Factors Related to the Seeking and Contribution of Prenatal Care Among Ethnically Diverse Adolescents

This article describes an issue of importance to the field of medicine and nursing. We examined factors related to the seeking of prenatal care (PNC) and contribution of PNC on infant complications and psychological birth trauma among adolescents. Additionally, we addressed the confounding factors of violence and depression, common occurrences within this frequently overlooked age range. We collected data from a convenience sample of 260 ethnically diverse adolescents, ages 13–19, within 72 h of birth. We found that most adolescents did not receive the minimum number of PNC visits. Logistic regression models documented that none of the study variables influenced seeking PNC. However, we did find gestational age, as expected, and partner violence to affect the number of PNC visits obtained. Depressive symptoms significantly influenced infant complications, and psychological birth trauma, which was measured via objective and subjective indicators (appraisal). Our findings also revealed that PNC did not contribute to infant complications or birth trauma. Yet, despite obtaining the most PNC visits, Black adolescents appeared most at risk for infant complications, depression, and birth trauma. We believe that the clinical significance of these findings supports the need to better address the psychosocial dimension of care as part of routine PNC. We recommend increased assessments of violence and depression throughout pregnancy, especially for the Black adolescent with targeted education to aid in recognition of symptoms, consequences to maternal and infant health, and connections to psychological birth trauma.     

The Unravelling of Identities and Belonging: Criminal Gang Involvement of Youth from Immigrant Families

Grounded in the experiences of 30 gang-involved respondents in Calgary, this Canadian study examined criminal gang involvement of youth from immigrant families. Our analysis showed that gang-involved youth had experienced multiple, severe and prolonged personal and interpersonal challenges in all facets of their lives and that gradual disintegration of their relationships with family, school and community had resulted in the unravelling of self-concept, ethnic identity, sense of belonging and sense of citizenship and progressively propelled them towards membership in high-risk social cliques and criminal gangs. Our findings brought attention to the need for coordinated, comprehensive support for youth from immigrant families through family-based, school-based and community-based programs.     

父母参与对流动儿童学业成绩的影响:自主性动机的中介作用

基于自我决定论的理论框架,运用测量法对济南市两所打工子弟小学的601名流动儿童进行问卷调查,考察流动儿童感知到的父母参与、动机与学业成绩的关系。研究发现:(1)父母参与均显著正向预测学业成绩。(2)自主性动机显著正向预测学业成绩;控制性动机对学业成绩的预测作用不显著。(3)自主性动机在父母参与和学业成绩间起中介作用。其中,自主性动机在父亲参与——学业成绩中起完全中介,自主性动机在母亲参与——学业成绩中起部分中介。(4)父亲参与、母亲参与和流动儿童学业成绩的关系不同。母亲参与对流动儿童的学业成绩具有更强的预测力。     

Self-Enhancement Following Exposure to Idealized Body Portrayals in Ethnically Diverse Men: A Fantasy Effect of Advertising

Viewing idealized body portrayals of men and women in advertising is known to have negative effects on men’s self-esteem and body dissatisfaction, but little research investigates these effects across race/ethnicity. Racial minorities tend to idealize larger bodies than Whites and so might respond differently to advertising influences. We investigated whether exposure to idealized portrayals of male and female bodies in TV advertisements has different effects on men of different race/ethnicity. Additionally, we investigated whether implicit methods reveal different results than self-reports. One hundred and sixty Asian, Hispanic, and White American male undergraduates from a university in California (USA) were randomly assigned to watch TV advertisements portraying thin women, muscular men, or watched no ads. Their implicit self-esteem was measured using the Implicit Association Test, and a questionnaire assessed explicit self-esteem, actual-ideal body discrepancy, and perception of weight-related health-risks. Exposure to portrayals of muscular men decreased actual-ideal body discrepancy in all men. Exposure to portrayals of thin women increased men’s implicit but not explicit self-esteem in Asian and Hispanic men only. Both these findings are consistent with a self-enhancing role of exposure to idealized male and female bodies in advertising, which is often referred to as a “fantasy effect”. This study provides evidence that media exposure interacts with culturally local body ideals and so can produce varying effects in different racial/ethnic groups. This result could have important implications for interventions.     

Gender Roles in Immigrant Families: Parenting Views, Practices, and Child Development

Ecological and acculturation frameworks are especially central to understanding the experiences of immigrant populations and to date, current research has yielded new conceptual and methodological tools for documenting the cultural and developmental processes of children and their families. This special issue of 12 articles focuses on immigrant families and the importance of gender along various dimensions: parental roles, parent–child relationships, child outcomes. The collection of articles also represents various innovative methodologies used, including quantitative and qualitative approaches.     

Parental Involvement in Chinese Immigrant Mothers: The Influences of Cultural and Parenting Cognitions

Journal of Child and Family Studies - The purpose of this research was to identify mechanisms by which cultural cognitions were linked to parenting cognitions and practices in acculturating Chinese...     

Type D Personality as a Prognostic Factor in Heart Disease: Assessment and Mediating Mechanisms

Type D personality, a synergy between negative affectivity and social inhibition, has established itself as a serious risk factor for morbidity and mortality in patients suffering from cardiovascular disease. In this review, we summarize studies on the validity of the assessment methods of Type D, emphasizing its role as an independent vulnerability factor in the progression of cardiovascular disease. We further present evidence on the physiological characteristics that accompany the 2 psychological traits negative affectivity and social inhibition and may mediate the relation between personality and prognosis in heart disease. Further research needs to determine the mechanisms by which Type D affects the course and outcome of cardiovascular disease as well as how Type D patients may benefit from psychosocial intervention.     

Child Involvement in Interparental Conflict and Child Adjustment Problems: A Longitudinal Study of Violent Families

This study examined whether child involvement in interparental conflict predicts child externalizing and internalizing problems in violent families. Participants were 119 families (mothers and children) recruited from domestic violence shelters. One child between the ages of 7 and 10 years in each family (50 female, 69 male) completed measures of involvement in their parents’ conflicts, externalizing problems, and internalizing problems. Mothers completed measures of child externalizing and internalizing problems, and physical intimate partner violence. Measures were completed at three assessments, spaced 6 months apart. Results indicated that children’s involvement in their parents’ conflicts was positively associated with child adjustment problems. These associations emerged in between-subjects and within-subjects analyses, and for child externalizing as well as internalizing problems, even after controlling for the influence of physical intimate partner violence. In addition, child involvement in parental conflicts predicted later child reports of externalizing problems, but child reports of externalizing problems did not predict later involvement in parental conflicts. These findings highlight the importance of considering children’s involvement in their parents’ conflicts in theory and clinical work pertaining to high-conflict families.     

Negotiating Responsibility: Case Studies of Reproductive Decision-Making and Prenatal Genetic Testing in Families Facing Huntington Disease

Three case studies are presented to further our understanding of how responsibility is negotiated in families when making decisions about genetic risk. These draw on a model of responsibility generated in a study of reproductive decision-making in families facing Huntington disease (HD) to illustrate the impact of prenatal testing on this process. This involves analyzing: how people present themselves as acting responsibly whether or not they utilize genetic testing; who they feel responsible to in their family and elsewhere; the impact that testing has on these relationships; and, how negotiating responsibility changes over time with repeated use of prenatal testing, changing risk status and maturational changes. Two key findings are: how decision-making is perceived can become as important as what is decided; and, how responsibility is negotiated depends on which of these relationships are prioritized. Implications of the findings for clinical practice are noted and suggestions made for further applications of the model.     

Family Therapy with English Caribbean Immigrant Families in the United States: Issues of Emigration, Immigration, Culture, and Race

Many English Caribbean families in the United States are referred for therapy because of difficulties related to their adaptation to a new country/culture. This paper focuses on the intra-familial, and the family-larger system transitional/adjustment difficulties experienced by these families and presents issues specific to therapy with them. Effective therapy with English Caribbean families and their subsystems requires that therapists communicate to these families an understanding of their concerns, be knowledgeable about heterogeneity in cultural values and traditions, and create a therapeutic atmosphere in which families can feel valued and respected. Recommendations for therapists are presented and discussed.     

Parenting in an Individualistic Culture with a Collectivistic Cultural Background: The Case of Turkish Immigrant Families with Toddlers in the Netherlands

Expanding our knowledge on parenting practices of immigrant families is crucial for designing culturally sensitive parenting intervention programs in countries with high immigration rates. We investigated differences in patterns of parenting between second-generation immigrant and native families with young children. Authoritarian and authoritative control and sensitivity of second-generation Turkish immigrant mothers of 2-year-old children (n = 70) and native Dutch mothers (n = 70) were observed in the home and in the laboratory. Controlling for maternal age and education, Turkish immigrant mothers were less supportive, gave less clear instructions to their children, were more intrusive and were less authoritative in their control strategies than native Dutch mothers. No differences were found in authoritarian control. In both ethnic groups supportive presence, clarity of instruction, authoritative control, and low intrusiveness loaded on one factor. No differences between ethnic groups were found in gender-differentiated parenting. Maternal emotional connectedness to the Turkish culture was associated with less authoritative control, whereas more use of the Turkish language was related to more sensitivity. Even though mean level differences in parenting behaviors still exist between second-generation Turkish immigrant and native Dutch mothers, the patterns of associations between parenting behaviors were comparable for both groups. This suggests that existing parenting interventions for native families may be applicable to second-generation Turkish immigrants as well.     

Behavioral and Nondirective Guided Self-Help for Parents of Children with Externalizing Behavior: Mediating Mechanisms in a Head-To-Head Comparison

Parent training (PT) delivered as a guided self-help intervention may be a cost- and time-effective intervention in the treatment of children with externalizing disorders. In face-to-face PT, parenting strategies have repeatedly been identified as mediating mechanisms for the decrease of children’s problem behavior. Few studies have examined possible mediating effects in guided self-help interventions for parents. The present study aimed to investigate possible mediating variables of a behaviorally oriented guided self-help program for parents of children with externalizing problems compared to a nondirective intervention in a clinical sample. A sample of 110 parents of children with externalizing disorders (80 % boys) were randomized to either a behaviorally oriented or a nondirective guided self-help program. Four putative mediating variables were examined simultaneously in a multiple mediation model using structural equation modelling. The outcomes were child symptoms of ADHD and ODD as well as child externalizing problems, assessed at posttreatment. Analyses showed a significant indirect effect for dysfunctional parental attributions in favor of the group receiving the behavioral program, and significant effects of the behavioral program on positive and negative parenting and parental self-efficacy, compared to the nondirective intervention. Our results indicate that a decrease of dysfunctional parental attributions leads to a decrease of child externalizing problems when parents take part in a behaviorally oriented guided self-help program. However, none of the putative mediating variables could explain the decrease in child externalizing behavior problems in the nondirective group. A change in dysfunctional parental attributions should be considered as a possible mediator in the context of PT.     

Stability of Emotion Talk in Families from the Toddler to the Preschool Years

A substantial disparity exists for academic achievement in science between Black and White primary-school children. A similar gap exists between boys and girls. The extent to which secondary education influences these achievement gaps has not been established. The authors report analyses showing how these science achievement gaps change as a function of secondary education. Analyses of data from a large, nationally representative longitudinal study of academic achievement showed that racial disparities and disparities associated with gender continue to increase throughout high school.     

Problem-Solving Appraisal and the Prediction of Depression During Pregnancy and in the Postpartum Period

Based on the presumed mood-regulatory properties of the problem orientation component delineated in the social problem-solving model, a positive problem orientation was predicted to influence ongoing levels of positive and negative affect during pregnancy. Higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect would then in turn predict depression during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. This hypothesis was tested in 100 women. Path analyses supported the predicted relation of the problem orientation components to trait affectivity, and indirectly to peripartum and postpartum depression. Trait negative and positive affectivity was also associated with peripartum depression, and indirectly with postpartum depression, as expected. Implications for the integrated social problem-solving model are discussed. Recommendations for assessment and counseling interventions with expectant women are offered.