Jennifer M. Jenkins

Purpose: There is some evidence that children exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic experienced more neurodevelopmental difficulties than children before the pandemic, as well as evidence that women with young children experienced more mental health challenges during this period compared to pre-pandemic. However, it is unclear whether increased maternal mental health challenges acted as a mechanism linking pandemic exposure to children’s neurodevelopment difficulties. Methods: As part of the Ontario Birth Study, women ( N = 862) reported their internalizing (i.e., depression and anxiety) symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) at three timepoints (prenatally and 8 and 24 months postnatally). Child neurodevelopment was assessed at 24 months using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-3 (ASQ-3). Analyses included a combination of regression and path analyses with adjustment for covariates. Results: Women exposed to the pandemic prenatally and at 8 and 24 months postnatally reported more concurrent internalizing difficulties than those not exposed; however, women exposed both pre- and postnatally did not differ from those only exposed postnatally. Higher prenatal maternal internalizing symptoms were associated with lower child gross motor skills at 24 months. Higher maternal internalizing symptoms at 8 and 24 months were marginally ( p < 0.1) associated with lower child personal-social and gross motor skills, respectively, at 24 months. The association between prenatal pandemic exposure and lower gross motor skills was marginally mediated by the presence of prenatal maternal internalizing symptoms. Conclusion: Mothers and young children may have been particularly vulnerable to pandemic stress. Maternal internalizing symptoms, especially during pregnancy, may serve as a pathway linking pandemic exposure with child neurodevelopment and may represent a malleable target for intervention.

This meta-analysis tested maternal responsivity as a mediator of the association between socioeconomic risk and children's preschool language abilities. The search included studies up to 2017 and meta-analytic structural equation modeling, allowed us to examine the magnitude of the indirect effect across 17 studies (k = 19). The meta-analysis included 6433 predominantly White, English speaking children (M_age = 36 months; 50% female) from Western, industrialized countries. All paths in the model were statistically significant, notably, the indirect effect was significant (b = −.052), showing that maternal responsivity may be a proximal intervening variable between socioeconomic risk and children's language development. Moderator analyses found that the indirect effect was stronger for sensitive parenting than warmth and when parenting was assessed in the family home.

Responsive caregiving is the dimension of parenting most consistently related to later child functioning in both developing and developed countries. There is a growing need for efficient, psychometrically sound and culturally appropriate measurement of this construct. This study describes the cross-cultural validation in Brazil of the Responsive Interactions for Learning (RIFL-P) measure, requiring only eight minutes for assessment and coding. The cross-cultural adaptation used a recognized seven-step procedure. The adapted version was applied to a stratified sample of 153 Brazilian mother–child (18 months) dyads. Videos of mother–child interaction were coded using the RIFL-P and a longer gold standard parenting assessment. Mothers completed a survey on child stimulation (18 months) and child outcomes were measured at 24 months. Internal consistency (α = 0.94), inter-rater reliability (r = 0.83), and intra-rater reliability (r = 0.94) were all satisfactory to high. RIFL-P scores were significantly correlated with another measurement of parenting (r’s ranged from 0.32 to 0.47, p < 0.001), stimulation markers (r = 0.34, p < 0.01), and children’s cognition (r = 0.29, p < 0.001), language (r = 0.28, p < 0.001), and positive behavior (r = 0.17, p < 0.05). The Brazilian Portuguese version is a valid and reliable instrument for a brief assessment of responsive caregiving.

In a series of meta‐analyses, paternal sensitivity was associated with children’s (age range: 7 months–9 years) overall cognitive functioning (N = 3,193; k = 23; r = .19), including language skills (k = 9; r = .21), cognitive ability (k = 9; r = .18), and executive function (k = 8; r = .19). Paternal sensitivity was not associated with children’s overall socioemotional functioning (N = 2,924; k = 24; r = −.03) or internalizing problems, but it was associated with children’s emotion regulation (k = 7; r = .22) and externalizing problems (k = 19; r = −.08). In the broad cognitive functioning, executive function, broad socioemotional functioning, and externalizing problems meta‐analyses, child age was a significant moderator.

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.

This study utilized actor–partner interdependence modeling to examine the bidirectional effects of younger (M_age = 18 months) and older siblings (M_age = 48 months) on later empathy development in a large (n = 452 families), diverse (42% immigrant) Canadian sample. Controlling for parenting, demographic characteristics, sibling relationship quality, and within-child stability in empathic concern, both younger and older siblings’ observed empathic concern uniquely predicted relative increases in the other's empathy over a period of 18 months. The strength of the partner effects did not differ by birth order. Sex composition moderated the younger sibling partner effect, whereas age gap moderated the older sibling partner effect. This study highlights the important role that siblings play in enhancing the development of care and concern for others.

Sibling training for disruptive behavior (one sibling teaching another disruptive behavior) is examined during early childhood. We used a conservative, recently developed, statistical model to identify sibling training. Sibling training was operationalized as the cross-lagged association between earlier child behavior and later sibling behavior, and differentiated from other reasons that contribute to sibling similarity. A three-wave longitudinal study tracked 916 children (M_age = 3.46, SD = 2.23) in 397 families using multi-informant data. Evidence for sibling training was found. Earlier younger siblings’ disruptive behavior predicted later lower levels of older siblings’ disruptive behavior. Thus, the sibling training found in early childhood was producing greater dissimilarity, rather than similarity, on disruptive behavior.