Mothers', fathers' and children's perceptions of parents' expectations about children's family obligations in nine countries

Children's family obligations involve assistance and respect that children are expected to provide to immediate and extended family members and reflect beliefs related to family life that may differ across cultural groups. Mothers, fathers and children (N = 1432 families) in 13 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and United States) reported on their expectations regarding children's family obligations and parenting attitudes and behaviours. Within families, mothers and fathers had more concordant expectations regarding children's family obligations than did parents and children. Parenting behaviours that were warmer, less neglectful and more controlling as well as parenting attitudes that were more authoritarian were related to higher expectations regarding children's family obligations between families within cultures as well as between cultures. These international findings advance understanding of children's family obligations by contextualising them both within families and across a number of diverse cultural groups in 9 countries.     

The Development,Process, and Evaluation of Group Psychotherapy With Sexually Abused Preschool Girls

The development, process, and evolution of group psychotherapy specifically designed for sexually abused preschool aged females is presented. Utilization of male and female cotherapists, group structure, individual and family dynamics, the role of children's mothers in treatment, and process of treatment are examined. Issues regarding countertransference phenomena, cotherapy relations, in-depth involvement of the children's mothers, and specifics related to structuring of a time-limited group are beyond the initial intent and scope of this paper, and are not discussed here.

The cotherapists conclude that group psychotherapy for children of this age group is both clearly valuable and highly indicated as an adjunct treatment modality. In future group psychotherapy with sexually abused preschool aged children, based upon clinical experience and evaluation, the cotherapists advocate a time-limited approach whereby each session would focus upon specific issues as illustrated in Table 1, and include structured and purposeful involvement of the girls' caretakers.     

The Use of Time Limits in Brief Psychotherapy: A Comparison of Six-Session,Twelve-Session,and Unlimited Treatment with Families

This study compared the relative effectiveness of two durations of time-limited psychotherapy with time-unlimited treatment and a waiting list control group. Thirty-seven families applying for treatment at a child guidance clinic were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions: (a) time-limited therapy of 6 sessions within 8 weeks; (b) time-limited therapy of 12 sessions within 16 weeks; (c) time-unlimited therapy; and (d) a waiting list control group in which families waited approximately four months before beginning treatment. Outcome was assessed from multiple sources: parents, child, therapist, family interaction ratings, and missed and canceled sessions. Analysis of data provided some evidence that families who received treatment fared better than those on the waiting list. There were no consistent differences between 6-session, 12-session, and unlimited therapy. A model is proposed for the further investigation of time-limited treatment.     

Screening for Psychotherapy by an Open-Ended Group

A developmental model of conducting a time-limited, short-term inpatient psychotherapy group is described. The therapist's primary goal in this model is to promote members' awareness of their dysfunctional interpersonal behaviors and the conflicts underlying these behaviors. The therapist pursues this goal by facilitating the group in resolving the conflicts of the four phases through which the group passes. In Phase I, the group addresses conflicts related to the establishment of trust. In Phase II, issues related to dependency wishes focused upon authority figures occupy the group's attention. In Phase III, conflicts within peer relation-ships become focal. In Phase IV as the group approaches termination, group members explore feelings related to the acceptance of loss. For each phase, optimal therapist interventions are described.     

With a little help from my friends: maternal social support,via parenting,promotes willingness to share in preschoolers born to young mothers

Little is known about prosocial behaviours in children of young mothers. This longitudinal study involved 44 young mother (age <20 years at birth of first child) families and 44 older mother families, who were carefully matched for child age and gender, as well as for family structure (number of children, lone‐parent status) and socio‐economic background (maternal education, head‐of‐household unemployment, low family income). At the first time‐point (M child age = 2.45 years), mothers listed family members or friends who provided practical and/or emotional support; videos of mother–child interaction in play and tidy‐up were coded for positive and negative parenting. Two years later (M child age = 4.32 years), children's prosocial behaviours were assessed via (i) an experimental task of willingness to share and (ii) video‐based ratings of sharing and helping during dyadic play with friends. T‐tests showed few group differences in prosocial behaviours. Regression analyses showed that, for young mother families only, reduced negative parenting mediated associations between support from friends and preschoolers' willingness to share. Support from friends, via parenting, may promote willingness to share in children born to young mother families. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parenting after Weight Loss Surgery: A Conceptual Model and Two Case Reports

The ways families approach eating, shape, and weight can result in stress for individual family members and challenge the overall functioning of the family. This is further complicated among families with a parent who has history of obesity or undergone weight loss surgery (WLS). Although WLS can positively impact other family members, it can also exacerbate conflicts regarding feeding and weight. Such conflicts can involve uncertainty regarding the extent to which the entire family should make the dietary changes recommended for the post-WLS parent. Conflict might also center on the appropriate level of concern regarding the children’s risk of developing (or maintaining) obesity. This paper uses two case examples to describe the application of a specialized, time-limited intervention: Parent-Based Prevention following Bariatric Surgery (PBP-B). The program was developed to address the unique challenges and concerns that arise after, or are exacerbated by, WLS. Each detailed case example illustrates a common child-feeding challenge and the employment of key PBP-B strategies throughout the course of treatment. In the first case, the parent who had undergone WLS believed the family’s current eating behaviors were the same as those that had led to her own overeating, obesity, and co-occurring psychiatric symptoms, while her husband disagreed. In the second case, both parents were concerned about their son’s weight, yet due to their prior eating histories, they felt unable to construct boundaries around the feeding experience. Both cases follow families through the entire intervention and illustrate key points and challenges. These cases underscore the need for novel treatment modalities to support families following parental WLS.     

The Chilling Effect and Family Secrets

Two studies were conducted to test a theoretical model of the psychological and communicative links that mediate the impact of the chilling effect on the continued concealment of secrets in families. More specifically, we argued that individuals' continued concealment of a secret from aggressive family members would be mediated by the desire for protection (both of self and others). It was also hypothesized that the need for protection would negatively influence whether people felt that they had the communication efficacy to reveal their secret to these family members, which would also foster continued concealment. The results from Study One suggested that protection mediated the connection between family members' aggression and individuals' concealment of secrets from them. In addition, regardless of whether people believed they could communicate the secret to aggressive family members or not, they were likely to continue to conceal the secret if they were afraid that it would either hurt themselves or others. Results from follow up interviews in Study Two verified the model and also elaborated on the role of communication efficacy in this process.     

Duty to Re-Contact: A Study of Families at Risk for Fragile X

DNA testing for Fragile X syndrome is now routinely available through a large number of diagnostic laboratories. We have surveyed individuals from British Columbia Fragile X families identified prior to the availability of DNA testing for FMR1 to determine if they are subsequently receiving information about DNA testing. Of the 78 individuals first seen before the cloning of the FMR1 gene, 39 (50%) had not been seen in the clinic to discuss DNA testing. We initiated a contact program with these 39 patients to determine their interest in DNA testing. Contact was made with 28 individuals, 20 of whom stated interest in testing either for themselves or for a relative. Patient opinions about DNA testing were assessed through questionnaires. In those individuals who stated an interest in DNA testing, the most common reason for wishing testing was to provide information to children or grandchildren. The most common disadvantages of testing indicated by this group were that they had finished their families and that they felt the test would not have a direct impact. The most common reasons individuals were not interested in DNA testing were that there were no family members appropriate to test and that the respondent had completed his or her family. DNA testing has been performed for 13 of the 28 (46%) contacted individuals and/or at least one relative. In view of the high level of interest for testing in families who had not been seen since the cloning of the FMR1 gene, we feel that FMR1 screening programs should include actively contacting previously seen individuals.     

Family in transition: parents,children and grandparents in lesbian families give meaning to ‘doing family’

Lesbian parents, their children and grandparents ‘do family’ in rich and diverse ways. This article draws on innovative grounded theory research using qualitative, multi‐generational family interviews with twenty lesbian‐parented families living in Victoria, Australia. The intersection between the public and the private in lesbian family life has been seriously neglected by family researchers, and in particular the perspectives of family members other than the lesbian parents themselves. This article addresses the question of ‘How members of lesbian‐parented families define and describe their family’, and the results reported here focus on children's and grandparents' views, because they are the voices less well represented in the literature. Children and grandparents straddle both mainstream and marginalized spaces as they negotiate contemporary family life. We examine the interface and tensions between the traditional and the transformative, and the implications of these findings for family therapists are briefly discussed.     

Silence and survival: Working with strategies of denial in families of traumatized pre-school children

Silence and denial about previous traumatic experiences are common features in families exposed to organized violence. Mutual protection between family members, and especially between parents and children, is seen as the fundament for the silencing of traumatic experiences. This strategy is suggested to have adaptive advantages in dangerous situations in general, where it serves the function of saving the child's internal representations of his/her parents as secure bases. If, however, the dangerous situation escalates and a psychic trauma cannot be avoided, the strategy of mutual silence concerning the event(s) becomes an obstacle for giving traumatized children parental support and professional treatment. It is argued that clinicians need to take seriously the strong reasons families have for upholding their strategy of denial, if they want to help traumatized families to a better functioning. A case presentation is made to illustrate how it is possible to use refugee children's re-enacting play as a source of information about past traumatic events in order to change destructive post-traumatic family dynamics and improve parental support to the child.     

Supporting families of transgender children/youth: Parents speak on their experiences,identity, and views

ABSTRACT

Background: Transgender children/youth demonstrate the best possibility for resilience and positive mental health when they are part of an affirming and supportive family. To optimize families in supporting transgender children/youth, parents/caregivers need to be supported. Transgender children/youth and their families regularly navigate a myriad of challenges through society.

Aims: Within the extant literature on transgender children and youth, relatively little attention is focused on the experiences of parents/caregivers and how their close family relationships are affected. The present qualitative study addresses this gap in knowledge through its exploration of the experiences, identities, and views of parents/caregivers of transgender children/youth.

Method: The study is longitudinal and this article represents the first wave. Fourteen parents of 12 transgender children/youth, aged 6–17, participated in in-depth semistructured interviews. Participants were recruited via social media and at an on-site conference for transgender youth and their families. All children/youth had socially transitioned. Those who were eligible for puberty suppression and/or hormone therapy were receiving those. The interviews were inductively coded for themes by two coders using the constant comparative method.

Results: Participants' reports on their experiences yielded three themes: (1) transgender issues as the family's focus; (2) proactivity, child-focused: preemptive actions to prevent adverse consequences; and (3) self-care. These themes included subthemes on effective coping strategies to mitigate struggles. Three themes related to participants' identity and views emerged: (1) identity reformation, (2) self-evaluation, and (3) views of future. These themes included subthemes that reflected how participants viewed themselves, their child, and the future.

Discussion: A transgender identity in one family member affects all household members. Parents/guardians may experience guilt and self-doubt over decisions. Factors that may improve outcomes with extended family and schools include families' preemptive dissemination of information on transgender identities and explicating expectations of respect and nonintrusion. Ingrained traditions may force life-altering decisions.     

Parents’ Understanding of Adopted Children’s Ways of Being,Belonging, and Becoming

Internationally-adopted children experience a range of challenges as they cope with the demands of everyday functioning and strive to develop a healthy identity. Research shows that family context such as parenting practices impact the level of adoptees' adjustment and their eventual identity development. In this study, we examined the process of how relationships are built between Ethiopia adoptees and their adoptive families within the new family setting. Using data obtained through semi-structured interviews, a brief survey, and focus group discussion from 25 North American families who adopted 35 Ethiopia children, we conducted a systematic content analysis to examine parents' way of being, way of understanding, and way of intervening. Based on results of this study, we provide a framework that explains the dynamic of Ethiopian adoptees' existence and belonging from pre- to post-adoption in the adoptive family. Implications for future research regarding the need for multiculturally competent parenting practices and family level strategies to reduce barriers to the child and parent relationship are addressed.     

Parent–Child Conflict Profiles in Chinese American Immigrant Families: Links to Sociocultural Factors and School‐Age Children's Psychological Adjustment

Research suggests that parent–child conflict is a salient family process in Asian immigrant families and often a stressful experience for Asian American youth due to value discrepancies between Asian and Western cultures. The present study examined ratings of parent–child conflict across conflict topics from parents' and children's perspectives in a sample of Chinese American immigrant families with school‐age children (N = 239; age = 7.5–11 years). Latent profile analyses identified three parent‐rated conflict profiles and four child‐rated conflict profiles. Parent and child conflict profiles were unrelated to each other and differentially related to family sociocultural factors and children's psychological adjustment. Parents' moderate conflict profile scored highest on parent‐rated child behavior problems and had the highest household density and lower parent Chinese orientation. Children's moderate‐specific and high conflict profiles scored higher on child‐reported behavior problems than the low conflict profile. These results highlight the need to assess family conflict from both parents' and children's perspectives and target parent–child conflict communication as a pathway to prevent or reduce behavioral problems in Chinese American children of immigrant families.     

Mothers and Children Together

Summary

Treatment groups for both mothers and children together who have experienced mother assault is a unique therapeutic milieu which has been underutilized in the treatment field. This article presents a 10-week feminist-informed family systems group model as part of a treatment approach for children exposed to family violence and can be used with families of children from pre-school to adolescence. This model provides a context in which the experience of family violence can be debriefed, and issues related to trauma, safety, secrecy, and post-abuse family restructuring can be addressed by family members together. In addition, play and art therapy based interventions are presented and are tailored for the beginning, middle, and end of the group process.     

The development of the family alliance from pregnancy to toddlerhood and children outcomes at 18 months

This paper presents a longitudinal study of the development of family interactions from pregnancy to toddlerhood. Family interactions are increasingly acknowledged as a predictive factor for children's psychopathological outcomes. We used an observational setting, the Lausanne Trilogue Play, to evaluate the ‘family alliance’, namely, the quality of interactive coordination between family members. Families participated at the 5th month of pregnancy, and at 3‐ and 18‐months after birth. The sample (N=39) consisted of non‐referred primiparous families. Results show that (i) family alliance is stable during the first two years for most families: the quality of prenatal interactions between parents and a baby doll is thus predictive of the subsequent interactions with the actual child; (ii) there are links, but only a few, between family interactions and children outcomes reported by parents. Methodological issues (observation versus self‐reported questionnaires) are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MATERNAL DEPRESSION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION AND BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS IN HEAD START: INDIRECT EFFECTS THROUGH PARENTING

The present study used a large, nationally representative sample of Head Start children (N=3,349) from the Family and Child Experiences Survey of 2009 (FACES) to examine associations among maternal depression (measured when children were ?36 months old) and children's executive function (EF) and behavior problems (measured when children were ?48 months old). Preliminary analyses revealed that 36% of mothers in the sample had clinically significant levels of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, a path analysis with demographic controls showed a mediation effect that was significant and quite specific; mother‐reported warmth (and not mother–child reading) mediated the path between maternal depression, children's EF, and behavior problems. Findings provide empirical support for a family process model in which warm, sensitive parenting supports children's emerging self‐regulation and reduces the likelihood of early onset behavior problems in families in which children are exposed to maternal depression.     

The role of cognitive abilities in children's inferences about social atypicality and peer exclusion and inclusion in intergroup contexts

Children aged 6–7 years judged a loyal and a partially disloyal member of a school in terms of how typical they are within the school group and their likely acceptance by peers from the same school and a different school. Second‐order mental‐state understanding (SOMSU) predicted whether children thought atypical members would be included differently in the two groups. Counterfactual reasoning ability, multiple classification ability, and working memory ability did not predict children's judgements of group members. Moreover, as predicted by the developmental subjective group dynamics model, only children with higher levels of SOMSU and who discerned differences in the typicality of normative and deviant ingroup members inferred that peers would differently include atypical individuals from the same and different groups.     

The Integration of Behavior,Vol. III by Thomas M. French

This article presents a model for understanding development within children's psychotherapy groups. It is proposed that two complementary cultures exist within children's groups, one, indigenous peer culture, strictly of the children's making and the other, therapeutic group culture, created by the therapist in collaboration with group members. The therapist is wise to approach indigenous peer culture as an ethnographer might a native culture, with an emphasis on observation and seeking understanding rather than on intervention. The therapist can use the indigenous peer culture to speak to the children in their own language and eventually to engage them in collaboratively building a meaning system that is uniquely designed to address their psychotherapeutic needs. The article defines these concepts, develops them theoretically, and illustrates them clinically.     

Community,Context, and Coping: How Social Connections Influence Coping and Well-Being for Military Members and Their Spouses

Military members and their spouses (n = 223 families) were selected from an Active Duty Army installation and assessed with regard to their connections with the military community, their levels of coping with military culture demands, and their reports of individual (depression and life satisfaction) and family well-being. Guided by the contextual model of family stress and the social organization theory of action and change, results from a structural equation model indicated that military community connections, for both military members and their civilian spouses, were related to coping with the military culture and its demands, which in turn was related to both individual and family well-being. Unique actor and partner effects also emerged where both active duty military members' and their civilian spouses' perceptions of military community connections influenced the civilian spouses' satisfaction with military life, but only the active duty military members' community connections influenced their military-specific coping. Additionally, the associations between military-specific coping and individual and family well-being only had actor effects. When examined within the context of important military culture elements, namely rank and extent of military transitions (deployment and relocation), these core findings linking communities to coping and well-being were unchanged. Implications for theory, future research, and practice are shared.     

Family context of infantile colic

Psychological factors in families with a colicky baby were studied. A total of 59 families who had enrolled on the basis of information received at the postpartum wards in the city of Turku, Finland, were included in this study. In addition, 58 families with age-matched infants were selected as a control group. These families kept a diary of the infant's crying. Thirty-six infants fulfilled the criteria for severe colic. Twenty-three families with a baby who cried excessively but did not fulfill the criteria were defined as the moderate colic group. A semistructured family interview was carried out to assess the structure, communcation patterns, functioning, and affective tone of the families. Mothers and fathers were younger in the moderate colic group compared with parents in the other groups. In the moderate colic families, the infant was more often the first child than in the control families. On the other hand, neither the infant's gender nor the education of the parents was related to infant's crying. Organized family structure and strong parental coalition were more often present in the severe colic and control groups than in the moderate colic group. Increased family chaos was noted in this group. The severe and moderate colic families had more enmeshed individual boundaries. Generational boundaries were enmeshed in the moderate colic families. Communication patterns did not differ between the groups. The families with a severely or moderately crying baby were less flexible, had decreased ability to cope with daily activities, and showed less energy and vitality than the control families. Both the severe and moderate colic families expressed more anxiety and conflict compared to the control families. In conclusion, an association between infantile colic and psychological characteristics of the family was found. Moreover, the families with a moderately colicky infant had specific psychological features that differed from both the control families and those with severely colicky infants.