The effects of parental mental health and social-emotional coping on adolescent eating disorder attitudes and behaviors

This study examined whether social-emotional coping skills moderate the association between parental mental health symptoms and adolescent disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in a clinical sample of adolescents with internalizing and/or externalizing symptoms. Fifty-nine adolescent-parent dyads (N = 118 total participants) recruited from a metropolitan area in the Northeastern United States completed assessments at baseline and 12-month follow-up. Generally, higher parental depression and anxiety were only found to be associated with greater disordered eating attitudes and behaviors among adolescents who reported poorer (versus stronger) emotional awareness/expression skills and less (versus greater) ability to regulate emotions. Results may suggest that adolescents who lack the ability to effectively recognize, express, and manage negative emotions that arise in the context of a challenging home environment may be at greater risk for engaging in maladaptive coping behaviors, such as disordered eating. Thus, bolstering adolescent social-emotional coping skills may help protect against adolescent disordered eating.     

The role of coping strategies in predicting change in parenting efficacy and depressive symptoms among mothers of adolescents with developmental disabilities

Background Parents of children with developmental disabilities (DD) face greater caregiving demands than parents of children without DD. There is considerable variability in parents' adjustment to raising a child with DD, however. In line with a strengths‐based approach, this study explores coping strategies as potential mechanisms of resilience among mothers of adolescents with DD. This study examines the frequency with which mothers use various coping strategies and the extent to which those strategies moderate the relationship between adolescent behaviour problems and aspects of maternal well‐being. Both positive and negative dimensions of well‐being are explored, with maternal depressive symptoms and perceived parenting efficacy examined as outcomes cross‐sectionally and longitudinally. Methods The present study focuses on 92 mothers and their adolescents with DD. The adolescents had a wide range of diagnoses, all with continuing special needs. Data were collected from mothers through interviews and self‐administered questionnaires when their adolescents were aged 15 and aged 18. A structured assessment of the adolescent was completed during home visits at age 15. Results Mothers reported frequently using strategies of denial and planning but rarely using strategies of mental and behavioural disengagement to cope with recent stressful situations. Adolescent behaviour problems were found to contribute to greater symptoms of depression and lower feelings of parenting efficacy as well as increases in depressive symptoms over time. Mothers of sons, but not daughters, reported increases in parenting efficacy across their child's adolescent period. Above and beyond adolescent factors, several coping strategies emerged as significant predictors of mothers' symptoms of depression and perceived parenting efficacy. Moreover, use of Active Coping/Planning, Positive Reinterpretation/Growth, and Behavioural/Mental Disengagement as coping strategies moderated the impact of adolescent behaviour problems on maternal depressive symptoms. Conclusions This study extends previous findings by focusing on both positive and negative dimensions of parent well‐being during their child's adolescent period. Adolescence can be a stressful time for parents, with typical developmental tasks entailing additional strains for parents of adolescents with DD. The present findings point to several coping strategies that may reduce the impact of challenging behaviours during this period on mothers' symptoms of depression and feelings of parenting efficacy. Certain coping strategies were found to exert a greater impact on maternal well‐being for parents of adolescents with higher levels of behaviour problems, suggesting that interventions may benefit from an increased focus on this group of mothers with heightened caregiving demands.     

Vom Hai über den Neandertaler zum Bankangestellten – Experimentelle Annäherung an die Kinderpsychodrama-Forschung

The following article deals with suicidality and the treatment options that psychodrama-therapy can offer. It specifically considers the psychodramatic perspective on which dynamics play a consequential role during a depressive episode in setting death instead of life as the ultimate goal. What leads a human being to focus their energy not toward life-fulfilling but life-ending acts, choosing death as the only option, and thus denying not only contact to loved ones but also denying the encounter with life and the Self. Through my work in this field I have come to the conclusion that low self-love and a deficit in coping with negative feelings such as pain, grief, shame and failure, play the pivotal role in suicidality.     

Adolescent vulnerability and the distress of rejection: Associations of adjustment problems and gender with control,emotions, and coping

We examined adjustment problems as risks for patterns of emotions, appraisals, and coping with rejection, and explored whether these processes could account for sex (boy/girl) differences in coping. Young adolescents (N = 669, grades 6–8) completed questionnaires, which assessed responses to peer rejection threat with two short scenarios. Using structural equation modeling to test a multivariate process model, adolescents with heightened social anxiety had the most maladaptive responses to rejection threat, including elevated emotional reactions, more self-blame, and coping using more social isolation, rumination and opposition. Adolescents reporting more depressive symptoms felt less control and anticipated using less adaptive coping (less support seeking, distraction, and negotiation), whereas aggressive adolescents responded with more anger and coped via opposition. Moreover, as anticipated, sex differences in coping, symptoms, emotions, and appraisals were found. However, coping differences between boys and girls were mostly nonsignificant after accounting for symptoms, aggression, emotional reactions, and appraisals.     

Risk Factors for Suicide Attempts among Korean Adolescents

This study examined the rate of suicide attempts and relevant variables and identified risk factors for suicide attempts among Korean adolescents. A cross-sectional study was performed using an anonymous, self-report questionnaire. A total of 2,100 Korean adolescents, including 1,321 student adolescents and 779 delinquent adolescents, were selected using a proportional stratified random sampling method for this study. The results showed the rate of suicide attempts to be 11.6%, with delinquent adolescents reporting a higher rate of suicide attempts than student adolescents. Adolescent suicide attempts indicated higher levels of dysfunctional family dynamics and maladaptive personalities. In addition, adolescents who attempted suicide expressed a significantly lower level of life satisfaction and less effective coping strategies compared with those adolescents who had not attempted suicide. Logistic regression analysis revealed that five predictive risk factors appeared to be statistically significant: coping strategy, parental child-rearing pattern, depression, parent-child relationship, and psychosomatic symptoms, in this order at p < 0.05. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Dutch youth of parents with a mental illness reflect upon their feelings of guilt and shame

Children of parents with a mental illness (COPMI) have a higher risk of acquiring a mental illness themselves. Feelings of guilt and shame could increase COPMI risks of acquiring mental health disorder symptoms. These feelings of guilt and shame could also impact the quality of the parent-child relationship. Data were drawn from the qualitative part of a mixed method study featuring 18 face-to-face interviews with Dutch COPMI aged 12–21. Interviewees were asked about their experiences with guilt and shame related to their parent with mental illness and the extent they felt that these feelings affected their relationships with their parents. Qualitative thematic analysis (QTA) revealed that most COPMI youth described feelings of guilt and some of them reported feelings of shame. They reported making behavioral adjustments especially using caution in parental communication. In their perception, guilt and shame did not have long-term impacts on their relationships with parents.     

Coping,distress, and well-being in mothers of children with autism

As is the case in stress research generally, studies examining the relationship between coping and mental health outcomes in parents of children with autism frequently classify parental coping methods as being either problem- or emotion-focused. We argue that this dichotomization of coping strategies oversimplifies the way parents respond to their child's autism. In the present study, the coping methods employed by 113 mothers of children with autism were investigated using the Brief COPE (Carver et al., 1989). Exploratory factor analysis of Brief COPE subscales identified four reliable coping dimensions: engagement coping, distraction coping, disengagement coping, and cognitive reframing coping. In addition, using multiple regression, we examined the relationship of coping strategies to negative and positive maternal outcomes (depression, anger, and well-being). In general, maternal use of avoidant coping (distraction and disengagement) was found to be associated with increased levels of maternal depression and anger, while use of cognitive reframing was associated with higher levels of maternal well-being. In several instances, child characteristics, particularly severity of child maladaptive behavior, moderated the effect of coping on maternal outcomes. Study findings are discussed in light of previous research in the area; in addition, study limitations and clinical implications are highlighted.     

Specific coping behaviors in relation to adolescent depression and suicidal ideation

The coping strategies used by adolescents to deal with stress may have implications for the development of depression and suicidal ideation. This study examined coping categories and specific coping behaviors used by adolescents to assess the relation of coping to depression and suicidal ideation. In hierarchical regression models, the specific coping behaviors of behavioral disengagement and self-blame were predictive of higher levels of depression; depression and using emotional support were predictive of suicidal ideation. Results suggest that specific behaviors within the broad coping categories of emotion-focused coping (e.g., self-blame) and avoidant coping (e.g., behavioral disengagement) account for these categories’ associations with depression and suicidal ideation. Specific problem-focused coping strategies did not independently predict lower levels of depression or suicidal ideation. It may be beneficial for interventions to focus on eliminating maladaptive coping behaviors in addition to introducing or enhancing positive coping behaviors.     

Family Functioning and Adolescent Psychological Maladjustment: The Mediating Role of Coping Strategies

This study aims to analyze the mediating role of coping strategies in the relationship between family functioning and youth maladjustment. A community sample of 341 adolescents (M = 15.11 years old; SD = 1.71) completed self-report measures about such variables. Results showed that a perception of an inadequate family functioning was associated with the use of maladaptive coping strategies, as well as with youth psychological maladjustment. The results also revealed that rumination and support-seeking mediated the relationship between family functioning and internalizing behavior, and hostile expression of feelings played a mediating role between family functioning and externalizing behavior. No gender differences were found in the relationship between variables. This study emphasizes the importance of coping strategies used by adolescents to understand the relationship between family functioning and youth psychological maladjustment.     

Environnement familial et consommation de substances psychoactives à l’adolescence : facteurs de vulnérabilité et d’adaptation

This literature review synthesizes what is known about family vulnerability and adaptation factors towards substance use in adolescents. The introduction resets individual risk factors, such as aggressiveness, impulsiveness, sensation and novelty seeking, and psychopathological comorbidity frequently associated with addictive disorders (anxiety and depression). Peer influence plays an important role in drug experimentation and consumption in adolescence. The context of protective family dimensions is also described. Thus, parental supervision of the young, clear family rules, low levels of family conflict, as well as good communication between the young and his parents are protective dimensions with respect to substance consumption. The first part of this paper deals with family vulnerability factors involved in the development of addictive behaviors. There seem to be structural and functional differences in consumer families. Teenagers living in a single-parent family, or with divorced parents, or sharing the daily life of a parent dependent on psychoactive substances, seem more attracted by substances. Family dynamics may be dysfunctional, with problems noted including low levels of cohesion, poor adaptability and poor communication between family members. A low level of cohesion implies low attachment bonds between members. Low adaptability seems to be a strong predictor of teenagers’ addictive behaviors. The nature of relationships between family members is problematic: we can note the presence of “intergenerational coalition”, “perverse triangulation” and often a poor quality relationship with the fathers. These families also show difficulties to elaborate the process of separation and individuation, behavior allowing the teenager to aspire to independence, even if dependence to the family remains. Communication skills of consumer families seem to be poor and associated with high intensity conflicts. Mothers of dependent patients would express more hostile feelings towards consumers. To date, studies of families that have adolescents with drug problems have focused on family vulnerability factors, involved in the development of addictive behaviors, but few researchers have assessed the impacts of a consumer's addiction on his relatives. Therefore, the second part concerns the cognitive, emotional and behavioral impacts of a consumer's addiction on his relatives, and presents the different coping strategies used by relatives. Addiction causes chronic stress to the environment that could be a source of physical (e.g. sleep or appetite disturbances) and psychological (anxiety and depression) disturbances, as well as a feeling of burden. On the emotional level, negative valence feelings prevail (e.g. shame, fear, anger, sadness, guilt…). Faced with this aversive situation, relatives try to adapt by using coping strategies. There are different types of coping and some seem more appropriate, allowing an increase in physical and psychological well-being. Efficiency of coping seems to depend on the relatives’ understanding of the addiction, namely that addictions are complex, uncontrollable and joining on the long term. This review opens new research perspectives related to the practice of clinical psychologists in families that have an adolescent with substance use disorders. We could investigate individual parental coping in a multidimensional and situational prospect. Moreover, further studies could examine the couples’ adaptation strategies by investigating dyadic coping. Coping efficiency could then be analyzed and discussed with regard to family dynamics and the psychological distress perceived by the parents.     

Brief report: Coping among Austrian children and adolescents

The study investigated age and gender effects on coping with common stressors among 494 Austrian children and adolescents (age 8-14 years). Participants were subdivided into subgroups of late children comprising third and fourth graders, early adolescents consisting of fifth and sixth graders, and middle adolescents including seventh graders. Middle adolescents showed a maladaptive coping pattern with decreased problem and emotion-focused coping strategies and increased passive avoidance and aggression. Females scored higher on social support and also on the maladaptive coping strategy rumination. Female middle adolescents reported higher resignation than their male contemporaries and female children. Results suggest the application of primary preventive stress management programs in late childhood and early adolescence.     

Fatigue, Stress and Coping in Mothers of Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder

Raising a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be exhausting, which has the potential to impact on parental health and wellbeing. The current study investigated the influence of maternal fatigue and coping on the relationship between children’s problematic behaviours and maternal stress for 65 mothers of young children (aged 2–5 years) with ASDs. Results showed that maternal fatigue but not maladaptive coping mediated the relationship between problematic child behaviours and maternal stress. These findings suggest child behaviour difficulties may contribute to parental fatigue, which in turn may influence use of ineffective coping strategies and increased stress. The significance of fatigue on maternal wellbeing was highlighted as an important area for consideration in families of children with an ASD.     

Adolescent coping with academic challenges: The role of parental socialization of coping

IntroductionHow youth cope with academic challenges has important implications for their academic outcomes. The contributions of parental involvement have been relatively well-established; however, few, if any studies have investigated the role of parental socialization of academic coping (i.e., coping suggestions) in shaping youth coping with academic challenges.MethodsUsing a community sample from the United States, we utilized a multi-informant, longitudinal design to investigate the prospective association between parental socialization of academic coping and adolescent coping with academic challenges. Adolescent gender was also examined as a moderator of associations. Participants included 86 two-parent families (54% boys; 38–52% ethnic minorities). At Time 1, mothers and fathers reported on their problem-solving, help-seeking, and disengaged coping suggestions in response to three hypothetical academic challenge scenarios (i.e., forgetting about or performing poorly on an assignment, difficulties managing academic demands). At Times 1 and 2, adolescents reported on their coping strategies (e.g., strategizing, help-seeking, escape) in response to academic challenges.ResultsFather-reported problem-focused suggestions were associated with youths' more adaptive coping (e.g., strategizing, help-seeking) over time. Interestingly, father-reported disengaged suggestions were associated with less maladaptive coping over time. Further, adolescent gender moderated associations linking mothers' and fathers' problem-focused suggestions and fathers’ help-seeking and disengaged suggestions with adolescent coping over time.ConclusionsOverall, fathers' coping suggestions were associated with more adaptive coping for girls as compared with boys. Findings highlight the role of parental socialization of coping, particularly fathers’ role, in the academic domain.     

The costs of parental pressure to express emotions: conditional regard and autonomy support as predictors of emotion regulation and intimacy

This research focuses on offspring's perceptions of their parents' usage of conditional regard and autonomy-supportive practices in response to the offspring's experiences of negative emotion. Participants were 174 college students (60% were females). As predicted from self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), students' perceptions of parents as hinging their regard on students' expression or suppression of negative emotions predicted a maladaptive pattern of emotion regulation and intimacy capacity. In contrast, autonomy-supportive parenting predicted more adaptive emotion regulation and intimacy patterns. Also as predicted, emotion-regulation mode mediated the relations between parental practices and intimacy capacity. The innovative aspect of the study is the finding that parents who use conditional regard to encourage children's expression (sharing) of negative emotions may actually undermine their children's socioemotional capacities.     

The relationship of gender,gender identity,and coping strategies in late adolescents

The relationships among gender, gender identity, and coping in late adolescents were examined. One hundred sixty-nine late adolescents completed measures assessing their masculinity and femininity, as well as their use of coping strategies. Females endorsed greater use of emotion-focused coping strategies than males. Late adolescents who were high in masculinity endorsed higher levels of problem-focused coping strategies than those who were low in masculinity. In contrast, late adolescents who were high in femininity endorsed higher levels of emotion-focused coping strategies than those who were low in femininity. Neither the gender nor the masculinity and femininity of late adolescents were predictive of the use of avoidant coping strategies. Overall, gender identity made an important and independent contribution to the endorsement of coping strategy use. These results emphasize the importance of assessing both gender and gender identity with regard to coping in late adolescents.     

The so-called "inappropriate" psychiatric consultation request on a medical or surgical ward.

Seven cases of psychiatric consultations on medical and surgical wards are reviewed to show how intrapsychic conflicts in the staff may make the consultation request appear inappropriate. On deeper examination, such requests may signify staff dysfunction caused by arousal of conflictual feelings about the behavior of illness of the patient. Mutilated, mute patients appear to arouse fear of agression in their caregivers, who in turn reject such patients, see them as alien and violent, and become illogical in their management. Patients who publicly display sexual behaviors appear to arouse shame over exhibitionism, voyeurism, and masturbation; their caregivers become too passive to effect common-sense measures appropriate to the situation. Very sick and dying patients and ungrateful, demanding patients can arouse anger and despair. Their caregivers may become depressed about failure, feeling helpless and out of control; using projection, they can see such patients as evil or suicidal, and may eventually turn against themselves. The psychiatric consultant, recognizing the conflicts that make the requests seem inappropriate, seeks to substitute higher-level cognitive operations and coping behaviors in the staff (distancing, rationalization, intellectualization, undoing, and altruism) for distortion projection, over-identification, reaction formation, and turning against the self.     

The adolescent emotional coping after an earthquake: A risk factor for suicidal ideation

The study aims to investigate the relationship of suicidal ideation with coping and resilience in a sample of adolescents who survived an earthquake. Three hundred forty-three adolescents who had experienced the L'Aquila earthquake were investigated for a screening distinguishing Suicidal Screen-Negative (SSN) from the Positive (SSP) subjects. Resilience Scale for Adolescents (READ) and Brief Cope were administered. Emotion-focused coping score was significantly higher in SSP subjects. In the SSN but not in the SSP sample the READ total score correlated with problem-focused total score. A positive correlation was seen between emotion-focused and problem-focused scores in both samples, with a higher coefficient in SSP sample. Externalising problems and maladaptive behaviours can arise in adolescents exposed to traumatic events. Attention should be paid in reducing risk factors and in the development of psychological abilities, improving the coping strategies that can protect from emotional despair and suicidal ideation.     

Parenting styles and adolescents' achievement strategies

The aim of the study was to investigate the extent to which adolescents' achievement strategies are associated with the parenting styles they experience in their families. Three hundred and fifty-four 14-year-old adolescents completed a Strategy and Attribution Questionnaire and a family parenting style inventory. Analogous questionnaires were also completed by the adolescents' parents. Based on adolescents' report of the parenting styles, four types of families were identified: those with Authoritative, Authoritarian, Permissive, and Neglectful parenting styles. The results further showed that adolescents from authoritative families applied most adaptive achievement strategies characterized by low levels of failure expectations, task-irrelevant behaviour and passivity, and the use of self-enhancing attributions. Adolescents from neglectful families, in turn, applied maladaptive strategies characterized by high levels of task-irrelevant behaviour, passivity and a lack of self-enhancing attributions. The results provide a basis for understanding some of the processes by which parenting styles may influence adolescents' academic achievement and performance.     

Pakistani adolescents' coping with stress: effect of loss of a parent and gender of adolescents

The present study examined the effect of parental loss and gender of adolescents on their coping with stress. Sample included those adolescents who had either of their parents died (N = 40) and those having both living parents (N = 40). It was hypothesized that adolescents with one parent alive would differ in their ways of coping with stress compared to those who have both living parents. It was also hypothesized that there would be gender differences in adolescents' coping. Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ, Kausar, 1996) was used to assess adolescents' coping. Data was analysed using t-test and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Analyses showed that avoidance-focused coping was the most frequently used and active distractive coping was the least frequently used strategy by the adolescents. Adolescents with both living parents employed more active distractive and religious-focused coping compared to those with one parent alive. Girls employed significantly more strategies to cope with stress compared to boys. Results also revealed interactive effect of parental loss and gender on coping strategies used by adolescents. The findings suggest that death of either of the parents and gender of the adolescent is important determinants of the ways adolescents deal with stress.     

Adolescents' unconditional acceptance by parents and teachers and educational outcomes: A structural model of gender differences

The purpose of this study was to detect gender specific patterns in the network of relations between unconditionality of parental and teacher acceptance in the form of unconditional positive regard and a range of educational outcomes, as indexed by academic self-perception, academic intrinsic motivation, and academic achievement. To test the role of gender as a moderator, a multi-group analysis was employed within the framework of structural equation modelling with increasing restrictions placed on the structural paths across genders. The results on a sample of 427 adolescents in grades 7–9 showed that conditionality of acceptance undermined level of perceived acceptance for both social agents. Moreover, unconditionality of teacher acceptance exerted stronger influences on students' educational outcomes than unconditionality of parental acceptance, with effect sizes being larger for girls than for boys.