Autistic children show higher rates of co-occurring emotional and behavioural difficulties compared to other children in the general population. However, the environmental factors which contribute to the development of emotional (internalising) and behavioural (externalising) difficulties in autistic individuals are poorly understood. This study…

Background and aims: Despite its high potential for affecting sibling relationships, few studies have explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this important family dynamic. Of these, the reported evidence has been inconsistent across cultures and lacks cross-cultural comparability. For the first time, we investigated cross-cultural…

Background: Mothers with learning disabilities are at higher risk of child removal and mental health difficulties and may face more barriers to developing attachment relationships with their children. Mothers with learning disabilities' voices are still underrepresented in research, with less known about those who are actively parenting their…

Transition to school research has largely overlooked parents' experiences, particularly fathers. Addressing this gap, we gathered speech samples from UK parents (93 mothers, Mean age = 37.1 years; SD = 4.6 years; and 70 fathers, Mean age = 38.0 years; SD = 3.59 years) that captured their experiences of the school transition. This study (a)…

This paper examines the relationship between school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ideology of intensive mothering through analysis of posts on lockdown learning in an online mothering community. It is argued that although the school closures seemed to constitute an endorsement and normalisation of intensive mothering ideology [Hays…

There are multivariate influences on the development of children's executive function throughout the lifespan and substantial individual differences can be seen as early as when children are 1 and 2 years of age. These individual differences are moderately stable throughout early childhood, but more research is needed to better understand their…

Here, we explored the structure of the 'Parenting Strategies Questionnaire', a new scale designed to measure parenting strategies for problem behaviour in ASD. We then examined links between child behaviour and parenting in a sample of 222 predominantly-UK parents of ASD children exhibiting behaviour found difficult or challenging. Analysis…

Developmental research during COVID-19 suggests that pandemic-related disruptions in family relationships are associated with children's mental health. Most of this research has focused on 1 child per family, thereby obfuscating patterns that are differentially operative at the family-wide (i.e., between-family) versus child-specific (i.e.,…

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…

The impact of family background on academic achievement, educational trajectories and life chances more generally has been a point of interest among academics for many years. The issue has been researched both quantitatively and qualitatively, with the two traditions generating quite different pictures of family-level 'variables' and processes…

Many studies on parenting styles with children with disabilities exist; however, few investigate parenting styles of hearing parents whose children have a hearing loss. The aim of this review is to explore the limited previous literature on interventions targeting this phenomenon. Data was extracted from search engines, Ebscohost (Academic Search…

The transition to motherhood can be challenging. The baby book market has taken advantage of this, publishing a range of books that suggest adopting strict routines for infant sleep, feeding, and general care. Despite their multi-million sales, their impact has not been established. The aim of this study was to explore the maternal experience of…

This article explores the ideological function of the derogatory label of "pushy parent", which, since the 1980s, has been used considerably in journalistic, popular, political and academic discourses in the UK and the USA. "Pushy parent" is not a descriptive term, but a conceptually vague label implying the existence of…

The Aim: Evidence shows that, along with other variables, the parenting environment contributes significantly to the educational attainment gap. Whilst 'face-to-face' parenting programmes have been shown to be effective, very few studies have examined online models of delivery. Questions to be addressed, therefore, include establishing if widely…

In this article, we conduct a systematic review of the extant literature on the risk and protective factors that impact the healthy resettlement of refugee children around the world. We identify acculturative stress as a main risk factor to consider for assessment and intervention given that is often overlooked in the literature for refugee…