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This study utilized actor-partner interdependence modeling to examine the bidirectional effects of younger (Mage = 18 months) and older siblings (Mage = 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 empathie concern, both younger and older siblings' observed empathie concern uniquely predicted relative increases in the other's empathy over a period of 18 months. 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.

Helicopter parenting (HP) is associated with poorer adjustment and worse relationships with parents among emerging adults, but these associations may depend on interpretations of HP and the family context in which it occurs. This study examined within-family patterns of mothers’ and fathers’ HP behavior and youth felt overcontrol, and their associated adjustment, relational, and demographic correlates. Participants were 282 U.S. college undergraduates (Mage = 19.87 years, SD = 1.27, 71% female, 52% White, 25% Asian). Using surveys from a single time-point, students reported on HP and felt overcontrol by mothers and fathers and their own adjustment and relationship quality with each parent. Latent profile analysis revealed four profiles: Autonomous (low HP, low felt overcontrol—71%), Mother Overcontrol (high mother HP and felt overcontrol—11%), Father Overcontrol (high father HP and felt overcontrol—6%), and HP Acceptors (high HP, low felt overcontrol—12%). Internalizing problems and relationships with parents were worst among students in the overcontrolled profiles. HP Acceptors were highest in parental warmth and intimate disclosure with parents but no better than overcontrolled students on internalizing symptoms. Academic performance did not differ among profiles, but academic motivation was highest among the Mother Overcontrol group. Results show that families differ in relative levels of HP among mothers and fathers and that these patterns may impact emerging adults’ interpretations of HP. In turn, emerging adults’ interpretations of HP as overcontrol have important implications for their relationships with parents but less so for psychological adjustment.HighlightsThere are distinct profiles of helicopter parenting by mothers and fathers and young adult’s felt overcontrol.If only one parent engages in helicopter parenting, it is more often mothers, and accompanied by felt overcontrol.Some young adults experience helicopter parenting from both parents but do not feel overcontrolled.Felt overcontrol, not HP, differentiates profiles with worse parent-child relationships.Youth who experience and feel overcontrolled by HP show the worst adjustment; youth who experience neither are best adjusted.

The objective of this study was to investigate the association between children’s parent-reported physical activity levels and weight changes during the COVID-19 pandemic among children and youth in Ontario Canada. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in parents of children 5–17 years living in Ontario from May to July 2021. Parents recalled their child’s physical activity and weight change during the year prior to their completion of the survey. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using multinomial logistic regression for the association between physical activity and weight gain or loss, adjusted for child age and gender, parent ethnicity, current housing type, method of school delivery, and financial stability. Overall, 86.8% of children did not obtain 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day and 75.4% of parents were somewhat or very concerned about their child’s physical activity levels. For all physical activity exposures (outdoor play, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity), lower physical activity was consistently associated with increased odds of weight gain or loss. For example, the adjusted OR for the association between 0–1 days of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity versus 6–7 days and child weight gain was 5.81 (95% CI 4.47, 7.56). Parent concern about their child’s physical activity was also strongly associated with child weight gain (OR 7.29; 95% CI 5.94, 8.94). No differences were observed between boys and girls. This study concludes that a high proportion of children in Ontario had low physical activity levels during the COVID-19 pandemic and that low physical activity was strongly associated with parent reports of both weight gain and loss among children.

ObjectivesTo describe child and parent weight change during the pandemic, overall and by income precarity.DesignA cross-sectional online survey was conducted.SettingCaregivers of children 0–17 years of age living in Ontario, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic from May 2021 to July 2021.ParticipantsA convenience sample of parents (n=9099) with children (n=9667) living in Ontario were identified through crowdsourcing.Primary outcome measureParents recalled, for themselves and their child, whether they lost weight, gained weight or remained the same over the past year. OR and 95% CI were estimated using multinomial logistic regression for the association between income precarity variables and weight loss or gain, adjusted for age, gender and ethnicity.ResultsOverall, 5.5% of children lost weight and 20.2% gained weight. Among adolescents, 11.1% lost weight and 27.1% gained weight. For parents, 17.1% reported weight loss and 57.7% reported weight gain. Parent weight change was strongly associated with child weight change. Income precarity measures, including job loss by both parents (OR=7.81, 95% CI 5.16 to 11.83) and disruption to household food supply (OR=6.05, 95% CI 4.77 to 7.68), were strongly associated with child weight loss. Similarly, job loss by both parents (OR=2.03, 95% CI 1.37 to 3.03) and disruption to household food supply (OR=2.99, 95% CI 2.52 to 3.54) were associated with child weight gain.ConclusionsWeight changes during the COVID-19 pandemic were widespread and income precarity was strongly associated with weight loss and weight gain in children and parents. Further research is needed to investigate the health outcomes related to weight change during the pandemic, especially for youth, and the impacts of income precarity.

This article examined links between 4- and 6-year-olds' (n = 101; Mage = 5.12 years, SD = 0.67; 53% male) ability to distinguish moral and conventional transgressions along different criteria and teacher ratings of proactive and reactive aggression. Latent difference score modeling revealed that moral transgressions were judged more unacceptable and wrong independent of rules and authority than conventional violations, but significant variability in moral-conventional distinctions was also observed. Proactive aggression was associated with less—and reactive aggression was associated with greater—differentiation in moral and conventional concepts. Proactive aggression was not associated with deficits in moral knowledge when other common assessments of early moral understanding were employed, highlighting the importance of using theoretically informed measures of moral judgments and aggression.

Aggression coincides with emotional underarousal in childhood, but we still lack an understanding of how underarousal contributes to aggression. With an ethnically diverse sample of 8-year-olds ( N = 150), we tested whether physiological underarousal and lower fear recognition were indirectly associated with heightened aggression through dampened guilt feelings. Caregivers rated children's aggressive behavior. We assessed children's skin conductance (SC) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) while they imagined transgressing norms and measured their fear recognition with a facial morph task. Children reported guilt or lack thereof after hypothetically transgressing. The interaction of decreasing SC and increasing RSA (i.e., physiological underarousal) and poor fear recognition were indirectly associated with higher aggression through their associations with lower guilt. Emotional underarousal may contribute to aggression by disrupting the normative development of guilt. We discuss strategies to improve social-emotional acuity and reduce aggression in children with blunted physiological arousal and fear recognition.

This study examined discrepancies between 4‐ and 7‐year‐olds’ (n = 135; Mage = 5.65) self‐reported affect following hypothetical moral versus social‐conventional transgressions and their associations with teacher‐rated physical and relational aggression concurrently and 9‐months later. Negative emotion ratings in response to prototypical moral transgressions were not associated with children's aggression. When transgressions were described as no longer prohibited by rules and authority figures, children reporting more negative affect in response to moral as compared to conventional violations were less physically aggressive at Wave 1 and showed relative and mean‐level declines in physical aggression over time. Relational aggression was not associated with self‐reported emotions. Findings indicate the importance of distinguishing between types of transgressions and forms of aggression in studying moral emotions.

PurposeThe Love Together, Parent Together (L2P2) program is a brief, online couple’s intervention designed to prevent relationship deterioration by targeting maladaptive psychological processes.MethodsThe current study used a parallel-group randomized controlled trial of L2P2 to examine its feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness. One-hundred forty couples with young children (< 6 years old) were randomly assigned to L2P2 or a control group. In three writing sessions over nine weeks, all couples completed fact-based summaries about recent conflicts; the L2P2 group also responded to three writing prompts eliciting conflict reappraisal. Participants completed baseline, post-intervention, and 1- and 3-month follow-up assessments.ResultsGoals related to feasibility and acceptability were met. In addition, the control group, but not the L2P2 group, showed deteriorating relationship quality from baseline to post-intervention.ConclusionsL2P2 shows promise as a brief intervention to attenuate declines in relationship quality in couples.Clinicaltrials.gov RegistrationNCT05261022.

Developmental trajectories and individual differences in 70 American middle-income 2½ -to 4-year olds' moral judgments were examined 3 times across 1 year using latent growth modeling. At Wave 1, children distinguished hypothetical moral from conventional transgressions on all criteria, but only older preschoolers did so when rating deserved punishment. Children's understanding of moral transgressions as wrong independent of authority grew over time. Greater surgency and effortful control were both associated with a better understanding of moral generalizability. Children higher in effortful control also grew more slowly in understanding that moral rules are not alterable and that moral transgressions are wrong independent of rules. Girls demonstrated sharper increases across time than boys in understanding the nonalterability of moral rules.

Lacking the capacity for guilt is a defining characteristic of callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Although guilt is a multifaceted construct, past CU research has rarely considered the reasons underlying children’s negative emotional responses to wrongdoing. The present study investigated how different forms of guilt were associated with CU traits during early and middle childhood in a Canadian community sample. We interviewed 4- and 8-year-olds (N = 300; 50% female) to assess their emotion attributions and reasoning in response to hypothetical acts of aggression. Interview responses were used to calculate variables representing undifferentiated, ethical, and non-ethical guilt ratings. Caregivers rated children’s CU tendencies at baseline and again 3 years later. Higher ethical guilt was associated with lower CU scores concurrently and 3 years later. Higher non-ethical guilt was associated with higher CU scores at baseline (for older children) and 3 years later (for all children). Undifferentiated guilt was not associated with CU after controlling for demographic variables.