validated in Latino adults, but not in children. This study evaluated the factor structure and concurrent and predictive validity of a modified version of the PEAS (PEAS-Diet) among Latino children. Data were collected from 361 children ages 7-13 from Imperial County, California, enrolled in a randomized controlled trial to promote healthy eating. The PEAS-Diet included 25 candidate items targeting six parenting practices pertaining to children's eating behaviors: (a) monitoring; (b) disciplining; (c) control; (d) permissiveness; (e) reinforcing; and (f) limit-setting. Children were on average ten years old (±2), 50% boys, 93% self-identified as Latino, 81% were US-born, and 55% completed English versus Spanish-language interviews. Using varimax rotation on baseline data with the total sample, six items were removed due to factor loadings <.40 and/or cross-loading (>.32 on more than one component). Parallel analysis and interpretability suggested a 5-factor solution explaining 59.46% of the variance. The subscale "limit-setting" was removed from the scale. The final scale consisted of 19 items and 5 subscales. Internal consistency of the subscales ranged from α = .63-.82. Confirmatory factor analyses provided additional evidence for the 5-factor scale using data collected 4 and 6 months post-baseline among the control group (n = 164, n = 161, respectively). Concurrent validity with dietary intake was established for monitoring, control, permissiveness, and reinforcing subscales in the expected directions. Predictive validity was not established. Results indicated that with the reported changes, the interview-administered PEAS-Diet is valid among Latino children aged 7-13 years.

Metas de socialização de mães baianas de diferentes contextos socioeconômicos / Socialization goal of mothers from Bahia in different socioeconomic contexts

Sistemas de crenças e práticas de cuidado parentais têm se tornado um tópico importante em psicologia do desenvolvimento, devido ás suas repercussões na qualidade do cuidado à criança e no desenvolvimento infantil.Tendo em vista a escassez de descrições sobre a realidade brasileira nesse aspecto, este estudo teve como objetivo caracterizar metas e estratégias maternas numa amostra da cidade de Salvador, relacionando-as com suas características sócio-demográficas. Participaram do estudo 50 mães com pelo menos um filho com idades entre zero a três anos que foram entrevistadas em suas residências e aplicados dois instrumentos: Inquérito sócio-demográfico e Entrevista sobre metas e estratégias de socialização. Os dados sócio-demográficos foram tratados conforme a Escala de Avaliação de Status Socioeconômico de Hollingshead e as metas de socialização foram analisadas a partir das categorias: auto-aperfeiçoamento, autocontrole, emotividade, expectativas sociais e bom comportamento. Os resultados não indicaram diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre os grupos em relação às metas de socialização, com exceção da subcategoria integridade pessoal e valores religiosos relativa à meta Expectativas sociais mais enfatizada pelas mães de NSE baixo. Quanto às estratégias de ação, as mães dos dois grupos relataram adotar estratégias baseadas nos seus próprios recursos (Centradas em si). No conjunto, os resultados sugerem metas similares entre os dois grupos. Esses resultados são interpretados como expressão de um ambiente cultural relativamente homogêneo quanto a valores idealizados, um achado surpreendente, tendo em vista as grandes diferenças em nível socioeconômico observadas(AU)

Beliefs and parental practices systems have become an important topic in developmental psychology, because of their possible repercussions on child care quality and, as a consequence, on child development. Since there are only a few Brazilian studies in this field, this study aimed at characterizing parental socialization goals and strategies valued in a sample of mothers from Salvador, relating them to their socioeconomic status. Fifty mothers (with at least a child from zero to three years old) were interviewed in their homes. Two research tools were used: Sociodemographic Inquire and Socialization Goals and Strategies Interview. The sociodemographic data were treated according to the Hollingshead Socioeconomic Status Scale and the socialization goals were grouped in categories: Self-maximization, Self-control, Lovingness, Decency and Proper Demeanor; in addition, eleven subcategories were identified. The results did not indicate statistic significant differences between the groups concerning to socialization goals, except for the Personal Integrity and Religious subcategory, related to the Decency category, more emphasized by low SES mothers. On action strategies, both groups reported preference for strategies based on their own resources (self-centered). In general, the results suggest very similar socialization goals between both groups. These results are interpreted as an expression of a relatively homogenous cultural environment respecting ideal values, a surprising finding, considering the large socioeconomic differences between the groups.(AU)