Promoting toddlers' self-regulation and healthy eating habits among families living in poverty: A randomized controlled trial of Recipe 4 Success.

The Recipe 4 Success preventive intervention targeted multiple factors critical to the health and well-being of toddlers living in poverty. This randomized controlled trial, which was embedded within Early Head Start home visits for 12 weeks, included 242 racially and ethnically diverse families (51% girls; toddler mean age = 2.58 years; data collected 2016-2019).

Designing a childhood obesity preventive intervention using the multiphase optimization strategy: The Healthy Bodies Project.

Background/aims: Preventing the development of childhood obesity requires multilevel, multicomponent, comprehensive approaches. Study designs often do not allow for systematic evaluation of the efficacy of individual intervention components before the intervention is fully tested. As such, childhood obesity prevention programs may contain a mix of effective and ineffective components.

Elaboration of parents' schemas of their children: Unique relations to sensitivity and learning support among families living in poverty.

This study examined how distinct aspects of parents' schemas of their children are related to caregiving behaviors. It included 242 families with toddlers and young children, most of whom were living in poverty (37% White, 25% Black, 19% Latine, 17% Multiracial, and 2% Asian; child age = 21-39 months; median family income = $1,555 per month). The elaboration and emotional valence of parents' schemas were coded from brief responses to open-ended questions about children's personality; observations of parents' sensitivity and learning support were assessed in structured and unstructured settings.

Heterogeneous Effects of Depression on Parenting Competence and Child Behavior Among Families Living in Poverty.

This study examined how depression and psychosocial protective factors, such as self-efficacy and conscientiousness, were related to parenting competence and child behavior among families living in poverty. The sample included 238 families (37% White, 25% Black, 19% Latinx, 17% Multiracial, and 2% Asian; 42% of parents reporting clinically significant symptoms of depression) with young children (mean age = 31 months, 51% female). Latent profile analysis identified five distinct subgroups of parents who differed on levels of depression and psychosocial protective factors.

Profiles of Behavioral Self-Regulation and Appetitive Traits in Preschool Children: Associations With BMI and Food Parenting Practices.

Appetitive traits that contribute to appetite self-regulation have been shown to relate to non-food-related regulation in general domains of child development. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to identify typologies of preschool children's behavioral self-regulation (BSR) and appetitive traits related to appetite self-regulation (ASR), and we examined their relation with children's BMIz and food parenting practices. Participants included 720 children and their parents (90% mothers), drawn from the baseline assessment of a childhood obesity preventive intervention.

What kind of parenting is associated with early self-control among toddlers living in poverty? The importance of learning support.

The present study examined what kind of parenting best supports toddlers' self-control in the context of poverty. Parents and toddlers (52% female; = 2.60 years) in 117 families (35% White, 25% Black, 22% Latinx, 15% Multiracial, and 3% Asian; family income = $1,845/month) engaged in structured interaction tasks, and toddlers completed a snack delay task concurrently and after 6 months.

Sustained Benefits of a Preschool Home Visiting Program: Child Outcomes in Fifth Grade.

This study evaluated the sustained effects of the Research-based Developmentally Informed Parent program (REDI-P) at fifth grade, six years after intervention. Participants were 200 prekindergarten children attending Head Start (55% White, 26% Black, 19% Latinx, 56% male, mean age of 4.45 years at study initiation) and their primary caregivers, who were randomly assigned to a control group or a 16-session home-visiting intervention that bridged the preschool and kindergarten years.

Mindful Parenting, Parenting Cognitions, and Parent-Youth Communication: Bidirectional Linkages and Mediational Processes.

Objectives: Mindful parenting and parenting cognitions likely have important linkages to each other and to parent-child communication, but these linkages have not been tested. In this article, we test the bidirectional linkages between mindful parenting and parenting cognitions (sense of competence, parent-centered attributions) and the underlying mediational processes that link them to parent-child communication (parental solicitation and youth disclosure).

Methods: Longitudinal, autoregressive cross-lagged models were run within a longitudinal sample of rural and suburban early adolescents and their mothers ( = 421; mean adolescent age = 12.

Improving Toddlers' Healthy Eating Habits and Self-regulation: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objectives: In this study, we tested whether Recipe 4 Success, a preventive intervention featuring structured food preparation lessons, was successful in improving the following 4 protective factors related to overweight and obesity among families living in poverty: toddlers' healthy eating habits, toddlers' self-regulation, parents' responsive feeding practices, and parents' sensitive scaffolding.

Methods: This randomized controlled trial was open to families enrolled in Early Head Start home visits and included 73 parents and their toddlers aged 18 to 36 months. Multimethod assessments were conducted at baseline and posttreatment.

Reducing Adolescent Psychopathology in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Children With a Preschool Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: Living in poverty increases exposure to adversities that undermine healthy development, impeding growth in the social-emotional and language skills that support adaptive coping and promote mental health. Evidence-based programs have the potential to improve current preschool practice and strengthen these early skills, potentially reducing risk for later psychopathology. The authors tested the hypothesis that an enrichment program in preschool would be associated with reduced levels of psychopathology symptoms at the transition from middle to secondary school.

Sustained effects of a school readiness intervention: 5th grade outcomes of the Head Start REDI program.

This study examined the sustained effects of the Head Start Research-based Developmentally Informed (REDI) program, which enriched preschools with evidence-based programming targeting social-emotional and language/emergent literacy skills. 44 Head Start classrooms were randomly assigned to intervention or a usual practice control group, and 356 4-year-olds (25% African American, 17% Latino, 54% female) were followed through the end of 5th grade. Growth curve analyses revealed that significant intervention effects on teacher-rated social adjustment, academic engagement, and parent involvement identified at the end of the Head Start year were sustained throughout elementary school.

Unfolding Relations among Mindful Parenting, Recurrent Conflict, and Adolescents' Externalizing and Internalizing Problems.

The current study examined unfolding relations among mothers' mindful parenting, parent-adolescent recurrent conflict, and adolescents' externalizing and internalizing problems. In a community sample of 117 families (31% black, Asian, American Indian, or Latino), parents and adolescents (52% female; average age = 12.13 years) were followed over 15 months.

Family Emotional Climate and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Little research has examined family emotional climate in the context of having a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The goal of the current study was to determine how the emotional quality of family subsystems (parent-child and parent couple relationships, for both mothers and fathers) combine to create various classes of family emotional climate and to identify predictors of class membership in 148 families of children with ASD. The emotional quality of family subsystems was assessed using Five Minute Speech Samples from mothers and fathers.

Effect of Preschool Home Visiting on School Readiness and Need for Services in Elementary School: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Home visiting programs targeting the school readiness of preschool children (age range, 4-5 years) show promise in short-term and quasi-experimental studies but rarely are evaluated with rigorous designs and follow-up assessments.

Objectives: To examine the sustained effects of a preschool home visiting program on child and family competencies and on child need for services 4 years later.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In a randomized clinical trial, individual families with preschool children were assigned to receive the Research-Based and Developmentally Informed-Parent home visiting program (REDI-P) (intervention group) or math home learning games in the mail (control group).

Changes in Mindful Parenting: Associations With Changes in Parenting, Parent-Youth Relationship Quality, and Youth Behavior.

Objective: There is growing interest in mindful parenting and how this form of intentional, compassionate interactions with youth are associated with developmental outcomes. We investigated how mindful parenting changes over time, either naturally or in response to interventions, and how that change is associated with other proximal developmental changes.

Method: We used data from a longitudinal, randomized-controlled study design ( = 432 families) to investigate the associations between changes in mindful parenting and 3 outcomes: positive parenting, parent-youth relationship quality, and youth aggression.

Parent Engagement in a Head Start Home Visiting Program Predicts Sustained Growth in Children's School Readiness.

This study examined three components of parent engagement in an enriched Head Start home visiting program: intervention attendance, the working alliance between parents and home visitors, and parents' use of program materials between sessions. The study identified those family and child characteristics that predicted the different components of parent engagement, and the study tested whether those components predicted sustained growth in children's school readiness skills across four years, from preschool through second grade. Ninety-five low-income parents with four year-old children attending Head Start (56% white; 26% black; 20% Latino; 44% girls) were randomly assigned to receive the home visiting program.

Preschool Intervention Can Promote Sustained Growth in the Executive-Function Skills of Children Exhibiting Early Deficits.

This study examined the effects of the Head Start Research-Based, Developmentally Informed (REDI) preschool intervention on growth in children's executive-function (EF) skills from preschool through third grade. Across 25 Head Start centers, each of 44 classrooms was randomly assigned either to an intervention group, which received enhanced social-emotional and language-literacy components, or to a "usual-practice" control group. Four-year-old children ( N = 356; 25% African American, 17% Latino, 58% European American; 54% girls) were followed for 5 years, and EF skills were assessed annually.

Enriching preschool classrooms and home visits with evidence-based programming: sustained benefits for low-income children.

Background: Growing up in poverty undermines healthy development, producing disparities in the cognitive and social-emotional skills that support early learning and mental health. Preschool and home-visiting interventions for low-income children have the potential to build early cognitive and social-emotional skills, reducing the disparities in school readiness that perpetuate the cycle of poverty. However, longitudinal research suggests that the gains low-income children make during preschool interventions often fade at school entry and disappear by early elementary school.

PATHS in Croatia: A school-based randomised-controlled trial of a social and emotional learning curriculum.

This study represents the first rigorous evaluation of a social-emotional learning curriculum, PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies; Kusché & Greenberg, 1994), in elementary schools in Croatia. This study randomly assigned 29 schools to receive the universal preventive intervention or continue with usual practices. Within those schools, this study included 57 classrooms and 568 children.

The randomized controlled trial of Head Start REDI: Sustained effects on developmental trajectories of social-emotional functioning.

Objective: This study assessed the sustained effects of Head Start REDI (Research-based, Developmentally Informed), a randomized controlled preschool preventive intervention, on children's developmental trajectories of social-emotional functioning into elementary school.

Method: Twenty-five Head Start centers with 44 classrooms were randomly assigned to deliver Head Start REDI or Head Start as usual. Head Start REDI featured an integrated language-emergent literacy and social-emotional skills curriculum and enhanced support for positive teaching practices.

Helping Head Start Parents Promote Their Children's Kindergarten Adjustment: The Research-Based Developmentally Informed Parent Program.

Head Start enhances school readiness during preschool, but effects diminish after children transition into kindergarten. Designed to promote sustained gains, the Research-based Developmentally Informed (REDI) Parent program (REDI-P) provided home visits before and after the kindergarten transition, giving parents evidence-based learning games, interactive stories, and guided pretend play to use with their children. To evaluate impact, two hundred 4-year-old children in Head Start REDI classrooms were randomly assigned to REDI-P or a comparison condition (mail-home math games).

Understanding How Mindful Parenting May Be Linked to Mother-Adolescent Communication.

Researchers have sought to understand the processes that may promote effective parent-adolescent communication because of the strong links to adolescent adjustment. Mindfulness, a relatively new construct in Western psychology that derives from ancient Eastern traditions, has been shown to facilitate communication and to be beneficial when applied in the parenting context. In this article, we tested if and how mindful parenting was linked to routine adolescent disclosure and parental solicitation within a longitudinal sample of rural and suburban, early adolescents and their mothers (n = 432; mean adolescent age = 12.

Integrating mindfulness with parent training: effects of the Mindfulness-Enhanced Strengthening Families Program.

There is growing support for the efficacy of mindfulness training with parents as an intervention technique to improve parenting skills and reduce risk for youth problem behaviors. The evidence, however, has been limited to small scale studies, many with methodological shortcomings. This study sought to integrate mindfulness training with parents into the Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14 (SFP 10-14), an empirically-validated family-based preventive intervention.

The Mindfulness-enhanced Strengthening Families Program: integrating brief mindfulness activities and parent training within an evidence-based prevention program.

Teaching mindfulness to parents as well as adolescents through a family-centered intervention approach can have a positive impact on the parent-youth relationship. In mindful parenting, caretakers are aware of their own feelings and emotions, and interact with their adolescents in a mindful way by demonstrating emotional awareness, attentive listening, nonjudgment, self-regulation, and compassion. This chapter discusses the need for family-centered mindfulness approaches in adolescence.

Promoting Children's Social-Emotional Skills in Preschool Can Enhance Academic and Behavioral Functioning in Kindergarten: Findings from Head Start REDI.

This study examined processes of change associated with the positive preschool and kindergarten outcomes of children who received the Head Start REDI intervention, compared to "usual practice" Head Start. In a large-scale randomized-controlled trial (N = 356 children, 42% African American or Latino, all from low-income families), this study tests the logic model that improving preschool social-emotional skills (e.g.