All parents experience stress as they attempt to meet the challenges of caring for their children. This comprehensive book examines the causes and consequences of parenting distress, drawing on a wide array of findings in current empirical research. Kirby Deater-Deckard explores normal and pathological parenting stress, the influences of parents on their children as well as children on their parents, and the effects of biological and environmental factors. Beginning with an overview of theories of stress and coping, Deater-Deckard goes on to describe how parenting stress is linked with problems in adult and child health (emotional problems, developmental disorders, illness); parental behaviors (warmth, harsh discipline); and factors outside the family (marital quality, work roles, cultural influences). The book concludes with a useful review of coping strategies and interventions that have been demonstrated to alleviate parenting stress.

This book examines the complex impact of parenting stress and the effects of its transmission on young children’s development and well-being (e.g., emotion self-regulation; executive functioning; maltreatment; future parenting practices). It analyzes current findings on acute and chronic psychological and socioeconomic stressors affecting parents, including those associated with poverty and cultural disparities, pregnancy and motherhood, and caring for children with developmental disabilities. Contributors explore how parental stress affects cognitive, affective, behavioral, and neurological development in children while pinpointing core adaptation, resilience, and coping skills parents need to reduce abusive and other negative behaviors and promote optimal outcomes in their children. These nuanced bidirectional perspectives on parent/child dynamics aim to inform clinical strategies and future research targeting parental stress and its cyclical impact on subsequent generations. Included in the coverage: Parental stress and child temperament. How social structure and culture shape parental strain and the well-being of parents and children. The stress of parenting children with developmental disabilities. Consequences and mechanisms of child maltreatment and the implications for parenting. How being mothered affects the development of mothering. Prenatal maternal stress and psychobiological development during childhood. Parenting Stress and Early Child Development is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians and related professionals, and graduate students in infancy and early childhood development, developmental psychology, pediatrics, family studies, and developmental neuroscience.

Please see Volume I for a full description and table of contents for all four volumes.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

Kids may have fewer responsibilities than mom and dad, but childhood can still be one of the most stressful periods in life. The stresses of school, extracurricular activities, and even day-to-day family living can make kids feel overwhelmed and distracted. To make matters worse, children have very little control over the events in their lives, and haven't had as much practice managing stress as adults. In Parenting Your Stressed Child, you'll learn a variety of simple and effective mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) skills that you can teach your child to help him or her stay resilient and calm in the face of stress. This guide includes breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation practices, and visualization and loving-kindness meditations you and your child can do together to handle the ups and downs of everyday life. By modeling these skills and incorporating them into your own life, you can help your child learn the art of resilience, a skill that will stay with your child for a lifetime.

Diagnosis, Management and Modeling of Neurodevelopmental Disorders: The Neuroscience of Development is a comprehensive reference on the diagnosis and management of neurodevelopment and associated disorders. The book discusses the mechanisms underlying neurological development and provides readers with a detailed introduction to the neural connections and complexities in biological circuitries, as well as the interactions between genetics, epigenetics and other micro-environmental processes. In addition, the book also examines the pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions of development-related conditions. - Provides the most comprehensive coverage of the broad range of topics relating to the neuroscience of aging - Features sections on the genetics that influences aging and diseases of aging - Contains an abstract, key facts, a mini dictionary of terms, and summary points in each chapter - Focuses on neurological diseases and conditions linked to aging, environmental factors and clinical recommendations - Includes more than 500 illustrations and tables