Mothers', fathers' and children's perceptions of parents' expectations about children's family obligations in nine countries

Children's family obligations involve assistance and respect that children are expected to provide to immediate and extended family members and reflect beliefs related to family life that may differ across cultural groups. Mothers, fathers and children (N = 1432 families) in 13 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and United States) reported on their expectations regarding children's family obligations and parenting attitudes and behaviours. Within families, mothers and fathers had more concordant expectations regarding children's family obligations than did parents and children. Parenting behaviours that were warmer, less neglectful and more controlling as well as parenting attitudes that were more authoritarian were related to higher expectations regarding children's family obligations between families within cultures as well as between cultures. These international findings advance understanding of children's family obligations by contextualising them both within families and across a number of diverse cultural groups in 9 countries.     

Stepfamilies Doing Family: A Meta‐Ethnography

The present review examines how stepfamily members without a shared history co‐construct a shared family identity and what family processes are relevant in this stepfamily formation. Three databases (Web of Science, PsycInfo, and ProQuest) were systematically searched, resulting in 20 included qualitative studies. The meta‐ethnography approach of Noblit and Hare allowed synthesizing these qualitative studies and constructing a comprehensive framework of stepfamilies doing family. Three interdependent family tasks were identified: (a) honoring the past, (b) marking the present, and (c) investing in the future. Stepfamily members’ experiences of these family tasks are strongly affected by the dominant societal perspectives and characterized by an underlying dialectical tension between wanting to be like a first‐time family and feeling the differences in their family structure at the same time. These findings clearly demonstrate the family work that all stepfamily members undertake and provide a broader context for interpreting stepfamilies’ co‐construction of a new family identity.     

Intimacy,communication, and aggressive behaviors: Variations by phases of romantic relationship development

This study examined how phases of romantic relationship development (honeymoon, defining, and established) were related to positive and negative relationship qualities. Participants (N = 136) completed self‐report measures. Results found significant differences between phases of romantic relationship development for all three positive relationship qualities, but each had a unique pattern of variation: (a) levels of intimacy had a linear increase across phases, (b) constructive communication strategies were higher in the established phase as compared with the earlier phases, and (c) negotiation was higher in both the defining and established phases as compared to the honeymoon phase. Results for negative relationships qualities found an inverted U‐shaped pattern for both destructive communication strategies and psychological aggression.     

What's parenting got to do with it: emotional autonomy and brain and behavioral responses to emotional conflict in children and adolescents

Healthy parenting may be protective against the development of emotional psychopathology, particularly for children reared in stressful environments. Little is known, however, about the brain and behavioral mechanisms underlying this association, particularly during childhood and adolescence, when emotional disorders frequently emerge. Here, we demonstrate that psychological control, a parenting strategy known to limit socioemotional development in children, is associated with altered brain and behavioral responses to emotional conflict in 27 at‐risk (urban, lower income) youth, ages 9–16. In particular, youth reporting higher parental psychological control demonstrated lower activity in the left anterior insula, a brain area involved in emotion conflict processing, and submitted faster but less accurate behavioral responses—possibly reflecting an avoidant pattern. Effects were not replicated for parental care, and did not generalize to an analogous nonemotional conflict task. We also find evidence that behavioral responses to emotional conflict bridge the previously reported link between parental overcontrol and anxiety in children. Effects of psychological control may reflect a parenting style that limits opportunities to practice self‐regulation when faced with emotionally charged situations. Results support the notion that parenting strategies that facilitate appropriate amounts of socioemotional competence and autonomy in children may be protective against social and emotional difficulties.     

Accountability,Collaboration, and Social Change: Ethical Tensions in an Action Research Project to Address Untested Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs)

We conducted a collaborative action research project with stakeholders in Detroit, Michigan, to develop long‐term policy strategies to resolve ~11,000 untested rape kits that were discovered in a police storage facility in August 2009. In our research, we uncovered overwhelming evidence of victim‐blaming behaviors and fundamental disrespect of rape survivors by the police, which directly contributed to their decisions not to submit kits for forensic testing. We had an ethical responsibility to report these negative findings accurately and completely, and in doing so, we were concerned that police stakeholders might disengage from the action research project and hamper our other ethical responsibilities to promote general and public welfare. In this article, we examine the ethical challenges of balancing accountability, collaboration, and social change.     

Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation: Existentialism,Aging, and Newly Emerging Issues in Group Therapy

This paper seeks to generate existentialist ideas about emerging issues of aging and its treatment in group therapy for the generations now entering their 60s and 70s. Group therapy had its heyday in the 1970s, and one could say that group therapy has never returned to the level of popularity that it had at that time. Using existential concepts, this paper will explore ways of rejuvenating work with this population now that they are growing older. Rather than just focusing on the common existential themes of death and dread, this article will focus on time, overcoming isolation, finding meaning, and what it means to be in the world now that we are older.     

The impact of psychological distance on integrative internal dialogs

Negotiators more distanced from the negotiated goal more often exhibit integrative behavior, which maximizes both their individual and joint outcomes. Based on the assumption of an analogy between interpersonal negotiations and internal dialogs simulating social relationships, an experiment was carried out. It aimed to verify if psychological distance (proximal vs. distant perspective on the situation enacted in an internal dialog) affects the processes of integration and confrontation and, consequently, increases the frequency of integrative dialogs. Data from 115 participants (56 women) were analyzed. An increase in psychological distance was found to reduce the intensity of the confrontation process and to cause an increase in the number of integrative internal dialogs.     

Testing a model of codependency for college students in Taiwan based on Bowen's concept of differentiation

The purpose of this study was to test a model of codependency based on Bowen's concept of differentiation for college students in Taiwan. The relations between family‐of‐origin dysfunction, differentiation of self, codependency traits and related symptoms including low self‐esteem, relationship distress and psychological adjustment problems were examined. Data were collected from 567 college students from 2 large, urban universities in northern Taiwan. Results indicated a significantly negative relationship between levels of codependency and self‐differentiation and that self‐differentiation partially mediated the relationship between family‐of‐origin dysfunction and codependency. The implications of these findings for counselling Taiwanese college students who experience codependency traits and related symptoms as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.