Family Interactions and Developmental Risk Associated With Early Cognitive Delay: Influences on Children's Behavioral Competence

The relationship between benevolent childhood experiences and depression among Chinese university students: the serial mediating role of family relationships and sleep quality

Introduction

Depression represents a significant mental health challenge among university students. Previous studies have revealed a relationship between benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) and depression, but the roles of family relationships and sleep quality in mediating the link between BCEs and depression remain unclear. This study constructed a serial mediating model to examine whether family relationships and sleep quality mediated the relationship between BCEs and depression among Chinese university students.

Methods

A total of 1830 university students from 25 universities in three provinces of China got recruited in this study. The assessment utilized the Benevolent Childhood Experiences Scale (BCEs-10) for childhood experiences, the Quality of Family Relationships Scale for family dynamics, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) single-item for sleep quality, and the Center for Epidemiological Survey Depression Scale (CES-D-10) for depression. Correlation analyses and serial mediation modeling were conducted using SPSS 25.0 with PROCESS macro v3.4.1.

Results

BCEs, family relationships, and sleep quality scores were all found to be negatively correlated with depression scores (r = -0.46, -0.32, -0.47, respectively, all p < 0.01). Family relationships, and sleep quality scores were positively correlated with BCEs scores (r = 0.31, 0.27, respectively, both p < 0.01). There was a positive correlation between the family relationships score and sleep quality score (r = 0.22, p < 0.01). Mediating analysis indicated that BCEs had a direct effect on depression (the direct effect accounted for 71.54%). Depression was affected by BCEs partly through three different pathways: the mediating role of family relationships (the mediation effect accounted for 8.50%), the mediating role of sleep quality (the mediation effect accounted for 16.40%), and the serial mediating role of both family relationships and sleep quality (the serial mediation effect accounted for 3.56%).

Discussion

The findings of this study demonstrated that family relationships and sleep quality partially mediated the association between BCEs and depression by serial mediating effects.Thus, improving sleep quality and family intervention may be effective measures to protect Chinese university students from depression.

Maternal characteristics and their relation to early mother-child interaction and cognitive development in toddlers

Early mother-infant interaction is believed to have a significant impact on the social, cognitive, and emotional development of children. These interactions are not only influenced by child and contextual factors but also by the mother's personality traits and strain. In this study, we investigated the relation between maternal factors such as personality, depressive symptoms, or experiencing of emotions, and (i) children's early cognitive development and (ii) interaction patterns in a sample of 116 mother-child dyads (mean child age = 18.63 months ± 6.42). Maternal factors were assessed using standardized questionnaires and toddlers' cognitive development was measured using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. Interaction patterns were evaluated using the CARE-Index. The study found that children of mothers who scored higher in agreeableness, a personality trait reflecting compassion and cooperation, performed better in cognitive assessments. Additionally, mothers who placed significant importance on their bodily signals to assess their overall well-being had higher scores in the quality of interaction with their child. Statistical trends suggested that mothers with higher levels of conscientiousness, indicative of being organized and responsible, tended to be more responsive in the interaction with their infants, while those with higher levels of neuroticism, characterized by a tendency towards negative emotions, were more likely to have toddlers who inhibit their true negative affect. Finally, there was a trend indicating that maternal depression was associated with increased maternal controlling behavior towards toddlers. Overall, these findings show the intricate relation between maternal behavior and state with dyadic interaction quality. This should underline that optimal infant development is only possible if mothers are well supported especially if in need due to various burdens such as depressive symptoms.

Interpersonal Family Dynamics Relate to Hippocampal CA Subfield Structure

Social environments that are extremely enriched or adverse can influence hippocampal volume. Though most individuals experience social environments that fall somewhere in between these extremes, substantially less is known about the influence of normative variation in social environments on hippocampal structure. Here, we examined whether hippocampal volume tracks normative variation in interpersonal family dynamics in 7- to 12-year-olds and adults recruited from the general population. We focused on interpersonal family dynamics as a prominent feature of one's social world. Given evidence that CA1 and CA2 play a key role in tracking social information, we related individual hippocampal subfield volumes to interpersonal family dynamics. More positive perceptions of interpersonal family dynamics were associated with greater CA1 and CA2/3 volume regardless of age and controlling for socioeconomic status. These data suggest that CA subfields are sensitive to normative variation in social environments and identify interpersonal family dynamics as an impactful environmental feature.

Associations between family environment resources and mental health problems in children

ABSTRACT Objective: The relationship between mental health and contextual factors has been increasingly investigated in the scientific literature to identify elements that may configure themselves as protective. The present study aimed to identify what resources (activities, family outings, toys, material elements, and learning) were offered in the daily lives of children with mental disorders, and from this, verify whether the offer of such resources in the family was associated with areas of greatest damage relative to mental health problems. Methods: Thirty-three caregivers of/people responsible for children between 6 and 12 years of age with most frequent diagnoses in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder seen at a general hospital participated. We used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ – parents version) and Family Environment Resources Inventory (RAF). Results: From a descriptive and correlational analysis, it was revealed that the more the mental health problems were present in children, the lower the family resources offer. Conclusions: The environmental resources offer proved to be protective for child development. Such findings are relevant to aid in outlining strategies for promoting mental health among children.

Developmental disabilities across the world: A scientometric review from 1936 to 2020

BACKGROUND

Developmental disabilities have been largely studied in the past years. Their etiological mechanisms have been underpinned to the interactions between genetic and environmental factors. These factors show variability across the world. Thus, it is important to understand where the set of knowledge obtained on developmental disabilities originates from and whether it is generalizable to low- and middle-income countries.

AIMS

This study aims to understand the origins of the available literature on developmental disabilities, keeping a focus on parenting, and identify the main trend of research.

METHODS AND PROCEDURE

A sample of 11,315 publications from 1936 to 2020 were collected from Scopus and a graphical country analysis was conducted. Furthermore, a qualitative approach enabled the clustering of references by keywords into four main areas: "Expression of the disorder", "Physiological Factors", "How it is studied" and "Environmental factors". For each area, a document co-citation analysis (DCA) on CiteSpace software was performed.

OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

Results highlight the leading role of North America in the study of developmental disabilities. Trends in the literature and the documents' scientific relevance are discussed in details.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Results demand for investigation in different socio-economical settings to generalize our knowledge. What this paper adds? The current paper tries to provide insight into the origins of the literature on developmental disabilities with a focus on parenting, together with an analysis of the trends of research in the field. The paper consisted of a multi-disciplinary and multi-method review. In fact, the review tried to integrate the analysis of the relation between developmental disabilities with a closer look at the scientific contributions to the field across the world. Specifically, the paper integrates a total of 11,315 papers published on almost a century of research (from 1936 to 2020). An initial qualitative analysis on keywords was combined to a subsequent quantitative approach in order to maximize the comprehension of the impact of almost a century of scientific contributions. Specifically, documents were studied with temporal and structural metrics on a scientometric approach. This allowed the exploration of patterns within the literature available on Scopus in a quantitative way. This method not only assessed the importance of single documents within the network. As a matter of fact, the document co-citation analysis used on CiteSpace software provided insight into the relations existing between multiple documents in the field of research. As a result, the leading role of North America in the literature of developmental disabilities and parenting emerged. This was accompanied by the review of the main trends of research within the existing literature.