Predictors of Family Functioning Among Clergy and Spouses: Influences of Social Context and Perceptions of Work-Related Stressors

We wished to identify predictors of family functioning from models including perceptions of stresses associated with mobility, financial compensation, intrusiveness to family boundaries, expectations on time demands, and the lack of social support. Data were collected from 136 randomly selected couples from six denominations in which husbands were clergy. Participants completed a survey that included the Clergy Family Life Inventory which assessed perceptions of five work-related stressors and the Self Report Measure of Family Functioning scale which measured 12 dimensions of family functioning. Separate regression models were tested for husbands and wives and these analyses indicated that no single stressor seemed influential for all 12 dimensions of family functioning. However, for both husbands and wives, family boundary intrusiveness, lack of social support, and mobility stresses influenced their competence in numerous areas of family functioning. In addition, husbands and wives experienced similar effects of stress among several dimensions of family functioning (e.g. enmeshment, family organization, democratic family atmosphere expressiveness).     

Parental Alienation Among College Students

A sample of 50 college students responded to a questionnaire measuring perceptions of alienating behaviors on the part of their parents and their current relationship with each parent. Data revealed a higher degree of alienating behavior by divorced parents when compared to non-divorced parents. Mothers and fathers were rated about equally likely to engage in such behaviors. A higher incidence of alienated parent-child relationships in divorced homes approached, but did not reach, statistical significance. Students who were alienated from one parent report higher levels of alienating behaviors on the part of their parents. The results suggest that parental alienating behaviors, and the phenomenon of a child becoming alienated from a parent after divorce, are departures from the norm and worthy of attention and concern.     

Marital Estrangement,Positive Affect,and Locus of Control Among Spouses of Workaholics and Spouses of Nonworkaholics: A National Study

This study compared a sample of spouses of workaholics and spouses of nonworkaholics on ratings of marital estrangement, positive feelings toward husband, and locus of control. A random national sample of 326 participants drawn from the membership list of the American Counseling Association was surveyed. Spouses of workaholics reported greater marital estrangement and less positive affect towards husbands and higher external locus of control than spouses of nonworkaholics. These findings were the first empirical results to corroborate clinical and case study reports. Clinical implications of these findings are also presented.     

Parental Patterns of Cooperation in Parent–Child Interactions: The Relationship Between Nonverbal and Verbal Communication

This study expands the existing research into forms of parent–child cooperation by simultaneously assessing verbal/nonverbal channels of communication and their congruent/incongruent interrelatedness. The study aims to explain parental patterns of cooperation and to analyze the effect of a wide range of social and situational factors, including parents' gender, child's gender, socioeconomic status, and task difficulty. Parent–child interactions (n = 160) in structured joint game sequences were filmed in their homes and analyzed using a mixed multivariant design. The results highlight the importance of integrative congruence/incongruence patterns and the significant effects of background variables in parental inducing/inhibiting‐cooperation patterns. The proposed model expands the theoretical and methodological framework of parental cooperation.     

Deployment Stress and Well-Being Among Military Spouses: The Role of Social Support

The demands of military service, including the intensity and frequency of military operations, can have numerous effects on military families. Evidence suggests that spousal support may play an important role in the resiliency of military families. The present study examined the roles of deployment stress and social support in the psychological well-being of spouses of deployed military personnel (N = 639). The results showed that deployment stress and perceived social support from family, nonmilitary friends, and military partner played independent roles in the psychological wellbeing of military spouses. This evidence suggests the importance of taking perceived social support into account when explaining the variance in the psychological wellbeing of military spouses. Results are discussed in light of some methodological constraints, and the potential implications related to heightening families’ perceptions of interpersonal relationships are emphasized.     

Parental Morality and Family Processes as Predictors of Adolescent Morality

This study investigated the extent to which parents' moral thought and family processes are involved in the socialization of adolescent moral thought. Olson et al's (1992) Circumplex Model and White's (2000) Family Socialization Model provided the conceptual framework for predicting that families high in cohesion, adaptability and communication would facilitate the transmission of moral values between parents and adolescents more effectively than families low in these family processes. Results involving 218 adolescent-parent dyads revealed that perceived family cohesion and communication moderated the father-adolescent moral thought relationship; that several facets of both parents' morality significantly predicted adolescents' morality; and that all three family processes significantly predicted certain aspects of adolescent morality. Therefore the extent to which parents' socialize adolescent moral values will vary according to each parent's moral view, the strength of family processes and the content of moral thought being transmitted.     

Predictors of Depression and Anxiety Among International Students

The role of gender, age, race/ethnicity, length of stay, social support, and proficiency in English in the variance in depression and anxiety among international students revealed that social support was a significant predictor of depression and anxiety among international students. Age significantly contributed to the variance in anxiety, and self‐rated English proficiency uniquely contributed to the variance in both depression and anxiety. Latino/a students had significantly higher levels of depression than did Asian students.     

Quality and Correlates of Parental Attachment Among Late Adolescents

The value of attachment theory (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978) in describing parental relationships of late adolescents (N = 139) in trade and technical school programs was explored. Overall, students described positive attachments to parents, viewing them both as facilitating their autonomy and as being available as a source of emotional support. Male students who were attending schools farther away from their parents' homes described their parental attachments more positively than did students who attended schools closer to their parents' homes. Parental facilitation of autonomy was associated with self-reports of assertion for female students.     

Parental Communication of Responsiveness and Control as Predictors of Adolescents' Emotional and Behavioral Resilience in Families with Alcoholic Versus Nonalcoholic Parents

Interactions between parents and children establish norms for managing emotions and behavior, which are markers of resilience. This study examines how features of interpersonal communication between parents and children facilitate the resilience of children of alcoholic parents versus nonalcoholic parents. Parent–adolescent dyads (30 families of alcoholics, 30 families of nonalcoholics) were invited to participate in two videotaped interactions, which were then rated for parental responsiveness and control and adolescent emotion regulation and behavioral impulsivity. Parental responsiveness was positively associated with emotion regulation, and parental control was negatively associated with emotion regulation and positively associated with impulsivity. Moderation analyses point to several notable differences in the effects for alcoholic versus nonalcoholic families.     

Maternal-Related Predictors of Self-Regulation Among Low-Income Youth

The association between self-regulation and various adaptive outcomes has become a topic of growing interest to researchers. Yet, there is not much research on predictors of self-regulation in children. Using a cross-sectional design and an array of psychometrically sound scales and measures from multiple informants, this study examined whether maternal characteristics, namely maternal mental health, substance abuse, parenting practices, and child monitoring predicted self-regulation in children. Participants included a culturally diverse group of 155 youths (ages 8–17) and their mothers, all of whom were part of a larger investigation of low-income families in a mid-sized Northeastern city in the United States. Results showed that maternal substance abuse, parenting practices and parental monitoring independently predicted children’s self-regulation, accounting for 23% of the variance. Additional analyses indicated that parenting practices may partly mediate the effect of maternal mental health on children’s self-regulation. Implications for intervention and practice, especially those aimed to mitigate the detrimental effects of maternal mental health problems on children’s self-regulation, are discussed. Further research, both longitudinal and experimental, is warranted in order to extend this line of investigation.     

Ambivalence Over Emotional Expression and Psychological Weil-Being Among Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients and Their Spouses1

Associations between ambivalence over emotional expression and psychological well-being among rheumatoid arthritis patients and their spouses were investigated. Sixty-nine couples completed questionnaires assessing ambivalence over emotional expression, emotional expressiveness, psychological well-being, and strategies used in coping with arthritis. Associations between the patient's ambivalence and psychological well-being were stronger for those married to a highly ambivalent spouse, although this pattern of results was not found for spouses. Lower psychological well-being among more ambivalent spouses, and to a lesser extent patients, could be partially explained by their greater use of passive and distancing coping strategies. Results emphasize the importance of taking a dyadic approach to the study of psychological functioning among chronically ill patients and their spouses.     

Predictors of Resilience Among Inner City Youths

Prior studies have suggested that living in high-risk neighborhoods is associated with youths’ maladjustment. Youths who maintained favorable outcomes, despite being exposed to such neighborhood risks, were considered resilient. Using structural equation modeling techniques, longitudinal data of 877 youths from the Denver Youth Survey were examined to identify predictors of resilience, longitudinal interrelations among predictors, and bi-directional relationships between resilience and life context factors. Resilience was longitudinally predicted by bonding to family and teachers, involvement in extracurricular activities, lower levels of parental discord, fewer adverse life events, and being less involved with delinquent peers. A positive feedback loop was found, in which resilience predicted further resilience. Early intervention to strengthen traditional bonding, decrease involvement with delinquent peers, and reduce the effects of adverse life events and parental discord may be essential in enhancing functioning of high-risk youths.     

乳腺癌患者夫妻疾病沟通影响因素的质性研究

为了解乳腺癌患者夫妻疾病沟通的影响因素,采用目的抽样法于2021年12月~2022年1月选取12例女性乳腺癌患者进行半结构式访谈。共归纳出2个主题：疾病因素(包括配偶照顾负担、病耻感、疾病恐惧、经济压力、养育忧虑、疾病接受度)、非疾病因素(包括主动沟通意识、沟通技巧、沟通热情)。可见,乳腺癌患者夫妻疾病沟通受多种因素影响,医护人员应深入剖析患者消极内心体验,加强心理疏导,并增强其主动沟通意识,提高其沟通技能和沟通热情,从而改善沟通状况。

     

Parental Cooperation with Social Services and Termination of Parental Rights in Israeli Court Cases of Child Maltreatment

Parental cooperation with social services in child maltreatment cases is fundamental to all forms of family intervention. If rehabilitation efforts fail and the child cannot be safely reunified with his parents, the state is authorized to initiate termination of parental rights (TPR) proceedings. Given the scant literature on parental cooperation and TPR, the present study examined associations between parental cooperation and TPR in Israeli court cases of child maltreatment. Comparisons between uncooperative (n = 106) and cooperative parents (n = 155) revealed that uncooperative parents were more than three times more likely to have their parental rights terminated than cooperative parents, controlling for child and parent characteristics. Parents who did not cooperate with social services had high levels of mental health problems, substance abuse, criminal records, and poverty and their children had more mental health concerns and suffered more from neglect. We discuss the important implications resulting from these findings, which include: the need to view the engagement of parents in the child welfare process as a specific goal in itself and develop research-based models specifically targeting multiple-problem families at high risk of TPR; the need for professionals to build a good working alliance with parents in order to strengthen their participation; the need to take into account different background conditions and stressors related to the parents in order to facilitate greater cooperation; and the need to assess the potential mental health needs of children involved in cases of maltreatment with low parental cooperation.     

Parental Behavioral Control and Parent-Child Relational Quality Predictors of Perceived Parental Knowledge in Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

Over three consecutive years, 2,559 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 12.65 years at Wave 1) responded to instruments assessing their perceived parental behavioral control (parental knowledge, expectation, monitoring, discipline, and demandingness) and parent-child relational qualities (satisfaction with parental control, child's readiness to communicate with the parents, and perceived mutual trust between parents and their children). Amongst the various indicators of behavioral control, monitoring was the strongest predictor of parental knowledge. Although parental monitoring and child's readiness to communicate with parents were significant predictors of parental knowledge, parental monitoring was a stronger predictor. Results further showed that behavioral control and parent-child relational quality composite scores were concurrently and longitudinally related to parental knowledge. The present study clarifies the family predictors of parental knowledge in Chinese families, but the findings are not entirely consistent with the Western research findings.