Studies that distinguish parental monitoring (parent-driven behaviors) from parental knowledge often fail to find protective effects of monitoring on adolescent behavior problems. To answer whether parental monitoring is more strongly associated with adolescent behavior problems among adolescents who may need it most, this study applied…

There is limited literature on the association between parenting practices, parenting stress and externalising behaviours in autistic children. We investigated whether parenting practices mediate the association between parenting stress and externalising behaviours. Parents of school-aged autistic children (n = 138) completed an online survey on…

Coercion theory well characterizes the behavioral aspects that often lead to dysfunctional family processes. Recent conceptualizations have incorporated emotion into models of coercive interactions, yet empirical evidence has been limited. In this study, repeated measures of mother-child dyads (N = 319) were assessed over the course of 2 years to…

Biopsychosocial models of children's socioemotional development highlight the joint influences of physiological regulation and parenting practices. Both high and low levels of children's baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) have been associated with children's maladjustment, indicative of nonlinear associations. Negative or unsupportive…

This study examined the mediating role of emotional availability in the relation between parent positive personality and toddler problem behavior. The sample comprised 654 twins at 12 and 32 months. Primary caregivers (>95% mothers) completed six measures indexing parent positive personality assessed at 12 months, and emotional availability and…

The manner in which mothers engage in emotional discussion, or reminisce, with their young children about past emotional experiences poses important ramifications for child socioemotional and cognitive development. Maltreating mothers may have difficulty engaging in emotionally supportive reminiscing. The current study examined the role of…

This paper focuses on primary school staff members' interpretations of the UK social and emotional learning initiative: SEAL. The data, collected through group and individual interviews with a range of staff members working in schools located in deprived areas, illustrate how the scheme has been used to encourage various behaviours. This…

Children's eating behavior influences energy intake and thus weight through choices of type and amount of food. One type of eating behavior, food responsiveness, defined as eating in response to external cues such as the sight and smell of food, is particularly related to increased caloric intake and weight. Because little is known about the…

Poverty is a well-established risk factor for behavior problems, yet our understanding of putative family mediators during early childhood (i.e., before age 5 years) is limited. The present study investigated whether the association between poverty and behavior problems during early childhood is mediated simultaneously by perceived parenting,…

Neighborhood and parenting influences on early behavioral outcomes are strongly dependent upon a child's stage of development. However, little research has jointly considered the longitudinal associations of neighborhood and parenting processes with behavior problems in early childhood. To address this limitation, this study explores the…

Background: More optimal parenting has been linked with lower rates of bullying. However, it is not clear whether parenting can alter the trajectories of bullying among children diagnosed with ADHD or ODD as well as those who are not so diagnosed. This study examined whether parenting at age 4-5 years was associated with changes in bullying over…

This study used cross-lagged modeling to examine reciprocal relations between maternal and paternal harsh verbal discipline and adolescents' conduct problems and depressive symptoms. Data were from a sample of 976 two-parent families and their children (51% males; 54% European American, 40% African American). Mothers' and fathers'…

Background: Given the great benefits of effective parenting to child development under normal circumstances, and the even greater benefits in the face of risk, it is important to understand why some parents manage to be effective in their interactions with their child despite facing formidable challenges. This study examined factors that promoted…

This study examined the relationship of emotional detachment from parents, parental support, and problem behaviors and focused on the unique and common contribution that detachment and parental support made to internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. A total of 461 young adolescents, 13 to 14 years old ("M" = 13.4;…

In the current study, we examined longitudinal changes in, and bidirectional effects between, parenting practices and child behavior problems in the context of a psychosocial treatment and 3-year follow-up period. The sample comprised 139 parent-child dyads (child ages 6-11) who participated in a modular treatment protocol for early-onset ODD or…