Randomized controlled trial of a prenatal focused coparenting consultation for unmarried black fathers and mothers: One-year infant and family outcomes

In the infant mental health field, scant conceptual attention has been given to coparenting and family adaptations of non-white family systems, with no evidence-based, community-informed coparenting interventions responsive to unmarried Black mothers’ and fathers’ life circumstances. This study examined 1-year post-partum child and family outcomes of a novel, modest dosage (six sessions) prenatal focused coparenting consultation (FCC) using randomized controlled trial methodology. One-hundred-thirty-eight expectant families (one or both parents identified as Black/African American) were randomized to an intervention (N = 70) or treatment-as-usual (TAU; control) condition (N = 68). TAU families received navigational support in accessing existing community services for pregnant families. Intervention families received TAU plus 6 dyadic FCC sessions led by a Black male-female Community Mentor team. When infants were three and 12 months old, parents reported on coparenting, father engagement, interparental aggression, depressive symptoms, and infant social and emotional adjustment. Intent-to-treat analyses focusing on 12-month post-partum data indicated significant intervention effects on coparenting, interparental psychological aggression, and infants’ emotional adjustment. Improvement was also seen in depression and father engagement, with gains for both groups. Results suggest FCC delivered by same-race Community Mentors to unmarried Black coparents transitioning to parenthood supports infant and family adaptation during the first year of life.     

Parenting stress and competence among mothers of young children with substance use disorders: The roles of trauma and reflective functioning

Posttraumatic stress symptoms are prominent in the lives of parents of young children with substance use disorders (SUD). Parenting experiences, particularly stress and competence, impact parenting behaviors and concomitant child growth and development. Factors that promote positive experiences of parenting, such as parental reflective functioning (PRF), and protect the mother and child from negative outcomes are crucial to understand to develop effective therapeutic interventions. The current US study analyzed baseline data from a parenting intervention evaluation to examine how length of substance misuse, PRF, and trauma symptoms were associated with parenting stress and parenting sense of competence among mothers in treatment for SUDs. Measures included the Addiction Severity Index, PTSD Symptom Scale-Self Report, Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire, Parenting Stress Index/Short Form, and Parenting Sense of Competence Scale. The sample included 54 predominantly White mothers with SUDs who had young children. Two multivariate regression analyses found that (1) lower parental reflective functioning and higher posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with higher parenting stress, and (2) only higher posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with lower levels of parenting sense of competence. Findings underscore the importance of addressing trauma symptoms and PRF when aiming to improve parenting experiences for women with an SUD.     

Bringing a mentalizing framework to understanding mothers with addiction: The groundbreaking work of Nancy E. Suchman

Nancy Suchman is remembered as a pioneer whose mentalization-based intervention—Mothering from the Inside Out (MIO)—transformed the treatment of parents struggling with substance use disorders. Specifically, Suchman's work highlighted the neural mechanisms underlying substance use disorders and identified the promotion of parental mentalizing as a key therapeutic focus in enhancing early parent-child relationships. Her work transformed parenting support models for this population of parents. Several randomized controlled trials (RCT) show the effectiveness of MIO in promoting parental reflective functioning (PRF) and positive relational outcomes in parents with substance use disorders and their children. Suchman's MIO model has since been extended to parenting in many contexts. She is also remembered as a generous colleague, a gifted researcher and clinician, and an inspiration to generations of researchers and practitioners working with parents who aspire to raise healthy, secure children despite multiple challenges and adversities. This special issue compiles the work of researchers inspired by Suchman as they carry on her legacy in examining aspects of parental mentalization. Collectively, the research presented yields confirmation of MIO core assumptions, offers new insights into roles of positive sentiment and savoring in mentalization processes, and presents evaluations of MIO in multiple contexts and with new adaptations.     

Disparagement humor permits unsafe COVID-19 behaviors: A prejudiced norm perspective

Extending prejudiced norm theory, we hypothesized that memes diminishing the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic promote tolerance of unsafe pandemic behaviors (as in contrary to contemporary advice of public health agencies, i.e., not wearing a protective mask) by establishing a perceived norm of tolerance for such behaviors. In Spring 2021, members of several Reddit communities (n = 106) reported their perceived threat of COVID-19 and then completed a roleplay exercise in which they imagined they were with a group of friends in a church setting. In this context, participants viewed memes shared among their friends that belittled COVID-19 (COVID-19 disparagement condition) or memes unrelated to COVID-19 (control condition). Then, participants responded to a vignette describing a woman confronting an usher about a couple who violated protocol by not wearing masks. The results supported our hypothesis. First, participants in the COVID-19 disparagement condition perceived a greater norm of tolerance of the mask protocol violation among others in the immediate context compared to those in the control condition. Second, for participants who viewed COVID-19 as a low threat, that local norm resulted in greater personal tolerance of the mask protocol violation. However, for participants who view COVID-19 as a high threat, the local norm had no impact on their personal tolerance.     

Hermeneutics and Experiences of the Body. The Case of Low Back Pain

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the notion of clinical medicine as a hermeneutical enterprise and to bridge the gap between the general perspectives of hermeneutics and the particularities of medical practice. The case of a patient with low back pain is analyzed. The discussion centers around the metaphor of the patient as a text and a model of five social discourses about low back pain. The problems addressed are: (1) the nature of a moral experience, (2) the variety of available texts, (3) the difference between the doctor's and patient's narratives, and (4) the patient's and doctor's responsibility regarding the existential, biographical meaning of an illness. Although many problems are left unsolved, it is argued that from a philosophical point of view the notion of medicine as a hermeneutical enterprise opens up the possibility of gaining insight in the foundations of the clinical encounter.     

An Elementary Presentation of the Equivalence Between MV-algebras and l-groups With Strong Unit

Aim of this paper is to provide a self-contained presentation of the natural equivalence between MV-algebras and lattice-ordered abelian groups with strong unit.     

JEAB And JABA On The World Wide Web: A Report To Readers (Editorial)

The Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) and the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) have both established home pages on the World Wide Web. Their addresses are:

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