The emotional relationship with parents: A validation study of the LEAP among Italian adolescents

Adolescence represents a crucial phase in the individual's development, characterized by significant changes in relationship with parents. The purpose of this study was to validate the Italian version of the Lum Emotional Availability of Parents (LEAP; Lum & Phares, 2005, Assessing the emotional availability of parents, Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 27, 211–226), a brief self-report questionnaire aimed at exploring the affective quality of the parent–adolescent relationship. A total of 578 adolescents of two age groups (10–14 and 15–20 years) were administered the maternal and the paternal form of the LEAP. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a one-factor solution for both forms. Results suggest that the Italian form of the LEAP can be considered a valid measure to assess the emotional quality of the parent–adolescent relationship, able to highlight differences between early and middle adolescents and to distinguish between maternal and paternal contributions to the parent–child relationship.     

Emotional Availability of Parents and Psychological Health: What Does Mediate This Relationship?

The relationship and interaction between a parent and child is of an ever-changing nature. In the first years of the child, parents are more supportive of the child’s development and guide the changes that take place. When adolescence ends and child becomes an adult, parent–child relationship takes on a different pattern in which the relation is more egalitarian. Despite this changing nature, research findings demonstrate that children who continue to receive emotional support from their parents, feel attached to them and care about their contributions and support. Thus, it becomes important to evaluate how certain parental properties affect psychological health within this changing relationship structure. From this point of view, this study examines the mediator role of emotion regulation skills, interpersonal relationship styles, and perceived social support on the relationship between parental emotional availability and general psychological health of individuals aged 16–25 who still live with their parents. It has been found that difficulty in emotion regulation, interpersonal relationship style, and social support has complete mediation effect on the relationship between both maternal and paternal emotional availability and psychological health.     

Families with Distinct Levels of Marital Conflict and Child Adjustment: Which Role for Maternal and Paternal Stress?

This study addresses the links between distinct levels of marital conflict and mothers’ and fathers’ parenting stress and their associations with children’s adjustment. Using a sample of 358 Italian father–mother dyads with school–aged children, we computed a cluster analysis to identify distinct groups of families with different levels of interparental conflict. In each of the three groups identified (low, moderate, and high marital conflict), we conducted correlational and mediational analyses to explore the relationship between interparental conflict and children’s adjustment, the relationship between interparental conflict and maternal and paternal stress, and the potential mediating role of these components of maternal and paternal stress in the association between interparental conflict and children’s adjustment. We administered the R-CTS, PSI-SF, and CBCL to parents in order to assess marital conflict, maternal and paternal stress, and children’s behavioral problems; children completed the CPIC in order to evaluate their perceptions of interparental conflict. Results show that, in the high marital conflict group, levels of interparental conflict negatively affect children’s adjustment; moreover, the parent–child dysfunctional interaction component of maternal stress partially mediates the relationship between interparental discord and children’s internalizing behaviors, while the difficult child component of paternal stress fully mediates the effects of marital conflict on externalizing behaviors. In the moderate marital conflict group, levels of interparental conflict are correlated with the difficult child component of both maternal and paternal stress, while in the low marital conflict group, interparental conflict does not correlate with both maternal and paternal stress and children’s adjustment.     

Longitudinal Associations among Fathers' Perception of Coparenting,Partner Relationship Quality,and Paternal Stress during Early Childhood

This study examined the longitudinal and concurrent associations among fathers' perceptions of partner relationship quality (happiness, conflict), coparenting (shared decision making, conflict), and paternal stress. The sample consisted of 6,100 children who lived with both biological parents at 24 and 48 months in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Birth Cohort data set. The results showed that there are significant and concurrent associations between fathers' perceptions of the coparenting relationship and paternal stress, and between partner relationship quality and paternal stress. There was also a positive direct longitudinal association between partner relationship conflict and paternal stress. However, we found only one longitudinal cross‐system mediation effect: fathers' perception of coparenting conflict at 48 months mediated the association between partner relationship conflict at 24 months and paternal stress at 48 months. The family practice implications of these findings are discussed.     

Are uninvolved fathers really incompetent and unsatisfied? Testing the mediator role of father involvement from fathers’ perspectives

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between fathers’ involvement and maternal gatekeeping, gate-opening, and traditional paternal gender roles, as well as to evaluate fathers’ involvement as a mediating role in the relationship between maternal gate-opening, gatekeeping, traditional paternal gender roles, paternal competence, and marital satisfaction. Turkish fathers (N = 239) with a child aged 2–6 years were included in the study. They assessed maternal gatekeeping and gate-opening, their traditional gender roles, parenting competence, and marital satisfaction. Results indicated that fathers’ involvement is positively related to maternal gate-opening and negatively associated with traditional paternal gender roles; in addition, fathers’ involvement has a mediatory role between maternal gate-opening, traditional paternal gender roles and paternal competence and marital satisfaction. The results suggest that fathers who are involved in their children’s lives are more competent and have higher marital satisfaction.     

Posttraumatic growth and parental bonding in young adults of parents with physical disabilites: testing mediation model of resilience

Positive parent-child relationships are associated with positive youth development, but little is known about the relationships between parental bonding, resilience, and posttraumatic growth, which is positive change resulting from the struggle with trauma. This study examined a mediation model among 119 female young adults with disabled parents. The model included resilience as a mediator of the relationship between the paternal Care and posttraumatic growth. The results revealed that resilience did mediate the relationship between the paternal Care and posttraumatic growth. The findings indicate that paternal Care helps to foster female young adults’ resilience, which benefits their growth after suffering adversities.     

The Changing Role of Fatherhood: The Father as a Provider of Selfobject Functions

Fatherhood is evolving. The way that men carry out their paternal role is reflective of the historical time era in which they live, social and cultural forces, both the mother and the father's expectations for fathering behaviors, as well as the father's own innate capabilities, wishes, and desires. Fatherhood is also greatly influenced by men's relationships with their own fathers, the quality of that relationship, and the extent to which the father was emotionally available. The ever-changing role of fathers has been a challenge for the psychoanalytic literature. There is no comprehensive theoretical body of knowledge about fatherhood that takes into account the changing nature of fathering, especially considering men's desires to be emotionally responsive and nurturing parents. This article examines the changing role of the father and suggests a model of paternal involvement that expands the nurturing and available father role to include the father as a selfobject. It discusses the importance of understanding men's relationships with their fathers, a central dynamic in shaping fathers’ involvement with their children. The residual impact of paternal deprivation is explored, followed by two clinical vignettes that symbolize the search for missing selfobject functions. This article concludes by outlining clinical implications and questions to pose to assess the selfobject relationship with one's father.     

Connection Between Parent–Child Religiosity: Moderated Mediation by Perceived Maternal and Paternal Warmth and Overprotection and Emerging Adult Gender

Previous research has shown a strong connection between parental religiosity and parenting behaviors in the transmission of religion from parent to child. Our study expanded upon previous research by examining how perceived maternal and paternal warmth and overprotection mediated the relation between parental and personal religiosity in males and females. A sample of 486 emerging adults reported maternal, paternal, and personal religiosity as well as their parents’ parenting behaviors. Results indicated that perceived paternal warmth served as a mediator for males only but neither perceived maternal nor paternal overprotection mediated the relationship between parental religiosity and emerging adult religiosity. Gender moderated the paths from perceived paternal religiosity to paternal overprotection, such that the relationship was stronger for females, and perceived paternal warmth to emerging adult religiosity, such that the relationship was stronger for males. Overall, results demonstrated that mediation effects occurred for males only, suggesting moderated mediation.

     

Mothering,Fathering, and Italian Adolescents’ Problem Behaviors and Life Satisfaction: Dimensional and Typological Approach

In this study, we explored the relationship between mothering, fathering and Italian adolescents’ problem behaviors and life satisfaction by using both typological and dimensional approaches. From a typological perspective, we examined variations in adolescent adjustment as a function of maternal and paternal parenting styles. From a dimensional perspective, we examined the relationships between crucial dimensions of perceived mothering and fathering (acceptance and strictness) and their contribution to adolescents’ adjustment, for girls and boys separately. A total of 213 adolescents (99 boys and 114 girls), aged from 14 to 16 years of age, completed self-report measures on perceived parenting styles, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and life satisfaction. Overall, the results confirmed the relationship between maternal and paternal styles and adolescents’ adjustment. Still, the data have not led to the identification of an optimal parenting style among the Italian adolescents because the authoritative, the authoritarian, and the indulgent styles emerged as most favorable in relation to the different dimensions of adjustment and life satisfaction, whereas the neglectful style was most linked to behavioral problems and to low satisfaction. When the focus was on the dimensions, the results showed that for boys, maternal and paternal strictness were negatively related to behavioral problems—both internalizing and externalizing—and positively related to general satisfaction. Meanwhile, for girls, maternal and paternal strictness were negatively related only to externalizing problems. Paternal acceptance was negatively related to girls’ behavioral problems, while maternal acceptance was positively related to girls’ general satisfaction.     

The long arm of job insecurity: Its impact on career-specific parenting behaviors and youths' career self-efficacy

Applying a multiple-mediator model, we examine the mediating effect of three types of career-specific parenting behaviors: lack of engagement, support, and interference, on the relationship between paternal job insecurity and youths' career self-efficacy. Data were collected from a sample of undergraduate students and their fathers. Results of the full sample analysis showed that paternal job insecurity was positively related to lack of engagement and negatively related to support. The relationship between paternal job insecurity and interference was not significant. Sub sample analysis showed that the relationship between paternal job insecurity and career self-efficacy was mediated by lack of engagement for sons and mediated by support for daughters.     

父母差别对待与青少年问题行为的关系：一个有调节的中介模型

通过问卷调查的方式,采用同胞不同经历问卷、关系网络问卷和问题行为量表对开封市1179名初高中学生进行研究。研究结果显示：（1）父母差别对待与外/内化问题行为呈显著正相关;同胞关系与外/内化问题行为呈显著负相关;父母差别对待和同胞关系呈显著负相关。（2）同胞关系在父母差别对待与外/内化问题行为之间起部分中介作用。（3）“父母差别对待→同胞关系→外/内化问题行为”这一中介路径的前半段受出生顺序调节;与年幼个体相比,父母差别对待对年长个体的同胞关系影响更大。出生顺序会调节父母差别对待对同胞关系的影响,提示二胎家庭要更关注年长个体的变化。     

Paternal care may influence perceptions of paternal resemblance

Father-child resemblance is increasingly attracting attention from researchers interested in studying paternal investment. The current study sought to determine whether a quasi-experimental infant massage intervention would increase father's perceptions of resemblance. The study included a dozen fathers in each of two groups: the first received an intensive series of lessons on infant-father massage along with their infants, while the second group served as a neutral control. We failed to find significant correlations between paternal investment and resemblance, but we found that fathers who participated in the infant massage intervention reported significantly larger post-study ratings of resemblance and lower ratings of paternal stress. This suggests that the relationship between father-child resemblance and paternal investment may be bidirectional.     

学前儿童问题行为对父母抚养压力的影响及夫妻亲密的调节作用

研究旨在探讨学前儿童问题行为对父亲、母亲抚养压力的影响及夫妻亲密在其中的作用机制。采用儿童问题行为问卷、抚养压力量表和夫妻亲密量表对3164名学前儿童的父母进行测查。研究发现：（1）母亲抚养压力在学前儿童问题行为与父亲抚养压力之间起部分中介作用;（2）夫妻亲密调节母亲抚养压力对父亲抚养压力的作用,夫妻亲密越高,母亲抚养压力对父亲抚养压力的预测作用越强,学前儿童问题行为通过母亲抚养压力对父亲抚养压力的间接作用也越大。     

Parental Problem Drinking and Emerging Adult Problem Behavior: The Moderating Role of Parental Support

This study examined the relationship between parental problem drinking (maternal and paternal) and emerging adult problem behaviors (alcohol use, drug use, and antisocial behavior). In addition, the moderating role of parental support (maternal and paternal) was explored. Data were drawn from a nationally representative sample of emerging adults (N?=?600; Mage?=?20.00, SD?=?1.42; 50% women; 62% White). Results from regression analyses of survey data indicated that both maternal problem drinking and maternal support moderated the relationship between paternal problem drinking and emerging adult alcohol use. For drug use, there was a three-way interaction between paternal problem drinking, maternal problem drinking, and maternal support. The relationship between paternal problem drinking and drug use only was significant for those who reported high maternal problem drinking and low maternal support. For antisocial behavior, there were positive relationships between paternal problem drinking and antisocial behavior and between maternal problem drinking and antisocial behavior in contexts of varying levels of parental support. Findings highlight the potential for parental support to both buffer and enhance the adverse influence of parental problem drinking across varied contexts.     

父亲抑郁对幼儿问题行为的影响:教养效能感和教养方式的中介作用

以310名幼儿父亲为研究对象,采用流行病调查中心抑郁量表、父母教养能力感量表的教养效能感分问卷、父母教养方式评价量表和Conners儿童行为问卷,考察父亲教养效能感和教养方式在父亲抑郁与幼儿问题行为间的中介作用。结果显示:(1)父亲抑郁、专制粗暴、情感联系和幼儿问题行为两两之间均显著正相关,父亲教养效能感、民主关怀、宽容理解两两之间均显著正相关,父亲教养效能感、民主关怀、宽容理解分别与父亲抑郁、专制粗暴、情感联系和幼儿问题行为两两之间显著负相关;(2)父亲抑郁对幼儿问题行为具有显著的正向预测作用;(3)父亲教养效能感和自身的民主关怀、专制粗暴、情感联系不仅分别在父亲抑郁与幼儿问题行为之间起部分中介作用,而且在父亲抑郁与幼儿问题行为之间起链式中介作用。     

Adolescent Effortful Control as Moderator of Father's Psychological Control in Externalizing Problems: A Longitudinal Study

This longitudinal study investigates the moderating role of a temperamental trait, the effortful control, in the relation between father's psychological control and externalizing problems. In Wave 1, the participants included 507 adolescents attending the second classes of two public schools situated in two Italian cities; in Wave 2, 482 adolescents attending the fifth classes of high school participated again in the study. The results demonstrated a positive contribution of paternal achievement-oriented psychological control to externalizing problems and a moderator effect of effortful control in the relationship between the father's psychological control and externalizing problems. These findings extend current knowledge on the role of the father in the difficult task of balancing the promotion of individuality without falling into psychological control that can trigger externalizing problems among adolescents, especially when the temperament of the latter does not foresee the availability of self-regulating abilities that mediate disadvantageous reactivity.     

Paternal Postnatal and Subsequent Mental Health Symptoms and Child Socio‐Emotional and Behavioural Problems at School Entry

Research on the effect of paternal mental health problems, particularly on young children, is based predominantly on clinical levels of depression. Furthermore, potential mediators such as marital discord have often been overlooked. This longitudinal community study assessed the association between paternal mental health symptoms in a community sample (N = 705) assessed at 3 months postnatally (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) and 36 months (General Health Questionnaire) and children's socio‐emotional and behavioural problems at 51 months (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) as reported by mother, father and teacher. Controlling for socioeconomic status and maternal mental health symptoms at 3 and 36 months, paternal postnatal depressive symptoms predicted more father‐reported child problems at 51 months but, in contrast to previous findings, not mother‐reported problems. Paternal mental health symptoms at 36 months predicted both maternal and paternal reports of child problems at 51 months controlling for both paternal and maternal postnatal symptoms. Paternal mental health symptoms at 3 and 36 months were not significant predictors of teacher‐reported child problems. Postnatal marital discord and paternal mental health problems at 36 months both mediated the relationship between paternal postnatal symptoms and later child emotional and behavioural problems. Child gender did not moderate the relationship. Implications for interventions are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

父母教养方式对初中生创造思维的影响:自我概念的中介作用*

采用父母教养方式评价量表、田纳西自我概念量表和托兰斯创造性思维测验(中文版),测量了429名初中生的父母教养方式、自我概念与创造思维,并对其关系进行考察。结果发现:(1)父亲温暖、理解显著正向预测初中生的创造思维,父亲惩罚、严厉显著负向预测初中生的创造思维,母亲教养方式与之呈现出相似的预测模式;(2)自我概念在父亲惩罚、严厉与独创性间起中介作用;(3)在自我概念的三个维度中,只有自我认同在父母温暖、理解/父母惩罚、严厉与创造思维间起中介作用。作者着重探讨了父母惩罚、严厉,自我概念与创造思维的关系以及对父母教养子女的启示。     

The shaping of masculinity: Revisioning boys turning away from their mothers to construct male gender identity

This paper offers an understanding of the nature of the internalization processes involved in the shaping of male gender identity founded on the boy's unique struggles in separating from his mother. The underpinning for the initial development of a sense of masculinity is reconsidered as the author questions the widely held idea of Greenson and Stoller that a boy normatively has to 'dis-identify' from his mother to create his gender identity. Import rather is placed on the conscious and unconscious aspects of the mother's (and father's) pre-oedipal and oedipal relationship with their little boy in order better to understand the nature of the boy's unique identifications and subsequent sense of masculinity. Both the security of the boy's attachment to his mother, in providing the foundation for a transitional turning to an 'other', and the mother's capacity to reflect upon and recognize her own, as well as the father's and her son's, subjectivity and maleness, are crucial in comprehending boys' 'attachment-individuation' process. Likewise, the unconscious paternal and maternal imagos and identifications of both the boy's mother and father, as well as the father's pre-oedipal relationship with his little boy and the boy's mother, are extremely significant in shaping a son's gender identity. The author argues that these early maternal (and paternal) identifications live on in every male and continue to impact the sense of maleness in a dialectical interplay throughout the life span. A maturing gender identity develops from integrating these early, pre-oedipal maternal identifications that no longer need be repudiated nor defensively organized as polarized gender splitting.