Extreme itching treated by a family systems approach

A case study is presented in which a 16-year-old daughter developed extreme itching and scratching behavior that was triggered by the occurrence of manifested parental conflict. The daughter's scratching also served the family function of helping the parents avoid marital conflict. Family treatment consisted of helping the parents manifest, negotiate, and resolve marital conflict issues in front of the daughter so that she could experience the benefits of dealing with a family conflict in a functional way. This approach had helped the daughter decrease her anxiety about conflict situations which, in turn, has resulted in a significant decrease in her itching and scratching behavior. In addition, the parents report an improved marital relationship now that the daughter's itching no longer occurs and no longer interrupts the parents' attempts to negotiate marital conflict issues.1979, Fall     

Effect of reproductive status changes on family functioning and well-being of mothers and daughters

The effects of mother and daughter reproductive changes on maternal perceptions regarding the family are assessed. Mother and daughter reproductive status changes were examined in terms of their effects on family relations and mother and daughter well-being. Controls were made for mother and daughter age and heaviness. 144 mothers (37-59 years) and daughters (14-18 years) were selected from a study of white, middle to upper middle income families in large Eastern metropolitan areas. Mothers were typically well educated and employed and from 2-parent homes; 50% were 1st born. Moos' Family Environment Scale was used to measure family functioning; other measures included daughter's age at menarche, mother's menstrual status, the Ponderal index of mother and daughter heaviness, the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale, an abbreviated version of the Eating Attitudes Test, and Satisfaction with Body Parts scale of Padin, Lerner and Spiro. Self-administered questionnaires were mailed after agreement to participate was confirmed by phone. Analysis of covariance was used to analyze the effect of menstrual status controlling for age on family cohesion or conflict, and the effect of perception of family cohesion or conflict on well-being. Factor-covariate interactions were tested for, and none were found based on the Bonferroni procedure. The cross-sectional results show that early adolescent maturation is not related to increases in family conflict compared with on-time or late maturers, in contrast to Hill's study results. There was no link between perceptions of family conflict on the well-being of mother or daughter. Family cohesion was important to mother and daughter well-being, but was not associated with mother's reproductive status or daughter's reproductive timing. For mothers, the effect was on depression and body image. For daughters, the most important variable was maternal perceptions of family cohesion for all measures of well-being. Daughters' perceptions of well-being were not associated with any well-being measures. Mother's menstrual status and interaction with daughter's menarcheal timing were related to maternal dieting behavior and bulimic symptoms. For daughters, mother's reproductive status and daughter's reproductive timing was significantly related to dieting behavior. Maternal age was related to maternal well-being (depression).     

父母婚姻冲突与初中生学业倦怠的关系:共同教养的中介作用

本研究基于家庭系统论的溢出假说,以376名初中生作为被试,采用父母婚姻冲突问卷、学业倦怠问卷和父母共同教养问卷,探讨父母婚姻冲突、父母共同教养对初中生学业倦怠的影响及其作用机制。研究结果发现：（1）父母婚姻冲突中的冲突频率、冲突强度因子与学业倦怠呈显著正相关,不支持型父母共同教养与学业倦怠呈显著正相关,支持型父母共同教养与学业倦怠呈显著负相关;父母婚姻冲突与不支持型父母共同教养呈显著正相关,婚姻冲突较高的父母在共同教养中表现出更多不支持的教养行为;（2）不支持型父母共同教养作为单独变量在父母婚姻冲突与学业倦怠之间起完全中介作用。     

Parenting,Protecting, Preserving:Mission of the Adolescent Female Runaway

This paper presents a systemic framework for therapy with families of adolescent female runaways. The runaway adolescent is viewed as serving three functions within her family. First, she often parents her parents and siblings. Second, she protects her parents' marriage and regulates marital distance. Third, she preserves her family unit at the preadolescent developmental stage. Interventions are described that remove the adolescent from those roles by empowering the parents to take charge of the adolescent, by changing the communication process such that the couple deal with their marital issues without the help of the teenager, and by facilitating the family's movement toward a new stage of separation and individuation.     

Fathers and daughters: their relationship and personality characteristics associated with the daughter's smoking behavior

This study examined the interrelationships of domains (i.e., sets) of paternal personality and father-daughter relationship variables and daughter characteristics and their impact on the daughter's smoking. In addition, the interactive effects of individual father and daughter variables on the daughter's smoking were studied. Female college student volunteers (N = 403) and their fathers were given closed-ended questionnaires that included a number of scales assessing father and daughter characteristics. Results indicated that the domains of father and daughter variables each had a direct impact on the daughter's smoking (an independent model). Interactive findings revealed that daughter protective factors (those conducive to her not smoking) could offset the negative impact of paternal risk factors (those conducive to her smoking), and that, to a lesser extent, daughter protective factors further enhanced the positive effect of father protective variables.     

原生家庭父母冲突、 夫妻冲突解决模式与婚姻质量的关系:基于主客体互倚模型的分析

采用问卷调查法,对263对夫妻的原生家庭父母冲突、 夫妻冲突解决模式和婚姻质量进行测量.结果表明,(1)个体的原生家庭父母冲突与自身以及配偶的婚姻质量呈显著负相关;(2)丈夫的原生家庭冲突可以预测自身以及妻子的冲突解决模式,妻子的原生家庭冲突可预测丈夫的冲突解决模式;(3)丈夫夫妻冲突解决模式在双方原生家庭父母冲突对自...     

Prospective associations from family-of-origin interactions to adult marital interactions and relationship adjustment.

To test the social learning-based hypothesis that marital conflict resolution patterns are learned in the family of origin, longitudinal, observational data were used to assess prospective associations between family conflict interaction patterns during adolescence and offspring's later marital conflict interaction patterns. At age 14 years, 47 participants completed an observed family conflict resolution task with their parents. In a subsequent assessment 17 years later, the participants completed measures of marital adjustment and an observed marital conflict interaction task with their spouse. As predicted, levels of hostility and positive engagement expressed by parents and adolescents during family interactions were prospectively linked with levels of hostility and positive engagement expressed by offspring and their spouses during marital interactions. Family-of-origin hostility was a particularly robust predictor of marital interaction behaviors; it predicted later marital hostility and negatively predicted positive engagement, controlling for psychopathology and family-of-origin positive engagement. For men, family-of-origin hostility also predicted poorer marital adjustment, an effect that was mediated through hostility in marital interactions. These findings suggest a long-lasting influence of family communication patterns, particularly hostility, on offspring's intimate communication and relationship functioning.     

Relieving feelings of strain among women with elderly mothers

I hypothesized that feelings of strain experienced by an adult daughter are likely to interfere with the nature of her relationship with her aging mother and to have a potentially deleterious effect on the mother. To test this proposition, I devised a study that examined the impact of two brief interventions on 37 middle-aged women and 24 of their elderly mothers: (a) a cognitive-behavioral presentation designed to reduce the daughter's unrealistic feelings of responsibility and (b) a supportive-educational presentation designed to increase the daughter's awareness of her mother's needs. I found that the first procedure was more effective than the second in reducing the daughter's burden, improving the mother-daughter relationship, and decreasing the loneliness experienced by the elderly mother.     

TWO GENERATIONS OF MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS: ROLE POSITION AND INTERDEPENDENCE

Using both partners as informants and three interdependence measures (contact, aid, and attachment) as criterion variables, we address the assumption that women's orientation to and dependence on other generations differ because of unique roles. In 135 pairs of student women and their mothers and 119 pairs of middle-aged women and their mothers, we ask how a woman's role position interacts with her partner's role position in regard to interdependence. Both dyadic and individual role combinations are examined. In younger pairs, we examine the combination of daughter's marital status and both mother's launching and work statuses; in older pairs, we examine the combination of mother's marital status and both daughter's launching and marital statuses. Regression analyses demonstrate that, except for younger pairs where married daughters and their mothers are less interdependent than single daughters and their mothers, interdependence is remarkably unrelated to role positions, singly or in combination. Results suggest normative pressures toward new conjugal bonds and stability in women's family roles.     

Marital conflict, family processes, and boys' externalizing behavior in Hispanic American and European American families

Used self-report and observational measures to explore associations among marital conflict, triadic family processes, and child adjustment in Hispanic American, European American, and biethnic families. One hundred and thirteen families with a 7- to 11-year-old son participated. More similarities than differences were found between European American and Hispanic American families. A hierarchical parenting style was associated with externalizing behaviors for European American and biethnic families but not for Hispanic American families. Marital conflict and disengaged family alliances were associated with child externalizing behavior for all ethnic groups. Ethnicity was not found to moderate the relation between marital conflict and family functioning, and greater levels of marital conflict were associated with disengaged family interactions and also with lax or inconsistent parenting. Implications for understanding cross-ethnic issues in family systems and child adjustment are discussed.     

父母的婚姻满意度对父亲教养投入的影响：父母协同教养的中介作用

在全国多个省市选取364对幼儿父母,采用父亲教养投入问卷、婚姻满意度问卷和协同教养问卷分别测查父亲教养投入、父母婚姻满意度及协同教养状况,通过结构方程模型检验父母的婚姻满意度、协同教养和父亲教养投入三者间的溢出、补偿和交叉效应及协同教养在父母婚姻满意度与父亲教养投入间的中介作用。结果发现：（1）溢出、补偿和交叉效应同时存在于婚姻满意度、协同教养与父亲教养投入三者之间;（2）以协同教养的团结或一致维度为中介变量时,父亲的协同教养行为可完全或部分中介父亲婚姻满意度对父亲教养投入的影响,母亲的婚姻满意度和母亲的协同教养行为对父亲教养投入均没有影响;以协同教养的冲突或贬低维度为中介变量时,父母的婚姻满意度直接对父亲教养投入产生影响,父母的协同教养行为不存在中介作用。     

System functioning in families with ADHD and non-ADHD sons

Eighteen families with hyperactive 6- to 12-year-old sons and 19 families with normal 6- to 12-year-old sons were observed discussing childrearing concerns in mother-father-son triads. Parents also completed questionnaires assessing marital and parent-child relationships. Observational ratings indicated that the hyperactive sons misbehaved more and exhibited less adaptive and age-appropriate behavior than did the comparison sons. The parents' self-report data indicated that the parents of hyperactive sons spent more time discussing their sons' problems and blaming their sons for family problems relative to parents of comparison sons. The parents of hyperactive sons also reported that their sons' problems distracted them from other marital and family concerns more than did parents of comparison sons. Nevertheless, parents of hyperactive sons did not report greater marital satisfaction or a greater sense of being unified by their sons' problems. Consistent with previous findings, families of hyperactive sons also did not report or exhibit more marital conflict than did families of comparison sons. This discussion focuses on the usefulness of a systems approach for understanding the interdependence among relationships within families.     

The Development of Aggression in 18 to 48 Month Old Children of Alcoholic Parents

This study examined the development of aggressive and oppositional behavior among alcoholic and nonalcoholic families using latent growth modeling. The sample consisted of 226 families assessed at 18, 24, 36, and 48 months of child age. Results indicated that children in families with nonalcoholic parents had the lowest levels of aggressive behavior at all time points compared to children with one or more alcoholic parents. Children in families with two alcoholic parents did not exhibit normative decreases in aggressive behavior from 3 to 4 years of age compared to nonalcoholic families. However, this association was no longer significant once a cumulative family risk score was added to the model. Children in families with high cumulative risk scores, reflective of high parental depression, antisocial behavior, negative affect during play, difficult child temperament, marital conflict, fathers’ education, and hours spent in child care, had higher levels of aggression at 18 months than children in low risk families. These associations were moderated by child gender. Boys had higher levels of aggressive behavior at all ages than girls, regardless of group status. Cumulative risk was predictive of higher levels of initial aggressive behavior in both girls and boys. However, boys with two alcoholic parents had significantly less of a decline in aggression from 36 to 48 months compared to boys in the nonalcoholic group.     

Teenage depression: a cultural-interpersonal-intrapsychic perspective

The "crossroads families" are caught between old value systems and American mainstream goals. Traditional family and sex-related roles and orientations conflict with those of the new social system. In turn, neither of the teenager's orientations--toward home or toward peer activity--is validated. In the clinical case presented, Anna, at adolescence, wants to relinquish many of her household chores and enter her social world more fully. She needs unconflictual support for such a move. If this does not take place, her autonomous movement represents an unconscious betrayal of her depleted and controlling mother as well as an abandonment of the parental coalition. This leaves her feeling resentful, guilty, and ultimately unlovable. Attitudes marked by helplessness and confusion are thus significant to the depressed affect that brings this teenager into family therapy. Teenagers of non-Hispanic background who enter family therapy reveal gross overlap with teenagers of the Hispanic "crossroads" family model. Here, the family gives mixed messages for homebound and intimate closeness as well as accomplishment in the societal mainstream. A primary difference between ethnic groups involves the freer expressions of anger and pain between husband and wife in the non-Hispanic families. This is not similar to the backgrounds of the more individuated Hispanic teenagers. While more open expressions of anger within the family do indicate higher levels of autonomy, the hostility that is expressed by the parents presents serious complications when this includes "triangulating" the child into the family tension. Here, as cited, the mother often uses her daughter as a confidant and ally at times of severe parental discord. This places additional strain on the child's conflict with separation. Importantly, the daughter experiences renewed rejection and betrayal when the mother "submits" to her spouse. These are significant family processes that heighten mixed messages around autonomy. Milagros, a depressed (more individuated) adolescent, is consistently entangled into her parent's abrasive relationship. Her interpersonal family struggles have become intrapsychic and, ultimately, transferential.     

Clinical interventions in parent-infant groups around issues related to separation-individuation

Parent-child groups as an educational method in a general hospital setting provide support for parents and an environment in which they can discuss their questions about their child's development. This paper illustrates the clinical use of parent-child groups as a means of early intervention in problems that become apparent during the Separation-Individuation stages of development. We present two case studies of mother-child pairs, who have been members of the group for 2 years. The first case is a bi-racial child whose mother is struggling to deal with the child's rapprochement stage behavior. Through the oral and anal stages, conflict has grown in their relationship due to the mother's way of viewing her child, as well as her own unresolved adolescent separation difficulties. The second case is an overprotective mother whose own pathology prevented her daughter from resolving her rapprochement crisis. Interventions by the leaders as well as the group's educational method help both mother-child pairs to resolve interpersonal conflict and to continue their essentially normal development.     

Marital conflict patterns: Links with family conflict and family members’perceptions of one another

The goal of this study was to explore the effects of marital conflict on conflict patterns in the family, and on family members’perceptions of one another. Sixty‐eight two‐parent families with adolescent twins participated, with parents reporting on the conflict patterns used by the marital dyad, and by themselves in interaction with each of their twins, and adolescent twins reporting on their interactions with each other. In addition, all four family members engaged in a videotaped decision‐making interaction and then made global ratings of each other on five dimensions. Links were obtained between marital conflict patterns and parent‐child conflict patterns, and between parent‐child conflict patterns and those used in sibling relationships. In contrast, marital conflict patterns were unrelated to sibling conflict patterns. Similarly, links were found between marital conflict and fathers’perceptions of their children, and between father‐child conflict and children's perceptions of each other. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical models of conflict resolution and the transmission of conflict patterns within the family.     

Families and the Origins of Child Behavior Problems

This article reviews recent research into the relationship between family variables and child behavior. Although a diversity of factors may be associated with the development and maintenance of conduct/oppositional disorders in children, of primary importance are the moment-to-moment interactions that the child has with his or her primary caregivers. These are often marked by coercive, aggressive behaviors that may be functional for parents and children within the family system. However, the likelihood that parents will engage in coercive interactions with the child is also related to the latter's personal adjustment, which, in turn, is often dependent upon the parents' perceptions of the quality of marital and social support available to them. The goal for clinicians working with families of oppositional/conduct-disordered children is to retain the demonstrated efficacy of direct intervention into parent-child interactions while developing methods of assessment and treatment that attend to broader family variables, for example, marital disorder, interfering in-laws, and social isolation that may be functionally related to the occurrence of coercive parent-child interactions.     

Marital conflict and parental responses to infant negative emotions: Relations with toddler emotional regulation

According to family systems theory, children's emotional development is likely to be influenced by family interactions at multiple levels, including marital, mother–child, and father–child interactions, as well as by interrelations between these levels. The purpose of the present study was to examine parents’ marital conflict and mothers’ and fathers’ distressed responses to their infant's negative emotions, assessed when their child was 8 and 24 months old, in addition to interactions between parents’ marital conflict and their distressed responses, as predictors of their toddler's negative and flat/withdrawn affect at 24 months. Higher marital conflict during infancy and toddlerhood predicted both increased negative and increased flat/withdrawn affect during toddlerhood. In addition, toddlers’ negative (but not flat) affect was related to mothers’ distressed responses, but was only related to father's distressed responses when martial conflict was high. Implications of this study for parent education and family intervention were discussed.     

Pathways from marital aggression to infant emotion regulation: the development of withdrawal in infancy

Associations between marital conflict and infant emotion regulation exist, but explanatory pathways have not been explored. For older children, parental behavior partially mediates this association through a "spillover" process. We test: associations between mothers' and fathers' verbally aggressive marital conflict, infant temperament, and infant withdrawal; mediating effects of negative maternal behavior, and moderating effects of infant temperament, exposure to marital arguments, and contact with father. Eighty mothers, 73 fathers, and their 6-month-old infants participated; parents reported marital aggression prenatally, mothers reported infant exposure to arguments, direct caregiving by father, and infant temperament at 5 months. Negative maternal behavior, infant withdrawal, distress to novelty, activity, and look away were observed at 6 months. Mothers' and fathers' aggressive marital conflict predicted infant withdrawal, interactively with exposure to marital arguments and extent of father caregiving, as did infant temperament and negative maternal behavior. Maternal behavior did not mediate between marital conflict and withdrawal.     

Demeter's Compromise: Separation,Loss, and Reconnection in Mothers with Daughters Entering Adulthood

Drawing on contemporary theory of female development that focuses on the dynamics of the mother/daughter relationship regarding issues of separation and individuation, this article examines the treatment of a middle aged mother as she navigates her way through her daughter's adolescence and early adulthood. Psychoanalytic object relations, psychoanalytic relational theory, and feminist theory serve to frame an understanding of the case material in terms of developmental challenges that are uniquely female. Issues around mother/daughter attachment, separation, competition, conflict, and love are explored in the relationships between the patient and her mother, the patient and her daughter, and the patient and the therapist. The therapist's countertransference, intensified by her relationships with her own mother and daughter, suggests the possibility of both pitfalls and opportunities in the treatment. The article attempts to address a gap in psychoanalytic developmental theory, which offers little understanding of the challenges for women in midlife.