Fathers' ratings in the assessment of their child's anxiety symptoms: A comparison to mothers' ratings and their associations with paternal symptomatology.

We examined the comparability between mothers' and fathers' ratings in the assessment of their child's anxiety symptoms. The sample consisted of 78 youth (6 to 17 years) and their mothers and fathers who presented to a childhood anxiety disorders specialty research clinic. Using intraclass correlation coefficients, mother?father agreement of their child's anxiety symptoms was found to be moderate. Mean differences between mothers' and fathers' ratings of their child's anxiety were not significantly different. Both maternal and paternal self-ratings of psychopathology predicted respective ratings of their child's anxiety. Although either mothers or fathers can provide useful information, use of multiple informants is encouraged, especially when parental psychopathology is present. Additional implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Caretaking behaviors by adolescent children of mothers with and without a history of depression.

In a sample of 72 mothers with and without a history of depression and their adolescent children, maternal depression history, current maternal depressive symptoms, intrusive and withdrawn parental behavior, and adolescent caretaking behaviors were examined as predictors of adjustment in these youth. Two types of caretaking behaviors were examined: emotional (e.g., caring for a parent's emotional distress) and instrumental (e.g., looking after younger siblings). Although adolescents of mothers with and without a history of depression were comparable on levels of both types of caretaking, caretaking was associated with adolescents' reports of anxiety–depression and mothers' reports of social competence only for adolescents of mothers with a history of depression. Moreover, regression models showed that among children of mothers with a history of depression, emotional, but not instrumental, caretaking was related to adolescents' anxiety–depression symptoms and social competence after controlling for current parental depressive symptoms and stressful parenting behaviors. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A transactional model of adolescent self-esteem.

Adolescents (51 boys, 53 girls), 11 to 15 years old, and their mothers participated in a study to test a transactional model of self-esteem (TMS). The TMS proposes that self-esteem results from complex transactions among individual characteristics, cognitions, and behaviors of adolescents and parents. Structural equation models were used to examine direct and indirect effects of mothers' depressive symptoms and adolescent behavior problems on perceptions of each other, behaviors toward each other, and adolescent self-esteem. Measures included self-reports and ratings by teachers and observers. As hypothesized, there were direct paths to global self-esteem from adolescents' specific self-perceptions and mothers' positive communications, whereas paths from maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent behavior problems to self-esteem were indirect, mediated by mothers' perceptions and behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement in Math and Science: Do Mothers' Beliefs Matter 12 Years Later?

Past research has indicated an association between parents' beliefs and adolescent children's self-perceptions of ability and has shown the importance of accounting for parents' gender-stereotyped beliefs when examining boys' and girls' self-perceptions of math-science ability. The current study extends these findings by examining the longitudinal relations between mothers' earlier gender stereotypes and perceptions and adolescents' later math-science achievement beliefs and career choices. As predicted, mothers' earlier perceptions of their adolescents' abilities were related to adolescents' math-science self-efficacy 2 years after high school, with adolescents' self-perceptions of math ability during 10th grade mediating the relation with mothers' perceptions. Moreover, mothers' earlier predictions of their children's abilities to succeed in math careers were significantly related to later career choices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal values as a mediator between parent and peer expectations and adolescent behaviors.

The current study examined the mediating role of adolescents' personal values on the relation between maternal and peer expectations for prosocial behaviors and adolescents' self-reported prosocial and antisocial behaviors. One hundred thirty-four adolescents (mean age = 16.22 years, 54% girls) completed measures of their own values and behaviors, as well as their perceptions of the positive expectations that their mother and their best friend(s) had for their (the adolescents') prosocial behaviors. Stepwise regression analyses suggested that adolescents' personal prosocial values mediated the relation between adolescents' perceptions of both maternal and peer expectations and adolescents' prosocial behaviors. In addition, for boys, perceptions of positive peer expectations were directly and negatively related to antisocial behaviors. The current study has important implications for parents, educators, and practitioners who are concerned about promoting adolescents' positive behaviors and discouraging negative behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescents' and mothers' perceptions of the cognitive and relational functions of collaboration and adjustment in dealing with type 1 diabetes.

We examined how adolescents' and mothers' perceptions of cognitive and interpersonal functions of collaboration surrounding Type 1 diabetes differed and how they related to adolescent age, psychosocial, and diabetes adjustment. Adolescents (M = 14.16 years) and mothers completed questionnaires assessing the functions of collaboration for the adolescent, quality of the mother-adolescent relationship, emotional adjustment, and adherence to the diabetes regimen. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of perceptions of collaboration confirmed three dimensions: collaboration to compensate for cognitive function, interpersonal enjoyment, and frequency of collaboration. Although adolescents' and mothers' views of interpersonal enjoyment and frequency of collaboration converged, their perceptions of compensation were unrelated. Mothers' perceptions of adolescents' compensation were unrelated to perceptions of enjoyment and frequency. Both adolescents and mothers perceived less compensation and less enjoyment of collaboration with increasing adolescent age, but only adolescents reported collaborating less frequently with higher age. Better emotional adjustment and adherence occurred when mothers and adolescents perceived enjoying collaboration (controlling for mothers' acceptance) regardless of age. Enjoying collaboration at an interpersonal level may be an important avenue for successful diabetes management during adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reliability and validity of the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI): Evidence from a longitudinal cross-informant investigation.

Psychometric properties of the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI) were examined using data collected from adolescents and their parents in the Fullerton Longitudinal Study. Results revealed acceptable internal consistency for most scales and moderate to high 1-year stability for all scales. Both parents' PCRI scores correlated with their views of family climate. Cross-informant concordance was pervasive and strong between mothers' PCRI scores and adolescents' perceptions of the parent-child relationship and family climate; however, convergence was not evident between fathers' and adolescents' reports. Additionally, poor performance was observed for the Autonomy scale. In conjunction with other research on parent-adolescent relationships, concerns are raised regarding the utility of scales to contrast mother-adolescent with father-adolescent relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MRI of lymphomas of the orbits and the paranasal sinuses

Examined the validity of adolescents' reports of their mother's age. Most research on the validity of self-report focuses on personal behaviors such as alcohol and substance use, or response bias due to social desirability. Few studies investigate the validity of adolescents reporting of nonsensitive information. Data from 80 mother-adolescent pairs were collected. The sample included 9th graders from four high school English classes, equal numbers of males and females, and 15% African Americans. The correlation between mothers' reports and youths' reports of mother's age was .99, and 95% of the youth were within a year of their mother's correct age. No race or gender differences were found. These results allow researchers to examine adolescent outcomes for youth born to teen mothers without the expense of also collecting data from their mothers. Results also suggest that adolescents' self-reports of other nonsensitive familial data may also be valid.     

In the Eye of the Beholder: Subjective and Observer Ratings of Middle-Class African American Mother-Adolescent Interactions.

Middle-class African American mothers and adolescents (n=81) participated in a dyadic interaction task in early adolescence (M=13.06 years, SD=1.27) and then again 2 years later (M=15.01 years, SD=1.27). Following the task, mothers and adolescents rated their own and their partner's support and involvement in the task; observers rated videotaped interactions for the same dimensions. African American mothers perceived adolescents' behavior in the interactions more positively than did observers, and both mothers and observers viewed mothers' behavior as more positive than adolescents' behavior. With observers' ratings controlled, early adolescents' more negative perceptions of their mothers' interactions led to less trust and communication with mothers 2 years later, but subjective understanding did not influence later ratings of conflict intensity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of psychological-mindedness to adult perceptions of early parental rejection

We tested the hypothesis that highly psychologically minded individuals perceive having grown up with rejecting parents. A Psychological Mindedness (PM) Scale, and the Parent-Child Relations Questionnaire II (PCR), were administered to 120 college students. Contrary to prediction, a significant negative correlation was found between PM and perceptions of early maternal rejection. Psychological-mindedness, it was suggested, may be attributable to "good enough mothering" and may be learned through modeling and imitation of mothers' empathic perceptions, affective responses, and behavior.     

Adolescents' explanations for political issues: Concordance with their views of self and society.

The relationships between adolescents' explanations for unemployment, poverty, and homelessness and their beliefs about opportunity, reports of family values, and personal aspirations were tested for 434 teenagers (mean age?=?16 years 4 months). Explanations were coded for references to individual causes, societal causes, or both. Higher maternal education and average household income in the adolescent's school district were positively related to the likelihood of attributing all three problems to societal causes. When explaining unemployment, older adolescents noted both causes, and boys mentioned individual factors whereas girls mentioned societal factors. After adjustment for background factors, those endorsing individual causes were more likely to believe that all Americans enjoyed equal opportunity and that government support encouraged dependency, and they were more committed to materialist goals. In contrast, youth endorsing societal or situational causes had more altruistic life goals and reported that compassion was emphasized in their families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intergenerational cultural dissonance in parent–adolescent relationships among Chinese and European Americans.

Generational cultural gaps (assessed as the mismatch between adolescents' ideals and perceptions of the parent–adolescent relationship) were investigated among Chinese youth with immigrant parents and their European American counterparts who have been in the United States for generations and assumingly do not have intergenerational cultural gaps. The authors of the study examined the associations of such generational gaps with adolescents' behavioral problems and whether youth's appreciation of Chinese parent–adolescent relationships (parental devotion, sacrifice, thoughtfulness, and guan) described by the notion of qin would moderate the relationship between discrepancies and youth's adjustment. A total of 634 high school students (M = 15.97 years; 95 and 154 first- and second-generation Chinese American respectively, and 385 European Americans) completed measures of parental warmth, parent–adolescent open communication, qin, and psychological adjustment. The U.S.-born Chinese American adolescents' ideals exceeded perceptions of parents' warmth and open communication to a greater degree than it did for European American adolescents (ps     

Adolescents' subjective distress over their emotional/behavioral problems.

This study analyzed the relations among 151 7th- and 8th-grade adolescents' self-evaluations of the occurrence of their behavior, their own subjective distress over their behavior, their perceptions of their personal competence, their perceptions of their mothers' and fathers' distress over these behaviors, and their parents' reports of the occurrence of adolescent behaviors. As hypothesized, adolescents' self-reports of occurrence of their behaviors were significantly but moderately correlated with their subjective distress about these behaviors, and adolescents made a distinction between the occurrence of a behavior and their distress about it. Externalizing behaviors were rated by adolescents as more distressing to mothers and to fathers than to adolescents themselves, and conversely, internalizing behaviors were rated as more distressing to self than to parents. Ratings of subjective distress were significantly related to self-perceptions of behavioral conduct and self-worth, whereas parents' ratings of the occurrence of behavior were not related to these self-perceptions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal emotional distress and diminished responsiveness: The mediating role of parenting efficacy and parental perspective taking.

The present study examined whether the inverse relation between maternal emotional distress and maternal responsiveness was mediated by mothers' parenting efficacy and parental perspective taking. Questionnaire and observational data were gathered from 94 nonclinical mother–adolescent dyads. Emotional distress was measured with multiple indicators of negative affectivity, and responsiveness was measured with self-report and observational indicators of maternal acceptance and psychological autonomy promotion. Analyses indicated that maternal emotional distress was associated with lower levels of mother- and adolescent-reported responsiveness. Moreover, the association was mediated by mothers' perceptions of their parenting efficacy. Processes by which emotional distress may affect parenting efficacy, parental perspective taking, and parenting were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of mother-father perceptions of their child's self-management of diabetes

This study compared mothers' and fathers' perceptions of their children's self-management of diabetes. Participants included a subsample of 29 paired parents of children and youth with diabetes, ages 8-14, who attended a diabetes camp in the Midwest. Parents completed a self-report structured questionnaire that included content specific to self-management. Results showed high ratings for child responsibility for self-management, style of care delivery, and mother-father self-efficacy in managing specific tasks of diabetes self-management. Although overall ratings were similar, in the majority of measures mothers' ratings were higher than fathers' ratings. Areas of similarity and significant differences in perceptions are identified with implications for practice stated.     

Maternal Affection Moderates the Impact of Psychological Control on a Child's Mathematical Performance.

This study investigated the extent to which mothers' psychological control predicts their children's mathematical performance during the children's transition from preschool to primary school over and above the impact of maternal affection and behavioral control. Also investigated was the extent to which maternal affection and behavioral control moderate the impact of mothers' psychological control. Children 5-6 years old at baseline (N=196) were followed up 6 times to measure their performance in mathematics over a 3-year period from preschool to 2nd grade. Mothers were asked to fill in a questionnaire measuring their parenting styles once every year over the 3-year period. A high level of psychological control exercised by mothers predicted their children's slow progress in mathematics. However, this impact was particularly evident among those children whose mothers reported a high level of affection. No evidence was found that children's mathematical performance had any effect on their mothers' parenting styles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discordant prolongation of the refractory period and repolarization time by a class III agent, E4031, in the healing phase of myocardial infarction

One hundred and ninety-eight adolescents and their mothers (N = 189) and fathers (N = 136) participated in a 4-year longitudinal study. Adolescent problem behaviour was assessed by the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). In addition, parental stress and marital adjustment were determined. Results showed that mothers and fathers showed high agreement, especially about their daughters, whereas parents and adolescents showed little agreement. Agreement was higher for internalising than for externalising behaviours. In general, adolescents reported more symptomatology than their parents did. However, mothers' ratings of their children's behaviours were significantly correlated with adolescents' self-ratings, but fathers' ratings were not. Statistical tests of correlations showed that mothers experiencing stress caused by marital problems perceived more problem behaviours in their children. Fathers' perceptions were relatively unaffected by personal adjustment. However, poor marital adjustment perceived by both parents showed a significant negative relation to adolescent externalising problem behaviour.     

Domain-appropriateness of maternal discipline as a predictor of adolescents' positive and negative outcomes.

The purpose of the current study was to examine adolescents' perceptions of the appropriateness of maternal discipline across social domains and how domain-appropriateness was related to adolescents' prosocial and antisocial behaviors via adolescents' personal prosocial values. A total of 133 adolescents (54% girls; mean age = 16.23 years, SD = 1.27) completed questionnaires in their classrooms at school. Results suggest that adolescents perceived mothers as responding differently to their misbehavior and perceived different maternal discipline as appropriate as a function of the domain into which the misbehavior fit. Findings also suggest that domain-appropriateness of maternal discipline was related to adolescent outcomes (directly, and indirectly via personal values), suggesting the importance of domain-appropriate maternal discipline during adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal and adolescent ratings of psychopathology in young offender and non-clinical males.

Compared maternal and youth ratings of the youths' adjustment using the Child Behavior Checklist and Youth Self-Report with 50 young offenders and 51 non-clinical males (aged 12–16 yrs). While delinquent youths were in the clinical range only on the delinquent behavior subscale, maternal ratings were in the clinical range on most subscales. By contrast, maternal and youth reports in controls showed comparable ratings on Internalizing scales, with normal adolescents endorsing significantly more Externalizing behavior problems than their mothers. Maternal and youth ratings in the controls were in the normal range on all scales. Possible causes of these differences between young offenders' and their mothers' reporting of symptoms are discussed, and implications of these findings for forensic assessment of adolescents are presented. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

First-time mothers' perceptions of efficacy during the transition to motherhood: Links to infant temperament.

This investigation examined associations between pre- and postnatal reports of 1st-time mothers' depression, anxiety, and marital quality and postnatal reports of infant temperament and changes in feelings of efficacy. Maternal efficacy measured prenatally was associated with concurrent measures of depression, anxiety, marital conflict, and levels of previous child-care experience. Mothers' perception of infant temperament postnatally accounted for a significant proportion of variance in postnatal reports of maternal efficacy. Although individual differences in women's feelings of efficacy were fairly stable, significant increases in maternal efficacy were also observed over time. Findings suggest that 1st-time mothers' beliefs about their ability to perform nurturing routines may change from a global sense of self-competence to more differentiated perceptions of nurturing efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)