Attachment and emotional understanding: a study on late-adopted pre-schoolers and their parents

Objective The aim of this study was to characterize the role of attachment in adoption, first by assessing the influence of adoptive parents on their late‐adopted children and second by investigating the role of children's attachment on an emotional understanding task. Design On children's arrival into adoptive families, parents' attachment was evaluated. After 12–18 months, children's attachment towards mothers and fathers was assessed. Twelve months later, children participated in an emotional understanding task. Method Parents' attachment was assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview. Children's attachment and emotional understanding were evaluated respectively using the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task and the Test of Emotion Comprehension. Results A correspondence of 80% (security vs. insecurity) and 60% (security vs. avoidant or ambivalent insecurity K= 0.40) between mothers' and children's pattern of attachment was found. A secure state of mind in both adoptive parents was a protective factor towards children's attachment disorganization. Finally, there was a significant association between children's security of attachment and their performance on the emotional understanding task. Conclusion Adoption appears to be an intervention that assures the adoptive child an opportunity to catch up on emotional development and to partially resolve prior traumatic attachment experiences; adoptive parents play a central role in the emotional adjustment of their children.     

CHILD CARE SUBSIDIES,MATERNAL HEALTH,AND CHILD–PARENT INTERACTIONS: EVIDENCE FROM THREE NATIONALLY REPRESENTATIVE DATASETS

A complete account of the US child care subsidy system requires an understanding of its implications for both parental and child well‐being. Although the effects of child care subsidies on maternal employment and child development have been recently studied, many other dimensions of family well‐being have received little attention. This paper attempts to fill this gap by examining the impact of child care subsidy receipt on maternal health and the quality of child–parent interactions. The empirical analyses use data from three nationally representative surveys, providing access to numerous measures of family well‐being. In addition, we attempt to handle the possibility of non‐random selection into subsidy receipt by using several identification strategies both within and across the surveys. Our results consistently indicate that child care subsidies are associated with worse maternal health and poorer interactions between parents and their children. In particular, subsidized mothers report lower levels of overall health and are more likely to show symptoms consistent with anxiety, depression, and parenting stress. Such mothers also reveal more psychological and physical aggression toward their children and are more likely to utilize spanking as a disciplinary tool. Together, these findings suggest that work‐based public policies aimed at economically disadvantaged mothers may ultimately undermine family well‐being. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Association of Patients' Psychosocial Well‐Being with Self and Spouse Ratings of Patient Health

Adjustment to illness is influenced both by individual resources and the support available from a marital partner. In this study of 61 male heart patients and their wives, patients' self‐rated health and the agreement between patient and spouse ratings of the patients' health were investigated as contributing to patients' psychosocial well‐being. Patients' positive self‐rating of health and also spouses' rating that concurred with their own self‐rating were related to greater well‐being among patients. The advantage to patient well‐being of shared spouse appraisals beyond patients' own health appraisal extends the growing literature indicating the predictive utility of individual subjective health appraisals by demonstrating the added value of the perceptions of spouses who share the illness context.     

Adult Adoptees and Their Friends: Current Functioning and Psychosocial Well‐Being*

Adoptees (n= 100 ) and a matched group of their friends completed measures of psychosocial well‐being thought particularly salient for adult adoptees. Results indicated more similarities (life satisfaction, life regrets, purpose in life, intimacy, substance abuse) than differences (connectedness, depression, self‐esteem) between the two groups. Adoptees expressed stronger regrets about 75 general than adopted‐related issues. Follow‐up analyses suggested greater variability within the adoptee than the friend group on several variables; search status helped explain this greater variability.     

Fear of Unemployment and its Effect on the Mental Health of Spouses

Unemployment has been shown to have adverse effects on different aspects of a person's life, and even the fear of losing a job affects individuals negatively. In addition, not only the individuals directly affected but also their spouses and other family members might be affected. Using data from the German Socio‐economic Panel, this study analyzes the relationship between individual job worries and spouse's mental well‐being. The empirical results remain robust to different specifications and indicate that fear of job loss is negatively related to spouses' mental well‐being and that this relationship seems to be stronger in single‐income than in dual‐income households. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self‐injury among trans individuals and matched controls: prevalence and associated factors

This study aims to determine the prevalence rate of current non‐suicidal self‐injury (NSSI) among trans individuals, in comparison with a control sample of non‐trans adults. It also aims to compare those with current NSSI and those with no history of NSSI in terms of psychological well‐being, self‐esteem, body dissatisfaction, social support and demographic factors. Participants were 97 adults, diagnosed with transsexualism (ICD‐10, F64.0), attending a national gender clinic in the United Kingdom, and a matched control group. Clinical participants were all engaged on the treatment pathway. Participants completed the following self‐report measures: Self‐Injury Questionnaire – Treatment Related (SIQ‐TR), Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL‐90‐R), Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale (RSE), Hamburg Body Drawing Scale (HBDS) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). The results showed that the trans participants had a significantly higher prevalence of current NSSI behaviour than the non‐trans group, with 19% currently engaging in NSSI. Current NSSI was also significantly more prevalent among trans men than trans women. Compared with both trans and non‐trans participants with no history of NSSI, trans participants with current NSSI had significantly higher scores on SCL; significantly lower scores on RSE, HBDS and MSPSS; and were younger in age. The study concludes that trans men, specifically, are more at risk of NSSI than trans women and the general population, even when on the treatment pathway. Those who currently self‐injure have greater psychopathology, lower body satisfaction, lower self‐esteem, lower social support and tend to be younger, than those who do not engage in NSSI.     

Who's the Boss? Patterns of Control in Adolescents' Sibling Relationships

The goals of this study were to examine longitudinal changes in perceived control in adolescents' sibling relationships and to describe the nature and correlates of three distinct control patterns: Firstborn dominant, equal, and secondborn dominant. Firstborn and secondborn adolescents in 184 predominately European-American families participated in home interviews and a series of phone interviews as part of a longitudinal a study of family relationships and adolescent development. Findings revealed changes in control over three years as well as sibling differences. In addition, different patterns of control were linked to qualities of the sibling relationship and to adolescent adjustment. The different roles that firstborn and secondborn siblings assume, and why these roles are linked to relationship experiences and adjustment, are discussed.     

Individual survival curves comparing subjective and observed mortality risks

We compare individual survival curves constructed from objective (actual mortality) and elicited subjective information (probability of survival to a given target age). We develop a methodology to estimate jointly subjective and objective individual survival curves accounting for rounding on subjective reports of perceived survival. We make use of the long follow‐up period in the Health and Retirement Study and the high quality of mortality data to estimate individual survival curves that feature both observed and unobserved heterogeneity. This allows us to compare objective and subjective estimates of remaining life expectancy for various groups and compare welfare effects of objective and subjective mortality risk using the life cycle model of consumption. We find that subjective and objective hazards are not the same. The median welfare loss from misperceptions of mortality risk when annuities are not available is 7% of current wealth at age 65 whereas more than 25% of respondents have losses larger than 60% of wealth. When annuities are available and exogenously given, the welfare loss is substantially lower.     

Psychological well‐being among mothers of children with cerebral palsy

Little is known about the proportion of mothers of children with cerebral palsy (CP) who experience distress, particularly in terms of depressed and anxious moods. The present study aimed to address this issue by examining the level of maternal anxious and depressed moods. The associations between maternal psychological well‐being and self‐efficacy and perception of children’s eating, sleeping and mobility were also examined. The sample comprised 78 mothers (mean age, 37 years; standard deviation, 7.91) of children with CP aged < 16 years of age. Data were collected by self‐administered questionnaires based on standard measures of anxious and depressed moods that were mailed to mothers. Results showed 29.8%, 26% and 11.7% of mothers were at low, moderate, and high risk of clinically anxious mood compared with population female norms of 23%, 13%, and 3%, respectively. A total of 22.1% and 19.5% of mothers were at low and moderate risk of clinically depressed mood compared with norms of 9% and 4%, respectively. Anxious and depressed moods were inversely associated with generalised self‐efficacy (p = 0.001) and anxious mood was inversely associated with children’s sleeping difficulties. In conclusion, levels of maternal psychological well‐being are a cause for concern and warrant exploration of interventions that will reduce maternal distress, and increase self‐efficacy.     

Neighborhood Poverty and Maternal Fears of Children's Outdoor Play

Investigating children's outdoor play unites scholarship on neighborhoods, parental perceptions of safety, and children's health. Utilizing the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (N=3,448), we examine mothers' fear of their five-year-old children playing outdoors, testing associations with neighborhood social characteristics, city-level crime rates, maternal mental health, and social support. Living in public housing, perceptions of low neighborhood collective efficacy, and living in a Census tract with a higher proportion of Blacks and households in poverty are associated with higher odds of maternal fear, but crime rates are not a significant predictor of fear. We also demonstrate that not being depressed - but not social support or collective efficacy - buffers the influence of neighborhood poverty on maternal fears of outdoor play.     

Occupational Experiences and Subjective Well‐being of Mothers of Children with ASD in Taiwan

This study investigated the relationship between mothers' daily occupational experiences of productivity, restoration and pleasure with their subjective well‐being (SWB) and with their child's developmental skills. Forty caregivers parenting young children with autism spectrum disorders served as a convenience sample in this study. Participants rated their occupational experience in a time diary for a 1‐week period and rated their SWB on the Positive and Negative Affect Scale and Satisfaction with Life Scale. Their child's occupational performance and development were evaluated using the Pediatric Daily Occupation Scale and Chinese Child Development Inventory. Spearman rank correlations were used to examine the relationship of SWB to these maternal and child factors. Mothers' pleasure levels were associated with two SWB measures: the positive affect and Satisfaction With Life Scale. Restoration levels related to positive affect only. Productivity levels and child factors were not significantly correlated with any of the SWB measures. A larger heterogeneous sample and a longitudinal study design to explore the fluctuation and stability of occupational experiences across time are recommended to examine caregivers' adaptation and/or alterations in SWB while adapting to their child's diagnosis and special needs. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

You never walk alone: An exploratory study of the needs and burden of an informal care group

Little is known about the dynamics of a group of people giving informal care together. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of an informal care group, the obstacles the informal care group experiences, the needs and desires they have and how the informal care group can be supported by general practitioners (GPs) and other professionals. Nine informal care groups were interviewed based on a questionnaire that was preapproved by the six Flemish official informal caregiver organisations. The results were analysed using open coding. A survey was conducted among 137 caregivers who were part of a group. Univariate analysis was performed. Informal care group usually consist of close relatives of the patient, with often the partner of the patient as the main caregiver. The size of the informal care group depends on the size of the family. If there are more caregivers in a group, the perceived burden of the individual caregiver decreases. The support of the other caregivers in the group increases capacity. The cooperation and agreements are often spontaneously organised and few problems are reported. There is a large variation in the expectations of support from the general practitioner, ranging from availability in emergencies to information about the possibilities of formal home care. This study depicts a positive image of the informal care group. Being part of a caregiver group both decreases burden and increases capacity. Informal care groups usually function well without a need for formal agreements within the group, and they rarely need a third party to coordinate with them or intervene.     

A qualitative exploration of responses to self‐compassion in a non‐clinical sample

Research suggests that being self‐compassionate can have myriad benefits, including life satisfaction, health‐promoting behaviours and improved mental health. Given the possible advantages of being self‐compassionate, it seems critical to explore how to promote this in the general population. This qualitative study aimed to understand responses to the idea of being compassionate to oneself within the general population. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted in the North East of England between October 2014 and February 2015, they were analysed using thematic analysis. As part of an intervention study, non‐clinical volunteers watched a psychoeducation video about the concept of self‐compassion and then participated in one of four meditation exercises. Following this, participants were interviewed about their responses to the idea of being self‐compassionate. Three themes were identified: Benefits of Self‐Compassion; Being Self‐Compassionate and Barriers to Self‐Compassion. Participants believed that being self‐compassionate would be beneficial, for both themselves and the world, but they believed that self‐compassion would make them vulnerable and that others would judge them. Thus, participants were afraid to be the first ones to be self‐compassionate and stated that, in order for self‐compassion to be acceptable, we need to change the perspective of western culture. These findings underscore the importance of understanding society's role in a person's ability to be self‐compassionate. In order to reap the benefits of self‐compassion, we need to create a culture that accepts and encourages this. As practitioners, we are in a position to lead in self‐compassion and to encourage other leaders to promote this as a preventative mental health strategy.