The purpose of this study was to evaluate observed parenting practices among first-generation Spanish-speaking Latinos living in Utah. Participants included 50 families with a child between the ages of 4 and 9. Parents and their child engaged in a behavioral observational task that was coded for parenting dimensions and styles to determine if they predict child outcomes among Latino families. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist to assess for behavioral problems. Observations were coded using the Parenting Scale, developed specifically for this study. In general, parents received high ratings on warmth and demandingness, and lower ratings on autonomy granting. Parenting dimensions significantly predicted internalizing problems. Findings lll also suggested that autonomy granting exerted an influence on total behavioral problems. The application of parenting style categories to Latino parents was not useful. Implications for prevention and intervention methods for Latino families were discussed as well as directions for future research .

The quality of a child care setting is believed by many child care researchers to have an impact on the development of children in child care. While a considerable amount of research has been done regarding the impact of child care quality on child outcomes, an examination of literature reviews on the topic reveals that there is a lack of consensus in the field on the question of whether child care quality has a substantial impact on children's development. The present study assessed the impact child care quality has on child outcomes. A dataset from the NICHD Early Child Care Study involving 878 subjects was used. Analyses utilizing structural equation modeling indicated that child care quality has a substantial impact on children's development, even when the influence of demographic and family variables is taken into account.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate observed parenting styles among Puerto Rican parents living in Puerto Rico. Participants included 51 families with a child between the ages of 6 and 11. Families engaged in different behavioral observational tasks. Observations were coded for parenting dimensions and family parenting styles in order to determine its relationship to child outcomes. The Parenting Styles Observation Rating Scale was used to code the observations and the Child Behavior Checklist was used to assess for behavioral problems. Overall, parents received high ratings on warmth, demandingness, and autonomy granting. Supportive demandingness was negatively associated with internalizing, externalizing, and total child problems. The majority of the sample was categorized as authoritative (68.6%), while 23.5% was categorized as “cold.” Authoritative parenting was significantly associated with lower child problems across the board in comparison to “cold” and permissive families. Limitations of the current study were considered. Lastly, the implications of the results and directions for future research in regards to Puerto Rican parenting for families living in Puerto Rico were discussed.

Child care researchers divide child care quality into two separate categories: structural child care quality (adult-child ratios, class size, amount of physical space, etc.) and dynamic child care quality (number and quality of teacher-child relationships). A consensus has emerged in the child care literature that structural child care quality has no direct effect on children's developmental outcomes (e.g., language development, social development, school readiness) . Rather, structural child care quality facilitates dynamic child care quality, which then has a direct effect on child outcomes. While child care researchers frequently assert that structural variables merely facilitate dynamic variables, and have no direct impact on child outcomes, this assertion has never been empirically tested. The presented study tested the relative impact of structural and dynamic child care quality on child outcomes using multiple regression analysis. A data set from the European Child Care and Education Study involving 1,246 subjects was used, and 20 structural quality variables, 10 dynamic quality variables, and four measures of child outcomes were used in the multiple regression equations. In each case it was found that structural quality variables continued to be correlated with child outcomes after the variance associated with dynamic quality variables was removed, indicating that structural child care quality has an influence on child outcomes beyond merely facilitating dynamic quality . The prevailing view that structural child care quality merely facilitates dynamic child care quality, and has no direct influence on child outcomes, was not supported by the present study.

In a diverse community sample of mothers (N = 108) and their preschool‐aged children (Mage = 3.50 years), this study conducted person‐oriented analyses of maternal emotion regulation (ER) based on a multimethod assessment incorporating physiological, observational, and self‐report indicators. A model‐based cluster analysis was applied to five indicators of maternal ER: maternal self‐report, observed negative affect in a parent–child interaction, baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and RSA suppression across two laboratory tasks. Model‐based cluster analyses revealed four maternal ER profiles, including a group of mothers with average ER functioning, characterized by socioeconomic advantage and more positive parenting behavior. A dysregulated cluster demonstrated the greatest challenges with parenting and dyadic interactions. Two clusters of intermediate dysregulation were also identified. Implications for assessment and applications to parenting interventions are discussed.

This longitudinal study investigated the potential moderating effects of attachment on negative marital interaction and positive child outcomes, specifically school engagement and child self-regulation. Waves I and II of data were drawn from the Flourishing Families Project; participants were 296 two parent families (fathers, mothers and children ages 10-13). Both observational and questionnaire data were used in data collection. Negative marital interaction was assessed using observational codes from the Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales. All three family members' perceptions were used in assessing parent/child attachment and the potential positive child outcomes of school engagement and child self-regulation. As negative marital interaction increased, both school engagement and the child's self-regulation decreased. Only mother's attachment with child was a statistically significant moderating variable for the relationship between negative marital interaction and the child's school engagement. Gender effects showed that girls were more engaged in school and more self-regulated than boys. Implications for family therapy interventions with problems of child school engagement and self-regulation are explored.

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Conflict is a common problem among families, and children may be negatively affected by this family dynamic. Some family characteristics may protect children from negative effects, even in the midst of conflict. Though little research has been conducted addressing familial effects of humor, the current longitudinal study examined the moderating effect of humor on the relationship between family conflict and child self regulation. Two hundred ninety six two-parent families from the Seattle area were surveyed and observed as a party of Brigham Young University's Flourishing Family Project. Family conflict and coded humor from an observation task were assessed at time 1 and self regulation in the child was assessed at both time 1 and one year later. Results indicated that (1) family conflict negatively influences child self regulation, (2) that humor between fathers and children is associated with child self regulation, and (3) that humor between fathers and children may buffer the effects of family conflict on a child's self regulation. Humor between mothers and children and between mothers and fathers did not moderate the relationship between family conflict and child self regulation. These results suggest that some forms of family humor may provide families with healthy child outcomes. Limitations and implications for family therapy are discussed.