Risk and Protective Factors in Parenting and Their Impact on Children’s Development: Family Systems Considerations
Chair(s): Carmen Berenguer (University of Valencia)
Proponents
Simona De Stasio, Benedetta Ragni
Department of Human Studies
LUMSA University, Rome, Italy
Parenting is a pivotal factor in children’s development, with risk and protective elements shaping outcomes across emotional, behavioral, and cognitive domains. This symposium brings together a series of studies examining the interplay of important family systems factors in diverse family contexts, highlighting their role in fostering or hindering children’s developmental trajectories.
Specifically, Dr. Sirotkin and colleagues will present a study that explores infants’ emotion regulation during triadic family interactions using a new coding system, MITER (Measuring Infant Triangular Emotion Regulation) (Sirotkin et al., 2019), hypothesizing that children’s triadic emotion regulation strategies would positively relate to coparenting quality and negatively to children’s negative emotionality and parental depression, that coparenting quality and infant emotion regulation would be bidirectionally linked, per family systems theory, and that infants’ triadic emotion regulation would buffer the effect of parental postpartum depression on children’s negative emotionality.
Dr. Carmen Berenguer will present an RCT study in which she implemented and tested the efficacy of an innovative internet-delivered psychosocial program aimed at reducing parenting stress and coping strategies in families with 7-11-year-old children diagnosed with autism.
Finally, Dr. Ragni and colleagues will present a cross-sectional study conducted with Italian parents of children aged 3-6 years, with the main aim of investigating the mediating role of mindful parenting in the relationship between parental technoference, defined as interruptions in parent-child interactions caused by parental technology use (McDaniel & Coyne, 2016) and two critical child development outcomes: children’s emotional regulation and behavioral difficulties.
Together, these studies provide a comprehensive understanding of how parenting processes interact with environmental, social, and individual variables to shape children’s developmental pathways. The symposium aims to foster dialogue on the design of effective, culturally sensitive interventions that enhance protective mechanisms while addressing contextual risks.
Presentations of the Symposium
Infant Triadic Emotion Regulation: Relations with coparenting and exploration of gender differences
Yana Segal Sirotkin1, Benedetta Ragni2, Carla Smith Stover3, James P. McHale1
1University of South Florida, Family Study Center, 2LUMSA University, Italy, 3Yale University Child Study Center
Children's emotional regulation (ER) develops within family relationships and is vital for social development (Morris et al., 2007). Shifting from dyadic to triadic dynamics, this study examined the contributions of both parents to infants’ ER (Favez et al., 2006; McHale, 2007). Building on prior findings establishing the influence of coparenting quality, parental depression and child’s gender on children’s ER development (Gallegos et al., 2017; Maughan et al., 2007; De Mendonça, Bussab, & Kärtner, 2019), we assessed these relationships in triadic family contexts.
Sixty-nine families with 12-month-old children, participated in a randomized controlled trial evaluating a coparenting intervention for unmarried Black parents. Using the Lausanne Trilogue Play Paradigm and the Measuring Infant Triangular Emotion Regulation (MITER) system, researchers observed children's triadic ER while both parents reported on child emotionality, coparenting alliance, and depression.
Results revealed several meaningful findings. First, a significant bidirectional relationship emerged between children's triadic ER and coparenting quality. Second, triadic ER moderated the relationship between parental depression and children's negative emotionality: there was a reduced impact of parental depression on children's negative emotionality among families with above-average triadic ER. Third, intervention group families reported lower levels of negative emotionality in their children compared to the control group. Finally, given comparable parental mental state and coparenting alliance, boys demonstrated significantly better emotion regulation with both parents compared to girls.
These findings highlight the importance of triangular family dynamics for children's emotional development. The protective role of effective triadic ER skills in the context of parental depression suggests the importance of family-level processes in supporting children's regulatory abilities. Gender-specific patterns in regulation strategies underscore the value of exploring developmental pathways for boys and girls within family systems separately. The study emphasizes the wisdom of considering multiple family factors when understanding and supporting children's emotional development, particularly within triadic contexts.
Online Psychosocial Intervention for Families of Children with Autism: Impact on Coping Strategies and Parental Stress
Carmen Berenguer
University of Valencia
Recent research indicates that psychosocial interventions incorporating psychoeducation and cognitive-behavioral training for parents can effectively manage children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These interventions empower parents to regulate their children’s behavior, positioning caregivers as agents of change. However, traditional interventions often face limitations, such as non-randomized study designs and accessibility barriers for families. In-person formats can pose logistical challenges, particularly for families in rural areas or those struggling with work-life balance. Despite the proven benefits of structured interventions, many families of ASD children still lack access to these essential psychosocial supports (Danielson et al., 2018).
This study aimed to assess the effects of an internet-delivered psychosocial program on parenting stress and coping strategies among families with ASD children.
Parents of ASD 7-11-years children were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either the Psychosocial Program group (n=32) or a Control group (n=30). The psychosocial program was delivered remotely via an online platform. Parent-reported measures of parenting stress and coping strategies were assessed at three time points: before the intervention, immediately after the intervention and six months post-intervention. A two-way mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted, with group (intervention vs. control) as the between-subjects factor and time (pre-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up) as the within-subjects factor.
Parents in the psychosocial program group reported significantly lower levels of parenting stress and higher levels of positive coping strategies both immediately after the intervention and six months post-intervention compared to the control group.
The findings suggest that the internet-delivered psychosocial program is a promising and accessible approach for empowering parents. This program may be particularly beneficial for families with limited access to traditional services, as it can be completed from home. Overall, the online psychosocial intervention appears to be an effective and accessible strategy for improving the well-being of both parents and their children.
The Mediating Role of Mindful Parenting in the Relationship Between Technoference and Child Development Outcomes
Ragni Benedetta, De Stasio Simona, Paoletti Daniela, Forentini Giulia
LUMSA University, Italy
The increasing integration of digital technology into daily life has introduced unique challenges for modern parenting. Technoference, defined as interruptions in parent-child interactions caused by parental technology use (McDaniel & Coyne, 2016), has been linked to diminished parental responsiveness and lower-quality interactions, adversely impacting children’s emotional and behavioral outcomes. Despite growing evidence, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain underexplored, especially in families with preschool children. Mindful parenting, characterized by attentiveness, emotional regulation, and present-centered parenting (Bögels, et al., 2014), has been identified as a protective factor against stressors in the parent-child relationship, including the use of technology. Yet, despite its linkages to parent and child well-being, little is known about how the technology context, in particular, may promote or hinder mindful parenting (Lippold et al., 2022).
The main aim of the current study was to investigate the role of mindful parenting in mediating the relationship between technoference and two critical child development outcomes: children’s emotional regulation and behavioral difficulties.
A sample of 201 Italian parents (61.7% mothers) with children aged 3-6 years completed self-report questionnaires: Technoference in Parenting Scale, Emotional Regulation Checklist, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting Scale (subscales listening with full attention and self-regulation). Structural Equation Modeling was conducted to evaluate the mediation model.
The final model exhibited good fit (RMSEA = 0.047; CFI = 0.962; TLI = 0.945; SRMR = 0.047). Results showed that parental perceived technoference indirectly predicts, through mindful parenting, both children’s emotion regulation (b=-0.314, p=0.025, R2=0.35) and behavioural difficulties reported by parents (b=.400, p=0.001, R2=44).
These findings highlight that the adverse effects of technoference on child development are indirect, mediated through its weakening of mindful parenting. This underscores the importance of interventions aimed at reducing technoference and promoting mindful parenting to enhance parent-child interactions and foster positive developmental outcomes.
