Remembered Parental Rejection and Postpartum Declines in Marital Satisfaction: Moderated Dyadic Links

Utilizing a sample of 80 married couples, the current study employed a dyadic approach to examine links between remembered parental rejection during childhood and change in marital satisfaction across the transition to parenthood. Partner remembered parental rejection, parenting efficacy, and infant temperamental reactivity (frustration and fear reactivity) were examined as moderator variables. Spouses' own remembered parental rejection was linked with declines in marital satisfaction among spouses whose partners recalled more rejection from their parents in childhood, among spouses who felt less efficacious in the parenting role, and among spouses who reported high infant frustration. Partner remembered parental rejection was linked with declines in marital satisfaction among spouses who reported that they were less efficacious in the parenting role. Results support the perspective that family‐of‐origin experiences are best understood in conjunction with other domains of family life. Applied implications are discussed.     

The Characteristics and Well‐Being of Adopted Stepchildren

This study draws upon 22,680 children from the 2002 National Survey of America's Families to investigate the demographic and family characteristics and well‐being of stepchildren who have been adopted by a stepparent (n = 140) relative to children with 2 biological parents, children with 2 adoptive parents, and children with 1 biological parent and 1 nonadoptive stepparent. Five percent of all stepchildren and one quarter of all adopted children have been adopted by a stepparent. How the characteristics of adopted stepchildren compare to those of other children depends on the child's age—whereas younger adopted stepchildren are most similar to children with 2 biological parents, older adopted stepchildren are most similar to nonadopted stepchildren. Adopted stepchildren of all ages have significantly more behavior and emotional problems than children with 2 biological parents, but have similar levels of school engagement. There were no significant differences between children with 2 adoptive parents, nonadopted stepchildren, and adopted stepchildren on any measure of well‐being regardless of the child's age. Implications for practice and policy include increasing awareness of adopted stepchildren and paying greater attention to the legal context under which stepchildren are adopted.     

Why Donor Insemination and Not Adoption? Narratives of Female‐Partnered and Single Mothers

Both female couples and single women who seek to become parents theoretically have several family‐building options available, including, most prominently, donor insemination or adoption. In the current study the authors explored how 50 women (36 female partnered, 14 single) explained their decision to use donor insemination and not adoption. The findings revealed that although 60% of women had considered adoption, only 12% took steps toward adopting. Reasons for not considering or pursuing adoption centered on attractive features of biological parenthood (the desire to be pregnant, desire for a genetic link to the child) as well as perceived problems with adoption (cost, the unpredictable nature of the adoption process, and the perceived likelihood of problems in adopted children). Structural barriers to adoption (legal barriers, agency stigma) were also noted. These findings have implications for professionals who work with diverse families during the family‐building stage and for policy makers seeking to reduce the number of children in child welfare.     

Parental Monitoring of Children's Behavior: Variation Across Stepmother,Stepfather, and Two‐Parent Biological Families*

Previous longitudinal research has shown that parental monitoring is a powerful predictor of child outcomes. Children from families with low levels of monitoring are particularly at risk for antisocial behavior, difficulties in school, and related problems. We studied whether parental monitoring—as reported by mothers/stepmothers, fathers/stepfathers, interviewers, and teachers—differs across two‐parent biological families, stepmother families, and stepfather families. Two‐parent biological families were hypothesized to have higher levels of monitoring than stepparent families. Controlling for demographic differences, two‐parent biological families showed higher levels of monitoring than stepfather families but did not differ significantly from stepmother families. The significant difference between stepfather and two‐parent biological families involved the length of the relationship: only biological families of shorter duration (9 years or fewer) had higher levels of monitoring than stepfather families.     

Enabling and controlling parenthood in publicly provided maternity healthcare: becoming a parent in Finland

This article discusses practices of parental support in the maternity healthcare provided by the welfare state. Drawing on ethnographic material from clinics in Finland, I discuss maternity healthcare practices and processes as the specific contexts of subjectification to parenthood in the Nordic welfare state. The analysis shows that in both nurses’ (work) experience‐based knowledge and population‐statistical knowledge, parental competence is achieved largely through the ‘natural’ process of experiencing pregnant life. Care practices can be seen as enabling parenthood through respect for this process. Clinics encourage parents‐to‐be to self‐reflect and be self‐reliant. Emphasis on self‐reflection and self‐reliance has previously been interpreted as the state adoption of therapy culture, and as a response to market demands for the welfare state to offer to and require of its citizens more autonomy and choice. I argue, however, that the parental subject emerging from the practices of this welfare service cannot be reduced to a neoliberal reflexive individual for whom parenthood is an individual project and who is to blame for individual shortcomings. Equally, they are no mere disciplined product of governmentality being pushed to conform to an idealised parent figure derived from collective ideas of good parenthood.     

Do Socialization Goals Explain Differences in Parental Control Between Black and White Parents?

African American and White parents differ in their use of parental control strategies. This study examined the degree to which these differences are related to socialization goals or socioeconomic factors. Using a sample of 320 parents, the authors found that socialization goals for child independence, cultural connection and respect for elders (i.e., cultural‐filial piety), and financial success explained most of the ethnic differences in parental strictness. Ethnic differences in autonomy granting were more related to economic factors. It was concluded that African American parents scoring higher on measures of strictness than White parents is related to having different socialization goals and cultural beliefs about child obedience and respect for elders. However, African American parents seem to provide less autonomy than White parents, perhaps due to sociocontextual factors such as greater neighborhood dangers.     

Trajectories of Stress among Parents of Children with Disabilities: A Dyadic Analysis

Parents of children with developmental disabilities (DD) face greater caregiving demands than other parents, which may lead to heightened levels of stress. Characteristics of the child with DD as well as family resources may explain the extensive variability observed in parental adjustment. This study examined trajectories of parenting stress among 108 mother–father dyads parenting a child with DD, from early childhood (age 3) through adolescence (age 15). Using multilevel dyadic analyses, stress was found to increase from early to middle childhood then subsequently decrease through adolescence. Child‐related stressors (behavior problems, adaptive behavior) and family resources (social support, positive family climate) in early childhood predicted initial levels and change in stress. Mother–father differences and recommendations for intervention are discussed.     

Paths to adolescent parenthood: implications for prevention

Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood are increasingly common today and pose many problems for both the individual persons involved and society as a whole. For programs to address these issues successfully, factors associated with unintended pregnancy and resulting parenthood must first be identified and understood. This paper is a review of current research on the factors associated with the four steps leading to an adolescent becoming a parent. Being an adolescent parent requires taking a particular path at four crossroads: becoming sexually active, not using or incorrectly using contraceptives, carrying rather than aborting a pregnancy, and parenting rather than placing a child for adoption. Much research in the last 15 years has explored adolescent childbearing, but many studies only compared adolescent parents to nonparents to reach conclusions about differences in these groups. This review focuses on recent studies that explore the four processes, or crossroads, separately and it excludes studies that generalize and overlap these processes. Factors that influence adolescent behavior at multiple points on the path to parenthood indicate areas particularly relevant for preventive intervention. For instance, boyfriends exert influence at all four crossroads. Sexual activity and contraceptive use increase with longevity of relationships, yet closer relationships are less often associated with raising a child. Better general communication skills, and particularly an increased ability to discuss sexuality, increases use of contraceptives, and low educational and occupational aspirations appear to influence each successive turn toward parenthood. This summary of current research serves to highlight those individual, family, dyadic, and social factors that exert great impact on adolescent parenthood by influencing young people at each of the four crossroads. These factors suggest potentially effective points for intervention to reduce the incidence of adolescent parenthood. However, poverty, unemployment, and racism also play central roles in early intercourse and childbearing, and any attempt at fundamental change must take these forces into account.     

Coming Together Through Touch: The Experiences of Parents of Children With Disabilities Learning the Principles of Massage

This paper describes pilot testing of an intervention designed to provide parents of children with disabilities with the basic skills of touch therapy. The aims were 1) to gain a greater understanding of parents’ experience of caring for a child before attending the intervention and 2) to determine whether the intervention was acceptable and perceived to be of value by parents. The sample comprised sixteen parents (three couples, 9 mothers, 1 grandmother) and 13 children. The intervention comprised 8 weekly 1 ‐hour sessions, during which one therapist provided instruction in touch therapy to one parent‐child dyad. Data were collected through interviews with parents before the intervention and at 4 months. Results of pretest interviews revealed that parents’ experiences of caring for children with disabilities reflected that described in the literature (e.g., wide ranging impact on family, career and leisure activities). Furthermore, parents felt they suffered from insufficient information and support in attempts to manage their child's condition at home. Results of the post‐test interviews suggest that both parents and children found the experience of touch therapy enjoyable. Parents reported benefiting in terms of having something positive to offer, feeling more confident in their own abilities and feeling closer to their child. Children were reported to have improved sleep patterns, more relaxed muscles and improved bowel functioning. In conclusion, findings suggest that increasing parental resources in relation to their contribution to their child's care might be achieved through training in simple touch therapy techniques that can be used in the home environment.     

Transitions to parenthood: his,hers, and theirs

This study explores marital processes that may underlie the apparent decline in satisfaction with marriage in partners becoming parents for the 1st time. The study assessed 47 couples expecting a 1st child and 15 couples not yet decided about having a child at pretest, post 1 (6 months post partum of 9 months after pretest) and post 2 (18 months postpartum or 21 months after pretest). Questionnaires examined: 1) psychological sense of self; 2) partners' role arrangements and communication; 3) parenting ideology; 4) perceptions of the family of origin; and 5) social support and life stress, including parents' work patterns. Parenthood seems to bring more change, and more negative change, in each of the 5 domains of family life that were investigated for comparable couples not having a 1st child experience over a similar period of time. Quantitative data support this conclusion in 4 of the 5 domains (individuals sense of self, marital, parent-child, and outside the family). Interview data suggest that new parents' relationships with their families of origin also undergo change at this time. Although shifts within domains often showed patterns similar to change in overall satisfaction with the marriage, the connection between the 2 was not linear and direct, especially for women. Men and women in transition to parenthood become increasingly different from one another; the results suggest that increased gender differentiation accompanying the transition to parenthood is a factor in accounting for marital satisfaction decline.     

Familial approach to the treatment of childhood obesity: conceptual mode

This model for the management of childhood obesity uses a family-based approach. Change is delivered through the parents (instead of the obese child) emphasizing a healthy lifestyle and not weight reduction as in previously published, family-based management of childhood obesity. This intervention integrates behavioral, social learning, and family system approaches. The proposed approach includes changes in parental cognition, emphasizing "parenthood presence"; parents serve both as a source of authority and a role model for the obese child, providing a family environment that fosters healthy practices related to weight control issues and de-emphasizing personal responsibility for control of health behavior.     

Evaluating a Psychoeducational,Therapeutic Group for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The current study aimed to review and evaluate a three-session psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic group programme for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The group programme was facilitated through an ASD diagnostic and intervention service within a Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trust over a 12-month period, throughout which time 83 parents attended a three-session course covering various aspects of ASD-specific material. Knowledge of ASD, understanding of behavioural management techniques and parental self-efficacy were measured through pre-course and post-course questionnaires, completed by the parents. Participants also completed a questionnaire regarding their experience following course attendance. The data were analysed using a mixed-methods approach. Results from pre-course and post-course analysis showed that parental understanding of the social deficits and the cognitive and behavioural difficulties associated with ASD significantly increased following course attendance. Course attendance also significantly increased parental understanding of the strategies used to support a child with ASD and parental self-efficacy. Client experience questionnaires were analysed using thematic analysis, with themes centring on the importance of peer and professional support, timeliness of intervention and relevance of information covered within the course. The parents' evaluation of the course was rated predominantly as a positive experience. The importance of parents receiving involvement through an intervention programme is explored and the results are discussed in relation to potential impact on service provision, identifying future need and areas for further research.     

Parents of deaf children with cochlear implants: a study of technology and community

The cochlear implant (CI) is increasingly used to treat deafness, despite arguments from the deaf community. Deaf children born to hearing parents are the fastest growing group of CI recipients, making parents the primary consumers. Instead of focusing on the controversy over implants, this article examines the clinical structures shaping parental decision-making and how parents integrate clinical practices into family and community. Observations and in-depth interviews were conducted in a CI clinic and at various community sites. The data reveal strong inter-institutional co-operations between the clinic, the state and local school districts. Working together, these institutions anticipate parental needs, foster a CI community and thus increase compliance. I conclude that implantation is an ongoing practice enculturating parents into a new community characterised by the adoption of long-term rehabilitative duties. However, the long-term nature of rehabilitation creates disparities in outcomes, which would be better understood through further research on the social relations in families and across parent networks in the CI community.     

Familial instability and young children's physical health

This paper uses recent longitudinal data about a cohort of young children born in the United States to mostly unmarried parents to examine the association between increasingly-complex patterns of family instability and physical health in early childhood. The analyses assess whether, and how, the association between family instability and child health varies across a number of family types. We consider several measures of children's health at age five (overweight/obesity, asthma diagnosis and overall health) and examine to what extent the association between family instability and child health varies across outcomes and depends on the number and timing of any familial transitions. We also explore a number of potential mechanisms through which family instability may affect child health. The results suggest that familial instability is related to worse child health, particularly among children born to coresident (married or cohabiting) biological parents and for children who experience high levels of residential instability.     

Factors Associated With Distress Among Support‐Seeking Adoptive Parents

This study examined the collective effects of background factors, adoptive strains, and coping resources on emotional distress among 99 adoptive parents who responded to a mailed questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis revealed that parents reporting higher levels of emotional distress were more likely to indicate a pileup of chronic stressors related to their status as adoptive parents. More highly distressed parents also were more likely to indicate that they had adopted an older child, had experienced multiple adoptions, made greater use of emotion‐focused coping strategies, had a lower sense of mastery, and received less support from family members.     

The Psychological Availability of Dual‐Earner Parents for Their Children After Work

Using data from a sample of Dutch dual‐earner parents (N = 261), this study showed that parents' psychological availability acted as a link between negative and positive workday residuals (i.e., work‐related negative mood, exhaustion, rumination, and work‐related positive mood and vigor) and the quality of parent–child interactions after the workday. Parents' preference for type of role combination moderated these relationships in that evidence for negative spillover was found only for parents who tended to integrate work and family life, whereas positive spillover was found only for parents who tended to segment work and family life. These findings suggest that workday residuals combined with parents' boundary management strategies have important implications for the parent–child relationship.     

Recipe Components and Parents’ Infant and Young Child Feeding Concerns: A Mixed-Methods Study of Recipe Posts Shared in Thai Facebook Groups for Parents

Social media is increasingly becoming a significant source of information for parents, including about feeding young children. However, little attention has been given to the characteristics of recipes for infants and young children and how they interact with parental perceptions regarding food decisions shared by users on social media. Building on findings related to shared recipe components and parental food choices, between December 2019 and July 2020, this study retrospectively collected 80 shared recipes each from five Thai Facebook groups. This extraction created 379 shared recipes with 1751 peers’ commentaries on the shared recipes’ posts. The shared recipes were classified and components quantified across child age groups, then the textual contents around the reasons behind the food choices were described qualitatively. The results showed that there were differences in meal types, food ingredients, and seasoning used across child age groups. Further analysis found that food allergy awareness was one driving concern behind parental perceptions on food choices in children’s diets. These concerns resulted in delays in the introduction of animal-source foods. Moreover, peers’ commentaries on shared recipes offered a venue for exchanging experiences with food products. Because of the potential influence on parental beliefs and perceptions, further studies are required to understand the impact of existing online communities on actual feeding practices.     

Hope and perceptions of parental role among parents assessed as maltreating their children

The present study is anchored in the view that hope is a resource that fosters better coping and parenting. It examines the self‐perceived hope and parental role of parents whom the welfare services in Israel have assessed as maltreating their children. The parents were recruited in 2010 through facilities for maltreated children. The study sample consisted of 262 parents (68.4% response rate), divided into those who had at least one child removed from home and those whose children were all at home. Both groups of parents reported moderately high basic and family hope and sense of pathways and agency, and moderate perceived parental role, with no significant group differences. Differences were found, however, in the role of hope in mediating between parents’ sociodemographic features and their perceived parental role. The mediation was more substantial among the parents whose children were at home and differed in content. Only among parents whose children were at home did religiosity (β = 0.20, P < 0.05) and living with a partner (β = 0.18, P < 0.05) lead to greater hope, which increased the perceived parental role. Moreover, the findings underscore the lack of role of family hope and sense of agency among parents whose children were not at home. In both the groups, higher income led to greater hope (β = 0.18, P < 0.05 for at home; β = 0.16, P < 0.05 for in placement), which increased the self‐perceived parental role but the mediation was effected differently. The findings suggest that professionals working with parents who maltreat their children can use the parents’ hope as a resource to help them improve their parenting, especially where the child was removed from home.