Improved Perceptions of Emotion Regulation and Reflective Functioning in Parents: Two Additional Positive Outcomes of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

The purpose of this study was to test whether Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), a widely used effective therapy for children’s externalizing behaviors and parenting problems, was associated with improvements in parents’ emotion regulation and reflective functioning. We also investigated whether these improvements had unique associations with children’s improvements in externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Participants were 139 Australian children aged 29 to 83 months and their caregivers; all were referred for child externalizing behavior problems coupled with parenting skill deficits or high parent stress. All data were gathered via a questionnaire completed prior to and after completion of PCIT. Significant improvements were found in parents’ self-reported emotion dysregulation and capacity to use cognitive reappraisal for emotion regulation. There was also improvement in parents’ self-report of children’s symptoms, parenting practices, and reflective functioning in the form of prementalizing, which measured a low capacity to understand the emotional world of the child. Multiple regression showed that improvements in cognitive reappraisal, prementalizing, and negative parenting practices were associated with improvement in children’s symptoms. The findings extend the existing evidence for PCIT as an effective parenting intervention, adding parents’ perceived emotion regulation and reflective functioning to the list of positive outcomes from PCIT. Improved emotion regulation and reflective functioning, unique from changes in parenting practices, could be mechanisms that help explain why PCIT has been associated with improvements in children’s externalizing behaviors.     

Believe What I Believe: Correspondence Between the Beliefs of Young Adults and the Perceived Beliefs of Their Caregivers

Little research has examined the mechanisms through which adult children adopt beliefs across a range of contexts. Through an online survey, the authors examined belief transmission via the correspondence between beliefs of 837 young adults and the perceived ideological beliefs of their caregivers as a function of attachment, parental behavior, and religious beliefs in four domains: moral, political, religious, and lifestyle. The strongest predictor of belief transmission across domains was the geographic location in which the participants were sampled, with individuals currently residing in the Southern region of the United States indicating greater belief transmission compared with those residing in the Midwestern region of the United States. Women also exhibited greater belief transmission compared with men. Controlling for these predictors, we also found that insecurity was negatively related to belief transmission, whereas authority, autonomy, and religious attachment were positively related to belief transmission in some contexts. Taken together, these results suggest that the relationships that young adults remembered having had with their primary caregivers were associated with the transmission of their caregivers’ beliefs.     

An examination of the psychometric properties of scores on the Family Strain Index (FSI) in a general community sample

Given the potentially harmful effects of parenting stress on parents, children, and their relationship, it is critical to have a reliable and valid measure of parenting stress in clinical and community samples. The Family Strain Index (FSI) is a brief questionnaire designed to measure stress and demand on parents of children with ADHD. The present study is the first to evaluate the psychometric properties of scores on the FSI in a general community sample. Parents (89% mothers) of 550 preschool children (aged 2–5 years; 50% boys) sampled through 17 kindergartens located in Danish cities and villages completed the FSI, the ADHD Rating Scale (RS)‐IV Preschool Version, and a background questionnaire. FSI scores were characterized by restricted range and floor effects. The scale's construct validity was not supported and the measurement repeatability after 1 month was low. The scale did have convergent validity as levels of parenting stress were associated with perceived ADHD behavior in off‐spring, but overall, results did not encourage the use of the FSI as a measure of parenting stress in the general population. Measures that include more normative events may be more appropriate when attempting to capture parenting stress in general community samples.     

Irritability and parenting practices as mediational variables between temperament and affective,anxiety, and oppositional defiant problems

Irritability and parenting are potential targets for transdiagnostic studies to identify the common and core dysfunctional characteristics underlying several diagnostic pictures with the goal of addressing these issues in treatment. Our objective was to investigate the different paths from temperament to child psychopathology (affective, anxiety, and oppositional problems) through irritability and parenting using a prospective design from ages 3 to 7. A sample of 614 3-year-old preschoolers was followed at ages 4, 6, and 7. Parents answered questionnaires about temperament (age 3), irritability (age 4), parenting practices (age 6), and psychopathology (age 7). Statistical analyses were carried out through structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the mediation effect of irritability and parenting practices from temperament (negative affectivity and effortful control) through to affective, anxious, and oppositional problems. The proposed model fit the data well. SEM showed (a) an indirect effect from temperament to affective problems, via irritability and positive parenting; (b) a direct effect from negative affectivity to anxiety, plus an indirect effect from both temperament dimensions, via irritability and autonomy parenting practices; and (c) an indirect effect from temperament to oppositional problems, via irritability and punitive parenting. Irritability and parenting are transdiagnostic mediational variables that should be focused on in intervention programs for affective, anxiety, and oppositional problems.     

‘Where are you from?’ Identity as a key to parenting by 1.5 generation Korean-New Zealand migrants and implications for counselling

In a qualitative study of the experiences of 1.5 generation Korean New Zealanders as parents, a notable finding was the significant part the participants’ identity-related experiences as migrants played in shaping their parenting practices. Interviews were conducted with 18 Korean “Kiwis” (New Zealanders), colloquially referred to as “Kowis,” who had arrived in New Zealand before 2002 as children or adolescents with their parents and were now married with children. Reflecting on the challenges of their migration and identity journeys enabled them to recognise their vulnerabilities and their advantages, and the multiple ways in which identity-related cultural conflicts and confusion influenced their parenting of their children. The implications are identified for further research and for counselling practice.     

Parental illness intrusiveness and youth glycaemic control in type 1 diabetes: intergenerational associations and processes

Objective: This study examined associations between the functioning of youth with type 1 diabetes and their parents, including parenting dimensions as intervening mechanisms. The study adds to the existing literature by focusing on (1) the concept of parental illness intrusiveness; (2) the (understudied) periods of adolescence and emerging adulthood; and (3) maternal and paternal functioning. Design: Questionnaires were completed by 317 patient-mother dyads and 277 patient-father dyads. All patients (aged 14–25) had type 1 diabetes. The hypothesised model was compared to an alternative model using structural equation modelling. Main Outcome Measures: Youth reported on depressive symptoms and treatment adherence; Physicians provided HbA_1c-values. Parents reported on illness intrusiveness, depressive symptoms, and their child’s treatment adherence. Patients and parents reported on psychological control and overprotection. Results: The hypothesised path model had a good fit to the data. Parental illness intrusiveness was positively associated with depressive symptoms and both were positively related to overprotection and psychological control. Psychological control was positively related to patients’ depressive symptoms and negatively to treatment adherence. Poorer treatment adherence was associated with worse HbA_1c-values. Conclusion: These findings underscore the relevance of parental illness intrusiveness and emphasise the importance of mothers’ and fathers’ roles throughout adolescence and emerging adulthood.     

How Lesbian and Heterosexual Parents Convey Attitudes about Gender to their Children: The Role of Gendered Environments

We studied associations among parents’ gender role attitudes, gender stereotyping in children’s environments, and children’s gender role attitudes and whether these associations were similar for families with lesbian and heterosexual parents. Fifty-seven 4- to 6-year-olds and 114 parents from the US participated. Parents completed self-report questionnaires and responded to interview questions. Researchers collected data regarding the child’s environment and attitudes about gender. Results revealed that children with lesbian mothers had less stereotyped environments and less traditional attitudes. Parental attitudes were associated with stereotyping in children’s environments and with children’s attitudes about gender. Both for lesbian and heterosexual parents, the impact of parents’ attitudes on children’s attitudes was partially mediated by the nature of children’s environments.     

粗暴养育的内涵、影响因素及作用机制

因对儿童青少年身心发展的消极影响, 粗暴养育(harsh parenting)近年来成为养育研究领域的热点。粗暴养育的表现形式主要包括身体攻击、言语攻击、心理攻击以及强迫/控制行为等。影响因素包括个体影响因素和环境影响因素。前者主要包括父母的敌意人格、认知能力不足、消极的被养经历以及儿童的困难型气质和易损基因型等。后者主要包括家庭经济困难和社区处境不利等。粗暴养育引发儿童的内外化问题, 损害其人际功能, 造成生理/神经系统功能紊乱等。未来研究需进一步考察粗暴养育的影响因素(如特殊家庭环境)、表现形式及其负面影响, 加强本土化研究, 重视粗暴养育的预防和干预。     

父亲关于自身教养价值的态度对其教养投入行为的影响:一个有中介的调节模型

在基于身份认同理论的母亲守门员效应的框架下,本研究探讨了父亲关于自身教养价值的态度对其教养投入行为的影响机制,通过方便取样的方式在全国27个省市共选取了364对3-7岁儿童的父母,采用父亲教养投入问卷、父亲教养价值态度问卷、协同教养问卷进行测查,结果发现,母亲关于父亲教养价值的态度是父亲教养投入的促进性因子,在父亲关于自身教养价值态度影响其教养投入的过程中具有调节效应;这种调节效应以父亲协同教养的一致性为中介变量。这一研究结果可增强人们对母亲守门员效应的理解,对亲职教育的干预实践也具有一定的启示。