Emotional and behavioural resilience to multiple risk exposure in early life: the role of parenting

Abstract

Ecological and transactional theories link child outcomes to neighbourhood disadvantage, family poverty and adverse life events. Traditionally, these three types of risk factors have been examined independently of one another or combined into one cumulative risk index. The first approach results in poor prediction of child outcomes, and the second is not well rooted in ecological theory as it does not consider that distal risk factors (such as poverty) may indirectly impact children through proximal risk factors (such as adverse life events). In this study, we modelled simultaneously the longitudinal effects of these three risk factors on children's internalising and externalising problems, exploring the role of parenting in moderating these effects. Our sample followed 16,916 children (at ages 3, 5 and 7 years; N = 16,916; 49% girls) from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Parenting was characterised by quality of parent-child relationship, parental involvement in learning and parental discipline. Neighbourhood disadvantage, family poverty and adverse events were all simultaneously related to the trajectories of both outcomes. As expected, parenting moderated risk effects. Positive parent-child relationship, rather than greater involvement or authoritative discipline, most consistently 'buffered' risk effects. These findings suggest that a good parent-child relationship may promote young children's emotional and behavioural resilience to different types of environmental risk.

Towards understanding and acting on risk factors for developmental psychopathology

“…They also found that perceived adequate maternal and paternal care had positive effects on socio-emotional development. Positive parent-child relationships had been regarded previously as enhancing resilience towards negative emotional and behavioural outcomes even in the presence of other environmental [4] or genetic risks [5]. However, in the present work, although optimal parenting of both parents was necessary for satisfactory emotional development, the authors found a differential effect.…”

Resilience, risk, mental health and well-being: associations and conceptual differences

“…[8, p. 20]. 3 "Protective factors refer to conditions that improve people's resistance to risk factors and disorders. They have been defined as those factors that modify, ameliorate or alter a person's response to some environmental hazard that predisposes to a maladaptive outcome (Rutter [23]).…”

“…1). However, while frequently debated, the number of papers directly addressing these two concepts (indicated by their appearance in title and/or abstract) is far lower, with only six papers [1][2][3][4][5][6] carrying either term in their title (Fig. 1).…”

Parental influences on children’s mental health: the bad and the good sides of it

“…In a randomized intervention trial conducted among 151 parentchild dyads, Schwenck et al ask whether parent training can be effective in improving outcomes among high-risk children who receive inpatient psychiatric treatment [19]. The intervention, designed to be easily implemented and Children's behavior and psychopathology risk can be influenced by parental characteristics, including socioeconomic position [1][2][3][4], migrant status, [5] and mental health [6][7][8][9], as well as parenting skills and sensitivity to children's needs [10]. Identifying characteristics that are most strongly associated with children's outcomes, and in particular those that are amenable to change, may benefit child mental health.…”