Thesis (D.Phil. (Social Work))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Includes summary in Afrikaans and English. Includes bibliographical references.

To examine the relationships among children's temperament, parents' attributions, parenting stress, and children's behavior problems, the current study investigates the responses of parents who are raising children between the ages of 3- and 6-years. Each parent completed the Dimensions of Temperament Scale-Revised for Children (Windle & Learner, 1986), the Parenting Locus of Control Scale-Short Form (Rayfield, Eyberg, Boggs, & Roberts, 1995a), the Parent Attribution Test (Bugental, 1998), the Child Trait Rating Scale (Sacco, Johnson, & Tenzer, 1993), the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (Abidin, 1995), and the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000, 2001). Using correlational and regression analyses, results of this study suggest that difficult child temperament is related positively and significantly to an external locus of parental control, less positive child trait attributions, and higher levels of parenting stress, whereas easier child temperament is related to an internal locus of parental control, more positive child trait attributions, and lower levels of parenting stress. Although different patterns of findings occur for mothers and fathers, regression results indicate generally that parents' attributions mediate the relationship between children's temperament and parenting stress. Such findings suggest that interventions would benefit from targeting parents' attributions of their children as well as the relationships among parents' attributions, parenting stress, other parenting characteristics, and children's behavior problems.

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) to identify, in a large representative sample of Canadian children, the age-related trajectories of overweight and obesity from toddlerhood into childhood and (b) to investigate the associations between these trajectories and children’s temperaments, their parents’ parenting practices and their interactions. Potentially important familial characteristics (i.e., the parents’ or surrogates’ age, income level, and educational attainment) were considered in the models. The sample for this study was drawn from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). Group-based mixture modeling analyses were conducted to identify the number and types of distinct trajectories in the development of obesity (i.e., to explicate the developmental processes in the variability of childhood obesity) in a representative sample of children who were between 24 to 35 months of age, at baseline, and followed biennially over a 6-year span. Discriminant analysis was conducted to assess the theoretical notion of goodness-of-fit between parenting practices and children’s temperament, and their association with membership in the BMI trajectory groups. The results of the group-based modeling established three different BMI trajectories for the boys, namely: stable-normal BMI, transient-high BMI, and j-curve obesity. The analyses revealed four different trajectories of BMI change for the girls: stable-normal BMI, early-declining BMI, late-declining BMI, and accelerating rise to obesity. The multivariate analysis revealed that the combined predictors of the obesity trajectories of the girls (group membership) included having a fussy temperament, ineffective parenting, and parents’ educational attainment. Predictors of the boys’ obesity trajectory (group membership) included household income, parental education, and effective parenting practices. Understanding the different ways in which a child may develop obesity will allow nurses and other health professionals to take different approaches in the assessment, intervention and evaluation of obesity and obesity-related health problems. The results of this study further our understanding of factors associated with the development of obesity at a young age and hence may inform the development of early preventive programs.

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) to identify, in a large representative sample of Canadian children, the age-related trajectories of overweight and obesity from toddlerhood into childhood and (b) to investigate the associations between these trajectories and children’s temperaments, their parents’ parenting practices and their interactions. Potentially important familial characteristics (i.e., the parents’ or surrogates’ age, income level, and educational attainment) were considered in the models. The sample for this study was drawn from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). Group-based mixture modeling analyses were conducted to identify the number and types of distinct trajectories in the development of obesity (i.e., to explicate the developmental processes in the variability of childhood obesity) in a representative sample of children who were between 24 to 35 months of age, at baseline, and followed biennially over a 6-year span. Discriminant analysis was conducted to assess the theoretical notion of goodness-of-fit between parenting practices and children’s temperament, and their association with membership in the BMI trajectory groups. The results of the group-based modeling established three different BMI trajectories for the boys, namely: stable-normal BMI, transient-high BMI, and j-curve obesity. The analyses revealed four different trajectories of BMI change for the girls: stable-normal BMI, early-declining BMI, late-declining BMI, and accelerating rise to obesity. The multivariate analysis revealed that the combined predictors of the obesity trajectories of the girls (group membership) included having a fussy temperament, ineffective parenting, and parents’ educational attainment. Predictors of the boys’ obesity trajectory (group membership) included household income, parental education, and effective parenting practices. Understanding the different ways in which a child may develop obesity will allow nurses and other health professionals to take different approaches in the assessment, intervention and evaluation of obesity and obesity-related health problems. The results of this study further our understanding of factors associated with the development of obesity at a young age and hence may inform the development of early preventive programs.

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) to identify, in a large representative sample of Canadian children, the age-related trajectories of overweight and obesity from toddlerhood into childhood and (b) to investigate the associations between these trajectories and children’s temperaments, their parents’ parenting practices and their interactions. Potentially important familial characteristics (i.e., the parents’ or surrogates’ age, income level, and educational attainment) were considered in the models. The sample for this study was drawn from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). Group-based mixture modeling analyses were conducted to identify the number and types of distinct trajectories in the development of obesity (i.e., to explicate the developmental processes in the variability of childhood obesity) in a representative sample of children who were between 24 to 35 months of age, at baseline, and followed biennially over a 6-year span. Discriminant analysis was conducted to assess the theoretical notion of goodness-of-fit between parenting practices and children’s temperament, and their association with membership in the BMI trajectory groups. The results of the group-based modeling established three different BMI trajectories for the boys, namely: stable-normal BMI, transient-high BMI, and j-curve obesity. The analyses revealed four different trajectories of BMI change for the girls: stable-normal BMI, early-declining BMI, late-declining BMI, and accelerating rise to obesity. The multivariate analysis revealed that the combined predictors of the obesity trajectories of the girls (group membership) included having a fussy temperament, ineffective parenting, and parents’ educational attainment. Predictors of the boys’ obesity trajectory (group membership) included household income, parental education, and effective parenting practices. Understanding the different ways in which a child may develop obesity will allow nurses and other health professionals to take different approaches in the assessment, intervention and evaluation of obesity and obesity-related health problems. The results of this study further our understanding of factors associated with the development of obesity at a young age and hence may inform the development of early preventive programs. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

Cumulative risk models provide a convenient, parsimonious way to identify outcomes associated with multiple, highly correlated risk factors. In this paper, we explored linkages between a cumulative sociodemographic risk index, which included rurality status, and aspects of temperamental difficulty in an early school age sample of 53 school-aged children from Southcentral Appalachia. Cumulative risk was significantly predictive of temperamental difficulty, as defined by high negative affectivity and low effortful control, but post-hoc analyses revealed this association to be driven primarily by two of the eight risk indicators: rural status and income-to-needs risk. Although rurality status was highly correlated with income-to-needs risk, rurality predicted negative affectivity over and above income-to-needs risk and income-to-needs risk predicted effortful control over and above rurality status. Future models of cumulative risk may benefit from including rurality status as a risk indicator, despite high collinearity with income-to-needs risk.

The interplay between child characteristics and parenting is increasingly implicated as crucial to child health outcomes. Based on data from a national birth cohort, this study assessed the joint effects of children's temperamental characteristics and maternal sensitivity on the development of childhood obesity. Infant temperament, assessed by maternal report, was categorized into three types: easy, average, and difficult. Maternal sensitivity, assessed by observing maternal behaviors during mother-child semi-structured interaction, was categorized into two groups: sensitive and insensitive. Child's weight and height were measured longitudinally from age two years to Grade 6 and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Obese (≥ the 95th percentile) and overweight-or-obese (≥ the 85th percentile) were defined based on sex and age specific BMI percentiles. Generalized estimating equations were used to analyze data. The proportions of children who were obese and overweight-or-obese increased as they got older, 5.47% and 15.58% at 2 years of age, to 18.78% and 34.34% at Grade 6. Children with easy temperament and under the care of a sensitive mother were at the lowest risks of obesity and overweight-or-obesity over childhood. The joint effects of children's temperament and maternal sensitivity on overweight-or-obesity largely depended on childhood phases. For instance, children with difficult temperament and under the care of an insensitive mother had much higher risks during school age but not during early childhood. In conclusion, parents may need to tailor their parenting strategies to particular child temperamental characteristics in order to prevent and control the development of childhood obesity.

Developmental scientists have become increasingly interested in the relationship between cumulative demographic risk and developmental outcomes. Risk has been defined as “a process that serves to increase the chances of experiencing a negative outcome in one or several domains of functioning…” (Popp, Spinrad, & Smith, 2008). Cumulative risk models are often preferred over single risk models because individual risk factors such as poverty and single parenthood are so highly correlated. Although researchers have demonstrated strong associations between cumulative risk and a variety of child outcomes, to our knowledge only Popp et al. have investigated links with child temperament, with a specific focus on infancy. In the present study we investigate links between cumulative and single risk indices and child temperament in 4- to 6-year-olds. Unlike other studies, we also consider rural status as an possible risk indicator. Data were collected in two types of setting: a university-affiliated child-care facility (N = 33, about 52% girls) and a group of rural, county-funded preschools and kindergartens (N = 21, about 62% girls). Mean age across the two samples was 4.57 years (SD = 1.11 years). A cumulative risk index was created by summing across eight risk indicators based on 1) income, 2) marital status, 3) ethnicity/race, 4) family size, 5) maternal education, 6) maternal age at birth, 7) maternal occupational status, and 8) rurality status. Risk factors were dichotomized (1 vs 0) based on whether the family met a specific risk criterion (Table 1). Temperament was measured via mother report using the Child Behavior Questionnaire, which produced three overarching temperament scores: surgency, negative affectivity, and effortful control. In terms of cumulative risk scores, 16 (30%) of the mothers had zero risk indicators, 14 (26%) had one, 8 (15%) had two, 9 (17%) had three, 4 (8%) had four, and 2 (4%) had five. No cumulative risk score exceeded five. Mean cumulative risk was 1.64 (SD = 1.51). As shown in Table 2, greater cumulative risk was associated with higher scores on surgency and negative affectivity but not effortful control. The most strongly associated individual risk factors were household income and rurality status, which were also strongly related to one other [r(53) = .61, p = .000]. Regression analyses revealed that rurality accounted for unique variance over and above income in both surgency (R2 = .20, p = .000) and negative affect (R2 = .42, p = .000), but not vice versa. These results support the contention that cumulative demographic risk is linked to at least two superdimensions of temperament in early school age, wherein a driving factor appears to be a child’s rurality status. Moreover, the valence of these associations is consistent with the notion that greater demographic risk may lead to negative temperament outcomes. Both negative affectivity and surgency (at least to the extent that surgency indexes activity level and impulsive behavior) are characteristics that many would regard as contributing to temperamental difficulty. This link is notable because many researchers regard temperamental difficulty as a risk indicator for negative developmental outcomes in its own right. Fifty-six children (26 boys) visited the lab at M = 18.3 months (SD = 0.43 months). The Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ; Putnam et al., 2006) superdimension of effortful control was used as a surrogate measure of early executive function. To measure child activity level, we used the mother-reported activity level subdimension from the ECBQ, and also coded mother-child free play periods to quantify children’s predilection to use physical activity in the service of social or cognitive objectives, such as grasping a spoon and extending the arm outwards to feed a baby doll, which we termed sociocognitive activity. To measure sociocognitive activity we used a modified version of Tamis-LeMonda and Bornstein’s (1990) play competence scale wherein each instance of sociocognitive activity was noted and summed for a total score of sociocognitive activity level (See Table 1). Finally, to gauge maternal encouragement, a modified version of the Dyadic Parent Child Interaction Coding System (DPICS; Eyeberg, Nelson, Duke, & Boggs, 2005) was used to identify maternal commands, praise, questions, physical involvement, talking, touching, and scaffolding behaviors during mother-child free play sessions. Zero-order correlations revealed a significant negative relationship between mother-reported activity level and child executive function (r = -.42, p < 0.01), replicating previous findings. However, correlations between sociocognitive activity and executive function, while positive, was not significant. We conducted moderation analyses separately for each maternal encouragement variable, and found that a higher amount of maternal questioning during play corresponded to a positive association between sociocognitive activity and executive functioning (moderator = 1.00, p < 0.05). These findings partially support our hypotheses and suggest that the ways in which caregivers direct and train activity during play through questioning strategies may also direct and train cognitive functioning. However, further research is needed to support these claims. These results also point toward issues with the measurement of activity level, as our two measures of activity produced significantly different correlations with executive functioning (z = -3.4, p < 0.01). Future research in the area of motor development as it pertains to cognitive functioning should investigate and develop a standard measure of motor activity that is capable of capturing not only simple milestone achievement and intensity levels, but also the amount of sociocognitive engagement during physical activity.

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<p dir="ltr">The present study explored the association between maternal use of food to soothe and maternal sensitivity, while considering the potential moderating role of child negative affectivity. Before addressing the key questions, the congruence and stability of key constructs at two different time points, 12 and 18 months, using both self-reported and observer-reported data, were examined. A nonclinical sample of 136 mother-child dyads were recruited. Maternal use of food to soothe, child negative affectivity, and maternal sensitivity were observed across lab visits at both time points, 12 and 18 months. Mothers completed questionnaires about maternal use of food to soothe and child negative affectivity at both time points. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the associations and potential interaction effects between maternal sensitivity and child negative affectivity on maternal use of food to soothe.</p><p dir="ltr">Findings showed that maternal sensitivity was negatively associated with mothers’ use of food to soothe at 12 months in the lab, although this association was not observed at 18 months. Child negative affectivity did not moderate the significant association mentioned. The study also found low to moderate stability in mother-reported use of food to soothe, child negative affectivity, and maternal sensitivity across the two time points. Furthermore, the congruence between self-reported and observer-reported data on these practices was generally low, underscoring the challenges in measuring these behaviors.</p><p dir="ltr">The findings suggest that higher maternal sensitivity could potentially lower the frequency of using food as a soothing method at 12 months. Future research should aim to confirm these findings in more diverse populations and through less structured observational settings.</p>