Parents' Spontaneous Attributions about their Problem Child: Associations with Parental Mental Health and Child Conduct Problems.

Parents' attributions about their child's personality and behaviour are known to predict the quality of parent-child interactions and outcomes for the child, including those from parenting interventions. Nothing is known, however, about the quantity and quality of attributions parents use during free speech about their children referred for treatment of behavioural and emotional problems. We tested hypotheses about the types of attributions and associations among parental attributions, parental psychopathology and child conduct problems, using 504 five-minute speech samples (FMSS) coded using the Parent Attribution Speech Sample (PASS) coding system.

Impact of sleepwise: an intervention for youth with developmental disabilities and sleep disturbance.

The prevalence of sleep disturbance among children with developmental disabilities is known to be considerably higher than the typical population. The current study examined the effectiveness of the Sleepwise intervention program (O'Connell and Vannan in Aust Occup Ther J 55:212-214, 2008): a parent-assisted group-based treatment for sleep disturbance which was recently adapted for older children and adolescents with DD. Twenty-six families with children aged 8-17 years participated.

The effects of young children's affiliations with prosocial peers on subsequent emotionality in peer interactions.

Preschoolers' (60 boys and 64 girls, M age = 50.73 months) affiliations with prosocial peers were observed in naturally occurring interactions and then examined in relation to positive and negative emotionality within their peer interactions one semester later. Greater affiliation with prosocial peers in the fall was related to enhanced positive emotionality (especially for girls) and decreased negative emotionality (especially for boys) in later peer interactions.