Specialized and versatile antisocial behavioral profiles in preschoolers: Associations with persistent behavioral problems.

This study investigated specialized and versatile antisocial patterns in preschoolers and examined the link between these patterns and the risk of developing chronic antisocial behaviors throughout childhood. A total of 556 children (50.6% boys, 88% White) participated in this three-wave longitudinal study at 3-5, 6-8, and 10-12 years old. A latent transition analysis revealed that most preschoolers (89.5%) who adopt several subtypes of antisocial behaviors simultaneously exhibit stable and severe antisocial behaviors throughout childhood. In contrast, most preschoolers (60%) who favor one specific subtype of antisocial behaviors desist from such behaviors between preschool and preadolescence. Importantly, aggression accompanied by other subtypes of antisocial behaviors predicted chronicity better than aggression alone, casting doubt on the notion that aggression is the strongest predictor of chronicity.

Associations between early poverty exposure and adolescent well-being: The role of childhood negative emotionality.

Using a longitudinal design (Wave 1 n = 164, Mage = 3.57 years, 54% female, predominantly White and French-speaking), the current study sought to answer two questions: 1) does poverty influence children's negative emotionality through heightened family-level, poverty-related stress? and 2) is negative emotionality, in turn, predictive of adolescent internalizing symptoms, externalizing behaviors, cognitive abilities, and physical health? Results confirmed an indirect pathway from family poverty to child emotionality through poverty-related stress. In addition, negative emotionality was associated with adolescent internalizing symptoms, attention difficulties, and physical health, but not externalizing symptoms, even when controlling for early poverty exposure.

The longitudinal effects of maternal parenting practices on children's body mass index z-scores are lagged and differential.

BACKGROUND: The longitudinal relation between parenting practices and styles with children's body mass index z-scores (zBMI) is poorly understood. Previous studies suggest the relationship may be complex, but small samples and short follow-ups diminish the strength of the evidence. The objectives of this study were to investigate whether the relationship is bidirectional, time-varying, and lagged using data from a large, representative birth cohort of Quebec children. METHODS: Data were from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD), a prospective birth cohort (n = 1,602). The mothers' interactions with their children (at ages 6, 8, 10, and 12 years) were utilized in factor analysis to identify three latent parenting practices (disciplinarian, lenient, and responsive). The parenting practices were analyzed with K-means clustering to identify the parenting styles. The temporal and bidirectional relationships were assessed in a cross-lagged path analysis using a structural equation modelling framework. Mixed models controlling for age, sex, income, mother's education, and whether the participant was first-born were estimated. Missing data were handled with full information maximum likelihood. RESULTS: From the linear mixed models, greater lenient and responsive parenting practices were associated with higher zBMI (B = 0.03, p < 0.05) two years later. However, there was no evidence that the relationship was bidirectional nor that parenting style was predictive of children's zBMI. CONCLUSION: While mothers' parenting practices were unaffected by their children's zBMI, parental practices were predictive of future zBMI among their prepubertal children. More in-depth exploration of parenting practices and their potential impact on pediatric weight is needed.

Promoting Postsecondary Education in Low-Income Youth: The Moderating Role of Socio-Behavioral and Academic Skills in the Context of a Major Educational Reform.

Governments around the world are pressed to invest in postsecondary education. However, little research exists to document whether large-scale educational reforms aimed at increasing rates of postsecondary attendance benefit youth's developmental outcomes. This study tested whether an educational reform occurring in Québec, Canada, in the 1960s increased educational levels, and whether it benefitted some youth more than others. In the 1970's, 4109 low-income youth (50% females) aged 7-13 years old were recruited at Time 1 from first, fourth, and seventh grade classes (Mage = 10.6, SD = 2.5). Socio-behavioral characteristics and academic skills at Time 1 were examined as predictors of educational attainment at Time 2, three decades later, on 3883 of the same participants. Multinomial logistic regressions were used to examine the likelihood of youth obtaining a diploma from the newly created, accessible, and affordable colleges ("cégeps"). Low-educated groups (high school dropouts and high school graduates) presented a higher early risk profile than did college graduates. Interactions revealed that social withdrawal protected youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods, helping them graduate from college. Likeability helped academically weaker girls go beyond college and access university, and helped academically competent boys graduate from college. Aggressive behavior decreased the odds of university attendance for academically competent boys. Policies promoting higher education for disadvantaged youth should be supplemented with early interventions integrating academic and socio-behavioral objectives.

Conflict Resolution and Emotional Expression in Sibling and Mother-Adolescent Dyads: Within-Family and Across-Context Similarities.

Early adolescents (aged 12-15) were observed during dyadic conflict discussions with their siblings (n = 23) and mothers (n = 32) in their homes. The verbal conflict behaviors and affect of family members were coded continuously. Sequential analyses identified temporal associations between individuals' affect and their own and their partners' verbal conflict behaviors. In addition, within-family and across-context similarities in behavior were examined. Results revealed that while many links between emotion and behavior were consistent with previous research (e.g., attack/assert when frowning/upset, withdraw/concede when sad), several differences emerged depending on the relationship (sibling vs. mother-adolescent) and position in the family (e.g., adolescent vs. mother). Furthermore, many within-family similarities were observed in responses to emotion, while adolescents showed few similarities in their behavior across contexts. Results are discussed in relation to the developmental context of early adolescence and family systems theory.

Predicting psychosis-spectrum diagnoses in adulthood from social behaviors and neighborhood contexts in childhood.

Research showing that risk for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder with psychosis, and other psychosis-spectrum diagnoses in adulthood is multidetermined has underscored the necessity of studying the additive and interactive factors in childhood that precede and predict future disorders. In this study, risk for the development of psychosis-spectrum disorders was examined in a 2-generation, 30-year prospective longitudinal study of 3,905 urban families against a sociocultural backdrop of changing economic and social conditions. Peer nominations of aggression, withdrawal, and likeability and national census information on neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood, as well as changes in neighborhood socioeconomic conditions over the lifespan, were examined as predictors of diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other psychosis-spectrum disorders in adulthood relative to developing only nonpsychotic disorders or no psychiatric disorders. Individuals who were both highly aggressive and highly withdrawn were at greater risk for other psychosis-spectrum diagnoses when they experienced greater neighborhood disadvantage in childhood or worsening neighborhood conditions over maturation. Males who were highly aggressive but low on withdrawal were at greater risk for schizophrenia diagnoses. Childhood neighborhood disadvantage predicted both schizophrenia and bipolar diagnoses, regardless of childhood social behavior. Results provided strong support for multiple-domain models of psychopathology, and suggest that universal preventive interventions and social policies aimed at improving neighborhood conditions may be particularly important for decreasing the prevalence of psychosis-spectrum diagnoses in the future.

Conflict Resolution and Emotional Expression in Mother-Preadolescent Dyads: Longitudinal Associations with Children's Socioemotional Development.

How youth learn to manage emotions during mother-child conflict influences their socioemotional development. Ninety-four mother-preadolescent (aged 9-13, 57.4% female) dyads were observed during conflict discussions and completed questionnaire measures at one prior time-point (Time 1; ages 6-10) and one subsequent time-point (Time 3; ages 11-16) to the observations (Time 2). The temporal associations between individuals' emotional expressions and their own and their partners' verbal conflict behaviors were observed. Mothers and preadolescents were more attacking and assertive when angry, and more conciliatory and avoidant when sad. Neutral affect predicted the most constructive behaviors, while positive affect promoted avoidance. The responses were similar following their partners' emotions. Maternal conflict-escalating responses to anger were associated with difficult characteristics in earlier childhood and socioemotional difficulties in adolescence. Maternal and child de-escalation following sadness predicted socioemotional adjustment in adolescence. These results demonstrate that conflict resolution between preadolescents and their mothers is influenced by the emotional climate of the interaction, and that the management of negative emotions within the dyad is tied to youth's socioemotional development.

How children's anxiety symptoms impact the functioning of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis over time: A cross-lagged panel approach using hierarchical linear modeling.

Anxiety symptoms in childhood and adolescence can have a long-term negative impact on mental and physical health. Although studies have shown dysregulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis is associated with anxiety disorders, it is unclear how and in what direction children's experiences of anxiety symptoms, which include physiological and cognitive-emotional dimensions, impact the functioning of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis over time. We hypothesized that higher physiological symptoms would be contemporaneously associated with hypercortisolism, whereas cognitive-emotional symptoms would be more chronic, reflecting traitlike stability, and would predict hypocortisolism over time. One hundred twenty children from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Research Project were followed in successive data collection waves approximately 3 years apart from childhood through midadolescence. Between ages 10-12 and 13-15, children completed self-report questionnaires of anxiety symptoms and provided salivary cortisol samples at 2-hr intervals over 2 consecutive days. The results from hierarchical linear modeling showed that higher physiological symptoms were concurrently associated with hypercortisolism, involving cortisol levels that remained elevated over the day. In contrast, longitudinal results over the 3 years between data collection waves showed that chronic worry and social concerns predicted hypocortisolism, showing a low and blunted diurnal cortisol profile. These results have implications for broadening our understanding of the links between anxiety, the stress response system, and health across the course of development.

Maternal Emotion Socialization Mediates the Relationship between Maternal and Adolescent Negative Emotionality.

Parents and children with high negative emotionality may be more likely to provide and receive non-supportive contingencies, respectively. However, no study has examined child and parent negative emotionality in the same study and explored whether the link between child and parent negative emotionality may exist in part because of parental emotion socialization. The present study was designed to explore the link between the negative emotionality of mothers and their adolescent children and the potential mechanisms for this similarity. Maternal emotion socialization was explored as a mediator between maternal and adolescent negative emotionality, and between maternal negative emotionality and adolescent internalizing symptoms. Participants were mothers (M age = 30.47) with their children at two time points: preschool (Time 1; M age = 4.55 years old) and adolescence (Time 2; M = 13.73), with 81 boys and 94 girls. Negative emotionality was measured using a questionnaire, with mothers reporting for herself and her child. Maternal emotion socialization was measured by mothers' self-report of their contingencies to their adolescent child's negative emotions: 1) Punish; 2) magnify; 3) ignore; 4) override; and 5) support. The results revealed that the maternal punishing of the adolescent's negative emotions was a mediator between concurrent mother negative emotionality and adolescent negative emotionality, such that higher mother negative emotionality was associated with more punishing, and more punishing was associated with higher adolescent negative emotionality, controlling for previous levels of maternal and child negative emotionality. Furthermore, being supportive of a child's negative emotions was negatively associated with concurrent levels of adolescent internalizing symptoms, while magnifying a child's emotions held a marginal positive association, controlling for previous levels of internalizing symptoms. The results highlight the importance of considering maternal emotion socialization strategies, even into adolescence, for a more comprehensive understanding of children's emotional well-being. The findings have implications for developing and implementing emotion-based parenting interventions.

Children's anxiety symptoms and salivary immunoglobulin A: A mutual regulatory system?

Anxiety can impact the immune system resulting in negative health outcomes. Salivary immunoglobulin A (sIgA) is a first line of defense against foreign antigens, with lowered levels indicative of weakened mucosal immunity. Little is known about how anxiety symptoms affect the diurnal rhythm of sIgA secretion, or the longitudinal transactional sequence between the two in children and adolescents. The goals of the two studies were to: (i) explore the concurrent associations between self-reported anxiety symptoms and diurnal variations of sIgA across the day using repeated daily samples of sIgA; and (ii) examine transactional relations between children's anxiety and aggregated total amount of sIgA levels across successive periods from middle childhood (Wave 1; ages 9-12) to early adolescence (Wave 2; ages 12-15), and from early to mid- adolescence (Wave 3; ages 15-18). Concurrent results showed a steeper (positive) rise in diurnal slope of sIgA from awakening to 5 hr post-awakening in children with higher anxiety. Longitudinally, higher levels of total anxiety, and specifically, worries at Wave 1 significantly predicted lower cumulative daily levels of sIgA 3 years later at Wave 2. Lowered sIgA levels at Wave 2 in turn predicted higher anxiety at Wave 3, illustrating a "vicious cycle" feedback loop. These findings broaden our understanding of the developmental links between anxiety symptoms, the immune system, and health.

The influential child: How children affect their environment and influence their own risk and resilience.

Views regarding children's influence on their environment and their own development have undergone considerable changes over the years. Following Bell's (1968) seminal paper, the notion of children's influence and the view of socialization as a bidirectional process have gradually gained wide acceptance. However, empirical research implementing this theoretical advancement has lagged behind. This Special Section compiles a collection of new empirical works addressing multiple forms of influential child processes, with special attention to their consequences for children's and others' positive functioning, risk and resilience. By addressing a wide variety of child influences, this Special Section seeks to advance integration of influential child processes into myriad future studies on development and psychopathology and to promote the translation of such work into preventive interventions.

The impact of children's internalizing and externalizing problems on parenting: Transactional processes and reciprocal change over time.

Most theoretical models of developmental psychopathology involve a transactional, bidirectional relation between parenting and children's behavior problems. The present study utilized a cross-lagged panel, multiple interval design to model change in bidirectional relations between child and parent behavior across successive developmental periods. Two major categories of child behavior problems, internalizing and externalizing, and two aspects of parenting, positive (use of support and structure) and harsh discipline (use of physical punishment), were modeled across three time points spaced 3 years apart. Two successive developmental intervals, from approximately age 7.5 to 10.5 and from 10.5 to 13.5, were included. Mother-child dyads (N = 138; 65 boys) from a lower income longitudinal sample of families participated, with standardized measures of mothers rating their own parenting behavior and teachers reporting on child's behavior. Results revealed different types of reciprocal relations between specific aspects of child and parent behavior, with internalizing problems predicting an increase in positive parenting over time, which subsequently led to a reduction in internalizing problems across the successive 3-year interval. In contrast, externalizing predicted reduced levels of positive parenting in a reciprocal sequence that extended across two successive intervals and predicted increased levels of externalizing over time. Implications for prevention and early intervention are discussed.

Emerging psychopathology moderates upward social mobility: The intergenerational (dis)continuity of socioeconomic status.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is relatively stable across generations, but social policies may create opportunities for upward social mobility among disadvantaged populations during periods of economic growth. With respect to expanded educational opportunities that occurred in Québec (Canada) during the 1960s, we hypothesized that children's social and academic competence would promote upward mobility, whereas aggression and social withdrawal would have the opposite effect. Out of 4,109 children attending low-SES schools in 1976-1978, a representative subsample of 503 participants were followed until midadulthood. Path analyses revealed that parents' SES predicted offspring's SES through associations with offspring's likeability, academic competence, and educational attainment. Interaction effects revealed individual risk factors that moderated children's ability to take advantage of intrafamilial or extrafamilial opportunities that could enhance their educational attainment. Highly aggressive participants and those presenting low academic achievement were unable to gain advantage from having highly educated parents. They reached lower educational attainment than their less aggressive or higher achieving peers who came from a similarly advantaged family background. Growing up with parents occupying low-prestige jobs put withdrawn boys and outgoing girls at risk for low educational attainment. In conclusion, social policies can raise SES across generations, with great benefits for the most disadvantaged segments of the population. However, children presenting with emerging psychopathology or academic weaknesses do not benefit from these policies as much as others, and should receive additional, targeted services.

Depressogenic thinking and shame proneness in the development of internalizing problems.

This study examined depressogenic thinking and shame proneness as factors in the development of internalizing problems in a longitudinal sample of 174 children (99 boys, 75 girls). At 7.6-9.4 years of age (Time 1), mothers assessed general internalizing problems in their children and depressogenic thinking, shame proneness, and anxiety were assessed by child self report. At 10.2-11.8 years of age (Time 2), mothers reassessed internalizing problems, and children reported their anxiety and depression. At 12.3-13.1 years of age (Time 3), children who had been high on any Time 2 measure of internalizing problems were selected for assessment of anxiety and depressive disorders. Depressogenic thinking and shame were significantly correlated and predicted subsequent problems. Depressogenic thinking predicted internalizing problems and anxious and depressive symptoms. Shame directly predicted boys' depressive symptoms, and indirectly predicted boys' general internalizing problems and girls' social anxiety. Depressive disorders in early adolescence were predicted specifically by shame. Findings suggest that both shame and depressive thinking contribute to the development of children's internalizing problems.

Contextual Specificity in the Relationship between Maternal Autonomy Support and Children's Socio-emotional Development: A Longitudinal Study from Preschool to Preadolescence.

The benefits of an autonomy supportive environment have been established as a key component in children's development at various ages. Nonetheless, research examining the outcomes of early autonomy supportive environments has largely neglected socio-emotional development. The first objective of the present longitudinal study was to examine the socio-emotional outcomes associated with maternal autonomy support during the preschool period. Second, we explored the contextual specificity of the relationships between maternal autonomy support and children's later socio-emotional outcomes. Finally, we investigated the indirect effect of maternal autonomy support on children's later socio-emotional outcomes through earlier children's socio-emotional outcomes. Sixty-six mothers and their pre-school aged children (41 girls) were followed during preschool (Time 1), elementary school (Time 2) and preadolescence (Time 3). Maternal autonomy support (Time 1) was measured in two contexts (free-play and interference task) using observational coding. Furthermore, the children's internalizing and externalizing problems as well as their social competence were measured at Times 2 and 3. The results revealed the importance of maternal autonomy support during preschool for children's later socio-emotional development, especially during challenging contexts, and the mediating role of children's socio-emotional outcomes during elementary school in the link between maternal autonomy support during the preschool years and children's later socio-emotional outcomes during preadolescence. The results highlight the contextual specificity of the relationship between maternal autonomy support and children's later socio-emotional development and reveal one of the mechanisms through which the effect of early childhood parental autonomy support on children's later socio-emotional development is carried forward over time.

The influence of parenting on early childhood health and health care utilization.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether parenting, specifically parental support, structure, and behavioral control, predicted early childhood health care use and moderated the negative effects of socioeconomic disadvantage. METHODS: A sample of 250 parent-child dyads from a longitudinal intergenerational research program participated. RESULTS: Greater parental support was associated with increased rates of nonemergency care and a higher ratio of outpatient to emergency room (ER) services, a pattern reflecting better health and service use. Support also moderated the negative effects of disadvantaged family background. Greater behavioral control by parents predicted lower rates of both nonemergency care and ER visits. Structured parenting and behavioral control were associated with lower rates of respiratory illness. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of considering parenting practices when examining variations in early childhood health and health care, and the relevance of parental behavior in designing interventions for high-risk populations.

Longitudinal associations between infections and atopic disorders across childhood and dysregulated adrenocortical functioning in early adolescence.

The present study sought to determine if exposure to common childhood medical problems (i.e., infections and atopic disorders [e.g., allergies, asthma]) may dysregulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Longitudinal data from 96 youth were used to examine this possibility. Medical records were drawn from government databases indicating the frequency of visits to healthcare facilities for infections and atopic disorders from infancy to early adolescence. During early adolescence, participants provided salivary cortisol samples from awakening until bedtime over 2 consecutive days. Individuals with a history of increased number visits for infections across childhood displayed elevated levels of cortisol at awakening whereas individuals with childhood histories of visits for atopic disorders displayed blunted diurnal cortisol slopes. These findings build on previous research documenting associations between infections and atopic disorders and cortisol by identifying longitudinal linkages from early health problems to later HPA axis functioning.

Do you see what I see? Exploring maternal and child perceptions of children's anxiety longitudinally.

The goals of this study were to investigate (a) the dyadic relations of mothers' and children's perceptions of children's anxiety symptoms across development, (b) whether maternal perceptions of children's anxiety serve as a mediator of the association between maternal anxiety and child anxiety, and (c) whether sensitive/structured parenting moderates these processes. Participants were 180 mother-child dyads (96 female) recruited from Quebec, Canada, and assessed in preschool, middle childhood, and early adolescence. Mothers and children completed questionnaires on children's anxiety, and mothers additionally completed a questionnaire on their own anxiety. Maternal sensitivity/structuring was assessed from an observed interaction task. Results from an actor-partner interdependence model suggest (a) maternal perceptions of children's anxiety in middle childhood predict children's self-perceptions in adolescence, but not vice versa; (b) maternal perceptions in middle childhood mediate the link between maternal anxiety in early childhood and child self-perceptions of anxiety in adolescence; and (c) the indirect effect of maternal perceptions is moderated by maternal sensitivity/structuring such that mothers who perceived more anxiety in their children and who were observed to show lower levels of sensitivity/structuring in middle childhood tended to have children who perceived more anxiety in adolescence. Findings suggest that maternal awareness of children's anxiety may be one mechanism, in the presence of relationships characterized by lower levels of sensitivity, through which anxiety risk is transferred from parent to child over time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Academic success across the transition from primary to secondary schooling among lower-income adolescents: understanding the effects of family resources and gender.

Successful academic performance during adolescence is a key predictor of lifetime achievement, including occupational and social success. The present study investigated the important transition from primary to secondary schooling during early adolescence, when academic performance among youth often declines. The goal of the study was to understand how risk factors, specifically lower family resources and male gender, threaten academic success following this "critical transition" in schooling. The study involved a longitudinal examination of the predictors of academic performance in grades 7-8 among 127 (56 % girls) French-speaking Quebec (Canada) adolescents from lower-income backgrounds. As hypothesized based on transition theory, hierarchical regression analyses showed that supportive parenting and specific academic, social and behavioral competencies (including spelling ability, social skills, and lower levels of attention problems) predicted success across this transition among at-risk youth. Multiple-mediation procedures demonstrated that the set of compensatory factors fully mediated the negative impact of lower family resources on academic success in grades 7-8. Unique mediators (social skills, spelling ability, supportive parenting) also were identified. In addition, the "gender gap" in performance across the transition could be attributed statistically to differences between boys and girls in specific competencies observed prior to the transition, as well as differential parenting (i.e., support from mother) towards girls and boys. The present results contribute to our understanding of the processes by which established risk factors, such as low family income and gender impact development and academic performance during early adolescence. These "transitional" processes and subsequent academic performance may have consequences across adolescence and beyond, with an impact on lifetime patterns of achievement and occupational success.

Relationship Quality and Mental Health Implications for Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Longitudinal Study.

Although parent-adolescent and peer-adolescent relationship quality are critical for adolescent wellbeing during typical stressful life events, the unique features of the COVID-19 pandemic put into question whether strong parent-adolescent and peer-adolescent relationship quality functioned as protective factors of adolescent mental health in this context. The current longitudinal study examined a community sample of adolescents across 3 time points, each 6 months apart (Time 1: Fall, 2019; n = 163, 50.9% male; mean age = 15.75 years, SD = 1.02). Results showed that increases in depression symptoms, perceived stress, and emotion dysregulation from Fall 2019 to Fall 2020 were predicted by changes in parent, but not peer relationship quality. The current study demonstrates that adolescent-parent relationship quality may be protective against mental health difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic, while adolescent-peer relationship quality may not. Identifying protective factors that may play a role in mitigating the impact of the pandemic, and other such widespread health crises, on youth mental health is critical in reducing the long-term psychological harm of the viral outbreak, as well as promoting adolescent wellbeing and resilience.