This study explored the impact of parental sleep quality on the experience of behavior problems by children with autism spectrum disorder. A 14-day daily diary was used in a sample of 176 mother-father couples. Dyadic multilevel models were conducted to examine the between-person and within-person effects of previous-night sleep quality on…

The objective of this study was to examine the different development characteristics of gifted children during the preschool period in comparison with normal developing children according to family observation. For this purpose, face-to-face interviews were carried out with the parents of 112 children identified as gifted and data regarding the…

Methodological challenges associated with measurement reactivity and fatigue were addressed using diary data collected from mothers (n = 47), fathers (n = 39), and children (n = 47; 8-13 years) across 56 consecutive days. Demonstrating the feasibility of extended diary studies with families, on-time compliance rates were upward of 90% for all…

This study compared emotional and coping resources of two parent groups with children ages 8 to 12 years--children with learning disabilities (LD) versus with typical development--and explored how mothers' and fathers' emotional resources (low anxious/avoidant attachment, low negative affect, and high positive affect) may explain differences in…

The main aim of this study was to examine the extent to which affective and cognitive empathy were associated with reactive and proactive aggression, and whether these associations differed between children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children. The study included 133 children (67 ASD, 66 TD, M age = 139…

This article deals with child-parent relationships in foster families, who bring up foster children with disabilities. The research was conducted in Republic of Adygheya (the Russian Federation). We have found out that, according to a child's view, interfamily relationships can be very ambivalent. On the one hand, foster children say that they…

Children with Asperger's syndrome are often reported by their parents as having difficulties communicating affection. This study aimed to develop a valid measure of affectionate behaviour that could be used to investigate and quantify these anecdotal reports and then be used in further intervention research. Using parent and expert focus…

Background: The Building Emotion and Affect Regulation (BEAR) program is a theory-based group intervention for enhancing resilience in children, with a focus on strengthening emotion regulation. The BEAR is a 6-session protocol for children aged 7-12 who have been subject to traumatic life events. Objective: This paper presents the guiding…

The aim of the current study was to examine among educational staff members of residential children's homes to what extent task demands, job control, emotional and social support from colleagues and management as well as self-efficacy beliefs concerning coping with aggressive behaviour in youngsters are associated with emotional exhaustion,…

This study utilized a daily diaries method to explore the global factors that impact daily general affect and daily parenting interactions of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder. Eighty-three mothers of a child with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 3 and 13 years completed global assessments of maternal depressive…

Reviews of behavioral genetic studies note that "control" aspects of parenting yield low estimates of heritability, while "affective" aspects (parental feelings) yield moderate estimates. Research to date has not specifically considered whether positive and negative aspects of parenting--for both feelings and control--may…

This study examined associations between parent-child interactions and the development of social skills in 42 children (21 typically developing and 21 with autism spectrum disorders) between the ages of 3 years, 0 months and 6 years, 11 months. We expected that positive parent-child interaction qualities would be related to children's social…

Introduction: The use of horses in therapy has a fairly long history. There are many references to the therapeutic benefits of this activity. Such therapies have been undergoing a boom internationally in recent years. However scientific research into the effective use of this activity in children with autism is still in the early stages of…

The goal of this study was to examine physiological and environmental predictors of children's sympathy (an emotional response consisting of feelings of concern or sorrow for others who are distressed or in need) and whether temperamental effortful control mediated these relations. Specifically, in a study of 192 children (23% Hispanic; 54%…

The aim of the study was to investigate social competence in children with orthopaedic disability and its concurrent relations to child's temperament, health condition, and maternal warmth. Participants were 68 Turkish children (mean = 5.94 years) with chronic orthopaedic disability and their mothers coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. Mother…