Review of The parent-child connection.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 31(2) of Canadian Psychology Psychologie Canadienne (see record 2007-08913-001). In the October 1989 issue (Vol. 30, No. 4, p. 697), Arnold Rincover's affiliation with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education was incorrectly given as Associate Professor. He has been an Extramural Instructor at O.I.S.E.] Reviews the book, The parent-child connection by Arnold Rincover (1988). The parent-child connection is a well written book that offers valuable advice to help parents of young children evaluate and understand their children's behaviour. It also offers useful suggestions on managing child behaviour, although these parenting tips are most likely to be useful to those parents who least need them (i.e., those with numerous personal and social resources, whose children are presenting only minor behavioural difficulties). The two general themes of the book, child behaviour as communication and developmental norms as guidelines for deciding if behaviour is problematic, are well-suited to the purposes of a parent reference book. They offer an appropriate framework for discussing specific child behaviours and helping parents to determine if these behaviours are problematic in their children. This book is a welcome addition to the list of available parenting books, and may prove particularly useful for younger parents in need of accurate and understandable information about normal child development and behaviour. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When fathers’ supportiveness matters most: Maternal and paternal parenting and children’s school readiness.

Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 723) were used to test whether the effects of fathers’ supportive parenting on children’s school readiness are greater when mothers are least supportive. We distinguished between academic and social dimensions of school readiness. Mothers’ and fathers’ parenting was assessed in dyadic parent–child videotaped sessions during the preschool period. Results for both academic and social outcomes indicated that fathers’ supportiveness had larger benefits for children at lower levels of mothers’ supportiveness. In fact, fathers’ supportiveness was associated with children’s school readiness only when mothers scored average or below on supportiveness. Mothers’ supportiveness was similarly associated with children’s social school readiness when fathers scored average or below on supportiveness. However, mothers’ supportiveness was associated with children’s academic school readiness even when fathers scored above average on supportiveness. The results suggest that fathers may influence child development most as potential buffers against unsupportive mother parenting. Further research is needed to replicate these analyses in a less socioeconomically advantaged sample. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Techniques of child therapy: Psychodynamic strategies.

Reviews the book, Techniques of child therapy: Psychodynamic strategies by Morton Chethik (see record 1989-97537-000). This volume is addressed both to the advanced psychotherapy student and to the practitioner who is just beginning to work with children. It provides an orientation to the dynamic approach of assessing the young patient, of formulating a working model of the child's conflicts, and ways to gradually intervene in order to restore the normal developmental process. To furnish this orientation, discussions are included on the basics of play therapy, working with parents, fundamental tasks of treatment, conceptual frameworks for guiding interventions, distinctions between different forms of intervention, and differences in therapeutic strategy for working with various disorders ranging from situationally induced acting-out to character pathologies. Although it may seem overly ambitious for the author to explicate and integrate this amount of material within a book of this size, he has nonetheless succeeded in creating a cohesive and clinically useful body of knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Between women: Lowering the barrier.

Reviews the book, Between Women: Lowering The Barriers by Paula J. Caplan (1981). Caplan adds to the growing body of works on the psychological and sociological development of women. She presents as myths the pervasive ideas that females are inferior to males, endlessly nurturant, emotionally dependent, instinctively tidy, and physically graceful. She does so in a readable manner and uses her arguments about female socialization to convince the reader that prevention and change of social patterns are possible. Caplan is optimistic and hopeful, and she inspires the reader to investigate what is, in order to create, what could be. With a focus on the daughter, Caplan explores the generic female experience by organizing the body of her work from girlhood through adolescence to adulthood. Thus, she restores to women the whole life cycle. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Review of The parent-child connection": Erratum.

Reports an error in "Review of The parent-child connection" by Charlotte Johnston (Canadian Psychology Psychologie Canadienne, 1989[Oct], Vol 30[4], 697-698). Arnold Rincover's affiliation with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education was incorrectly given as Associate Professor. He has been an Extramural Instructor at O.I.S.E. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2007-09101-001.) Reviews the book, The parent-child connection by Arnold Rincover (1988). The Parent-Child Connection is a well written book that offers valuable advice to help parents of young children evaluate and understand their children's behaviour. It also offers useful suggestions on managing child behaviour, although these parenting tips are most likely to be useful to those parents who least need them (i.e., those with numerous personal and social resources, whose children are presenting only minor behavioural difficulties). The two general themes of the book, child behaviour as communication and developmental norms as guidelines for deciding if behaviour is problematic, are well-suited to the purposes of a parent reference book. They offer an appropriate framework for discussing specific child behaviours and helping parents to determine if these behaviours are problematic in their children. This book is a welcome addition to the list of available parenting books, and may prove particularly useful for younger parents in need of accurate and understandable information about normal child development and behaviour. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Techniques of child therapy: Psychodynamic strategies.

Reviews the book, Techniques of child therapy: Psychodynamic strategies by Morton Chetkik (see record 2000-00388-000). Techniques of Child Therapy is not a manual of psychoanalytic theory applied to children but, as the subtitle indicates, it is a presentation to psychodynamic strategies for treating the impairment derived from the faulty development of any of four psychoanalytic constructs: phallic-oedipal, ego functioning, superego expansion, an affective difficulties. Four major sections compose the book: an introduction outlining the characteristics of the child and the general process of assessment, a section dedicated to guiding the parents, and the presentation of two case studies with an elaboration of the treatment process. Of the four sections, the ones devoted to treatment procedures may be the most illuminating to the readers new to psychodynamic theory. A laudable aspect of the book is its abundant and generous use of case studies. Each case is presented with an assessment, clinical material, and treatment techniques. The cases illustrate the assessed area and principles behind the treatment. But a significant challenge to the new therapist is explaining to a 6-year-old child the connection between, say aggressive behavior and oedipal wishes or fears. Parents who underwent psychoanalysis should be able to help. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Neuropsychological assessment and the school-aged child: Issues and procedures.

Reviews the book, Neuropsychological assessment and the school-aged child: Issues and procedures edited by G. W. Hynd and J. E. Obrzut (1981). The editors of this book have attempted to examine the issues related to the assessment of children with possible neuropyschological disorders. Each chapter is presented with the assumption that a neuropsychological perspective is germane to our understanding of children's cognitive functions. The compilation of knowledge and skills are presented in a clear and comprehensible language for individuals with very little familiarity with the subject. Each of the four major sections of the book addresses a particular topic. Section I presents a neuropsychological perspective of children's learning problems. Section II contains three chapters that examine general issues in child neuropsychology. Section III of the book focuses on neuropsychological assessment approaches useful in developing remediational strategies for children's learning disorders. The final section of this book addresses the neuropsychological implications within the educational setting. The editors have done a commendable job in integrating the diverse nature of human cognitive functioning and in focusing in on the neuropsychological aspects of school age children's learning. Their choice of contributors and the topics covered will certainly make this book a valued asset in the school psychologist's library. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The encyclopedia of child care and guidance.

A most distinguished editorial staff, advisory board, and large roster of contributors were involved in producing this massive book. Part I, the first two-thirds of the book, contains more than 1,000 alphabetically arranged, cross-referenced entries followed by a classified list of agencies and organizations and an annotated list of further readings. Part II consists of 30 excellent chapters on various aspects of child development and the social forces affecting children. The encyclopedia portion of the book is consistently addressed to the stereotype of a literate but completely naive parent. The style is chatty and nontechnical while the pages are decorated with an abundance. Certainly few will quarrel with the repetitive message: Be loving and patient but seek professional help when a real problem exists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A child analysis with Anna Freud.

Reviews the book, A child analysis with Anna Freud by Peter Heller (see record 1990-97274-000). The tension between remembering and forgetting is the daily experience of the psychoanalyst. This takes place not only in the consulting room, but applies to our sense of ourselves and the history of psychoanalysis. Anna Freud died in October 1982. For almost 60 years she had been the heir apparent and then the leader of the international psychoanalytic movement. Yet, not even 10 years after her death, her name seems to have disappeared from psychoanalytic discourse and the contributions of her work and of child analysis to the body of psychoanalytic theory and technique are not discussed. As much as one can learn about the history of child analysis from this book, one must bear in mind the peculiar circumstances surrounding Peter Heller's analysis. Five of his classmates, including his future wife, and his teacher were also in analysis with Anna Freud. He vacationed with the Burlinghams and Anna Freud and wished to have Dorothy Burlingham as his mother. Peter's nanny later became a psychoanalyst and there was talk of Peter's father marrying Anna Freud. Given the multiplicity and complexity of these interrelationships, how could a termination have taken place? This book may be Peter Heller's continuation of his analysis, the exercise of his self-analytic function, and thus finally a termination of his child analysis with Anna Freud. In sharing his termination with us, Peter Heller gives us access to important aspects of our own history and so enables us to shape our future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations between coparenting and father involvement in families with preschool-age children.

A sample (N = 112) composed primarily of European American and middle-class two-parent families with a resident father and a 4-year-old child (48% girls) participated in a longitudinal study of associations between coparenting and father involvement. At the initial assessment and 1 year later, fathers reported on their involvement in play and caregiving activities with the focal child, and coparenting behavior was observed during triadic family interactions. Structural equation modeling was used to test cross-lagged associations between coparenting behavior and father involvement. Overall, paths from father involvement to coparenting behavior were significant, but paths from coparenting behavior to father involvement were not. Specifically, greater father involvement in play was associated with an increase in supportive and a decrease in undermining coparenting behavior over time. In contrast, greater father involvement in caregiving was associated with a decrease in supportive and an increase in undermining coparenting behavior. Multigroup analysis further showed that these cross-lagged relations did not differ for dual-earner families and single-earner (father) families, but these relations appeared to differ for families with focal daughters and families with focal sons. These findings highlight the potential for fathering to affect coparenting and the importance of the role of contextual factors in coparenting-fathering relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Write to the top! How to become a prolific academic.

Reviews the book, Write to the top! How to become a prolific academic by W. Brad Johnson and Carol A. Mullen (2007). This is a worthy addition to the family of books about academic writing. It offers practical and informal advice learned the hard way. Beyond their advice about writing itself, Johnson and Mullen offer good advice about working with collaborators, finding mentors, planning projects, managing many writing projects at once, and developing a systematic body of work. Mentorship in particular receives a lot of attention; few writing books have anything to say about this important aspect of academic writing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mother and father connectedness and involvement during early adolescence.

The purpose of the current study was to explore how mother’s and father’s connectedness and involvement individually and collectively influence the lives of their children. Specifically, we asked how fathers’ and mothers’ parent–child connectedness and behavioral involvement influenced both problem behaviors (externalizing and internalizing behaviors) and positive outcomes (prosocial behaviors and hope) during early adolescence. Data for this study were taken from the Flourishing Families Project, from which 349 mothers and fathers were selected, along with their early adolescent child (mean age = 11.23 years, SD = .96). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed (even after controlling for child age, gender, and self-regulation) that mothers’ and fathers’ contributions differed, primarily as a function of child outcome. Namely, father (but not mother) connectedness and involvement were negatively related to adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors, whereas mother (but not father) connectedness and involvement were positively related to adolescents’ prosocial behaviors and hope. We also found that when one parent’s involvement was low (for whatever reason), the other parent’s involvement made a significant and important contribution to the child’s well-being, particularly in the area of internalizing behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Secondary traumatic stress and the child welfare professional.

Reviews the book, Secondary traumatic stress and the child welfare professional by Josephine G. Pryce, Kimberly K. Shackelford, and David H. Pryce (see record 2007-05981-000). This book offers a complete examination of an important and often overlooked issue in the field of trauma work—secondary traumatic stress (STS). The authors appear to have written this book in response to a relative dearth of literature in this area as it affects child welfare workers. The research summarized and cited in this book is current, making the book timely and well developed. The easy-to-comprehend writing style of the authors flows and allows readers to be easily drawn into the case scenarios provided. Any professional working in child welfare as a caseworker, investigator, or supervisor, will benefit from reading this book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Conducting child custody evaluations: A comprehensive guide.

Reviews the book, Conducting child custody evaluations: A comprehensive guide by Philip Michael Stahl (see record 1994-98484-000). In this book, the author details how the courts benefit from custody evaluations, how the family benefits, when evaluations could actually be harmful, and offers some particularly unique and useful suggestions on evaluator biases. He brings up the interesting issue of who is the real client/consumer. He understands that the client really cannot be the child independent of his/her family, even though we all mourn the cliche, "best interests of the child," as if this phrase were some operationally clear "guideline." A main author bias is "the best parenting is achieved with two parents" (p. 25). There is at least some research evidence (and clinical experience) that would dispute this in more cases than the author might care to acknowledge. A second bias is that children must perceive that their parents can develop a post-divorce relationship free of hostility in which each parent is a champion for the other. Stahl displays a keen understanding of the dynamics of the post-divorce world. In his heart, he seems more a therapist than an "objective evaluator" and harbors a strong bias to help people move productively through the crises that are everywhere in evidence in post-divorce situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Parenting Assessments in Child Welfare Cases: A Practical Guide.

In this article the author provides a review of the book by Terry Pezzot-Pearce and John Pearce. The author states that this book sets out to fulfil four major goals: 1) presenting a model for comprehensive parenting assessments; 2) setting out the practical steps to be taken in such assessments; 3) identifying potential errors in carrying out assessments; and 4) providing critical considerations, identified by the authors as "practice alerts." The reviewer believes these goals are fulfilled in exhaustive fashion, thus providing a comprehensive text for those called upon to make such complex judgments. In fact, the reviewer suggests that the book could be titled a practical and theoretical guide for parenting assessments in child welfare and in consideration of custody and access decision-making. A refrain throughout the book is the reminder that the central question in parenting assessments is: Can this parent meet the needs of this particular child? Once this is understood then the complexity of the work becomes apparent. The author presents strengths, weaknesses, and a summary of the book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concordance in Attachment States of Mind and Styles With Respect to Fathers and Mothers.

It is believed that by adulthood, independent attachments to the mother and the father coalesce into a single state of mind with respect to attachment. If true, states of mind with respect to mothers and fathers should be concordant. Fifty-six young adults were administered two versions of the Adult Attachment Interview, each of which asked about their relationship with one parent. State of mind with respect to the father was significantly related to state of mind with respect to the mother, as were attachment styles regarding the two parents. Perceptions of attachment styles were not very related to corresponding states of mind but were related to inferred loving from a parent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Parent-Child Interaction.

Reviews the book, Parent-Child Interaction by Hugh Lytton (1980). In this book, Lytton describes the planning, execution, and results of a long-term study of two-year-old boys. Some of the data have already appeared in journal articles. However, the book format affords the opportunity to provide greater detail than any journal editor would ever allow, and the result is interesting and worthwhile reading. Lytton's research objective was three-fold: to describe social development in the areas of attachment, compliance, and verbal communication; to look at the reciprocal interactions occurring between young boys and their parents; and, finally, to evaluate the role of certain parental child-rearing practices as predictors of social development. The results themselves provide interesting reading, particularly as they are tied to existing research findings as well as being related to various current theoretical positions. For any serious student of parent-child interaction it should be considered highly recommended reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Between conviction and uncertainty: Philosophical guidelines for the practicing psychotherapist.

Reviews the book, Between conviction and uncertainty: Philosophical guidelines for the practicing psychotherapist by Jerry Downing (see record 2000-08722-000). In this book, the author has made a significant effort towards rectifying intellectual and moral dilemmas in contemporary psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Between conviction and uncertainty: Philosophical guidelines for practicing psychotherapists.

Reviews the book, Between conviction and uncertainty: Philosophical guidelines for practicing psychotherapists by Jerry N. Downing (see record 2000-08722-000). In this book, the author aims to provide a meta-analysis of the array of theories available to the practicing psychotherapist: that is, to provide a "theory about theories" in the hope of giving the psychotherapist a guide for better understanding what it is that goes on in therapy. Downing begins by working through several basic questions. First, he considers what therapists actually know about therapy. Downing concludes that theories of psychotherapy are likely to continue to evade scientific proof, mainly because they do not easily lend themselves to disproof. This bleak view of what we actually know about what we do in psychotherapy leads Downing to reflect on what it is that we could possibly discover or know about therapy, and here his inquiry turns epistemological. Downing suggests that therapists are guided by a kind of epistemology in action. That is, therapists may best be described as loosely following an organizing scheme throughout a therapy. Downing refers to these six schemes as lived modes of knowing. Downing then discusses each of the six, providing illustrations of what they might mean in practice. Downing presents a plausible account of what may occur in therapy and of how many therapists may work. However, his argument seems to be unnecessarily drawn out. Unfortunately, rather than lend support and inform, the breadth of topics and issues obscures his project. And, beneath it all, we are left wondering what we actually know about psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Play in child development and psychotherapy: Toward empirically supported practice.

Reviews the book, Play in child development and psychotherapy: Toward empirically supported practice by Sandra Russ (see record 2003-88219-000). Clinical child psychologists have used play as a vehicle for psychotherapy for over 75 years. However, current demands of managed care systems emphasize the need for time limited and empirically supported treatments. Although play techniques are commonly incorporated by psychologists of various theoretical orientations, Sandra Russ points out in this book the disparity between the theoretical role of play in psychotherapy and the actual evidence supporting these techniques. The first four chapters of the book provide literature reviews of the history, theory, and research on pretend play, considering both normative and clinical populations. The next three chapters focus more specifically on the current developments in understanding play from research and practice perspectives. Finally, Russ considers future objectives for researchers and practitioners who seek to expand and enhance the utility of play techniques in child psychotherapy. Russ's book clearly provides a basis for understanding the current state of the child play therapy field while strongly emphasizing the need for additional research. This book may be useful for practitioners who strive to provide empirically supported treatments because it provides theoretical and available research perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)