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As adolescents grow up, one of the important developmental tasks is to individuate themselves and to become more autonomous from parents. This requires a realignment of the parent-adolescent communication. The current meta-analytic study aims at identifying developmental changes in parent-adolescent communication, conceptualized within the parental monitoring framework, as entailing parental solicitation, control and knowledge, and adolescent's disclosure and secrecy. Thirty-one longitudinal studies published between 2000 and 2015 were identified and included in the current meta-analysis. Informants, age at assessment and study duration were tested as moderators. Results showed a low to medium normative decline in parental control (Cohen's d =-.395, 95% CI [-.541,-.249]), knowledge (d =-.245,95% CI [-.331,-.160] and adolescence disclosure (d =-.147, 95% CI [-.204,-.090]), and an increase in adolescent's secrecy (d = .194, CI [031, .356]). Parental solicitation decreased based on parents' (d =-0.242, 95% CI[-0.376,-0.109]) but not on adolescents' reports (d = 0.038, 95% CI[-0.099, 0.175]). Another significant moderator was the duration of the study, with studies longer than 2 years being able to detect a more pronounced change in parental control than studies lasting less than 2 years (≤ 2 years, d=-0.139 vs. duration > 2 years, d=-0.581). Limitations of the current knowledge and new direction of studies are discussed.

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For evaluating monitoring and parent-adolescent communication, a set of scales addressing parental knowledge, control and solicitation, and adolescent disclosure was proposed by Kerr and Stattin (2000). Although these scales have been widely disseminated, their psychometric proprieties have often been found to be unsatisfactory, raising questions about their validity. The current study examines whether their poor psychometric properties, which are mainly attributed to the relatively poor conceptual quality of the items, could have been caused by the use of less-than-optimal analytical estimation methods. A cross-validation approach is used on a sample of 1071 adolescents. Maximum likelihood (ML) is compared with the diagonal weighted least squares (DWLS) method, which is suitable for Likert scales. The results of the DWLS approach lead to a more optimal fit than that obtained using ML estimation. The DWLS methodology may represent a useful option for researchers using these scales because it corrects for their unreliability.

The interplay of parenting and environmental sensitivity on children’s behavioral adjustment during, and immediately after, the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions was investigated in two longitudinal studies involving Italian preschoolers (Study 1, N = 72; 43% girls, Myears = 3.82(1.38)) and primary school children (Study 2, N = 94; 55% girls, Myears = 9.08(0.56)). Data were collected before and during the first-wave lockdown (Studies 1 and 2) and one month later (Study 1). Parental stress and parent–child closeness were measured. Markers of environmental sensitivity in children were temperamental fearfulness and Sensory Processing Sensitivity. Results showed little change in externalizing and internalizing behaviors over time, but differences emerged when considering parenting and children’s environmental sensitivity. In preschoolers, greater parenting stress was related to a stronger increase in internalizing and externalizing behaviors, with children high in fearful temperament showing a more marked decrease in externalizing behaviors when parenting stress was low. In school-aged children, parent–child closeness emerged as a protective factor for internalizing and externalizing behaviors during COVID-19, with children high in Sensory Processing Sensitivity showing a marked decrease in internalizing behaviors when closeness was high. Implications for developmental theory and practice in times of pandemic are discussed.

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Institutional rearing and structural neglect represent a primary caregiver deprivation experience and fall outside the range of the average expected typical childhood environment. Research indicates that variables related to proximal processes, such as the quality of care, rather than only distal variables, such as the duration of institutionalisation, may affect the adjustment of institutionalised children. The present study involved 100 Ukrainian children aged four-to eight-years old (39 institution reared and 61 family reared) and investigated children's adjustment as a function of two distal variables and one proximal variable: age at admission and the duration of institutionalisation; and the current quality of care, as represented by favourite caregivers' perceived helplessness in the caring task. Attachment shortcomings and cognitive impairments were reported for institutionalised children, independently of the duration of institutionalisation. Low scores for professional caregivers' helplessness were associated with better scores for indiscriminate friendliness and non-verbal reasoning in children. We conclude that caregiving variables matter and attention needs to be paid to them in order to improve the wellbeing of children in potentially neglectful contexts. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGES:• Institutionalisation is a structural neglect condition, increasing the risk for children's social-emotional and cognitive impairment.• Professional caregivers often lack information on how to support children and are faced with challenging working conditions, resulting in an emotionally distant caregiving.• The study showed that institutionalised children's attachment and cognitive development are two compromised domains.

Headache is a potentially disabling condition involving enduring pain that negatively influences the quality of family life. Behavioural problems are more common in children with headache and are potentially associated with higher levels of parental stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent to which children's behavioural problems were associated with maternal stress and how the child's perception of security in the maternal attachment relationship moderates this association. Seventy‐one school‐aged children with headache (headache group (HG), age M = 9.8 years old, SD = 1.3) and 71 children from a low‐risk normative population (control group (CG), age M = 9.2 years old, SD = 1) and their mothers were involved in the study. Mothers' reports of children's behavioural problems were associated with higher maternal stress in the caring task both in the HG and in the CG. Results also showed that the HG was more at risk for behavioural problems, whereas no difference between groups was detected for parenting stress and for attachment insecurity. In children with headache, perception of attachment security decreased the strength of the association between maternal stress and externalizing behavioural problems. Secure attachment may provide children with headache and their parents with support in managing the negative emotions that arise in the context of significant health issues. Implications for practice are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.