A considerable body of literature suggests that children's language development is shaped by distal factors such as the availability of economic resources (Hoff, 2003;Pan et al., 2005;White, 1982) and proximal factors such as caregiver interactions (Madigan et al., 2019). It is important to consider how these distal and proximal factors operate together on child language skills. Ecological models of child development capture the idea that there are multiple embedded levels of the environment that have an effect on children, both directly and indirectly, including broad influences, such as culture, laws and the economics of countries to the child's more immediate experiences, such as the quality of parenting that they receive (e.g., responsive parenting). One way of testing this empirically, has been to use a mediation model to examine the distal to proximal to child outcome associations, capturing the idea that levels of the environment have knock-on effects (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998;Conger et al., 1994;Lerner et al., 2005). Specifically, distal factors such as socioeconomic status (SES) are hypothesized to shape child language via environmentally transmitted effects on parental responsivity. While single studies have examined the indirect effect of SES on children's language through parental responsivity (Mistry et al., 2008;Morisset et al., 1990;Raviv et al., 2004), there is currently no integrated synthesis that speaks to the strength of this indirect effect, nor the factors that may moderate it. A novel method known as meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) combines the advantages of meta-analysis with those of
Are mother-child conflict discussions shaped by time-varying, reciprocal influences, even after accounting for stable contributions from each individual? Mothers were filmed discussing a conflict for 5 min, separately with their younger (ages 5-9, N = 217) and older (ages 7-13, N = 220) children. Each person's conflict constructiveness was coded in 20-s intervals and data were analyzed using dynamic structural equation modeling, which separates individual and influence effects. Children influenced their mothers' behavior under certain conditions, with evidence for developmental differences in the magnitude and direction of influence, whereas mothers did not influence their children under any circumstance. Results are discussed in the context of child effects on parent behavior and changes in parenting across middle childhood. The grant titled "Transactional Processes in Emotional and Behavioural Regulation: Individuals in Context" was awarded to Jennifer M. Jenkins and Michael Boyle from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and covered data collection. We are grateful to the families who gave so generously of their time, to the Hamilton and Toronto Public Health Units for facilitating recruitment of the sample, and to Mira Boskovic for project management.
Responsivity in parent-child interactions is thought to be a key factor in supporting children's early learning and development. Despite the empirically demonstrated importance of fathers for children's development, most of the assessment tools for responsivity have not been validated on fathers, and many are too time consuming to utilize at the population level. The aim of this study was to validate an efficient (8-min) observational measure of responsivity in a sample of 155 fathers and their children (ages 5-12). The Responsive Interactions for Learning (RIFL) measure has been previously validated in mother-child and sibling dyads. To build a stronger understanding of fathers' role in development it is essential to develop efficient and valid measures of father-child interaction quality. Furthermore, having a single measure that has been validated for use across family members can support family systems research. The RIFL for father-child dyads showed strong internal consistency and achieved interrater reliability. Its validity was demonstrated through its association with other, more time-consuming parenting measures and sociodemographic characteristics. Paternal responsivity was not associated with children's outcomes. Results are discussed in the context of unique aspects of father-child relationships at different phases in children's development. Public Significance StatementWith this simple and cost-effective new measure, it is possible to reliably assess the quality of father-child interactions in 8 min. This can enable population-level assessment for public health research and interventions targeting parenting.
This study examined the extent to which 205 sibling dyads influenced each other during conflict. Data were collected between 2013 to 2015. The sample included 5.9% Black, 15.1% South Asian, 15.1% East Asian, and 63.8% White children. Older siblings were between 7–13 years old (Female = 109) and younger siblings were 5–9 years old (Female = 99). Siblings' conflict resolution was analyzed using dynamic structural equation modeling. Modeling fluctuations in moment‐to‐moment data (20‐s intervals) allowed for a close approximation of causal influence. Older and younger siblings were found to influence one another. Younger sisters were more constructive than younger brothers, especially in sister–sister dyads. Sibling age gap predicted inertia in older siblings. Socialization processes within sibling relationships are discussed.
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