The present study examined what kind of parenting best supports toddlers' self-control in the context of poverty. Parents and toddlers (52% female; M[subscript age] = 2.60 years) in 117 families (35% White, 25% Black, 22% Latinx, 15% Multiracial, and 3% Asian; M family income = $1,845/month) engaged in structured interaction tasks, and toddlers…

Background: Both transactional and common etiological models have been proposed as explanations of why externalizing behavior problems (EBP) and internalizing behavior problems (IBP) co-occur in children. Yet little research has empirically evaluated these competing theoretical explanations. We examined whether EBP and IBP are transactionally…

Although the use of praise for young children is well documented, its use in a stand-alone intervention warrants further exploration. This study aimed to determine whether a brief intervention to raise parental awareness of effective praise had any significant impact on children's behaviour. A mixed methods, control group design was used to…

We tested whether adoptive parenting played a role in the association between pre-adoption experiences and children's adaptive (responsiveness) and maladaptive (internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems, attention and sleep problems) behavioral adjustment over time. Ten-year-old girls, adopted at 13 months from institutional care (n =…

Background: Recent studies indicate that parent education programs that include content to enhance parents' mental states may prove efficacious in improving parenting behavior and child outcomes. Objective: This study presents findings from a national evaluation of the "Active Parenting First Five Years" (FFY) program. This group-based…

Background: Evocative gene-environment correlation (rGE) describes a process through which children's heritable characteristics influence their rearing environments. The current study examined if heritable influences on parenting and children's behavioral outcomes operate through child negative emotionality. Method: Using data from the Early…

Background: Preterm children have an increased risk regarding self-regulation development. Given the strong link between parenting behaviour (i.e., scaffolding and sensitivity) and children's self-regulation, parental training presents a promising way to counteract the negative consequences of preterm birth. Aims: We explored the effectiveness of…

Early childhood development (ECD) has been recognised to be the most important contributor to long-term social and emotional development. Therefore, positive parenting is paramount to foster quality parent-child interaction. Previous research shows that for parents to adopt a positive parenting style, some degree of parental knowledge is required.…

Parents of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face specific challenges in parenting, but concrete parenting behavior has never been properly investigated in these families. This exploratory questionnaire study compared parenting behaviors among mothers of children and adolescents with ASD (n = 552) and without ASD (n = 437) and examined…

Parenting style has been shown to have significant impact on a child's development. Baumrind developed the concept of three parenting styles that is still used today including: Authoritarian/controlling, authoritative/directive, and permissive. Of these, the authoritative/directive parenting style has proven the most effective with children.…

Background: The capacity to control or regulate one's emotions, cognitions and behavior is central to competent functioning, with limitations in these abilities associated with developmental problems. Parenting appears to influence such self-regulation. Here the differential-susceptibility hypothesis is tested that the more putative "plasticity…

This study examined influences on delinquency and recidivism using structural equation modeling. The sample comprised 199,204 individuals: 99,602 youth whose cases had been processed by the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and a matched control group of 99,602 youth without juvenile records. Structural equation modeling for the…

Recent studies reveal early and wide gaps in cognitive and oral language skills--whether gauged in English or Spanish--among Latino children relative to White peers. Yet, other work reports robust child health and social development, even among children of Mexican American immigrants raised in poor households, the so-called "immigrant…

This study examined links between paternal and maternal parenting factors and preschool hyperactivity in a community sample. Forty-one hyperactive and 38 comparison boys (aged 47-62 months) and their fathers and mothers were assessed on a range of interview, parent questionnaire, and observational measures of parenting and child behavior. Results…

This study used the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) with the aim of characterizing motor acquisition rate in 70 healthy 0-6-month-old Brazilian infants, as well as comparing both emergence (initial age) and establishment (final age) of each skill between the study sample and the AIMS normative data. New motor skills were continuously acquired…