Adolescents' experiences of parental employment and parenting: connections to adolescents' well-being

This paper examines whether the relationship between parental work and adolescents' well-being would be mediated through parenting behaviour. The primary focus was on the experiences of adolescents. Questionnaire-based data from families (both parents and one children, n = 77) and adolescents (n = 126) were collected in Finland in 2000 and 2001, respectively. The adolescents were on average 14 years old. Results showed that the relationships between parents' negative work experiences and adolescents' depression (all perceived by adolescents) were partially mediated by adolescents' experience of lessened autonomy granting in parenting and increased conflicts between parents and adolescents. In addition, the relations between fathers' negative work experiences and adolescents' negative attitude regarding school (all reported by adolescents) were mediated by adolescents' perceptions of increased conflicts between fathers and adolescents.     

Beliefs in the legitimacy of decision authority among Chinese adolescents and parents: A person-centered approach

The present study examined Chinese parents' and adolescents' beliefs in the legitimacy of decision authority with reference to specific issues from the prudential, conventional, multifaceted, and personal domains. The sample included 698 adolescents aged 12–15 and their parents from southern China. Parents and adolescents reported on their own beliefs respectively. Subgroups of parent and adolescent participants characterized by distinct patterns of beliefs across issues were identified with latent class analyses (LCA). Further, configural frequency analyses (CFA) were conducted to examine the match between parent subgroups and adolescent subgroups. In addition, the LCA-derived subgroups varied across residency status, sibling status, and child gender, and were linked to adolescent depressive symptoms and school misconduct. These associations with external variables provided evidence for the distinctiveness of the latent classes. Results were discussed in light of social domain theory and the socio-historical context where the participants were situated.     

Adolescents' financial literacy: the role of financial socialization agents, financial experiences, and money attitudes in shaping financial literacy among South Korean youth

The purpose of this study was to test the relationships between financial socialization agents, financial experiences, money attitudes, demographic characteristics, and the financial literacy of Korean adolescents. Using the 2006 Korean National Financial Literacy Test Survey for Adolescents (N = 1185), a series of regression analyses were performed to determine the factors related to financial literacy. It was found that those who chose media as their primary financial socialization agent, and those who had a bank account, exhibited higher levels of financial literacy. Among the sample, those who saw money as good or as a reward for efforts tended to report higher levels of financial literacy, while those perceiving money in terms of avoidance or achievement had lower levels of financial literacy. Students with mid-range monthly allowances showed higher levels of financial literacy compared to the highest allowance group. Implications for financial educators, policy makers, and researchers are provided.     

Don't trust anyone over 30: parental legitimacy as a mediator between parenting style and changes in delinquent behavior over time

Both law and society scholars and developmental psychologists have focused on the legitimacy of authority figures, although in different domains (police versus parents). The purpose of the current research is to bridge these two fields by examining the relations among parenting style (i.e., authoritarian, authoritative, permissive), the perception of parental legitimacy, and changes in delinquency over time. It is hypothesized that parental legitimacy mediates the relation between parenting style and future delinquent behavior. Middle school and high school students completed questionnaires three times over a period of 18 months. Parenting style and delinquent behavior were measured at time 1, parental legitimacy at time 2, and delinquency again at time 3. The results show that authoritative parenting was positively related to parental legitimacy, while authoritarian parenting was negatively associated with parental legitimacy. Furthermore, parental legitimacy was negatively associated with future delinquency. Structural equation modeling indicated that parental legitimacy mediated the relation between parenting styles and changes in delinquency over the 18-month time period. The implications for parenting style and parental legitimacy affecting delinquent behavior are discussed.     

The costs of parental pressure to express emotions: conditional regard and autonomy support as predictors of emotion regulation and intimacy

This research focuses on offspring's perceptions of their parents' usage of conditional regard and autonomy-supportive practices in response to the offspring's experiences of negative emotion. Participants were 174 college students (60% were females). As predicted from self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), students' perceptions of parents as hinging their regard on students' expression or suppression of negative emotions predicted a maladaptive pattern of emotion regulation and intimacy capacity. In contrast, autonomy-supportive parenting predicted more adaptive emotion regulation and intimacy patterns. Also as predicted, emotion-regulation mode mediated the relations between parental practices and intimacy capacity. The innovative aspect of the study is the finding that parents who use conditional regard to encourage children's expression (sharing) of negative emotions may actually undermine their children's socioemotional capacities.     

Adolescents' perception of self and of immediate environment by parental marital status: a controlled study

Most studies on children of "broken families" are based on small and unrepresentative samples, are limited to children of divorce and do not control for basic demographic variables. In order to do a survey with fewer methodological deficiencies, we managed to obtain a completely representative sample of a Francophone urban population attending High School I, II and III, with the reasonable sample size of 1519 subjects and including 72 subjects from widowed families in addition to 174 children of divorce; furthermore, we were able to control for the following eight demographic variables: father's and mother's occupation, mother's work, respondent's, father's and mother's age, family size, and respondent's rank of birth. When comparing children from legally intact, widowed, and divorced families, on a wide range of psychosocial variables, we found that on the average, divorce is associated with the greatest disadvantage in children, followed by widowhood; children belonging to intact families show the least disadvantage. Besides, when comparing girls and boys, we did not find striking differences between them in divorced families, but, on the other hand, we found striking differences in widowed families, boys being at much more disadvantage than girls. It is concluded that on the average a family breakup should be considered as a serious risk factor for teenagers and that clinicians would be well advised to monitor the situation carefully when aware of an impending family breakup.     

Links between parental socialization of coping on affect: Mediation by emotion regulation and social exclusion

IntroductionParental socialization of coping strategies is associated with various emotion regulation difficulties and continues to impact individuals during emerging adulthood. As emerging adults’ transition into adulthood, they experience social stressors that put their emotion regulation skills to the test.MethodsThe current study examined the associations of the parental socialization of coping strategies and emotion regulation difficulties with emerging adult positive and negative affect in response to social exclusion. Emerging adults (N = 402, 206 males and 196 females) from a large Southern university in the United States were recruited for the study. Participants completed survey measures of parental socialization of coping, positive and negative affect, and emotion regulation difficulties before engaging in a social exclusion task called Cyberball. After the task, participants completed a measure of positive and negative affect again.ResultsPrimary parental socialization of coping was associated with emotion regulation difficulties, both of which were associated with affect after the exclusion task, thus supporting the indirect effect of parental coping socialization on affect through a preexisting variable (i.e., emotion regulation) and a causal manipulation (i.e., exclusion task).ConclusionsThe impact of parental suggestions of coping strategies and emotion regulation difficulties during emerging adulthood indicate that parents continue to be an important point of intervention as individuals’ transition to adulthood.     

Parental socioeconomic position and parental life satisfaction as predictors of job strain in adulthood: 18-year follow-up of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to prospectively examine whether parental socioeconomic position (SEP) and parental life satisfaction predict job strain in adulthood. METHODS: The cohort comprised 755 participants from the ongoing Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. The parents reported their SEP and life satisfaction when the participants were aged 6-21 years. Eighteen years later at ages 24-39 years, the participants responded to a survey on job strain and its components, job control and job demands. RESULTS: According to structural equation modeling, lower parental SEP and higher parental life dissatisfaction independently predicted increased adulthood job strain. Lower parental SEP also predicted lower educational attainment, which in turn was linked with higher job strain and lower job control. We found no gender differences in these predictive relationships. CONCLUSION: Parental SEP and parental life satisfaction are associated with job strain in adulthood, and the effect is partly mediated by education. These prospective data suggest that preemployment factors should be taken into account as potential confounders in future research on job strain-health associations.     

Childhood onset of migraine,gender, parental social class,and trait neuroticism as predictors of the prevalence of migraine in adulthood

This study investigated the effects of socio-demographic and psychological factors in childhood and adulthood on the prevalence of migraine in adulthood using data from The National Child Development Studies (NCDS), a birth cohort in the UK. The analytical sample comprises 5799 participants with complete data. Logistic regression analysis showed that higher professional parental social class (OR = 2.0: 1.05, 3.86, p < 0.05), female sex (OR = 2.24: 1.68–2.99, p < 0.001), migraine in childhood diagnosed by physicians (OR = 1.76: 1.23–2.50, p < 0.01), and higher trait neuroticism (OR = 1.17:1.26-1.06, p < 0.01): < 0 were all significantly associated with the prevalence of migraine in adulthood. Both socio-demographic and personality factors were significantly associated with the prevalence of migraine in adulthood.     

Patient predictors of process and outcome in short-term individual psychotherapy

Twenty-one psychiatric outpatients were treated with short-term, psychoanalytically oriented, individual psychotherapy. Outcome ratings were provided by the patient, the therapist, and an independent assessor. Process ratings were provided by the patient and the therapist at the end of therapy. From a series of multiple regression analyses two pretherapy predictor scores (defensive style of the patient, object choice of the patient) emerged as good predictors of several of the process and outcome ratings. The two predictor scores were statistically independent of one another and were not significantly related to initial severity of disturbance. Attention to these two concepts in future research and in clinical assessment of patients for short-term individual psychotherapy is recommended.     

Circulating activated factor XI and active tissue factor as predictors of worse prognosis in patients following ischemic cerebrovascular events

Background

Elevated factor (F)XI is associated with an increased risk for ischemic stroke. Activated FXI (FXIa) and tissue factor (TF) have not been studied following stroke. The aim of the current study was to evaluate circulating FXIa and TF in patients with prior cerebrovascular events.

Patients/Methods

We studied 241 patients, including 162 after ischemic stroke and 79 after transient ischemic attack (TIA), recruited 6 months to 4 years (median, 36 months) after the events. Plasma TF and FXIa activity following the index event were determined in clotting assays by measuring the response to inhibitory monoclonal antibodies.

Results

Active TF was detected in 25 (10.4%) of the patients, while FXIa activity (median, 37.5 [IQR 397] pM) was found in 64 (26.7%) of the patients (p < 0.01). The prevalence of active TF and FXIa was higher in subjects with previous stroke compared with those with a history of TIA (13% vs 5.1%, p = 0.05, and 34% vs 11.4%, p < 0.0001, respectively). Patients with circulating FXIa were younger and had higher fibrinogen and interleukin-6 compared to the remainder. Patients with detectable TF or FXIa activity had higher NIHSS score, higher modified Rankin scale and lower Barthel Index than the remaining subjects (all p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Circulating active TF and FXIa can occur in patients with cerebrovascular ischemic events ≥ 6 months after the events. The presence of these factors is associated with worse functional outcomes, which highlights the role of persistent hypercoagulable state in cerebrovascular disease.     

Evolution of parental knowledge and efficacy across the pediatric neuropsychological evaluation process

Objective: The handful of studies examining parent satisfaction after pediatric neuropsychological evaluations have focused on post-evaluation appraisals. By examining parent experiences across the course of their child’s evaluation, this study aimed to provide important insights into how and when parents experience changes in knowledge, understanding of care options, and efficacy during evaluation process.

Method: Parents of youth receiving neuropsychological evaluation completed questionnaires at four time points (prior to evaluation [n?=?363], day of testing [n?=?300], prior to feedback [n?=?250], and post-report [n?=?99]). Parents rated aspects of their knowledge and efficacy regarding their child’s functioning. Parents also rated their perception of the neuropsychologist, medical provider, and school along the same domains. The resulting longitudinal data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and ANCOVA. Although primary analyses focused on the entire sample, differences between first-time evaluations and re-evaluations were also examined.

Results: Families receiving an initial evaluation showed lower ratings in knowledge, awareness of options, and efficacy at the beginning of the evaluation and a significant increase in ratings by the end of the evaluation. Families returning for re-evaluation showed higher initial ratings that changed comparatively little during the evaluation. Parents receiving initial evaluations also perceived increased knowledge of their child by medical providers and school.

Conclusion: The study supports the clinical assumption that parents gain knowledge about their child and treatment options during a neuropsychological evaluation. The difference between initial and re-evaluation warrants further study. Studying the process and experience of neuropsychological evaluation may provide more nuanced findings than post hoc satisfaction measures.     

Challenges to the parental brain: Neuroethological and translational considerations

Extending from research documenting adaptive parental responses in nonthreatening contexts, the influences of various neuroethological and physiological challenges on effective parenting responses are considered in the current review. In natural habitats, rodent family units are exposed to predators, compromised resources, and other environmental stressors that disrupt HPA axis functions. With the additional physiological demands associated with caring for offspring, alterations in stress-related neuroendocrine responsiveness contribute to adaptive responses in many challenging contexts. Some environmental contexts, however, such as restricted nesting resources, result in disrupted maternal responses that have a negative impact on offspring wellbeing. Additionally, parental dysregulation associated with exposure to environmental chemicals or pharmacological substances, also compromise maternal responses with effects that often extend to future generations. Continued preclinical and clinical research elucidating parental responses to various stressors and physiological disruptors is necessary to provide valuable translational information identifying threats to effective parenting outcomes.     

Adolescents' views of food and eating: identifying barriers to healthy eating

Contemporary Western society has encouraged an obesogenic culture of eating amongst youth. Multiple factors may influence an adolescent's susceptibility to this eating culture, and thus act as a barrier to healthy eating. Given the increasing prevalence of obesity amongst adolescents, the need to reduce these barriers has become a necessity. Twelve focus group discussions of single-sex groups of boys or girls ranging from early to-mid adolescence (N=73) were employed to identify key perceptions of, and influences upon, healthy eating behaviour. Thematic analysis identified four key factors as barriers to healthy eating. These factors were: physical and psychological reinforcement of eating behaviour; perceptions of food and eating behaviour; perceptions of contradictory food-related social pressures; and perceptions of the concept of healthy eating itself. Overall, healthy eating as a goal in its own right is notably absent from the data and would appear to be elided by competing pressures to eat unhealthily and to lose weight. This insight should inform the development of future food-related communications to adolescents.     

Hormones and menopausal status as predictors of depression in women in transition to menopause

BACKGROUND: Associations between depressed mood and hormonal changes during transition to menopause are controversial. To our knowledge, there has been no prospective study of these associations in women commencing when they are premenopausal. OBJECTIVE: To longitudinally study the associations among reproductive hormones, menopausal status, and other predictors of depressed mood in midlife women. DESIGN: Cohort study with 6 assessment periods during a 4-year interval. Blood samples were collected 12 times during the follicular phase (days 2-6). SETTING: Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. PARTICIPANTS: A randomly identified, population-based, stratified sample of African American (n = 218) and white (n = 218) women aged 35 to 47 years with regular menstrual cycles, no hormonal or psychotropic medication use, and no serious physical or mental health problems at enrollment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale score and history of depression via the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders. RESULTS: There was an increased likelihood of depressive symptoms during transition to menopause and a decreased likelihood after menopause after adjustment for other predictors of depression, including history of depression, severe premenstrual syndrome, poor sleep, age, race, and employment status (P =.03). The likelihood of depressive symptoms decreased for individuals with a rapidly increasing follicle-stimulating hormone profile (P< or =.001) and also decreased with age compared with premenopausal women (P =.02). Participant aggregate profiles with increasing estradiol levels were significantly associated with depressive symptoms in bivariate analysis (P =.053). CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms as assessed herein increased during transition to menopause and decreased in postmenopausal women. Hormone associations provided corroborating evidence that the changing hormonal milieu contributes to dysphoric mood during transition to menopause.     

Early parental and child predictors of recurrent abdominal pain at school age: results of a large population-based study

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether parental psychological and physical factors and child factors measured in the first year of life were associated with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) in children at age 6(3/4) years. METHOD: A longitudinal cohort study (the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children), followed 8,272 children from pregnancy to age 6(3/4) years. Parental reports of child and parent functioning were gathered. Associations between parental and child functioning assessed at 6 to 8 months postpartum, and RAP measured at age 6(3/4) years were investigated. RESULTS: The prevalence of RAP in this sample was 11.8%. Both maternal anxiety (adjusted odds ratio = 1.53; 95% confidence interval 1.24-1.89) and paternal anxiety (adjusted odds ratio = 1.38; 95% confidence interval 1.12-1.71) in the first year of a child's life were associated with later childhood RAP. Parent reports of child temperament features such as irregular feeding and sleeping were also associated with later RAP. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first evidence from a prospective study that anxiety in both mothers and fathers and child temperament features predate the occurrence of RAP in children. These findings highlight the potential importance of addressing parental anxiety in families in which children present with RAP, although some caution should be exercised in their interpretation because of possible reporting bias.     

Gene-expression profiling of the early stages of MOG-induced EAE proves EAE-resistance as an active process

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) induced by myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) is a well-established animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS) in rodents. It reflects the wide spectrum of disease pathology and serves as a valuable tool for studying the pathogenesis and for testing new therapies of MS. In order to identify genes responsible for resistance to and modulation of the disease, we compared the mRNA expression profile of more than 12,000 genes by DNA microarray technique in lymph nodes of the highly EAE-susceptible mouse strain C57Bl/6 (B6) and the resistant strain C57Bl/10.S (B10). The disease onset in B6 mice was day 15. We identified 84 genes that were up-regulated more than two-fold in B10 mice compared to vehicle-treated controls, whereas only two genes were up-regulated in B6 mice after 7 and 15 days post-immunization (p.i.), respectively. We were able to match five up-regulated genes in B10 mice to known quantitative trait loci (QTLs), which control for EAE susceptibility. Only 17, respectively 5, genes were down-regulated at both time points in B10 and B6 mice. Tests for immunoreactivity to MOG (T cell proliferation and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) secretion) revealed no stronger immune response in B6 compared to B10 mice supporting the hypothesis of an immunosuppressive effect as a target to prevent EAE in the B10 mice. We conclude that resistance to EAE (and possibly to MS) is an active process mediated by multiple genes up-regulated in peripheral lymphatic organs of resistant animals. Thus, monitoring of the expression of these new candidate genes may serve as a tool for the disease progression and the pharmaceutical treatment.