Attachment at early school age and developmental risk: examining family contexts and behavior problems of controlling-caregiving, controlling-punitive, and behaviorally disorganized children

Preschool to school-age trajectories of 242 children, including 37 with insecure-disorganized and 66 with insecure-organized attachment patterns, were examined. Child attachment and stressful life events (the latter retrospectively) were measured at ages 5-7, and mother-child interactive quality, parenting stress, marital satisfaction, and teacher-reported behavior problems were evaluated concurrently and 2 years earlier. Results indicated that all three disorganized subgroups had poorer mother-child interactive patterns and more difficult family climates than secure or insecure-organized children. The controlling-punitive group showed significant increases in maternal reports of child-related stress between preschool and school age. The controlling-caregiving group showed greater likelihood of loss of a close family member, and mothers of the insecure-other group reported lower marital satisfaction and greater likelihood of their own or a spouse's hospitalization. Controlling-punitive children had higher externalizing scores, and controlling-caregiving children higher internalizing scores, than secure children.     

Authoritative Parenting, Parenting Stress, and Self-Care in Pre-Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes

Parent involvement in type 1 diabetes (T1DM) care leads to improved adherence; however, the manner in which parents approach illness management interactions with children must also be considered. It was hypothesized that greater use of an authoritative parenting style and less parenting stress would be associated with greater behavioral adherence and better metabolic control. Ninety-five primary caregivers of preadolescents (ages 8-11) with T1DM completed questionnaires assessing parenting style, pediatric parenting stress, and child behavioral adherence. Caregivers primarily self-identified as using an authoritative parenting style. Greater authoritative parenting was associated with greater behavioral adherence and less difficulty with pediatric parenting stress; no differences in metabolic control were observed. Greater engagement in authoritative parenting behaviors may contribute to increased age-appropriate child behavioral adherence and less pediatric parenting stress. Interventions highlighting diabetes-specific authoritative parenting techniques may enhance health outcomes and improve overall family functioning.     

Family factors associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and emotional disorders in children

Few well-controlled studies have identified psychosocial profiles of families of boys with ADHD and boys with emotional disorders compared with normal controls. However, the clinical and theoretical literature pinpoints four domains in which distinctive profiles would be expected to occur. In this study, twenty-two mothers and thirteen fathers of twenty-two boys with ADHD; twenty mothers and fifteen fathers of twenty boys with a mood or anxiety disorder; and twenty-six mothers and sixteen fathers of twenty-seven normal controls were compared on: (1) stress, support and quality of life; (2) current family functioning; (3) parenting style and satisfaction in the family of origin and current family; and (4) current and past parental functioning. The two clinical groups showed higher levels of stress and lower levels of both social support and quality of life than did normal controls. Both clinical groups showed deficits in current family functioning, but contrary to expectations the ADHD and emotional disorder group did not show distinctly different profiles. Parents of ADHD children reported higher levels of authoritarian parenting styles, and parents from both clinical groups reported less parenting satisfaction than did normal controls in both their current families and their families of origin. Parents of children with ADHD and emotional disorders reported greater parenting satisfaction in their families of origin than in their current families. This discrepancy was greatest for parents of ADHD children. Parents of children with ADHD and emotional disorders reported greater psychological health problems and more childhood ADHD symptomatology than did normal controls. Parents of children with ADHD and emotional disorders have significant psychosocial difficulties in family and personal functioning. Family intervention is highly appropriate for families with children who are referred for help with both types of difficulties.     

Associations Between Family Environment, Parenting Practices, and Executive Functioning of Children with and Without ADHD

We examined the relationships between executive functioning, family environment, and parenting practices in children diagnosed with ADHD as compared to children without ADHD. Participants were parents (N = 134) of 6- to 12-year-old ADHD and non-ADHD-diagnosed children. Compared to the control group, parents of children diagnosed with ADHD reported their children as exhibiting greater problems with behavioral control and metacognitive abilities, and described their family environments as less organized and higher in family conflict. Family environment and parenting practices were not correlated with behavioral control or metacognitive abilities in children with ADHD. In children without ADHD, higher levels of family cohesion, organization, and expressiveness, and lower levels of family conflict, were significantly correlated with greater behavioral control. Higher levels of family cohesion and organization were significantly and positively associated with regulation of metacognitive abilities in children without ADHD. In general, aspects of the family environment and parental limit setting appear to be associated with the development of executive functions in children not diagnosed with ADHD; however, family environment and parenting practices were not associated with executive functions in children diagnosed with ADHD.     

Mother-Child Relationship in Youths with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and their Siblings

Despite impaired mother-child interactions noted in youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), there is no such information for their siblings. This study aimed to test whether the affected and unaffected siblings, like youth with ADHD, also encountered impaired mothering and mother-child relationships as compared to typically developing youth (TD). The sample consisted of 122 probands (107 males, 87.7 %), aged 10–16, with DSM-IV ADHD, 44 affected (26 males, 59.1 %) and 78 unaffected (28 males, 35.9 %) siblings, and 122 TD youth. Both participants and their mothers received psychiatric interviews (K-SADS-E) about the participants and reported maternal parenting style, mother-child interactions and child behavioral problems at home. Based on both reports, probands with ADHD and affected siblings (only youth report) had more impaired relationships, more behavioral problems at home, and less perceived family support than unaffected siblings and TD youth. Probands with ADHD had higher maternal authoritarian control than unaffected siblings. The findings suggest that impaired mothering, mother-child interactions, and family support are related to the presence of ADHD diagnosis in both probands and their affected siblings.     

Family Imprisonment,Maternal Parenting Stress and Its Impact on Mother-Child Relationship Satisfaction

Parental imprisonment, and more recently other close family imprisonment, has been associated with long-term harms to children. A number of researchers have proposed that parenting stress caused by family imprisonment could impact on caregivers’ ability to offer a secure parent–child relationship after a close family member is imprisoned. Such relationship problems might then mediate further harms to children. The Family Stress-Proximal Process (FSPP) model conceptualises family imprisonment as an ongoing stressor that influences relational processes in families. Using HILDA, a nationally-representative Australian survey, we test key aspects of this theoretical model for women affected by close family imprisonment. We demonstrate that recent close family imprisonment does indeed significantly increase risks of high maternal parenting stress. Women affected by this high parenting stress are also significantly more likely to report feeling less satisfied with their relationship with their child one year later. Nonetheless, only a third of women experiences high parenting stress after close family imprisonment. And, women who experience close family imprisonment without high parenting stress do not have a greater risk of subsequent relationship dissatisfaction. We conclude that the prevention or reduction of parenting stress in families affected by close family imprisonment could have a protective effect on subsequent mother-child relationships.     

Early parent-child relations and family functioning of preschool boys with pervasive hyperactivity

This study examined the quality of parent–child relationships and family functioning of preschool children with early onset hyperactivity by comparing a community sample of 33 pervasively hyperactive preschool boys with a comparison sample of 34 boys. Mothers and children were assessed at home on a range of interview, parent questionnaire, and observational measures of parenting and family functioning. Results of the study showed that higher rates of reported lax disciplinary practices, less efficient parental coping, lower rates of father–child communication, and less synchronous mother–child interactions were significantly associated with hyperactivity following statistical adjustment for the effects of conduct problems and other confounding factors. The best parenting predictor of hyperactivity was maternal coping. The present findings suggest that the way in which parents interact with their preschool children may make a unique contribution to the development and ongoing behavioral difficulties experienced by children with pervasive hyperactivity. Findings also highlight the importance of considering the role of fathers in the behavioral development of boys with early tendencies to hyperactive and distractible behavior problems.     

Parenting,Family Loneliness,and Peer Functioning in Boys with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

The goal of the present study was to consider the associations between family functioning (parenting and family loneliness) and peer functioning in a sample of boys with ADHD (N = 110) and their mothers (N = 108) and fathers (N = 53). Results indicated that higher paternal warmth was associated with more peer acceptance, less peer rejection, and less problematic social behavior, but only for boys who reported low levels of family loneliness. In addition, more paternal power assertion was related to less peer acceptance, but only for boys who reported low levels of family loneliness. Maternal warmth and power assertion were not significantly related to boys' peer functioning. We discuss these findings in the context of the processes by which parenting may affect the peer relationships of these children.     

Gendered Division of Childrearing: Ideals,Realities, and the Relationship to Parental Well-Being

Recent cultural expectations about fathers' involvement in childrearing may have changed more rapidly than fathers' behaviors, creating discrepancies between parenting ideals and realities that can generate tensions in family life. In this study, a 1999 national probability sample of 234 married parents, both mothers and fathers expressed strongly egalitarian ideals that fathers should be equally involved in child-rearing across five nurturant domains—discipline, emotional support, play, monitoring, and care-giving—as well as in financial support. In contrast, mothers perceived much less father involvement in actual parenting than fathers perceived—especially in disciplining and providing emotional support for their children. Ideal–actual discrepancies were related to well-being: if fathers were seen as less than ideally involved in nurturant parenting, parents reported more stress and fathers who perceived greater than ideal father involvement in financial support were more likely to say the division of household labor was unfair to the mother. Ideal–actual gaps differed for mothers and fathers and were sometimes differentially related to well-being. For example, less than ideal father involvement in disciplining children was associated with mothers' higher stress levels, and the discrepancy in expectations about father involvement in play and monitoring children was correlated with mothers' increased feelings of unfairness in the household division of labor. On the other hand, fathers who felt an ideal–actual gap in disciplining children almost always felt overly involved in discipline and were less likely to report that the division of labor in the household was unfair to their spouses.     

Mothers’ and Adolescents’ Perceptions of Family Environment and Adolescent Social-Emotional Functioning

Research has emphasized the importance of the relationship between family functioning and adolescent behavioral development. The present study examines family environment and social-emotional functioning of primarily minority adolescents, viewed from both adolescents’ and mothers’ perspectives. Participants were a school-based sample of adolescents with and without risk for emotional and behavioral disabilities and their mothers (N = 86 dyads). Results suggested an association between the mothers’ views of their adolescent children’s problem behaviors and the adolescents’ self-ratings of risk-taking behaviors across 5 years. Overall, mothers of the at risk youth receiving special education services reported higher ratings of youth problem behaviors, but results also indicated that mothers of the at risk adolescent boys not receiving special education services perceived greater depressive symptoms in their children and more family conflict in their homes. Mothers of youth at risk but not receiving special education services experienced higher levels of stress associated with being a parent than mothers of the not-at-risk adolescents. The parent measures of adolescent behavior and depressive symptoms, family conflict, and parental stress were not predictive of the social-emotional functioning of these adolescents in the multilevel models. Implications of these findings for early identification and family focused intervention programs are discussed.     

International comparison of parenting styles in ICSI,IVF and natural conception families: Results from a European study

In studies comparing ART children born in different countries cultural factors mediate outcomes on child development and parenting. The aim of the study was to investigate whether the variability between the parents living in different cultures is the same regardless of whether these parents conceived after ICSI–IVF or naturally. Questionnaires measuring parental wellbeing, attitudes to family life and parent–child relationships were distributed to parents of 5-year-old ICSI, IVF and natural conceived (NC) control children in the UK (n = 510), Belgium (n = 512), Denmark and Sweden (n = 400). Participation rates were not known for every conception group in each country. However, the participation rate was 45% in the ICSI and IVF conception groups in Belgium, 90% in the ICSI conception group in the UK and 82%, 76% and 56% in the ICSI, IVF and NC groups, respectively, in Denmark and Sweden. In the UK mothers and fathers experienced less marital satisfaction compared to their counterparts in the other countries. Compared to the mothers in Belgium and in the Nordic countries, the mothers in the UK who conceived after ICSI, IVF or naturally reported more stress from parenting. In Belgium ICSI, IVF and NC mothers were highly committed to work while Belgian fathers were least committed to parenting when compared to fathers in Nordic countries and the UK. Mothers in Nordic countries differed from other mothers in that they described fewer negative feelings towards their ICSI, IVF or NC offspring. Although international multi-centre ART follow-up studies help to investigate the wellbeing of ART children and parents the effect of living in a particular culture or nation needs to be taken into account.     

Child resiliency in inner-city families affected by HIV: the role of family variables

This study examined the role of family variables in child resiliency within a sample of African-American, inner-city children whose mothers are HIV-infected. Variables from three dimensions of the family were included: family structural variables, maternal variables, and mother-child (parenting) variables. The participants were 82 children between the ages of 6 and 11 and their HIV-infected mothers. Correlational analyses indicated that resiliency was associated only with three parenting variables: parent-child relationship, parental monitoring, and parental structure in the home. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated a multiplicative relationship between parental monitoring and parent-child relationship and between parental monitoring and parental structure in the home, suggesting that parenting variables potentiate each other. Clinical implications of the findings are considered.     

Child characteristics,family demographics and family processes: Their effects on the stress experienced by families of children with disabilities

Parents of children with disabilities are often reported as having more stress than their counterparts. Because past investigations of parent stress have been limited by considering too few sources of stress, this study gathered a large variety of demographic, child and family process variables. Two domains of parenting stress, including those aspects related to the child's characteristics (child related) and those aspects concerned with the parent's attitudes toward parenting (parent related) were analyzed separately. The results showed that the circumstances and processes of a family, as well as child characteristics, must be taken into account when clinicians attempt to mediate problems. This research has direct application for clinicians and interventionists. If intervention hopes to truly serve families, a thorough understanding of parenting stress is needed.     

Family functioning among returnees to Orthodox Judaism in Israel

The role of religious conversion in marriages and family functioning has been little explored. The current study examined family functioning and parenting stress among returnees to Orthodox Judaism with adolescent children. Possible explanatory factors for difficulties, such as attachment insecurity, religious discord in families, and poor community integration, were also explored. Randomly selected samples of returnee and nonreturnee Orthodox Jews with adolescent children (N = 1632) completed measures of attachment, community integration, marital functioning, and parenting stress. Results indicate that returnees report greater family disengagement (lack of warmth), family chaos (lack of control), and parenting stress. They also reported higher religious discord, higher attachment insecurity, and poorer community integration, which all correlated with higher parenting stress, family disengagement (lack of warmth), and family chaos (lack of control). Moreover, differences between returnees and nonreturnees on family functioning and parenting stress were largely mediated by differences in the explanatory factors. These results substantiate previous anecdotal reports and suggest possible avenues for intervention among Orthodox returnees with family difficulties. They also support the relevance of religious factors in family functioning.     

Parenting Disruptive Preschoolers: Experiences of Mothers and Fathers

This study examined parental functioning and interactions with young children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), with emphasis on differences between mothers and fathers in their responses to their child and in their unique contributions to the prediction of child disruptive behavior. Participants were 53 3- to 6-year olds with ODD who presented for treatment with two parents. Mothers reported more severe disruptive behavior and higher parenting stress than fathers. During parent-child interactions, mothers showed more responsiveness than fathers, even though children were more compliant during interactions with fathers. Regression analyses showed that fathers' parent-related stress was predictive of both mothers' and father's reports of disruptive child behavior; mothers' marital satisfaction was predictive of behavioral observations of child compliance with both mothers and fathers. This study revealed several important differences in the experiences of mothers versus fathers of disruptive children and indicates the importance of including the father in the child's assessment and treatment.     

The effects of early relational antecedents and other factors on the parental sensitivity of mothers and fathers

This study examines the effect of early relational antecedents (ERA, i.e. the quality of parenting parents recalled receiving as children), parenting stress, marital stress, socio‐economic factors and children's characteristics (gender and disability condition) on the parental sensitivity of mothers and fathers. The sample consisted of 116 mothers and 84 fathers of 117 eighteen month old children drawn from a larger longitudinal study on the adaptation of parents to a child with a disability. Thirty‐four children were diagnosed with Down syndrome (DS), 51 with a cleft lip and/or palate (CLP), and 32 were non‐disabled children. Multiple regression analyses reveal that mothers' sensitivity is best predicted by her level of education and family income, whereas fathers' sensitivity is best predicted by their ERA, marital stress, family income and the child's disability condition. Mothers with more education and a greater family income displayed a greater sensitivity to their children, as did fathers who perceive less marital stress, those with a greater family income and those who perceived their parents as less controlling. Also, fathers of children with DS displayed less sensitivity for their children than fathers of children with CLP or fathers of non‐disabled children. These results concord with many studies about the importance of socio‐economic factors, ERA, marital stress, parent's gender and children's factors in the understanding of parental sensitivity. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parenting Behavior and Cognitions in a Community Sample of Mothers with and without Symptoms of Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Although attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults has recently emerged as an important area of research, little attention has been given to the family functioning of women with ADHD, particularly in their role as mothers. We examined parenting self-esteem, locus of control, and disciplinary styles in a community sample of mothers with varying levels of ADHD symptoms. Women with high levels of ADHD symptoms reported more occupational and psychiatric problems than women with lower levels of ADHD symptoms. They also reported lower parenting self-esteem, a more external parenting locus of control, and less effective disciplinary styles. The findings suggest that women with ADHD symptoms may face a number of difficulties within the parenting domain.     

Perceptions of family relations when mothers and fathers are depicted with different parenting styles

College students (N = 125) reported their perceptions of family relations in response to vignettes that presented 5 different parenting styles. Participants viewed family relations as most positive when parents were portrayed as authoritative or permissive and as most negative when parents were portrayed as uninvolved-neglecting or authoritarian. Student gender and parent gender effects qualified these findings. Female students reported family relations to be less positive than did male students when parents were depicted as authoritarian or as uninvolved-neglecting, and they rated family relations more positively than did male students when parents were depicted as permissive. Participants viewed family relations as more positive when mothers rather than fathers were presented as permissive and when fathers rather than mothers were depicted as authoritarian. The authors discuss the findings of the study in relation to theories of beliefs about children and implications for future parenting styles of male and female college students.     

Maternal Employment and Family Socioeconomic Status: Unique Relations to Maternal Stress,Parenting Beliefs,and Preschoolers’ Adjustment in Taiwanese Families

With the rapid increase in women’s labor force participation in Asia, a greater understanding of the impact of maternal employment on parenting and child development in Asia is much needed. The present study examined the concurrent relations between maternal employment status and family characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic status/SES, family structure) in Taiwanese families, and the unique relations of maternal employment and family SES to maternal stress, parenting beliefs, and preschoolers’ socioemotional adjustment. In a school-based sample of 511 preschoolers (age range?=?4–6 years, 52.9% girls), their mothers, and teachers in Taipei and Taitung, mothers reported their employment status, family characteristics, perceived stress and parenting beliefs. Mothers and teachers rated preschoolers’ adjustment. Results showed that compared to unemployed mothers in Taiwan, employed mothers were more likely to come from families with higher SES and fewer children, and nuclear (vs. extended) families. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model. Mothers from lower-SES families reported higher stress and higher endorsement of coercive parenting, and lower endorsement of authoritative parenting than mothers from higher-SES families. Controlling for SES, employed mothers endorsed higher coercive parenting than unemployed mothers. Mothers’ endorsement of authoritative parenting was associated with better child adjustment by mothers’ (but not teachers’) reports, whereas maternal stress and coercive parenting were associated with poorer child adjustment (by mothers’ reports only). In sum, maternal employment was intricately associated with family SES in Taiwanese families, and the two contextual factors shape parenting and child adjustment in different processes.