Effect of Make Parenting a Pleasure on Parenting Skills and Parental Depression

Abstract

This paper explores a feasibility trial examining the effects of the Make Parenting A Pleasure (MPAP), a 12-week parent training program designed to promote family resilience by strengthening the following factors: parental resilience, social connections, concrete support in times of need, knowledge of parenting and child development, and social and emotional competence in children. Fifty-nine (59) participants were assigned to either a treatment group (n?=?32) or a waitlist control group (n?=?27). Results showed that participants in the MPAP treatment group demonstrated an increase in parenting skills and child development knowledge as well as a decrease in parental depression when compared to waitlist control group participants. Results emphasize the importance of promoting resiliency by supporting parents through direct instruction and skill development.     

How young adults address their parents reflects their perception of parenting

A speaker's use of a title for the listener shows the speaker's deference to the listener. Previous studies suggested that the use of kinship terms in the family also shows deference to the listener. The present study focused on young adults' use of kinship terms for their parents to investigate whether their use of kinship terms reflects their perception of their parenting. The participants were 329 Japanese college students, who answered a questionnaire about their forms of address for their parents, perceived parental emotional accessibility, and perceived parental control. They also reported their satisfaction with their parent–child relationships and the frequency of parent–child communication. The results suggest that young adults who use kinship terms for their parents perceive their parents to be more emotionally accessible and communicate with their parents more than those who do not. Young adults who use kinship terms for their father are also more satisfied with their father–child relationships than those who do not. Young adults' use of kinship terms might signal not only their deference to their parents, but also their acceptance of their parent–child relationships.     

Adoption in Judaism

Abstract : This article examines of the place of adoption in Jewish thought and law. Adoption is undocumented in the Hebrew Bible, but some verses suggest—or have been said to describe—realities similar to adoption. Beginning with a discussion of the immutability of the relationships in the biological family, this article discusses the merits of caring for orphans and the special halakhic situations that arise for a Jewish family that pursues a civil adoption. The article concludes with a discussion of adoption as a metaphor for a convert's relationship with the ancestors of the Jewish people.     

Father Identity,Involvement and Work–Family Balance: An In‐depth Interview Study

Work and family roles have changed considerably in the past number of decades. Fathers are now expected to fulfil the role of ‘new father’ that involves actively caring and sharing in child rearing and, at the same time, maintain commitment to their occupational role. As a consequence, men are subject to the same pressure that women were when they initially entered the workplace decades ago and indeed still are today. This study aims to explore the meanings fathers attach to their life roles, how these meanings influence behaviour within these roles and how they negotiate the demands of these roles. In‐depth interviews were carried out with 15 fathers, and the results were analysed adhering to the principles of grounded theory. The findings show the variability among fathers in both their commitment to fathering and the meanings they attach to that role. A significant tension between new fatherhood ideals and actual fathering practices is also apparent. These findings are discussed drawing upon traditional definitions of masculinity and wider occupational and cultural influences. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Negative parenting and functions of relational aggression: The moderating roles of gender and physiological reactivity

Dimensions of negative parenting, including permissive, authoritarian, and psychologically controlling parenting behaviors, are associated with children's engagement in relational aggression. However, some youth may be more strongly influenced by negative parenting than others, and effects may depend on whether aggression is proactive or reactive in function. In a community sample of 236 preadolescent children followed over 1 year, we examined whether children's skin conductance level reactivity (an index of “fight or flight” response) and gender moderated links between parents' self-reported negative parenting behaviors and increases in children's teacher-reported proactive and reactive relational aggression. Findings indicated that negative parenting predicted increases in proactive and reactive relational aggression, and, consistent with differential susceptibility theory, effects often emerged among highly reactive youth. Associations between negative parenting and proactive relational aggression emerged for boys but not girls. Results tentatively suggest that associations between parenting and aggression vary by the function of aggression, children's physiological reactivity to stress, and gender, although results should be interpreted with caution due to high levels of missing data. Implications for theory and intervention are discussed.     

教养方式的母子感知差异与儿童抑郁的关系：母子依恋的中介作用

本研究以300个三至六年级双亲家庭中的儿童和母亲为研究对象,采用儿童版和家长版教养方式问卷、父母与同伴依恋问卷、流调中心抑郁量表,通过响应面分析法探讨了母子感知到的教养方式差异与儿童抑郁的关系,并使用标准分差法计算感知差异,通过结构方程模型分析了母子依恋是否在其中起到中介作用。研究发现:(1)母亲感知到的权威型、独裁型教养方式显著高于儿童感知,而纵容型教养方式则显著低于儿童;(2)权威型教养方式的母子感知差异正向线性预测儿童抑郁,独裁型教养方式的母子感知差异负向线性预测儿童抑郁,纵容型教养方式的感知差异对儿童抑郁没有显著预测作用;(3)母子依恋质量在权威型教养方式的母子感知差异和儿童抑郁之间起完全中介作用,但在独裁型教养方式的母子感知差异对儿童抑郁的预测中没有起到中介作用。     

父母严苛型教养方式与青少年自杀倾向:一个有调节的中介模型

在对西安市四所中学4071名中学生进行问卷调查的基础上,实证研究了父母严苛型教养方式与青少年自杀倾向之间的关系。结果表明:(1)从直接效应上讲,父母严苛型教养方式和个体自身对自杀行为的合理化认知对青少年自杀倾向具有显著的正向预测作用;(2)青少年对自杀行为的合理化认知在父母严苛型教养方式和自杀倾向的相关关系中起部分中介作用;(3)在严苛型教养方式通过自杀行为合理化认知影响自杀倾向的模型中,同伴支持变量不存在显著的调节作用,而教师支持变量在这一模型的直接路径与中介模型后半段均起调节作用。     

You are Such a Bad Child! Appraisals as Mechanisms of Parental Negative and Positive Affect

Although parent cognitions are considered important predictors that determine specific emotional reactions and parental practices, models on the cognitive strategies for regulating parental distress or positive emotions are not well developed. Our aim was to investigate the nature of cognitions involved in parental distress and satisfaction, in terms of their specificity (parental or general) and their processing levels (inferential or evaluative cognitions). We hypothesized that parent's specific evaluative cognitions will mediate the impact of more general and inferential cognitive structures on their affective reactions. We used bootstrapping procedures in order to test the mediation models proposed. Results obtained show indeed that rather specific evaluative parental cognitions are mediating the relationship between general cognitions and parental distress. In terms of the cognitive processing levels, it seems that when parents hold both low self-efficacy and parental negative global evaluations for the self/child, this adds significantly to their distress.