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Bidirectional effects of parenting and child behavior in internationally adopting families.

ABSTRACT: Adoption marks a radical transition in caregiving for thousands of children adopted internationally from institutional care; however, very little is known about the quality of this parenting compared with other populations or the transactional effects of parent and child characteristics in postadoption families during the transition to family care. The current study examined parental sensitivity/responsiveness and structure/limit-setting in a group of 68 children adopted internationally from institutions (41 girls, 27 boys; M age = 26.13 months, SD = 4.99) and their parents over the first year after adoption and compared them to a sample of nonadoptive families (26 girls, 26 boys; M age = 27.65 months, SD = 5.71). Results indicated no mean-level differences in parenting quality on either dimension between adoptive and nonadoptive parents. For postinstitutionalized youth, higher quality parental structure and limit-setting soon after adoption predicted reduced child regulation difficulties 8 months later; however, initial child regulation did not predict later parenting. There were no cross-lagged relations for parental sensitivity/responsiveness. Higher quality preadoptive care for children was associated with higher scores on both sensitivity/responsiveness and structure and limit-setting among adoptive parents. Less growth stunting, indicative of less preadoptive adversity, was associated with parents' use of more effective structure and limit-setting behaviors. Policies should promote better preadoptive care abroad, such as lower caregiver-child ratios, as well as early adoption. At least in families exhibiting generally high sensitivity/responsiveness, interventions should target parental structure and limit-setting to have the greatest effect on child behavioral regulation in the immediate years postadoption. (PsycINFO Database Record

SUBMITTER: Lawler JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5555788 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Bidirectional effects of parenting and child behavior in internationally adopting families.

Lawler Jamie M JM Koss Kalsea J KJ Gunnar Megan R MR

Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43) 20170306 5

Adoption marks a radical transition in caregiving for thousands of children adopted internationally from institutional care; however, very little is known about the quality of this parenting compared with other populations or the transactional effects of parent and child characteristics in postadoption families during the transition to family care. The current study examined parental sensitivity/responsiveness and structure/limit-setting in a group of 68 children adopted internationally from ins ...[more]

PMID: 28263623

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Project description:BackgroundChild maltreatment (CM) constitutes a serious public health problem in the United States with parents implicated in a majority of physical abuse and neglect cases. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an intensive intervention for CM families that uses innovative "bug-in-ear" coaching to improve parenting and child outcomes, and reduce CM recidivism; however, the mechanisms underlying its effects are little understood. The Coaching Alternative Parenting Strategies (CAPS) study aims to clarify the behavioral, neural, and physiological mechanisms of action in PCIT that support positive changes in parenting, improve parent and child self-regulation and social perceptions, and reduce CM in child welfare-involved families.MethodsThe CAPS study includes 204 child welfare-involved parent-child dyads recruited from Oregon Department of Human Services to participate in a randomized controlled trial of PCIT versus a services-as-usual control condition (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02684903). Children ages 3-8 years at study entry and their parents complete a pre-treatment assessment prior to randomization and a post-treatment assessment 9-12 months post study entry. Dyads randomized to PCIT complete an additional, abbreviated assessment at mid-treatment. Each assessment includes individual and joint measures of parents' and children's cardiac physiology at rest, during experimental tasks, and in recovery; observational coding of parent-child interactions; and individual electroencephalogram (EEG) sessions including attentional and cognitive control tasks. In addition, parents and children complete an emotion regulation task and parents report on their own and their child's adverse childhood experiences and socio-cognitive processes, while children complete a cognitive screen and a behavioral measure of inhibitory control. Parents and children also provide anthropometric measures of allostatic load and 4-5 whole blood spots to assess inflammation and immune markers. CM recidivism is assessed for all study families at 6-month follow-up. Post-treatment and follow-up assessments are currently underway.DiscussionKnowledge gained from this study will clarify PCIT effects on neurobehavioral target mechanisms of change in predicting CM risk reduction, positive, responsive parenting, and children's outcomes. This knowledge can help to guide efforts to tailor and adapt PCIT to vary in dosage and cost on the basis of individual differences in CM-risk factors.

Project description:BackgroundThe Strengthening Families Program (SFP) is an evidence-based parent training and youth life skills and drug prevention program traditionally delivered in group settings. Families attend parent and youth classes conducted by trained facilitators. Recently, a 2-disk home-use DVD series was created with the same SFP skills as the group classes for parents and the youth to watch together at home. Additional lesson material was added that included healthy brain development, school success, anger management, dangers of alcohol and drugs, and mindfulness. The SFP DVD reduces SFP delivery costs for agencies and logistic burdens to families. Creative applications of the DVD include holding SFP DVD family discussion groups of multiple families and using SFP DVD video clips as part of a shorter 10-week group class version for parents and the youth.ObjectiveThis study aimed to examine three different DVD implementation scenarios using a noninferiority trial, contrasting target outcomes with an age-matched sample culled from a national norm database of families who completed a standard SFP 14-week class.MethodsThe partial eta-square was used to compare effect sizes between the different delivery modalities for relevant programmatic outcomes. We adjusted the effect sizes by demographic measures to determine whether there were site-specific features influencing program outcomes.ResultsFor the unadjusted effect size comparisons, 13 of the 15 indicated that the home-use DVD outperformed group norms with an average 0.13 effect size estimate difference across the comparisons (28% improvement in the effect size for DVD condition). Comparisons of the home-use DVD condition with the mixed DVD use conditions showed no discernable pattern where one condition consistently outperformed another. Adjusted effect sizes still reinforced the superiority of the DVD conditions; however, there was some shrinkage in the effect sizes as expected with the inclusion of relevant covariates.ConclusionsThe home-use DVD shows that it is possible to effectively deliver an affordable family-based intervention using alternative technology outside of the traditional group-based class format. In almost all of the comparisons, the DVD conditions outperformed the group norms, underscoring that low-cost DVDs or viewing the videos on the Web may provide a useful surrogate for costly group-based formats. Future studies may want to improve on the quasi-experimental design by examining programmatic differences based on delivery format using a randomized controlled trial, thus strengthening the causal framework regarding program effects. In addition, the assessment protocol relied on retrospective reporting, which, although this can limit response shift bias, does not separate data collection in time as with a true pre- and posttest design.

Project description:BackgroundIn a longitudinal cohort study, we investigated the interplay of harsh parenting and genetic variation across a set of functionally related dopamine genes, in association with children's externalizing behavior. This is one of the first studies to employ gene-based and gene-set approaches in tests of Gene by Environment (G × E) effects on complex behavior. This approach can offer an important alternative or complement to candidate gene and genome-wide environmental interaction (GWEI) studies in the search for genetic variation underlying individual differences in behavior.MethodsGenetic variants in 12 autosomal dopaminergic genes were available in an ethnically homogenous part of a population-based cohort. Harsh parenting was assessed with maternal (n = 1881) and paternal (n = 1710) reports at age 3. Externalizing behavior was assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at age 5 (71 ± 3.7 months). We conducted gene-set analyses of the association between variation in dopaminergic genes and externalizing behavior, stratified for harsh parenting.ResultsThe association was statistically significant or approached significance for children without harsh parenting experiences, but was absent in the group with harsh parenting. Similarly, significant associations between single genes and externalizing behavior were only found in the group without harsh parenting. Effect sizes in the groups with and without harsh parenting did not differ significantly. Gene-environment interaction tests were conducted for individual genetic variants, resulting in two significant interaction effects (rs1497023 and rs4922132) after correction for multiple testing.ConclusionOur findings are suggestive of G × E interplay, with associations between dopamine genes and externalizing behavior present in children without harsh parenting, but not in children with harsh parenting experiences. Harsh parenting may overrule the role of genetic factors in externalizing behavior. Gene-based and gene-set analyses offer promising new alternatives to analyses focusing on single candidate polymorphisms when examining the interplay between genetic and environmental factors.

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Bidirectional effects of parenting and child behavior in internationally adopting families.

Publications

Bidirectional effects of parenting and child behavior in internationally adopting families.

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