Child adjustment and parenting in planned lesbian-parent families

One hundred planned lesbian-parent families (i.e., two-mother families in which the child was born to the lesbian relationship) were compared with 100 heterosexual-parent families on child adjustment, parental characteristics, and child rearing. Questionnaires, observations, and a diary of activities were used to collect the data. The results show that especially lesbian social mothers (i.e., nonbiological mothers) differ from heterosexual fathers on parental characteristics (e.g., more parental justification and more satisfaction with the partner as coparent) and child rearing (e.g., more parental concern and less power assertion). Child adjustment is not associated with family type (lesbian-parent families vs. heterosexual-parent families), but is predicted by power assertion, parental concern, and satisfaction with the partner as coparent.     

Maternal HIV/AIDS and depressive symptoms among inner-city African American youth: the role of maternal depressive symptoms, mother-child relationship quality, and child coping

This study was designed to examine interactions between psychosocial risk (i.e., maternal depressive symptoms) and protective (i.e., child coping skills and mother-child relationship quality) correlates of depressive symptoms among inner-city African American children of mothers with and without HIV/AIDS. Two primary hypotheses were tested: (a) whether these correlates interact differently in HIV-infected and noninfected samples and (b) whether child coping skills and a positive mother-child relationship interact to protect children from developing depressive symptoms in the context of maternal HIV infection. Results indicated that (a) a positive mother-child relationship, but not child coping skills, was protective in the HIV-infected sample when maternal depressive symptoms were high and (b) the combination of a positive mother-child relationship and child coping skills was associated with the lowest level of child depressive symptoms in the HIV-infected sample. These findings highlight the differential importance of various risk and protective mechanisms for HIV-infected and noninfected African American samples and, as such, have preventative implications for children of HIV-infected women.     

Social skills and behavior problems of urban, African American preschoolers: role of parenting practices, family conflict, and maternal depression

This study examined the role of parenting, family routines, family conflict, and maternal depression in predicting the social skills and behavior problems of low-income African American preschoolers. A sample of 184 African American mothers of Head Start children completed participant and child measures in a structured interview. Results of regression analyses revealed that mothers who utilized more positive parenting practices and engaged in more family routines had children who displayed higher levels of total prosocial skills. Positive parenting and lower levels of maternal depressive symptoms were predictive of fewer externalizing and internalizing child behavior problems. Lower family conflict was linked with fewer externalizing problems. Implications of the study for future research and intervention are discussed.     

Joint versus maternal custody for families with latency age boys: parent characteristics and child adjustment

Families with boys aged 6-11 in joint and maternal physical custody were interviewed 1-6 years following the parental separation. According to ratings made by parents and teachers, boys in joint custody had fewer behavioral difficulties than their maternal custody counterparts. Joint custody parents also evidenced some strengths compared to parents with maternal physical custody.     

The optimism of policy choices in child welfare.

That the desire for sure answers to problems in child welfare has led to acceptance of programs on the basis of faith rather than realism is illustrated by examination of some current programs. The need for rational choices in policy, program, and practice that respond to the basic human requirements of vulnerable families is highlighted.     

The delivery of child welfare services to African American clients.

African Americans have historically suffered inequities in the delivery of child welfare services. The necessity for awareness of cultural contexts is examined, particularly in decision making about maintenance in the child's home, out-of-home placement, reunification of child and parents, other permanency planning options, and mental health referrals. The implications of such awareness for service delivery, administration, and policy making in the child welfare system are discussed.     

Identity and role in parenting a child with cancer

In this paper we suggest that the needs and roles of parents of children with cancer have been inadequately conceptualized by traditional approaches to investigating the psychosocial aspects of chronic childhood illnesses such as cancer. Conducted mainly within discourses of psychopathology, traditional approaches have tended to characterize parents' experience of their child's illness in terms of 'maladjustment' and 'coping', but have done little to illuminate the processes involved in how parents live with their child's illness. In other areas, the research literature treats parents solely as proxy sources of their children's views, and the complexity of their roles as caregivers and individuals in their own right has been ignored. We attempt to re-characterize parenting a child with cancer, drawing attention to how the roles, identities and social obligations of parents position them in relation to the medical world, and highlight the emotional work carried out by parents, including protection of their own and their child's identity. Drawing on various bodies of empirical and theoretical work, including the developing field of childhood studies and the literature on informal carers, we suggest ways of rethinking our understanding of the experience of parenting a child with cancer. In doing so, we consider how the narratives of parents can inform the development of measures to assess the impact of the childhood cancer on the quality of parents' lives, and the role that social and organizational aspects of services can play in ameliorating some of the difficulties involved in parenting a child with cancer.     

Intergenerational transmission of maternal overprotection and child anxiety in substance-using families

The current study investigated an intergenerational transmission model between maternal overprotection and child anxiety across three generations, among a sample of substance-using women and their children. Participants included 183 mother-child pairs. Mothers reported overprotective behaviors of their own mothers, as well as their own anxiety symptoms and substance use at baseline. Mothers reported their adolescents’ internalizing behaviors, and adolescents reported their mothers’ overprotection, five times over 1.5 years. Growth curve models showed that overprotection among the first generation (G1) mothers was related to anxiety among the second generation (G2) mothers and sequentially the rate of change of overprotection among G2 mothers. Baseline overprotection among G2 mothers was related to baseline internalizing problems among the third generation (G3). More importantly, substance use among G2 mothers moderated the link between the rate of change in overprotection among G2 mothers and the rate of change in internalizing problems among G3 children. Findings uncover the intergenerational transmission model of overprotection-anxiety and shed light upon the complex relations among anxiety, substance use, and parenting in substance-using families.     

Overprotective parenting and child anxiety: the role of co-occurring child behavior problems

The relationship between overprotective parenting and child anxiety has been examined repeatedly because theories emphasize its role in the maintenance of child anxiety. No study has yet tested whether this relationship is unique to child anxiety, by controlling for commonly co-occurring behavior problems within the same children. The current study examined 190 children (age 7-13, 89 boys) referred to mental health clinics and their parents. Results revealed that significant correlations between overprotective parenting and child anxiety symptoms disappear after controlling for co-occurring child behavior symptoms. It appears that overprotection is not uniquely related to child anxiety. Furthermore, overprotective parenting was significantly and uniquely related to child behavior symptoms. Researchers and practitioners need to consider co-occurring child behavior problems when working with the parents of anxious children.     

Association of maternal and child blood lead and hemoglobin levels with maternal perceptions of parenting their young children

Biological and psychosocial factors affect child development and behavior. Whereas biological underpinnings behind the neurotoxic effects of lead are studied extensively, the effects of psychosocial factors contributing to poor behavioral outcomes in lead-exposed children are not well understood. Parental attributes and practices may moderate or mediate the effects of lead on children's behavioral outcomes. We investigated the hypothesis that maternal and child lead and hemoglobin levels are associated with maternal perceptions of their parenting. Specifically, we hypothesized that children with higher blood lead (BLL) and lower hemoglobin concentrations would be associated with poorer maternal self-assessments of their parenting skills or the mother-child relationship. Children aged 13-55 months and their mothers (n=109) were recruited from among the participants of a previous lead and anemia screening study and from preschools in Montevideo, Uruguay. The mother-child pair attended two study visits: one to collect biological samples and answer demographic and child questionnaires, including statements regarding parenting; and a second to evaluate maternal IQ, depression and stress, and child development. Of the children, 51.6% had blood lead concentrations (BLLs) ≥ 5 μg/dL, 18.0% had anemia, and 8% had both conditions. Among mothers, 48.4% had BLLs ≥ 5 μg/dL, 16.0% had anemia, and 11% had both. BLLs ≥ 5 μg/dL in mother or child were associated with lower maternal perceptions of being skilled at discipline (p<0.05). Maternal anemia was associated with lower likelihood that mothers would let their children explore and play (p<0.05), whereas child anemia was associated with maternal perception of lower emotional support (p<0.01). In addition to shared environmental exposures, parenting and family interactions need to be considered as potentially contributing factors to poorer outcomes in lead-exposed children.     

Studies of the psychosocial adjustment of the hearing-impaired: I. Adolescents and their families a pilot study

There is a general pessimistic view found in the literature that defends a hypothesis that the consequences of a severe hearing impairment on psychosocial development aare many and severe. This pilot study of 20 adolescents who had experienced a profound hearing impairment from birth had the purpose of clarifying this issue. The findings of the study were not compatible with such pessimism. It is concluded that the teaching of an oral means of communication which facilitates education within a mainstreamed system, is compatible with good psychosocial adjustment. To confirm this optimism and to delineate the variables in good development, further study employing comparison groups is needed.     

Moderators and mediators of a maternal depression treatment study: Impact of maternal trauma and parenting on child outcomes

ObjectiveTreatment of maternal depression with psychotherapy has been shown to confer indirect benefits to school-age offspring with psychiatric disorders. The current study sought to understand mechanisms by which improvement in depressed mothers, with and without histories of trauma and treated with psychotherapy, produce changes in children who struggle with psychiatric illnesses themselves. We hypothesized that maternal history of childhood trauma would moderate the relationship between maternal and child outcomes and that increased positive and decreased negative parenting behaviors would mediate the relationship between maternal and child outcomes. We also examined whether maternal history of trauma would moderate the mediational effects of parenting behaviors.MethodsParticipants were dyads (n = 62) of mothers with major depressive disorder and their children, ages 7–18, with at least one internalizing disorder. Mothers were treated with nine sessions of psychotherapy and children were treated openly in the community. Dyads were evaluated every three months over one year.ResultsMaternal improvement in depressive symptoms was associated, in a lagged fashion, with child improvement in functioning six months later. There was a significant interaction of time and change in maternal symptoms [F(1, 45) = 5.84, p = 0.02], where change in maternal depressive symptoms from baseline to six months was robustly associated with change in child functioning from baseline to 12 months (β = 0.49, p = 0.0002). Maternal history of childhood sexual abuse moderated the association between change in maternal and child depressive symptoms [F(1,87) = 5.8, p = 0.02], and maternal history of physical neglect moderated the relationship between improvement in maternal depression and improvement in child functioning [F(1,36) = 4.34, p = 0.04], where significant associations between maternal and child outcomes were only found in mothers without histories of sexual abuse or physical neglect. Increase in positive parenting strategies (acceptance) by mothers mediated 6-month lagged associations between maternal and child outcomes, but reduction in negative parenting strategies (psychological control) did not. Maternal history of childhood emotional neglect moderated the mediational model, such that improved positive parenting did not explain lagged improvement in child depression among the subset of mothers with childhood histories of emotional neglect.ConclusionsIn dyads comprised of depressed mothers and school-age children with internalizing disorders, children improved when mothers improved, but not among those whose mothers who had histories of sexual abuse or physical neglect. Increased use of positive parenting strategies among mothers accounted for lagged relationships between improvement in maternal depressive symptoms and improvement in child functioning. This pattern was not, however, observed among mothers with childhood histories of emotional neglect. Interventions that directly enhance positive parenting and more rapidly change these behaviors may hasten improvement in offspring. Offspring of depressed mothers with histories of early trauma are at high risk for poor outcomes, even when their mothers receive depression treatment.     

Childhood adversity and psychosocial adjustment in old age.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that higher level of childhood adversity is associated with lower level of psychosocial adjustment in old age. METHOD: Participants are 253 older persons (mean age: 79.8, standard deviation: 2.1; 73.9% women) from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a clinicopathologic study of common chronic conditions of old age. Childhood adversity was assessed with a 16-item measure based on portions of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and other inventories. Psychosocial adjustment was assessed with multiple measures of neuroticism (i.e., proneness to negative emotions) and social engagement. RESULTS: Based in part on a factor analysis, composite measures of total adversity, emotional neglect, parental intimidation, parental violence, family turmoil, and financial need were developed. In a series of linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, own education, and parental education, the composite measure of childhood adversity was associated with all facets of neuroticism and accounted for more than 13% of the variance in the composite neuroticism measure. Emotional neglect and parental intimidation had the strongest associations with neuroticism. Childhood adversity was not related to frequency of participation in social activities, but more adversity was associated with having a smaller network (accounting for 3% of the variance) and feeling more emotionally isolated (accounting for 7% of the variance). CONCLUSION: Childhood adversity is associated with less adaptive psychosocial functioning in old age.     

Comparison of Alzheimer's disease risk factors in white and African American families

The associations between alcohol, smoking, and head injury and the risk of AD in 443 African American and 2,336 white participants in the MIRAGE Study were evaluated. Alcohol had a modest protective effect in whites (odds ratio [OR] = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.68 to 0.99), with a similar trend in African Americans (OR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.54 to 1.4). Head trauma increased the risk of AD in whites (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.8 to 3.0) and African Americans (OR = 2.9, 95% CI = 1.2 to 7.0). Smoking was not associated with AD risk in whites (OR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.73 to 1.1) or African Americans (OR = 1.0, 95% CI = 0.69 to 1.5). These risks were similar across subsets stratified by the presence or absence of the APOE epsilon4 allele.     

Negative coping as mediator in the relation between violence and outcomes: inner-city African American youth

The present study examined whether negative coping mediated the relation between exposure to violence and psychological outcomes (posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, and anxiety) in a sample of 120 inner-city African American adolescents (ages 10 to 14). Increased community violence was shown to be related to the use of negative coping strategies (avoidance, aggression, and internalizing behaviors), which mediated the relation between violence and all three outcomes.     

The relationship of parenting stress to adjustment among mothers in prison

Incarcerated mothers at a maximum security prison (N = 362) participated in a study of the relationship between parenting stress, measured by a modification of the R. R. Abidin (1995) Parenting Stress Index, and adjustment, assessed by the L. Derogatis (1993) Brief Symptom Inventory and institutional records of misconduct. Stress associated with limited contact with children was related to higher levels of anxiety, depression, and somatization. Stress concerning visitation was significantly related to anxiety. Stress concerning competence as a parent was associated with elevated anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as with increased institutional misconduct. Incarcerated women experience considerable distress related to parenting, manifest in psychological and behavioral adjustment.     

Adversity and psychosocial competence of South African children.

Black children in South Africa commonly experience low socioeconomic status and community violence. Parents (N = 625) in a longitudinal study of urbanization responded to structured questionnaires related to resilience, affability, maturity, and school readiness of their six-year olds. SES was found to have an inverse and linear relation to competence at age six; the relationship to violence was curvilinear, with children from moderately safe communities achieving better outcomes than those from very safe or very unsafe ones.     

The role of meta-cognition and parenting in adolescent worry

In the meta-cognitive model of worry, positive, and negative beliefs about worry interact to make worry problematic. These beliefs have been found to be associated with anxiety in adolescents, but it is unknown whether they are associated with worry. Furthermore, it may be via cognitive mechanisms such as these, or directly through behavior, that parents influence their child's worry. The current study aimed to explore whether adolescent meta-cognition and parenting behaviors and meta-cognitions were associated with adolescent worry. Results indicated that meta-cognitions were specifically associated with worry in adolescents, but there was little evidence that parenting was. Parental worry on the other hand was associated with both parent and child reported parenting. It is concluded that the meta-cognitive model of worry may be relevant in adolescents, but that further research is required to explore how parents influence adolescent worry.     

Culture's influence in Japanese and American maternal role perception and confidence

Japanese recognition of the importance of the mother in ensuring survival of the culture group is very old. This antiquity is spelled out dramatically in the ancient Chinese-Japanese ideographs (in Japan called kanji), which remain in use today. The kanji reflect the cultural isolation of Japan during 300 years of insularity preceding the Meiji period, and reveal the deep historical link to even greater antiquity in continental Asia. The historical development of kanji explicitly associates the concept of woman with passiveness, the home, and domesticity (see "woman," "peaceful," "to marry," and the concept "wife" in Figure 1) and attributes to the mother survival of the infant (see "mother" and "milk" in Figure 1). The dependence of this new member of the culture group on its mother also is conveyed in the kanji depiction of the "child" with its arms open and unable to walk. In contrast, diverse European progenitors of the comparatively recent "American" perception of the maternal role contributed an array of maternal role expectations; though often conflicting, each set of expectations was well-suited to the exigencies of the particular immigrant group's circumstances. Given the contrasting historical circumstances, substantial difference between present Japanese and American perceptions of the maternal role, and in the degree of a woman's confidence in taking the maternal role for the first time, could be expected. These hypotheses were tested using questionnaire responses and drawings made by 102 Japanese women and 104 American Caucasian women in the last trimester of their first pregnancy. The findings are examined in relation to achievement dynamics in the context of culture.