Parent‐implemented brief functional analysis and treatment with coaching via telehealth

We evaluated the use of parent‐implemented brief functional analyses in the home with coaching delivered via telehealth. Parents of 7 children with autism conducted functional analyses of their child's challenging behavior. For 4 participants, the brief functional analysis provided information regarding the function of the child's challenging behavior. A full functional analysis indicated a social function for 1 participant. The brief functional analysis yielded false positive results and subsequent assessment indicated an automatic function for another participant. The final participant did not engage in sufficient rates of challenging behavior to provide information regarding the function of the child's challenging behavior. Treatment evaluations occurred with 4 participants; these evaluations provided support for the results of the functional analysis. Together with previous research, the results indicate that parent‐implemented brief functional analyses, followed by additional assessment as needed, may be an effective method for assessing and treating challenging behavior via telehealth.     

A Model of Intention to Participate in Parenting Interventions: The Role of Parent Cognitions and Behaviors

A wide range of factors, from perceived child behavior problems to sociocultural factors, have been identified as impacting the engagement of parents in parenting interventions. However, parents’ cognitions and behaviors have not been evaluated sufficiently to understand their role in initial parental engagement. The current study aimed to examine why some parents are more likely to want to participate in parenting programs and how their cognitions and behaviors are related to their intention to participate in future parenting interventions. We tested the hypothesised model of parental factors on intention to participate using structural equation modelling (SEM) in AMOS. This study (N = 6,733) analyzed existing data from the International Parenting Survey (IPS), a web-based tool developed to collect information about parents’ views on family and parenting at a population level in several countries. Results showed that parents’ coercive parenting, parental consistency, positive encouragement, relationship with their child, parental self-efficacy, psychological distress, and help-seeking behaviors were significantly related to their intention to participate in future parenting interventions. The structural model of parents’ cognitions and behaviors explained 16% of the variance in intention to participate. Although the current model explained a small but significant percentage of the variance, it expands existing understanding regarding parental cognitions and behaviors and their relationship to intention. Implications for further research and engagement practice are discussed.     

Parent–offspring conflict over mate choice: An experimental study in China

Both parents and offspring have evolved mating preferences that enable them to select mates and children-in-law to maximize their inclusive fitness. The theory of parent–offspring conflict predicts that preferences for potential mates may differ between parents and offspring: individuals are expected to value biological quality more in their own mates than in their offspring's mates and to value investment potential more in their offspring's mates than in their own mates. We tested this hypothesis in China using a naturalistic ‘marriage market’ where parents actively search for marital partners for their offspring. Parents gather at a public park to advertise the characteristics of their adult children, looking for a potential son or daughter-in-law. We presented 589 parents and young adults from the city of Kunming (Yunnan, China) with hypothetical mating candidates varying in their levels of income (proxy for investment potential) and physical attractiveness (proxy for biological quality). We found some evidence of a parent–offspring conflict over mate choice, but only in the case of daughters, who evaluated physical attractiveness as more important than parents. We also found an effect of the mating candidate's sex, as physical attractiveness was deemed more valuable in a female potential mate by parents and offspring alike.     

Promoting Positive Relationship Between Parents and Grandparents: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Group Triple P Plus Compassion in Vietnam

In Vietnamese culture, grandparents are significantly involved in the upbringing of grandchildren. This involvement of grandparents entails lots of ambiguities and challenges. Boundaries between parents and grandparents are often unclear, and communication can be restricted due to power differentials, leading to inconsistent discipline. This study seeks to evaluate the efficacy of the Group Triple P–Positive Parenting Program plus Building Coparenting Alliance—a compassion-focused module to promote the parent-grandparents relationship. One hundred Vietnamese parents whose parents or parent in-laws provided care for their children were randomly assigned to either an intervention condition (n = 50) or a waitlist control condition (n = 50). Both groups were assessed at three time-points (pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 6-month follow-up). The short-term intervention effects were found across domains, including co-parenting conflict, parents' self-compassion, dysfunctional parenting, parenting self-efficacy, parental adjustment, child behavioral problems and child prosocial behaviors. Intervention effects on co-parenting conflict, parenting behaviors, and the child's prosocial behaviors were maintained at a 6-month follow-up. This study demonstrates the efficacy of Triple P plus compassion in promoting co-parenting relationships between parents and grandparents, enhancing parenting practice and child outcomes in Vietnamese families.     

Poverty and Single Parenting: Relations with Preschoolers' Cortisol and Effortful Control

Poverty and single parent status, which often co‐occur, have been shown to relate to lower effortful control, and this may be in part due to disruptions in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity. Both poverty and single parent status may compromise parenting, which in turn may disrupt HPA axis activity and the development of effortful control. We examined whether parenting and HPA axis activity accounted for the effects of poverty and single parent status on the development of effortful control in preschool children (N = 78). Effortful control was measured at two time points, 6 months apart. Individually, poverty and single parent status were related to blunted HPA axis activity, characterized by low AM and PM cortisol. However, when examined together, the effects were present only for preschoolers whose parents were in poverty. Parental warmth and negativity accounted for the relations between poverty and blunted cortisol. Blunted cortisol was related to lower effortful control at Time 2. These results suggest a pathway through which poverty may impact children's developing effortful control through parenting, which in turn may shape HPA axis activity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Maternal Treatment Acceptability and Preference of Room Time-Out and Deferred Time-Out Escape Contingencies

ABSTRACT

Maternal preference and acceptability were examined for two methods of addressing time-out escape behavior: room time-out (RTO) and deferred time-out (DTO). With respect to preference, mothers were split about evenly. Spanking frequency and previous effectiveness using privilege removal were associated with preference for DTO while previous effectiveness using RTO was associated with preference for RTO. Child age was negatively associated with acceptability for either treatment and lax parenting style was negatively associated with acceptability for DTO. Results suggest that DTO could provide an alternative escape contingency for mothers who spank their children or who have been unsuccessful using RTO.     

Parent‐infant‐psychotherapy and psychoanalytic treatment: contradiction or mutual inspiration?

Psychoanalysis and parent‐infant‐psychotherapy are compared. Although parent‐infant‐psychotherapy developed from psychoanalysis, it appears at first glance not to be “analytic” with its aim of dealing quickly with the symptoms presented and also with its different setting. The author shows that an analytic approach in understanding the multi‐facetted net of relationships between family members and the infant in its “phantasmic interaction” and a consideration of the implication for analysis of the empirical research carried out in conjunction with parent‐infant‐therapy can lead to a fruitful exchange of ideas. One example of this is research into the correlation between attachment patterns and the processing of conflicts. Furthermore a dialogue between these two disciplines can remind psychoanalysts that a critical discussion of the external circumstances of their methods does not immediately call into question their fundamental approach to therapy: the work in transference on relationship fantasies.     

Parenthood and parental functions as a result of the experience of parallel psychotherapy with children and parents

The concept of parenthood as defined in classical theory and later theorizations is discussed. Parenthood is defined as a transformative process, activated by the idea of having a child and by interaction with the child, through which a constellation of affective and psychic capacities is developed, promoting growth and psychic change and evolving over time. Parental functions, rather than being learnable skills, are considered as mind functions linked to character traits that cannot be split from the personality as a whole and are, as such, susceptible to improvement through psychotherapeutic work. The author illustrates this with a model of psychotherapies and parallel analyses of parents and children tested and elaborated in public and private practice, showing its therapeutic and cognitive advantages. The central thesis of the paper is that whatever the approach and working method with the parents, the therapeutic space offered encourages certain processes that are vital for the structuring of the self and the psychic growth of the child: creation of a space for the representation and emotional investment of the child; improvement in the parental functions; and identification with the therapist as a new or reactivated developmental object. Two clinical cases illustrate the parallel evolution of therapeutic relationships and of the parent‐child relationship.     

Parental employment status and adolescents’ health: The role of financial situation,parent-adolescent relationship and adolescents’ resilience

The paper deals with parental employment status and its relationship to adolescents’ self-reported health. It studies the role of the financial situation, parent–adolescent relationship and adolescent resilience in the relationship between parental employment status and adolescents’ self-rated health, vitality and mental health. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyse questionnaire data obtained from 2799 adolescents (mean age 14.3) in 2006. The results show a negative association of the father’s, but not mother’s unemployment or non-employment with adolescents’ health. Regression analyses showed that neither financial strain nor a poor parent–adolescent relationship or a low score in resilience accounted for the relationship between the father’s unemployment or non-employment and poorer adolescent health. Furthermore, resilience did not work as a buffer against the negative impact of fathers’ unemployment on adolescents’ health.     

Brief report: Relationship between performance testing and parent report of attention and executive functioning profiles in children following perinatal arterial ischemic stroke

Children with perinatal arterial ischemic stroke (PAIS) have increased rates of attention and executive functioning (EF) weaknesses. Research in other pediatric disorders has documented poor consistency between parent report of these skills and performance-based measures. We compared these data sources in children with PAIS. Forty full-term (≥37 weeks) children ages 3–16 (median = 7.2 years; 58% male) with PAIS completed neuropsychological testing and composite scores were created for seven attention and EF domains (Processing Speed; Attention; Working Memory; Verbal Retrieval; Inhibitory Control; Flexibility/Shifting; Planning). Parents completed “real-world” functioning questionnaires (ADHD Rating Scale-IV, BRIEF). Correlational analysis were used to compare parent and performance measures. Correlations between ADHD Rating Scale-IV scores and the performance-based Attention and Inhibition composite scores were nonsignificant. Significant negative correlations were found between the BRIEF GEC and performance-based Verbal Retrieval and Processing Speed composites, but remaining GEC/composite comparisons were nonsignificant. Analyses between parent report BRIEF index scores and the corresponding performance-based domain identified one significant negative correlation between the BRIEF Working Memory Index and the Working Memory composite score. While children with PAIS demonstrate difficulties in attention and EF on both parent report and performance measures, little significance was found in comparisons of these two types of measures. There may be several explanations for this dissociation: measures assessing different aspects of the same underlying construct; performance-based measures lacking ecological validity; and parents underestimating/underreporting their child’s deficits. Thus, multiple sources of informant and performance data are necessary to make more accurate conclusions about functioning in these domains.