Assessing Parenting Skills and Attitudes: A Review of the Psychometrics of Parenting Measures

There are many measures that assess parenting skills or practices, such as behavior, beliefs, coping mechanisms, reactions to stress, or discipline. However, little is known about the psychometric quality of these parenting measures. This information is essential for practitioners and researchers to aide in the selection of the most valid and reliable measures to assess parenting behavior or attitudes. This study examined the psychometric quality among parenting measures published from 1985 to 2009. After the initial search 164 measures were identified, but were reduced to 25 measures that supplied some degree of psychometric information, were published in the United States or Canada, and were in English. Measures were compared across numerous categories including respondent type, norming data, administration type, and ten psychometric variables such as internal consistency, content validity, and predictive validity. Out of the 25 measures, seven had no acceptable psychometric properties, seven had only 1–2 acceptable ratings on psychometric properties, six had between 3 and 4 acceptable psychometric ratings, none had between 5 and 6 acceptable ratings, and only five had strong psychometric properties in seven or more of the 10 categories. Likewise, only five measures provided and norming information and 14 measures provided scoring procedures. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Review Essay: The Ethical and the Epistemological

In this review of Ritual and Spontaneity in the Psychoanalytic Process, I suggest that Irwin Hoffman's claim that his proposed paradigm of constructivism is revolutionary becomes more comprehensible and substantial if we realize that constructivism not only is an epistemological stance but is a profoundly ethical and even theological position that sees construction as construction in the face of death. The pronounced dialectical approach Hoffman is espousing and developing enables us to see the underside of uncertainty not only as epistemological complexity but as the ever present potential for moral fallibility and guilt.     

Review Essay: Beyond the Fear of Intimacy

Can Love Last? The Fate of Romance Over Time by Stephen A. Mitchell (New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2002, 224 pp.)

This article reflects on the importance of Mitchell's work in the United Kingdom, where notions of intimacy sit uneasily with psychoanalytic practice. The author argues that a reluctance to take up intimacy in the consulting room has a deleterious effect on intimate relations outside it. Drawing on her work with women, in particular, she posits that the erotic is still an undertheorized area of relational analysis. Although most orthodox theory has been jettisoned, new theory is necessary for an understanding of what the author observes to be a “false” erotic in many of her patients in whom the erotic is temporarily available but is unreliable as a desire and as a source of identity.     

人文医学的视角:裘法祖误诊误治思想初探——兼论医学伦理道德

本文结合裘法祖的相关论述,对襄法祖的误诊误治思想进行梳理勾连.认为袭法祖这一重要医学思想内涵是要勇于总结医学当中的误诊误治、老专家要"真心帮助青年人",要学习国外经验,但也不能枉自菲薄,这一思想在当代医学医德教育当中有重要的启示意义.     

Review Essay: Psychoanalysis,Post-Modernism and the Lesbian Rule

Lesbian Lives and Sexual Subjects reflect important contemporary trends in feminism, postmodern literary studies, and relational psychoanalysis. Both books are critical of such traditional psychoanalytic ideas as drives and developmental stages. Although such an orientation leads to important insights and reconceptualizations, it may also relinquish other important values, such as stable sexual identity, the capacity to mourn for lost possibilities, and the ability to commit to real, limited projects. In addition, the denial of sex and aggression as motivating forces and the alternative emphasis on attachment lead paradoxically to an impoverished sense of independence and active agency. One of Magee's cases is discussed.     

Parental Opioid Abuse: A Review of Child Outcomes,Parenting, and Parenting Interventions

Opioid abuse is now considered an epidemic, and many of the adults using this substance are parents. The purpose of the current paper is twofold: (1) to review rigorously conducted studies (e.g., included a comparison group; utilized inferential statistics) examining the association of opioid abuse with parenting and child outcomes, and (2) to review parenting intervention programs with these caregivers. Findings indicate that there are very few rigorously conducted studies examining children and parenting when parents abuse opioids. Furthermore, only four intervention programs have been conducted using randomized control trials and inferential statistics. We conclude that there is limited research that can be labeled as a rigorous science currently addressing this aspect of the opioid epidemic. Recommendations for further research are delineated.     

Handbook of Couple and Family Forensics: An Essay Review

An essay review of Handbook of Couple and Family Forensics: A Sourcebook for Mental Health and Legal Professional. Florence Kaslow (Ed.) (2000), Wiley Series in Couples and Family Dynamics and Treatment, John Wiley & Sons, N.Y., 2000. Hard cover, 554 pages. ISBN 0–471–19129–9. $85.00 US.     

Review Essay: The History of Israel Contested and Revised

Books reviewed in this article: Philip R. Davies, In Search of ‘Ancient Israel’ Philip R. Davies, Scribes and Scrolls: The Canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures Lester L. Grabbe (ed.), Can a ‘History of Israel’ Be Written? Niels Peter Lemche, The Israelites in History and Tradition V. Philips Long (ed.), Israel's Past in Present Research: Essays on Ancient Israelite Historiography Thomas L. Thompson, The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel     

Parenting Stress through the Lens of Different Clinical Groups: a Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis

Research has demonstrated an association between parenting stress and child behavior problems, and suggested levels of parenting stress are higher among parents of children at risk for behavior problems, such as those with autism and developmental delay (ASD/DD). The goal of the present study was to conduct a systematic review of parenting stress and child behavior problems among different clinical groups (i.e., ASD/DD, chronic illness, with or at-risk for behavioral and/or mood disorders). We also examined demographic and methodological variables as moderators and differences in overall levels of parenting stress between the clinical groups. This systematic review documents a link between parenting stress and child behavior problems with an emphasis on externalizing behavior. One-hundred thirty-three studies were included for quantitative analysis. Parenting stress was more strongly related to child externalizing (weighted ES r = 0.57, d = 1.39) than internalizing (weighted ES r = 0.37, d = 0.79) problems. Moderation analyses indicated that the association between parenting stress and behavior problems was stronger among studies which had mostly male and clinic-recruited samples. Overall, parenting stress levels were higher for parents of children with ASD/DD compared to parents of children from other clinical groups. Findings document the association between parenting stress and child behavior problems and highlight the importance of assessing parenting stress as part of routine care and throughout behavioral intervention programs, especially for groups of children at high risk for behavior problems, such as children with ASD/DD, in order to identify support for both the parent(s) and child.     

Parenting and psychosocial development of IVF children: Review of the research literature

When in vitro fertilization is performed, the transition to parenthood takes place in a special way. Many hypotheses have been formulated about the possible (mainly negative) effects that this method of conception may have on the parent–child relationship and the child’s psychosocial development. Since the early 1990s, various studies have been carried out to investigate these assumptions. Overall, few significant differences have been found in the parent–child relationship and psychosocial development of children in IVF families and non-IVF families. Some of the studies have even determined that IVF parents experienced the relationship with the child more positively. A limited number of results indicate a more negative view of parenting in IVF families, especially in terms of allowing for autonomy and feelings of child vulnerability. In one particular study, indications were found for an increased incidence of behavioral and emotional problems in IVF children. Potential explanations for these findings (including methodological issues) and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

道德视野下的内疚

几十年来, 内疚备受国内外研究者的关注, 其研究多从儿童发展、心理健康等方面展开。而近些年, 研究者关注的焦点开始转向内疚的道德层面, 即关注人际交往或社会事件中情绪的道德价值。内疚作为一种道德情绪, 是伴随道德意识的发展而发展的, 在维持和修复社会关系以及情绪情感发展中起着重要作用。因此, 文章从道德视角对内疚的界定、产生机制、行为反应以及亲社会作用等方面进行了梳理和探讨, 以期为国内的同类研究提供一些新的线索。     

Review Essay: Religionists and Theologians: Toward a Politics of Difference

Book reviewed in this article:
Mark C. Taylor, About Religion: Economies of Faith in Virtual Culture