Understanding How Child Temperament, Negative Parenting, and Dyadic Parent-Child Behavioral Variability Interact to Influence Externalizing Problems

Longitudinal Study of Early Adversity and Disturbing Dream Frequency: Moderating Role of Early Negative Emotionality

Although disturbing dreams are prevalent in youth and are associated with psychopathology, little is known about their developmental course and risk factors. We aimed to examine the association between early social environment and subsequent disturbing dream frequency across adolescence as moderated by early negative emotionality. Measures of children's early social environment and negative emotionality were collected from the mothers of 410 children (5-42 months old) and measures of disturbing dream frequency directly from the children (13-18 years old). Preliminary steps identified subgroups of families with distinct profiles of social environment using latent variable mixture modeling, and captured changes in disturbing dream frequency using latent growth modeling. Regression and moderation analyses were conducted to test the study objectives. Results showed that the diverse family patterns were best captured by two profiles reflecting adverse and positive social environments and that overall disturbing dream frequency decreased during adolescence. Moderation analyses showed that when early negative emotionality was higher, DD frequency was not only more elevated in an adverse environment, but lower in a positive environment. These results indicate that the development of disturbing dreams is most strongly associated with a combination of individual and environment factors. Our study adds to the literature by refining our conception of individual traits and disturbing dream development and has implications for the prevention of bad dreams, nightmares, and associated psychopathologies.

Why does children's temperamental exuberance increase their vulnerability to externalizing symptoms? A process-oriented approach

This study examined children's exposure to family adversity, hostile reactivity to parental conflict, and negative family representations as mediators of the prospective relation between their temperamental exuberance and externalizing symptoms. Participants included 243 preschool children (Mage = 4.60 years; 56% girls) and parents (48% Black; 16% Latinx) in a multi-method and multi-informant study with three annual measurement occasions. Structural equation model results specifically supported children's hostile reactivity to parental conflict and negative family representations as mediators. Exuberance predicted residualized increases in children's hostile reactivity and negative family representations over a 1-year period. In turn, children's hostile reactivity and negative family representations predicted their greater externalizing symptoms 1 year later after controlling for prior externalizing symptoms. Results are discussed in the context of their relation and refinement of temperamental models of developmental psychopathology.

The importance of parent self-regulation and parent-child coregulation in research on parental discipline

Parent self-regulation is multifaceted, involving emotional, cognitive, and biological processes that support or constrain parenting behavior. It is highly relevant to disciplinary contexts in which parents' regulatory difficulties can contribute to harsh discipline, which is linked to children's maladjustment. In this article, we address why parents' self-regulation is an essential focus for basic and applied research on parental discipline. We emphasize the need to 1) incorporate and test multiple domains of parent self-regulation to understand their respective and interactive contributions and 2) understand how parent self-regulation interfaces with parent-child coregulation in delineating mechanistic pathways of the effects of harsh discipline on children's adjustment. These foci will more fully inform the etiology of children's maladjustment related to harsh discipline and knowledge regarding specific, malleable intervention targets aimed at reducing harsh discipline.