Early childhood attachment stability to mothers, fathers, and both parents as a network: associations with parents' well-being, marital relationship, and child behavior problems.

This study examines the stability of child attachment to mothers and fathers separately, and to both parents as a network between the infancy and preschool periods using a sample of 143 biparental families and their children (73 boys) recruited from the general population. Attachment was assessed at 15 months with the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) and at 45 months with the Preschool Attachment Classification Coding System (PACS). First, results show no stability in attachment to mothers, to fathers, or to both parents as a network.

An Attachment-Based Parental Capacity Assessment to Orient Decision-Making in Child Protection Cases: A Randomized Control Trial.

Two parenting capacity assessment (PCA) protocols, with a short parent-child intervention embedded in each protocol, evaluated the potential for enhanced parenting to orient child placement decision. Parents ( = 69), with substantiated reports of maltreatment by child protective services, and their children (0-6) were randomly assigned to one of two PCAs with either the Attachment Video-feedback (PCA-AVI) or a psychoeducational intervention (PCA-PI) as the embedded intervention component. The PCA-AVI group showed the highest increases in parent-child interaction quality at post-test.

Meta-Analysis of Sex Differences in ADHD Symptoms and Associated Cognitive Deficits.

A meta-analysis was carried out to determine whether there are sex differences among children and adolescents with ADHD on the primary symptoms of ADHD and on executive and attentional functioning. : Studies published from 1997 to 2017 comparing boys and girls with a valid ADHD diagnosis were retained. The meta-analysis found boys with ADHD to be more hyperactive than girls with ADHD and boys to have more difficulties in terms of motor response inhibition and cognitive flexibility.

Types and Influence of Social Support on School Engagement of Young Survivors of Leukemia.

The present study aimed to describe and explore the influence of social support on the school engagement of young survivors of pediatric leukemia. Fifty-three young Quebecers, previously diagnosed and treated for leukemia, completed a questionnaire measuring their school engagement and participated in an interview focusing on the support offered by four groups of relations with regard to school: parents, siblings, friends, and other nonprofessional relations. The interview responses revealed that parents were perceived to be the primary source of informational and emotional support, with support also provided to a lesser extent by friends, siblings, and members of the extended family.

Structure of executive functions in typically developing kindergarteners.

Whereas studies of the past 10 years have shown the executive functions (EFs) in adults to be differentiated into at least three principal components (working memory, inhibition, and flexibility), EF structure in children is far less well understood despite a large body of research on the subject. A study was undertaken to test different structural models of EFs through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on a large sample of typically developing kindergarteners (N = 272). The method employed sought to remedy the shortcomings of past research in this field such as absence of CFA, insufficient number of EF components tested, insufficient number of indicators per latent variable, and absence of control on processing speed.

Executive functions in kindergarteners with high levels of disruptive behaviours.

Executive function (EF) deficits have yet to be demonstrated convincingly in children with disruptive behaviour disorders (DBD), as only a few studies have reported these. The presence of EF weaknesses in children with DBD has often been contested on account of the high comorbidity between DBD and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and of methodological shortcomings regarding EF measures. Against this background, the link between EF and disruptive behaviours in kindergarteners was investigated using a carefully selected battery of EF measures.

Directionality of physical and psychological dating violence among adolescents in Recife, Brazil.

Objective: The aim was to investigate the physical and psychological dating violence among adolescents with respect to the profiles of directionality - only man perpetrates, only woman perpetrates, and bidirectional, ie, both perpetrate violence.

Methods: Sample was performed by two-stage cluster selection in public and private school in the city of Recife (PE), Brazil, presenting data on 355 adolescents of both sexes between 15 and 19 years old. Psychological violence was measured in dimensions threat, verbal/emotional, and relational.

[Notes and reflections on family support programs that foster the social competence of children].

Harmony in family relationships has a positive impact on all its members and especially on the development of the social competence of the child. Based on current scientific knowledge, the scope of this article is to examine the quality criteria required for psychosocial support programs aimed at intervening together with families in order to reduce the behavioral problems of children and enhance their social competence. The programs discussed in this article are Incredible Years, High Scope and Fast Track (United States), ELEM and Fluppy (Canada).

Persistence of problematic sexual behaviors in children.

The purpose of this study was to identify personal and family predictors and correlates of persistence of problematic sexual behaviors (PSB) in children. Participants were the families of 49 children (ages 4-11 years) referred by Child Protective Services in 4 administrative districts of Quebec. Caregivers completed interviews and questionnaires twice at a 1-year interval.

Family functioning and socioaffective competencies of children in the beginning of schooling.

The aim of this short-term longitudinal study, based on the system theory, was to test the association between different aspects of family functioning of preschoolers and their socioaffective competencies at the end of the first grade. The total sample included 278 children (137 boys and 141 girls) and their families. The analysis of variance results regarding the aspects of family cohesion and harmony showed that preschoolers from more cohesive families display more social skills, while those from more conflicting families display more externalizing behavior problems (aggression and irritability).

The role of the executive functions in school achievement at the end of Grade 1.

The aim of this study was to determine the role of executive functions (EFs) in early school achievement when a variety of potential confounding factors were controlled. Measures of EF (inhibition, flexibility, and working memory) and school readiness were administered to a sample of 85 kindergartners (39 boys and 46 girls, 5-6years old). School achievement was then assessed at the end of Grade 1.

Externalizing problems and problematic sexual behaviors: same etiology?

The study sought to determine whether maltreatment subtypes, family sexuality, and personal characteristics predicted and distinguished child problematic sexual behaviors (PSB) and externalizing problems (EP). Participants were families of 188 children, 6-11 years old, referred by child welfare services in four Quebec districts. Caregivers completed interviews and questionnaires.

[A person-process-context study of the quality of interactions between the teenage mother and her baby].

Objective: To understand the transmission mechanisms of psychosocial difficulties prompted by teenage mother and baby interactions. The hypothesis is that the quality of the mother-child exchanges relies on linked with the characteristics of the mother, such as being abused and poor preparation for motherhood, as well as the characteristics of the child.

Method: Direct observation of the quality of exchanges between 97 primipara adolescents and their four month old babies.

[Personal and collective mechanisms for protecting and enhancing the quality of life during childhood and adolescence].

Based on recent literature, this paper presents individual and collective strategies for protecting and promoting the quality of life during childhood and adolescence. Addressing the core principles of an all-round protection policy aligned with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Children's and Adolescents' Statute, it also encompasses practical aspects of professional approaches to children and adolescents in terms of ethics and confidentiality. Additionally, it discusses the determining factors that shape the development of individual and collective resilience, on scientific and theoretical bases, in addition to risk factors, health protection and the cognitive and psychosocial development of this segment of the population.

[Prevalence and co-occurrence of five types of ill-treatment in relation with depression and conduct disorder in adolescent mothers].

In this article, the authors reflect on co-occurrence of different types of maltreatment that adolescent mothers have suffered during their childhood in order to better understand intergenerational transmission of maltreatment. They underline that studies on maltreatment that adults or adolescents have been subjected to during their childhood generally do not take into account co-occurrence of different types of maltreatment. The authors first attempt to verify if adolescent mothers are different from women of the general population in regards to prevalence and co-occurrence of various types of maltreatment suffered during their own development.

[Validation of the French version of the CTQ and prevalence of the history of maltreatment].

This study demonstrates that the five maltreatment scales in the long and short versions of the CTQ are valid and usable with French-speaking populations. It also shows emotional neglect to be the most common form of maltreatment in its general population sample, and physical neglect to be the least common. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse prevalences in the convenience sample roughly correspond to the rates generally obtained in non-clinical samples.