Relationships,Environment, and the Brain: How Emerging Research is Changing What We Know about the Impact of Families on Human Development

Recent research is providing family therapists with new information about the complex interaction between an individual's biological makeup and his/her social and physical environment. Family and social relationships, particularly during sensitive periods early in life, can affect a child's biological foundation. Additionally, stress during the early years can have a lasting effect on an individual's physical and mental health and contribute to the onset of severe mental illness. Community programs have been developed to intervene early with families who have an at‐risk child to prevent or minimize the onset of mental illness including providing partnerships with at‐risk mothers of infants to shape attachment relationships. Programs are also developing individual and family interventions to prevent the onset of psychosis. Practicing family therapists can incorporate emerging neuroscience and early intervention research and leverage the growing base of community programs to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of mental health outcomes for clients. Additionally, family therapy education programs should broaden student training to incorporate the growing body of information about how family relationships affect individual mental health development.     

Factors Impacting the Mental Health of the Caregivers of Children with Asthma in China: Effects of Family Socioeconomic Status,Symptoms Control,Proneness to Shame,and Family Functioning

Caregiver mental health is widely considered to be an important factor influencing children's asthma symptoms. The present study aimed to examine key factors that contribute to caregiver mental health in pediatric asthma with a Chinese sample. Two hundred participants reported their family socioeconomic status (SES), proneness to shame, asthma symptoms control of their child, family functioning, and their depression and anxiety symptoms. Results suggested that low family SES, low family functioning, and a high level of shame proneness were associated with high levels of anxiety and depression for caregivers. Family functioning mediated the effects of SES and shame on caregiver mental health and also moderated the effects of SES and shame on caregiver depression. This study highlights the importance of reducing experience of shame and enhancing family functioning in families affected by pediatric asthma.     

Location,Location, Location: Applying Spatial Statistics to the Relationship Landscape

The desire to understand relationships is a passion shared by professionals in research, clinical, and educational settings. Questionnaires are frequently used in each of these settings for a multitude of purposes—such as screening, assessment, program evaluation, or establishing therapeutic effectiveness. However, clinical issues arise when a couple's answers on questionnaires do not match clinical judgment or lack clinical utility, while statistical problems arise when data from both partners are put into analyses. This article introduces the use of geospatial statistics to analyze couple data plotted on a two‐dimensional “relational map.” Relationship maps can increase assessment sensitivity, track treatment progress, and remove statistical issues typically associated with couple data. This article briefly introduces core assumptions of spatial models, illustrates the use of spatial models in creating a relational landscape of divorce, offers suggestions for the use of relational maps in a clinical setting, and explores future research ideas.