When teens and adolescents receive criticism from their parents, they will often internalize it, making them feel bad about themselves. Parents try to discipline their children in order to prevent the misbehavior from recurring again, but when they don’t receive the wanted reaction from the kids, they will continue to discipline. Often, when a child looks down at the ground or does not respond when a parent is disciplining, it is often misunderstood as the child is not getting the message. However, they are, and continuous discipline can cause them to carry guilt and shame around with them which can lead to more destructive behaviors.

Parents need to realize that their authority and physicality can be imposing on children and that they need to get to their level in order to effectively discipline their child. Often, yelling and overbearingness can have the opposite effect of what the parent wants. They need to first explain to the child that the behavior conducted is being criticized and not the child itself, so that they do not carry around that feeling on the daily and start to lose value of themselves. It has been found that teens that grew up believing that they were “bad” people or that there was something wrong with them due to criticism, turn to experimenting with drugs, becoming involved in inappropriate relationships, and even having suicidal ideations.

Parents have the capability of changing the way their children feel about themselves and the words and emotions that they internalize. Instead of acting in the moment when their child misbehaves, it is better to think and understand the child first, and it can lead to positive outcomes in the future.

Article Link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/adolescents-explained/202210/kids-may-turn-their-anger-inward-when-criticized-adults

Tulsi Patel

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Middle child syndrome, a “syndrome” developed by pop culture, describes the overshadowing of middle children by their older and younger siblings. The syndrome is deemed a “hypothetical condition” by the American Psychological Association, given the lack of empirical evidence supporting it. Middle child syndrome alleges that children who are in the middle of the birth order of their family develop outcast, rebellious personalities as a result of more attention going to the cuter younger sibling or the authoritative older sibling. 

The syndrome is composed of many common characteristics, such as being independent, attention-seeking, and feeling distanced from parents. It also is well-known for its exaggerated stereotypes, including middle children being the “forgotten child,” and having an inferiority complex. Experts have looked further into whether birth order has an influence on personality, and have found that middle children are more likely to have trouble with wrongdoing and are less family-oriented. Birth-order may also have effects on mental health, with higher birth order being associated with poorer mental health. 

Since middle child syndrome is a “hypothetical condition,” and is full of uncertainties concerning the negative characteristics of middle children, it can be hard to foresee how being a middle child can affect a child. However, given the commonality of middle child experiences, it can be worth it to check in on their mental health, and to try therapy if they are experiencing any of the characteristics of middle child syndrome. Overall, empirical evidence suggests that the effects of being a middle child may be minimal, but they are still worth paying attention to.  

Kylie Robinshaw

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Article Link: https://psychcentral.com/health/middle-child-syndrome

The teenage years are a prevalent theme in society with emphasis on them being “the best years of your life” and a time of true growth.  But how, as parents and those in the community, can we ensure that teens are able to reach their full potential?  Recent studies have shown that altering our perception of teenagers can be the right step in helping adolescents blossom into adulthood.

All teenagers have an internal drive to prove themselves as an individual as well as express their ability to be independent.  However, society’s current stereotypes regarding teenagers can cause this drive to foster itself in different, less productive ways.  Today’s culture often highlights teenagers to be phone-crazy, irresponsible, and lazy which has been shown to drive teenagers to change their behavior such that they resemble these stereotypes.  

Current research has shown that by shifting our beliefs about teenagers to be more positive can help teenagers to be more successful in their contributions and independence.  One study exposed teenagers to a passage stating positive views about teenagers and countered the negative beliefs about them and then researchers observed their behavior after reading the passage.  They found that in the days following the reading of the passage that participants showed higher engagement in the classroom as well as involvement in household tasks.  

Teenagers have a drive to become a member of the “real world” and seek responsibility in order to prove that they are.  The key to supporting teenagers in their development can be sharing positive and optimistic thoughts about them.

Read the full article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/natured-nurture/202210/recipe-responsible-teenagers

Marissa Robarge

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Today’s Friday Feature is Kaya LeGrand! 

Kaya LeGrand is a second-year PhD student at UConn studying Developmental Psychology. She has a BA in Linguistics from Pomona College, as well as a Master’s degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Emerson College. With her Linguistics degree and her passion for language, she was able to work with people as a speech pathologist. She worked at a residential school for autistic students after finishing her Master’s degree. Realizing that the autistic students she worked with (the ones with the most trouble learning language) are very understudied and that she misses doing research, she decided to go back to school to pursue her PhD.

Currently, she is working on the study Longitudinal Study of Early Language (IRB H02-415OSUBU, PI: Letty Naigles). This study follows individuals with autism spectrum disorder over time to investigate various questions related to language development in autism. She is working on a project that analyzes children’s verb production over the course of development from approximately age 2-5 to determine whether verbs are a particularly difficult aspect of language for children with autism.

Kaya’s favorite activity is to do anything outside, especially hiking and backpacking. She loves hanging out with her dog, Hugo, and playing board games!

The concept of a “gentle” parent is fairly new to this past decade and refers to a parent that tries to emotionally connect with their child and try to understand the etymology behind their child’s behavior. The overarching theme of a gentle parent is that they do not scold or condemn their child immediately, and try to first validate their child’s feelings. When a parent shows an understanding of a child’s emotions, they are essentially trying to get the child to calm down without having to escalate the situation. This approach helps children be able to identify their own emotions and promotes emotional intelligence for the future. Higher emotional intelligence is associated with fewer emotional problems and higher school attainment. This was supported by a research study conducted that showed that mothers who responded sensitively to their children in the first three years of life led to them building better academic and social skills by the age of fifteen. 

In addition to validation and sensitivity, parents need to learn to set boundaries, and children need to learn to follow them. If limits are set in a calm manner, children will learn to treat the situation just the same. Another main concern of misbehavior and negative feelings stems from the inattentiveness of the parents. If parents pay more attention to their children and create a continuous positive environment, children will soon reflect that. In conclusion, gentle parenting needs time and positivity from both the parent and child in order to further promote the relationship and the skills of both parties.  

Article link: https://theconversation.com/what-is-gentle-parenting-an-expert-explains-184282

Tulsi Patel

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Tapping into your inner child when playing with children can be difficult, but studies have shown that being playful with children promotes their imagination. 

Play can be a way for caregivers to connect with their children, given that play is treated as a balanced exchange of ideas between caregiver and child, rather than solely the parent or child leading it. When treated as a brainstorm session rather than an obligation, play allows both the caregiver and child to have fun and enjoy each other’s presence. One practical play rule, especially for adults who may struggle with imaginative play, is the improv “Yes, And…” rule. 

The “Yes, And…” rule involves caregivers engaging with the child’s ideas and adding onto them logically. For example, if a child says that you live in a castle, you could engage them by saying “Yes! My castle is full of diamond crowns and is protected by mighty knights.” An important exception for the “Yes… And” rule, nonetheless, is that it does not need to exceed set boundaries; caregivers, of course, do not always need to say yes to children. The “Yes… And” strategy is simple and effective in that caregivers who use it are able to participate in and prolong their child’s playtime with no planning needed. Further, the “Yes… And” rule boosts creativity and imagination in children. 

Overall, using the “Yes… And” rule is an important tool that can be used to help caregivers and children connect and bond over laughter-filled play.

Kylie Robinshaw

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Article Link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/play-your-way-sane/202210/how-turn-playing-children-childs-play

Perhaps one of the things that people miss most about childhood is play.  Who doesn’t miss getting to create your own story and your biggest choice was deciding which dress to put on which Barbie.  While play may seem like a simple task, the benefits of play in your child’s learning and development continue to come to light.  

In a recent study researchers explored the effect of guided play on children’s development and their ability to learn in different subject areas.  Guided play is a type of learning that is play-based in which an adult must provide guidance such that a learning goal is achieved, children are still able to make choices and lead the play-time, and the adult has multiple methods in how they guide the child.  Adults can guide play by prompting children with open-ended questions relevant to the type of play, hints, and modeling how to play during an activity.  

Guided play is thought to be beneficial particularly for learning because of the engagement it provokes from children.  Children enjoy playing and have the ability to make their own choices which may be limited throughout the everyday.  During guided play children get to be hands-on in their participation and can reflect on what their play means in a broader context.  This benefits a child’s learning because the adult is able to teach them how to play a new activity, content may be learned that a child is able to discover on their own, and adults can assist in activities that a child alone may not be able to do just yet.  This type of play is also beneficial in that there is a meaningful connection between an enjoyable experience and what is being learned which can increase memory retention which is important for learning.  

Researchers found that guided play had a greater impact on early math skills, executive function, and shape knowledge than direct instruction.  Guided play also had a better influence than free play on spatial vocabulary.  

Guided play can be a useful tool in extending your child’s knowledge and confidence by providing them with new opportunities and support.

 

Read the full article: https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cdev.13730

Marissa Robarge

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Today’s Friday Feature is Cynthia Boo!

Cynthia Boo is a graduate student working with Dr. Letty Naigles in the Child Language Lab. She is currently a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Developmental Psychology division at UConn. Prior to coming to UConn, Cynthia completed her bachelor’s in Psychology at Juniata College in PA and master’s in General Psychology at The New School for Social Research in NY. 

 

Cynthia is currently working on the “Early Predictors to School Age Language: Individual and Interactional Child and Parent Factors” project (IRB Protocol #: H18-208AARH; PI: Dr. Naigles), where she is investigating autistic and non-autistic children’s storytelling abilities. She is interested in how these groups of children differ, or are similar, in their abilities to tell stories based on books and from their personal experiences, as well as various factors that may contribute to their storytelling abilities (i.e., overall language and cognitive functioning). 

 

Cynthia’s primary research interests are on the social communication and pragmatic language abilities of school-aged autistic children. Her current research investigates these children’s use of discourse markers (e.g., “like”, “well,” “um”) in their naturalistic speech. As a fourth-year graduate student, Cynthia is gearing up to collect data for her dissertation, which will assess the ways autistic and non-autistic dyads of friends communicate with one another as they play games in the lab (stay tuned!). 

When she is not in the lab, Cynthia enjoys cooking and trying new recipes. She also loves to explore the trails all around Connecticut with her dog, Mochi. When she needs a break, Cynthia likes to whip out her old Pokemon games as it reminds her of her childhood. Her favorite Pokemon game has been Let’s Go Pikachu! 

 

 

Research studies at Penn State looked at how changes in parental involvement, warmth, and discipline during the early stages of development and through adolescence affected the quality of the parental-child relationship during the young adult period of their life. In the study, 1631 participants from rural and semi-rural neighborhoods were surveyed in a long-term research study starting from between sixth to twelfth grade up until they were 22 years old. 

The research showed that during the teenage years, parenting had a lot of variation and changed quite often. In fact, parents seemed to show less affection and warmth during this time. It was noted that less time was spent with children, and more discipline was applied. This built a negative parental-child relationship in the adult phase and parents were not able to maintain a close relationship with their children. 

As children grow older and are exposed to independence and the idea of autonomy, it becomes harder for parents to stay involved in their children‘s lives. However, simple activities can help keep this bond close. For example, playing sports, games, or even going for a bike/walk, going out to eat or having regular meals together, working on errands together, and keeping open communication about the school, friends, social life, and the future. In addition to activities and time spent together, it is important for parents to keep in mind the words they speak to their children. Simple phrases such as “I love you” and “I’m proud of you” or even affectionate signs such as hugs and kisses can help really tighten the bond. 

In terms of discipline, during the teenage years, adolescents start to want to be treated as adults and respected as one. And so, using harsh tone and language, or using overpowering discipline will only make them feel like a child and not want to create that bond with the parent. Rules and regulations are important and should be maintained, but having open discussions about them and creating a list of what is expected from them together as a family can really help enforce discipline. When children are included in the decisions and the decision-making process, it makes them feel like they have played a part and are equal to the parent.

Link: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/10/221004213343.htm

Tulsi Patel

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

It’s no secret that there is a gender disparity in the STEM field, with men making up a wide majority of STEM employees; part of this disparity can be accounted for by the stereotype that women are not good at science. However, a recent study has found that girls may find motivation to study and partake in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields when they pretend to be a female scientist. 

Researchers Reut Shachnai, Tamar Kushnir and Lin Bian studied 240 four to seven-year-olds to investigate if acting like successful role models is valuable for children. They used a between-groups design, randomly assigning the children to one of three conditions. Children put in the baseline group played a science game and hypothesized whether an object would float or sink in water. Children in the exposure group played the same game, but were told about an accomplished scientist of their gender before the game started. The researchers chose scientists Marie Curie for the girl participants and Isaac Newton for the boy participants, as they believed that the kids would be unfamiliar with them. Kids in the roleplay group were given the task to roleplay as the gender-matched scientists (Marie Curie or Isaac Newton), and were referred to as Dr. Curie or Dr. Isaac. 

The children were prompted to play another round of the game after they finished, and it was found that boys in each condition were motivated to continue playing, with an overall average of 14 rounds. Average rounds played differed for girls in each of the experimental groups, with girls in the baseline group completing five rounds, girls in the exposure group completing nine rounds, and girls in the roleplay group completing twelve rounds. The results of this study show that when reminded of or prompted to act like successful female scientists, girls are able to mentally distance themselves from their stereotypes and therefore may be more motivated to partake in STEM activities. 

Overall, enacting successful figures can help girls persist against the stereotype that they are not good at STEM activities.  The researchers highlight that it’s important to have children roleplay as role models whose appearances and backgrounds they are unaware of, as knowingly role playing as someone different than them can produce very different results regarding motivation. This research may be extended to how representation is taught in schools, and suggests that representation may need to be taken further as children benefit more from performing role model actions instead of just learning about them. 

Kylie Robinshaw

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Article Link: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/news-release/2022-sept-girls-roleplay-science.html