Child abuse has been shown to have a detrimental effect on the emotion development of the abused child. Due to a history with the parent that includes a high proportion of negative interactions and an impaired parent-child relationship, the child who has been subjected to physical abuse often manifests psychological symptoms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect that treatment aimed at increasing the frequency of positive interaction in the parent-child relationship had on the emotional status of the abused child. Results showed that parent-child interaction play sessions were effective in increasing positive interaction and decreasing subsequent abusive behavior in the parent-child dyad. Self-reported parental attitudes toward the child became more positive. Treatment did not generalize totally and was not maintained totally during follow-up. The effect that treatment had on the emotional status of the abused child was less clear, although some improvement was noted. The results of this study have important clinical implications for therapists working with abusive parents in terms of providing an effective intervention for treatment of child abuse. Further investigation of the treatment is warranted. Suggestions for future research are offered.

Children from different socioeconomic backgrounds often have different long-term outcomes in terms of school, language, and emotional wellbeing. At this time, no reasons for these differences have been agreed upon by experts across disciplines. Parents with different personal characteristics and life situations use different types and amounts of interactions with their infants. The social interactions infants experience during their first year of life provide the start of their developmental path in the areas of language and executive control while also guiding their expectations for interactions with people around them. This study used previously unpublished data from a sample of 79 young infants, age 3 to 9 months, and their mothers. There was a set of five research questions. The first question guided exploration of how socioeconomic status (SES; represented by maternal education and family income) was associated with the parenting behaviors mothers used with their infants. The second question guided exploration of how mothers’ psychosocial resources (represented by child development knowledge and parenting stress) were associated with the parenting behaviors mothers used with their infants. The third question addressed whether associations between maternal education and parenting behavior were directly connected or if the amount of child development knowledge influenced the association. The fourth question addressed whether associations between family income and parenting behavior were directly connected or if the amount of mothers’ parenting stress influenced the association. The final question addressed whether associations between mothers’ psychosocial parenting resources and infant development were directly connected or if the associations were instead connected by mothers’ psychosocial resources. During a single home visit with each mother and her young infant, the research visitor assessed infant development, video recorded the mother and infant playing during a free play session, and asked mothers to fill out questionnaires. Project questionnaires addressed mothers’ education and family income as well as their levels of child development knowledge and parenting stress. None of the findings directly related to the five hypotheses were statistically significant. However, follow-up analyses provided information about potential future directions for investigating the links between SES, parenting interactions, and infant competencies using smaller categories of education and income levels. These findings from follow-up questions may guide potential future directions for identifying SES and psychosocial influences on early parenting interaction behaviors and young infants’ early development.

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Parent-child interaction could arguably be the most important factor in child development, including academic achievement, behavior, and personality. This study suggests that the quantity of parent-child interaction is just as important as quality, and we test the reliability and validity of our instrument developed to quantitatively measure parent-child interaction in the home under realistic conditions. Twenty-eight children’s parents participated in the study over four days. Eight families had two research observers complete the instrument simultaneously with them, and reliability measures were taken between parents (74%), parent and one research-observers (78%), and two research observers (97%). Validity measures yielded scores of 78% for parents and 77% for colleagues. This study’s instrument was shown to be a simple and strongly reliable instrument for measuring children’s after-school activities and a reliable way to measure parent-child interactions indirectly, avoiding a social desirability response set.

Couples learn to negotiate a complex intersection between household labor and family processes. Using both observational coding and questionnaire self report, this study examined the relationship between father and mothers' reported equality with their division-of-labor, their satisfaction with division-of-labor and their respective positive parenting as observed in taped interaction with a target child while controlling for quality of the relationship between the parents. Findings showed that egalitarian division of labor was positively related to satisfaction in division of labor and that egalitarian division of labor was a significant predictor of mothers' relationship quality, but not fathers' relationship quality. It also showed that fathers', but not mothers', marital relationship quality was found to be correlated with positive parenting and satisfaction with division of labor was a significant predictor of positive parenting for mothers, but not for fathers. Therapists should be mindful of and address the role division of labor plays in a family. Researchers should examine the use of a more comprehensive overview of division of labor tasks.

Maternal depression has a negative impact on child development and the parent-child relationship (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1999). The purpose of this study was to determine the treatment effectiveness of Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) with mothers identified with high levels of depressive symptoms in comparison with mothers with low levels of depressive symptoms and their children with behavior problems. The treatment effectiveness of PCIT was measured by pre- to post-treatment changes in the quality of parent-child relationship and reductions in child behavior problems, maternal depression, and parental stress. Subjects were 23 mothers identified with low levels of depressive symptoms and 26 mothers identified with high levels of depressive symptoms and their children. Findings showed there were improvements at post-treatment for both groups in child behavior problems, the quality of the parent-child relationship, maternal depressive symptoms, and parent stress levels. Mothers in the high depressive symptoms group reported achieving greater treatment gains when compared to the mothers in the low symptom group.

The intent of this thesis is to explore the mediating effects of ADHD Inattentive symptoms on domestic parent-child interaction problems and working memory. Inattentive symptoms in children with ADHD are known to cause forgetfulness, slow processing speed, and negative parent-child interactions. Working memory deficits in phonological short term memory and the central executive are also well-established in children with ADHD. However, it is currently unknown to what extent inattentive symptoms are responsible for home behavior problems in conjunction with phonological working memory deficits. The aims are tested using two validated, common clinical questionnaires: The Teacher Report Form and the Home Situations Questionnaire. Additionally, working memory and executive function are tested using a phonological letter-number sequencing task and a visuospatial dot-in-the-box task. Results show that inattentive symptoms mediate the relationship between working memory and parent-child interaction problems. Teacher reports of inattention affect the degree to which the child experiences behavior problems at home, and also affects the phonological working memory system implicated in this behavior. Future directions include using a more diverse sample, investigating a wider range of ADHD symptoms, investigating effects across multiple settings, and exploring possibilities of additional executive functioning mediators.

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Thesis advisor: Marina Vasilyeva / Children's early math development is essential for their later academic achievement (Duncan et al., 2007). Yet, research shows that children from lower socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds encounter disadvantages even before starting school. This dissertation includes three empirical studies conducted in China, aiming to enhance our understanding of SES-related disparities in the home math environment and to develop cost-effective interventions for families in need. Study One suggests that parents of preschool children from high SES background demonstrate higher math efficacy, lower math anxiety, and higher math skills than those with higher levels of education. Moreover, high-SES parents engage more often in informal math activities with their preschool children and provide more enriched math talk. Path analysis further reveals an indirect path from SES to children’s math skills via parents’ characteristics and home math environment. Building on Study One, Study Two demonstrates that higher-educated parents have a greater tendency to spontaneously focus on numerical aspects in their environment, a tendency that significantly correlates with both the quantity and quality of their math talk. Study Three suggests that parental math talk can be implicitly increased by manipulating play contexts and toy features. Math-relevant contexts, like pretend grocery shopping, might elicit more math talk. Furthermore, material features within these contexts may shape the nature and amount of math talk: homogeneity increases discussions about absolute magnitude, while boundedness increases talk about relative magnitude.Theoretically, this dissertation enriches our understanding of the mechanisms underlying SES disparities in early math development. Practically, it identifies potential directions for designing cost-effective interventions to enhance home math environment. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.