Associations between local COVID-19 case rates, pandemic-related financial stress and parent and child functioning.

The COVID-19 global crisis led to unprecedented disruption of family routines and heightened family stress. This study examines the effects of local COVID-19 case rates and pandemic-related financial stress on family processes (e.g.

Parenting Stress and Child Externalizing and Internalizing Problems Among Low-Income Families: Exploring Transactional Associations.

Although the association between parenting stress and child behavioral outcomes is well established (Deater-Deckard, Clin Psychol 5:314-332, 1998), longitudinal research examining the direction of these effects is limited. This study examined transactional associations between parenting stress and child externalizing and internalizing behaviors among 1209 low-income female caregivers (M = 34.51) with children in early childhood or early adolescence (i.

Parent-Adolescent Communication Influences on Anxious and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence.

The unique developmental changes and important role of parents during early adolescence warrants consideration of parent-adolescent communication, including open communication, co-problem-solving, and co-rumination, and its influences on adolescents' anxious and depressive symptoms. In this study, 400 early adolescents (M age = 12.49; 54% female) recruited from a middle school completed electronic questionnaires at two time points, 5 months apart.

Coping Strategies and Psychological Symptoms Among Children on St. Thomas in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Research has shown that experiencing a hurricane can lead to internalizing, externalizing, and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms in children. However, the effects of experiencing two hurricanes within a short time frame have not been examined. Moreover, there is limited research examining how children's coping is linked to their psychological functioning and no research using the empirically supported conceptualization of coping that includes primary control coping (i.

Maternal and Paternal Predictors of Child Depressive Symptoms: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Framework.

Family members are theorized to influence each other via transactional or systems related processes; however, the literature is limited given its focus on mother-child relationships and the utilization of statistical approaches that do not model interdependence within family members. The current study evaluated associations between self-reported parental affect, parenting behavior, and child depressive symptoms among 103 mother-father-child triads. Children ranged in age from 8 to 12 years.

Understanding the relationship between actual:ideal discrepancies and depressive symptoms: a developmental examination.

Self-discrepancy theory (SDT) is one framework for understanding how goal failure is associated with depressive symptoms. The present studies sought to examine the variance in depressive symptoms explained by actual:ideal discrepancies, beyond what is accounted for by actual-self ratings. Additionally, gender and grade were examined as potential moderators in the relationship.

When do self-discrepancies predict negative emotions? Exploring formal operational thought and abstract reasoning skills as moderators.

Individual differences in higher-order cognitive abilities may be an important piece to understanding how and when self-discrepancies lead to negative emotions. In the current study, three measures of reasoning abilities were considered as potential moderators of the relationship between self-discrepancies and depression and anxiety symptoms. Participants (N = 162) completed measures assessing self-discrepancies, depression and anxiety symptoms, and were administered measures examining formal operational thought, and verbal and non-verbal abstract reasoning skills.

Maternal Functioning, Time, and Money: The World of Work and Welfare.

Numerous studies have assessed families' employment and financial stability following welfare reform. Yet little research has addressed whether welfare and work transitions are linked with other changes in family functioning. Using a representative sample of approximately 2,000 low-income urban families from the Three-City Study, analyses assessed whether mothers' welfare and employment experiences over a two-year period following welfare reform were related to changes in family well-being.

Mothers' transitions from welfare to work and the well-being of preschoolers and adolescents.

Results from a longitudinal study of 2402 low-income families during the recent unprecedented era of welfare reform suggest that mothers' transitions off welfare and into employment are not associated with negative outcomes for preschoolers (ages 2 to 4 years) or young adolescents (ages 10 to 14 years). Indeed, no significant associations with mothers' welfare and employment transitions were found for preschoolers, and the dominant pattern was also of few statistically significant associations for adolescents. The associations that did occur provided slight evidence that mothers' entry into the labor force was related to improvements in adolescents' mental health, whereas exits from employment were linked with teenagers' increased behavior problems.

Welfare reform and parenting: reasonable expectations.

Although the primary goals of federal welfare reform legislation were to move welfare mothers into the workforce and reduce births outside of marriage, promotion of responsible parenting was also an important underlying theme. Parenting is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon, however, encompassing a wide range of functions related to nurturing, discipline, stimulation, values, activities, and routines. This article provides a framework for assessing the impact of welfare reform on various dimensions of parenting, with the following key findings: Many aspects of life affect parenting and child development, such as parent characteristics, child characteristics, family economic resources, family structure, parental mental health, marital or partner relationships, and the quality of parents' kin and social networks.