Family assessment: Instrument dimensionality and correspondence across family reporters.

Based on the contention that clarifying the psychometric foundations of family instruments is essential to the field's future progress, the current study pursued 3 major aims: examining issues of instrument dimensionality; determining the generalizability of dimensional structures across whole-family, marital, and parent–child forms; and assessing the degree to which there is correspondence across different members' reports. Drawing on a community sample of intact families (N?=?192) and making use of a latent-variable approach, results provided support for a 3-dimensional framework (Affect, Activities, and Control) in accounting for score variance on whole-family, marital, and parent–child forms. Results indicated a significant degree of correspondence across different members' reports of these constructs for each family subsystem. Implications of these findings are discussed, and topics in need of further research attention are identified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of maternal employment in the two-parent family.

Recent research is reviewed to consider the effects of the mother's employment on the child in the two-parent family. This work deals mainly with maternal employment during the child's preschool years. Because of the difficulties in measuring enduring traits in young children, and because neither previous nor current research has revealed clear differences between children in dual-wage and single-wage families, attention is also given to the effects on the family processes that mediate child outcomes: the psychological well-being of the parents, their marital relationship, the father's role, and parent–child interaction. The influence of maternal employment on these variables, as well as on child outcomes, is found to be dependent on the attitudes of the parents, the number of hours the mother is employed, social support, and the child's gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting marital and parent functioning in dyads and triads: A longitudinal investigation of marital processes.

This study assessed longitudinally whether couples' dysregulated negative affect before parenthood is predictive of conflict, as well as diminished affective quality, in family relationships 5 years later. Observations of 25 couples' marital communication were made before parenthood and again 5 years later, when data also were collected on parent–child and family interactions. Husbands' prechild marital behavior and couples' prechild negative escalation were predictive of husbands' conflict and triangulation of the child into marital conflict. Family-level functioning (e.g., coalition formation) was predicted by prechild negative escalation. Parenting behavior was not predicted by prechild marital functioning but was related to current marital functioning. The data provide support for the hypothesis that how couples regulate negative affect early on in marriage sets the tone for future interactions involving parents and their child. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of prebirth parent personality and marital functioning on family development: A framework and suggestions for further study.

A framework for studying the impact of prebirth parent personality and marital functioning on family development is outlined. In the context of the delineation of four influences on infant and family development—namely, personality, social interaction, role, and ecology—the presentation focuses on the general hypothesis that certain relatively stable characteristics of the parents' personality and their marriage make an important and persistent impact on the family's development. Evidence for such stability is cited. As a further step in the delineation of prebirth influences, global and specific assessments of such influences were distinguished. Because variations in infant characteristics influence marital and parent personality functioning, the advantage of assessing this functioning before the birth of the first child is also stressed. Finally, the nature of the impact of certain stable aspects of the parents' personality and marital characteristics on a particular parent–infant transaction, infant soothability-responsiveness to need, is documented from existing research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early human experience: A family perspective.

Reviews recent research on the father–infant relationship. Those studies documenting changes in parent and infant behavior when the mother–infant dyad is transformed into the mother–father–infant triad are especially important to the study of early human experience, since they highlight the influence of the marital relationship on the parent–infant relationship. These investigations of "2nd-order effects" document the fact that inclusion of the father in the study of infancy creates a family system composed of marital and parent–child relations. The need for "wedding" the disciplines of family sociology and developmental psychology in their respective concerns for marital and parent–infant relationships is emphasized, and a transactional framework for examining early experience in the family system is proposed. Evidence from family sociology and developmental psychology is reviewed to illuminate influences within the family system during infancy and to stimulate interdisciplinary investigation. (3? ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disclosure of parental HIV infection to children in the families of men with hemophilia: Description, outcomes, and the role of family processes.

Disclosure of serostatus is a difficult issue faced by individuals who have the AIDS virus, particularly when the HIV-infected individual is a parent and the question is whether to disclose to a child. The present study examined disclosure of paternal HIV status and the associations between disclosure and child functioning in the families of men who have hemophilia and are HIV infected. Results indicated that disclosure of HIV status was more common with older children, among Caucasian families, and in families in which fathers are more ill. The parent–child relationship, but not disclosure, was significantly associated with child functioning when disclosure was considered within the content of the family processes. A more positive parent–child relationship was related to lower levels of child depression and externalizing problems and to better grades. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Levels of family assessment: I. Family, marital, and parent–child interaction.

Families are complicated systems to assess and quantify, requiring that decisions be made regarding where to focus research. The authors examined 3 levels of family interaction: marital, parent–child, and whole family. Instruments included the McMaster Structured Interview of Family Functioning, the Family Assessment Device, the Mealtime Interaction Coding System, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and the Parent/Caregiver Involvement Scale. Results suggest that each measure, representing a unique combination of family level, informant, and setting, contained both independent variance and information redundant with other measures characterizing the family. The strengths of using a theoretical base, in this case the McMaster model of family functioning, and a multimeasure approach arc discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal mood, video-mediated cognitions, and daily stress during home-based, family interactions.

This article presents an in vivo investigation of maternal negative mood, maternal video-mediated cognitions, and daily stressors in families with young children. Specifically, it was hypothesized that greater levels of maternal depressed, anxious, and hostile mood states immediately prior to a daily, reportedly routine, stressful parent–child interaction would be significantly associated with higher percentages of dysfunctional and lower percentages of functional cognitions. Forty-five mothers of 2- to 5-year-old children participated in this study by rating their mood before being videotaped in a daily routine with their child they reported as recurrent and stressful (e.g., mealtime). Using video-mediated recall (VMR) methodology, mothers were instructed to recall their cognitions upon immediate video review. Results indicated that greater levels of negative mood were associated with a greater percentage of dysfunctional cognitions and a smaller percentage of functional cognitions. Levels of maternal depressed mood were significantly and independently associated with greater rates of dysfunctional and lower rates of functional cognitions. Negative mood states were not consistently associated with the amount of maternal self-reported general irrationality, pointing to the utility of the VMR to elicit maternal cognitions specific to the observed interaction, which may have more implications for clinical intervention than more general irrationality measures. Evaluating maternal mood and using video-mediated maternal cognitions regarding daily family stressors can precipitate clinical interventions meant to reduce family-related stress and potentially improve maternal and child mental health outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Observed sibling interaction: Links with the marital and the mother–child relationship.

The study examines whether the link between the marital relationship and sibling interaction is direct or mediated by the mother–child relationship. Seventy-three same-sex sibling pairs aged 3 years 6 months to 8 years 6 months were observed during free play. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing marital functioning and their relationship with their 2 children. Results indicated that older siblings' negative behavior is linked with negative dimensions of the marital and the mother–child relationship, whereas younger siblings' negative behavior is linked with the mother–child and the differential mother–child relationship. Siblings' positive behavior, although linked with spacing, is not linked with positive dimensions of family interaction. Most important, the linkage between negative marital relations and older siblings' negative behavior was found to be mediated by maternal power assertion, thereby supporting the indirect model of negative family interaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with illness: Interrelationships across family members and predictors of psychological adjustment.

This study examined coping in families in which there was a chronically ill parent. Husbands, wives, and one child (aged 7–18 yrs) from 75 families in which the husband had hemophilia participated. Coping styles and psychological adjustment were assessed, and patterns of coping among family members were examined. Avoidant coping was associated with poorer adjustment for all family members. In addition, the coping style of one family member was found to be related to the psychological adjustment of other family members. Avoidant coping by one spouse related to poorer psychological functioning in the other spouse, and avoidant coping by either parent related to greater child adjustment problems for girls and boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parents' hostility in dyadic marital and triadic family settings and children's behavior problems.

The authors examined the relation between parents' hostility during conflict-focused discussions and child behavior problems. Parents engaged in 3 discussions: a dyadic marital discussion of marital disagreements, a dyadic marital discussion of child-related disagreements, and a triadic family discussion with the child about the child-related disagreements. Eighty-nine 2-parent community families with a child aged 9–13 years participated. A significant 3-way interaction between interparental hostility, parent-to-child hostility, and child sex accounted for variance in children's behavior problems. Among boys, higher levels of parent-to-child hostility during family discussions exacerbated the effects of interparental hostility on boys' adjustment. Thus, exposure to higher levels of both interparental and parent-to-child hostility may put boys at risk for developing internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental family processes and interparental conflict: Patterns of microlevel influences.

Although there are frequent calls for the study of effects of children on families and mutual influence processes within families, little empirical progress has been made. We address these questions at the level of microprocesses during marital conflict, including children's influence on marital conflict and parents' influence on each other. Participants were 111 cohabiting couples with a child (55 male, 56 female) age 8–16 years. Data were drawn from parents' diary reports of interparental conflict over 15 days and were analyzed with dynamic systems modeling tools. Child emotions and behavior during conflicts were associated with interparental positivity, negativity, and resolution at the end of the same conflicts. For example, children's agentic behavior was associated with more marital conflict resolution, whereas child negativity was linked with more marital negativity. Regarding parents' influence on each other, among the findings, husbands' and wives' influence on themselves from one conflict to the next was indicated, and total number of conflicts predicted greater influence of wives' positivity on husbands' positivity. Contributions of these findings to the understanding of developmental family processes are discussed, including implications for advanced understanding of interrelations between child and adult functioning and development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some issues in the assessment of family patterns.

Comments that C. I. Carlson and H. D. Grotevant's (see record 1989-00066-001) review of family rating scales provides a valuable resource but misses the opportunity to stress the importance of studying the whole family (including marital and parent–child interaction) and of choosing between rating and interactional coding systems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital conflict typology and children's appraisals: The moderating role of family cohesion.

Intense and frequent marital conflict is associated with greater appraisals of threat and self-blame in children, but little else is known about contextual factors that might affect appraisals. Systemic family theories propose that to understand child adaptation, it is necessary to understand the interconnected nature of family subsystem relationships. In a sample of 257 families with 8- to 12-year-old children, this study examined whether a four-level typology of marital conflict management was related to children's perceptions of marital conflict and their appraisals of perceived threat and self-blame. In addition, family cohesion was tested as a moderator of the relationship between marital conflict style and children's appraisals. Observational coding was used to group couples into Harmonious, Disengaged, Conflictual-Expressive, and Conflictual-Hostile groups. Children's report of the intensity, frequency, and degree of resolution of interparental discord corresponded well with observers' ratings. The relationship between marital conflict style and appraisals of threat and self-blame was moderated by family cohesiveness. At high levels of family cohesiveness, no group differences were found for either perceived threat or self-blame, whereas when family cohesiveness was low, threat was higher for the Harmonious and Conflictual-Hostile groups, as compared to the Conflictual-Expressive group, and self-blame was higher for both conflict groups (expressive and hostile), as compared to the Disengaged group. The results provide further evidence of interconnected nature of family subsystem relationships and the importance of distinguishing among different approaches to marital conflict management for understanding the complex and perhaps subtle but meaningful effects different family system factors have on child adaptation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child functional independence and maternal psychosocial stress as risk factors threatening adaptation in mothers of physically or sensorially handicapped children.

This study investigated the contribution of child functional independence and maternal psychosocial stress to the adaptation of 119 mothers. Each mother had a child, aged 2–18 yrs, with a physical or sensory disability. Multiple dimensions of each construct were measured through self-report. Child functional independence did not uniquely explain variation in mothers' adaptation. However, maternal stress was uniquely associated with maternal mental health, but not physical health or social functioning, even when controlling for demographic status, disability type, and functional independence. Daily hassles and handicap-related psychosocial stress in particular put mothers at risk for reporting mental health problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediators of aggression among young adult offspring of depressed mothers.

The current article explores the connection between maternal depression and offspring aggression during the transition to adulthood, expanding the scope of prior research on this topic. Both family-level factors (including parent–child relationship quality and maternal romantic relationship quality) and youth factors (including depression history and social functioning in midadolescence) were tested as potential mediators in a longitudinal community sample of 710 youth at ages 15 and 20. The results suggest that maternal depression confers a risk for higher levels of aggressive behavior by offspring at age 20. Structural equation models suggested that the association between maternal depression and youth aggression is fully mediated by youth history of depression by midadolescence, even when accounting for the stability of aggression between ages 15 and 20. Parent–child relationship quality, youth social functioning, and maternal relationship quality were not unique mediators of this association. Limitations and implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A genetically informed study of associations between family functioning and child psychosocial adjustment.

Research has documented associations between family functioning and offspring psychosocial adjustment, but questions remain regarding whether these associations are partly due to confounding genetic factors and other environmental factors. The current study used a genetically informed approach, the Children of Twins design, to explore the associations between family functioning (family conflict, marital quality, and agreement about parenting) and offspring psychopathology. Participants were 867 twin pairs (388 monozygotic; 479 dizygotic) from the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden, their spouses, and children (51.7% female; M = 15.75 years). The results suggested associations between exposure to family conflict (assessed by the mother, father, and child) and child adjustment were independent of genetic factors and other environmental factors. However, when family conflict was assessed using only children's reports, the results indicated that genetic factors also influenced these associations. In addition, the analyses indicated that exposure to low marital quality and agreement about parenting was associated with children's internalizing and externalizing problems and that genetic factors also contributed to the associations of marital quality and agreement about parenting with offspring externalizing problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital satisfaction of parents of preadolescent boys and its relationship to family and child functioning.

Investigated the relationship between parents' marital satisfaction (MS) and family and child outcomes among 50 mothers and 43 fathers with 6th-grade sons. Outcomes in 3 domains of functioning were studied: within-family functioning, 2 aspects of sons' social-emotional (SEM) adjustment (distress and restraint), and sons' academic achievement. Two mediators by which MS might influence the outcomes were also assessed: individual parental characteristics (i.e., SEM functioning) and child-rearing practices. Quality of the marital relationship was signficantly related to outcomes in each domain of functioning. Mothers' MS was related to overall family functioning; fathers' MS was related to sons' school achievement and development of self-control. The relationship between fathers' MS and sons' self-restraint was accounted for by fathers' SEM functioning and child rearing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conflict in families and the psychological adjustment of preadolescent children.

Examined the cross-sectional association between conflict in families and child psychological adjustment in 72 4th–5th graders. Multiple informants (parents, children, and teachers) assessed conflict and anger in the social climate of the home, marital discord, negative emotional tone in the parent–child relationship, and child adjustment. As predicted, child adjustment was more strongly related to family conflict and maladjustment in girls. Moreover, the association between a general climate of conflict at home and child maladjustment was independent of anger and discord in the marital or parent–child relationships. During the study of the effects of interpersonal conflict at home, it appears to be important to identify the locus of anger and aggression. Findings suggest that researchers should distinguish between a general climate of conflict in the family and interparental discord. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of children's health care use: an investigation of psychosocial factors

Factors related to the amount of health care used by 5- to 11-year-old children in a health maintenance organization (HMO) were investigated using a comprehensive multivariate model that assessed the contribution of child health need, mental health, and social functioning; maternal mental health, social support and health care utilization; and family functioning and life events. Mothers reported on the 450 participating children. Health care visits for a two-year retrospective period were obtained from the computerized encounter system. Child health need and maternal patterns of health care use were powerful predictors of the overall amount of health care used, and these factors discriminated high users from low users of care. Family conflict was associated with a higher volume of care, while children's depressive symptoms and non-white race were related to lower use. Maternal social support, mental health, and life events were not predictive of use in either full multivariate model. Enabling factors were held relatively constant by participation of all families in a prepaid HMO. The multiple regression model explained 33% of the variance in use, slightly more than in previous studies of children's health care use. When included in a comprehensive analysis, child and family psychosocial characteristics help to explain children's health care use beyond what is possible using simple health and illness variables. The implications of these findings in the development of further research and to the practice of routine pediatric care are discussed.