CURRENT RESEARCH AND PROJECTS
ORGANIZED CHAOS: DAILY ROUTINES LINK HOUSEHOLD CHAOS AND CHILDÂ BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS (PUBLISHED AT JCFS)
The aim of this study was to examine daily routines as a potential mediator of the relation between household chaos and both child externalizing behavior and bedtime resistant behavior. Studies show that children living in chaotic households exhibit more externalizing behaviors, which when exhibited as early as the toddler and preschool years, are a risk factor for later maladjustment. Understanding the mechanisms linking household chaos to early externalizing behaviors is important since those mechanisms could be targeted as a point of intervention.
Link:Â https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10826-019-01645-9
BEDTIME ROUTINES OF YOUNG CHILDREN, PARENTING STRESS, AND BEDTIME RESISTANCE: MEDIATION MODELS (PUBLISHED AT CHILD PSYCHIATRY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT)
This study examined if inconsistent bedtime routines are a mechanism through which high levels of parenting stress are related to bedtime resistant behaviors. Bedtime resistant behavior is a common problem in young children. Although previous studies have linked parenting stress to problematic behaviors at bedtime, understanding how and why that may be has been subject to limited empirical investigation. Caregivers (N = 118) of a child age 2-5 were recruited on Amazon's mechanical turk. There was a significant indirect effect of parenting stress on bedtime resistance through bedtime routines as well as a significant indirect effect of bedtime routines on bedtime resistant behavior through parenting stress. These findings suggest that there is a bidirectional relationship between inconsistent routines and parenting stress. Clinically, these results suggest that implementing a consistent routine at bedtime may improve both parent (less stress) and child (less bedtime resistance) functioning.
FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CONSISTENT BEDTIME ROUTINES AND GOODÂ SLEEPÂ OUTCOMESÂ (PUBLISHED ATÂ AT CHILDREN'S HEALTH CARE)
Parents of 155 children ages 3 to 5 were surveyed about their children’s bedtime routines, bedtime anxiety, compliance, and sleep quality. Regression models supported a simple indirect effect of bedtime routine consistency on sleep quality through bedtime anxiety, but not through compliance at bedtime. In a serial model, consistent bedtime routines were related to sleep quality through first bedtime anxiety and then compliance near bedtime. Clinically, results suggest that if parents can alleviate child anxiety around bedtime through routines, compliance around bedtime and a good night sleep may follow.
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02739615.2021.1981331
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Dr. Sara Jordan and Kristy Larsen are collaborating on a paper with Dr. Dan Capron and his students (Brian Bauer, Nikki Caulfield [ graduate students] Domynic Elder [RA]) on best-practices for using Mturk for psychology-related data collection. It's currently getting kicked around journals.
ASK-ASD 2.0 PSYCHOMETRIC STUDY
This study is evaluating the psychometric properties of a modified version of A Survey of Knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASK-ASD), expanding on the initial development study (Hansen, 2015). Specifically, this study is examining the factor structure (e.g., exploratory factor analysis); reliability (i.e., internal consistency, test-retest reliability); and validity (i.e., correlations of ASK-ASD with an existing measure of autism stigma and knowledge as well as participants' familiarity, training, experience, and knowledge of other psychological disorders). Our lab is currently collecting data from parents and teachers on Amazon Mechanical Turk. We also have plans to expand the participant population to college students.
CHAOS-25 PSYCHOMETRIC STUDY
The current gold-standard to assess household chaos is the Confusion Hubbub and Order Scale (CHAOS; Matheny et al., 1995). However, this instrument does not reflect the more recent updated conceptualization of household chaos. Therefore, the goal of the current study is to create an updated measure of household chaos, which includes all the dimensions that at present reflect the construct of household chaos. Our lab is currently collecting data from parents on Amazon Mechanical Turk.
PARENTING PRACTICES AND ROUTINES AS MEDIATORS OF PARENTING INFLEXIBILITY AND CHILD BEHAVIORS
Due to the high prevalence rates of child behavioral problems, considerable research has focused on factors that contribute to child behavioral problems. Parenting inflexibility has been shown to relate to child internalizing and externalizing behaviors through ineffective parenting practices. However, child routines, another related yet distinct parenting behavior, has yet to be explored in this relationship. The primary purpose of this study was to examine parenting practices and child routines as mediators of the relationship between parenting inflexibility and child behavioral outcomes. Mothers of school-aged children (N = 157) were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and completed self-report measures of parenting inflexibility and parenting practices and parent-report measures of child routines, internalizing behaviors, and externalizing behaviors. Ordinary least squares regression models indicated that negative parenting practices partially mediated the relationship between parenting inflexibility and child internalizing and externalizing behaviors (separately). Alternative models were also supported when the predictor and mediator were reversed, suggesting a bidirectional relationship between negative parenting practices and parenting inflexibility. Contrary to hypotheses, positive parenting practices and child routines (independently) did not mediate the relationship between parenting inflexibility and child internalizing behaviors (or externalizing behaviors). Significant results from this study suggest that parenting inflexibility may be displayed through negative parenting practices, resulting in child internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Moreover, parenting inflexibility and negative parenting practices (i.e., poor monitoring/supervision, inconsistent discipline, and corporal punishment) may be important targets for interventions to prevent or reduce child behavioral problems.
THE EFFECTS OF ROUTINES ON SLEEP QUALITY AND DIABETES TREATMENT ADHERENCE IN YOUTH WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES
Sleep quality disturbance is widespread, with sleep problems impacting up to 50 percent of youth (Carter et al., 2014). Pediatricians routinely recommend implementing bedtime routines for children with sleep problems (Mindell et al., 2006). Youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D) are more prone to sleep difficulties than those without T1D (van Dijk et al., 2011). With steadily increasing rates of T1D diagnoses and the negative health impacts poor sleep can have on diabetes, sleep quality disturbance is important to examine within this group. While bedtime routines are beneficial in treating sleep problems among children, there is no current research on the benefits of bedtime routines in a T1D sample. Additionally, poor diabetes treatment adherence is related to poor sleep quality (Jaser et al., 2017; Turner et al., 2016). Both general child routines (Greening et al., 2007) and routines specifically pertaining to T1D management are associated with better treatment adherence in children and adolescents (Pierce et al., 2010). This suggests that bedtime routines may also be important to examine in relation to sleep problems in youth with T1D. The present study will examine how bedtime routines, diabetes routines, and general child routines are related to sleep quality and diabetes treatment adherence outcomes in youth with T1D.
THE ROLE OF MATERNAL EMOTION REGULATION IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MATERNAL ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES (ACES), NEGATIVE PARENTING, AND CHILD EXTERNALIZING BEHAVIORS.
Previous research has shown the prevalence and effects of ACEs, with nearly 61% of adults experiencing at least one ACE in their lifetime. Females are at a greater risk for experiencing 4 or more ACEs (Center for Disease and Prevention, 2019); therefore, the effects of maternal ACEs on child need to be explored further. Maternal ACEs are associated with a range of negative effects among mothers and their children, such as more display of child externalizing behaviors (Cooke et al., 2019; Hatch et al., 2020; Khan et al., 2019; Stepleton et al., 2018), and one mechanism through which this occurs is the use of negative parenting practices (NPP). Specifically, mothers exposed to more traumatic experiences reported greater use of physical punishment and more punitive parenting practices which, in turn, was associated with more child externalizing behaviors (Banyard et al., 2003; Choe et al., 2013; Cohen et al., 2008; Yoon et al., 2019). ACEs can also affect an individual’s emotional regulation, the ability to appropriately respond to highly stressful events (Shaffer et al., 2012; Spieker et al., 2018). More ACEs have shown to predict greater difficulty in emotion regulation (DER), and therefore if the mother has a higher number of ACEs, this may impact her ability to handle stressful situations. Although there are associations between maternal ACEs, DER, and child externalizing problems, the literature has yet to examine all these factors together in one model. This study aims to examine the association between maternal ACEs and child externalizing behaviors and explore how emotion regulation and negative parenting may influence this relationship.
EXAMINING ROUTINES AMONG HEAD START FAMILIES: A PATH MODEL ANALYSIS OF THE FAMILY STRESS MODEL
In the United States, nearly half of families with children under six are at risk of experiencing poverty (Han & Zhang, 2022). The family stress model (FSM; Conger & Elder, 1994) has well established how economic hardship disrupts family functioning (Conger et al., 2010). In this model, economic pressure, or the perceived strain of economic hardship, leads to parental distress, which in turn affects parenting behaviors, and leads to negative child outcomes like externalizing behavior problems (Masarik & Conger, 2017). Consistent routines have been studied as a parenting behavior that is associated with fewer child externalizing behaviors (Bater & Jordan, 2017; Larsen & Jordan, 2019). However, no known published studies involving preschool-aged children have applied routines to the FSM framework. By analyzing a sample of Head Start children, we aim to gain invaluable insights into how general child routines and family routines may link to child externalizing behavior in the context of economic hardship and parental distress. Comparing the indirect effects of family routines and child routines will also reveal whether economic pressure – and its association with child behavior problems – may be better explained by child routines than family routines. Since routines are a malleable parenting behavior, the study may point to a mechanism that could be targeted through psychoeducation and intervention.