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.     

The development of a scale for tuned‐in parenting

This article provides preliminary evaluation for a new and easy to use parental sensitivity scale, which is rated from a short videotaped play session with the parental figure. The five Tuned‐In Parent Rating Scales (TIP‐RS) have been developed for use with identified dyadic problems in infant–parent relationships and provide a window on the micro‐behaviours that may contribute to the dyadic disjunctions. A sample of 88 mothers who contacted a community early parenting unit was filmed in interaction with their infants and completed surveys including the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Six trained coders rated the videos. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the unidimensionality of the TIP‐RS. The TIP‐RS total score was negatively correlated with both the EPDS (r[N = 42] = ?.34, p = .024) and the DASS (r[N = 42] = ?.43, p = .029), providing evidence for its concurrent validity. Inter‐rater reliability across the six raters for each of the TIP‐RS sub‐scales and total score ranged from .68 to .83. The present results warrant continued investigation of the psychometric properties of the TIP‐RS as a tool for intervention with targeted parent–child relationships.     

The Growth and Significance of Daily Variations in Infant Behavior

The authors asked 55 second-generation Chinese American adolescents (M age = 16.8 years) and 58 European American adolescents (M age = 17.0 years) to complete self-report measures of stress levels, use of coping strategies, psychological outcomes, and grades. Chinese American adolescents reported higher levels of everyday life event stress (e.g., stress from schoolwork), more depression, and higher grade point averages. Problem-focused and avoidance-coping behaviors moderated the effect of stress on negative adjustment for Chinese American youth but not for European American youth. Path analysis showed that avoidance coping behavior partially mediated the stress-to-negative adjustment relationship for Chinese American youth but not for European American youth. Stress was associated with lower grades in Chinese American youth, but the authors found no association for European American youth.     

Cognitive Performance in Adolescence: Links With Early Maternal Stimulation and Children’s Anxious Behaviors

Abstract

This study tested a developmental model of cognitive performance in adolescence and explored potential mechanisms explaining the relations of early maternal stimulation and children’s anxious behaviors with adolescents’ cognitive performance. We utilized the NICHD SECCYD dataset (n?=?1,112). Measures included questionnaires, coded observations, and self-report measures from infancy to adolescence. Results revealed that children who experienced greater early maternal stimulation and less anxious behaviors had better cognitive performance at age 15. Children’s English self-efficacy, the quality of child–teacher relationships, and children’s behavioral classroom engagement in middle childhood mediated the relation between early maternal stimulation and adolescent cognitive performance. Identifying pathways from earlier maternal and children’s characteristics to children’s later cognitive performance is an important step toward further understanding why early precursors have a long lasting impact on cognitive performance, and has implications for educational settings.     

Johannes Scotus Erigena on Imagination

This study attempted to check, in an authoritarian culture, Ray's hypothesis that there is no relationship between authoritarian behavior and authoritarian attitudes. Scales measuring these two variables were administered to 38 white Afrikaans-speaking South African college men and women (average age 20.74 years). The correlation between the two scales was -.21 which is not significant. The results were therefore seen as a confirmation of Ray's hypothesis.     

Bereavement and triangular relationships in a case of a child suffering from anorexia

This paper describes the mother–child assessment of a five-year-old girl suffering from anorexia since weaning, which was carried out in an Italian NHS neuropsychiatric child and adolescent unit. The author aims to show how she was able to link the little girl’s refusal of food to a death in the maternal family, which occurred soon after her birth. As well as this post-traumatic formulation, the author links the child’s anorexia to two related aspects of the family dynamics: avoidance of the awareness of death and the inability to manage triangular relationships, due to important intrusion and exclusion anxieties. Using extracts from the sessions, the author shows how the little girl was able to begin to work through the death phantasy which was previously inaccessible to her and her family. The concept of the death phantasy is defined and explored and possible analogies between this case and what is observed in some anorexic adolescent girls and their families are described.     

The Analytical Theatre: Freud and Ibsen

The author describes how an illusion of timelessness was manifested in the psychoanalytic process with a four and a half year old boy. This illusion turned out to serve as a protection against overwhelming death-anxiety and an intolerable experience of separateness. Development in the direction of a perception of time as linear appeared to be connected to the relinquishment of a two-dimensional, adhesive mode of identification, simultaneously with the development of a conception of three-dimensionality. This change seemed to be brought about by the introjection of the holding and boundary-shaping skin-function of the analyst, which implied the conception of a closed space, a container, and the realization of an essential third instance. The psychoanalytical process made explicit the paramount importance which the symbolic presence of the paternal function in the mother has for her capacity for holding and containment and as the premise for the infant's perception of reality, including the development of the dimensions of time and space.     

Maternal self-regulation,relationship adjustment,and home chaos: Contributions to infant negative emotionality

There has been increasing interest in the direct and indirect effects of parental self-regulation on children's outcomes. In the present investigation, the effects of maternal self-regulation, home chaos, and inter-parental relationship adjustment on broad and specific indicators of infant negative emotionality (NE) were examined. A sample of maternal caregivers and their 4-month-old infants (N = 85) from a rural community participated. Results demonstrated that better maternal self-regulation was associated with lower infant NE broadly, as well as with lower infant sadness and distress to limitations/frustration and better falling reactivity (i.e., emotion regulation), specifically. Maternal self-regulation also predicted less chaotic home environments and better maternal inter-parental relationship adjustment. Findings also supported the indirect effects of maternal self-regulation on broad and specific indicators of infant NE through home chaos and maternal relationship adjustment. Some differential effects were also identified. Elevated home chaos appeared to specifically affect infant frustration/distress to limitations whereas maternal relationship adjustment affected broad infant NE, as well as several specific indicators of infant NE: frustration/distress to limitations, sadness, and falling reactivity. In conjunction with other recent investigations that have reported the effects of maternal self-regulation on parenting, the findings in the present investigation suggest that parental self-regulation may influence children's outcomes through several proximal environmental pathways.     

压力源及其与睡眠质量的现象学关系研究述评

压力源是引起压力反应的刺激或变化, 压力作用是睡眠质量下降的重要原因之一。就睡眠质量的影响而言, 近年来的研究报告主要集中于家庭、学习、工作、社会文化和疾病等5大传统压力维度。这些压力源与睡眠质量之间存在着复杂的双向的直接或间接的交互作用关系, 并因作用时间、作用强度的不同而发生不同的变化, 还因中介调节因素的相互作用而体现出复杂的个体差异。     

网络亲子沟通对留守初中生社会适应的影响:一个有调节的中介模型

在信息社会的时代背景下,为探讨网络亲子沟通对留守初中生社会适应的影响及其内在机制。本研究使用网络亲子沟通问卷、亲子关系问卷、获益性解释问卷、问题行为量表、自尊量表、抑郁量表和生活满意度量表,对492名留守初中生进行调查。结果表明：（1）在网络亲子沟通、亲子关系、获益性解释和社会适应中,两两呈显著正相关;（2）网络亲子沟通不仅能直接正向预测留守初中生的社会适应,还能通过亲子关系的中介作用对其产生影响;（3）网络亲子沟通对留守初中生社会适应影响的直接效应以及亲子关系的中介效应均受到获益性解释的调节,且这两种效应在高获益性解释群体中都更为显著。本研究结果有助于揭示网络亲子沟通对留守儿童社会适应影响及其作用机制,对留守儿童社会适应的改善也有一定的指导意义。