Quasi-kin relationships and marital quality in stepfather families.

Tested A. Cherlin's (1978) incomplete institution hypothesis to determine specifically if (a) couples where both spouses have children from a previous marriage (complex) exhibit lower marital quality than couples where only one spouse has children (simple), (b) the marital quality of divorced–remarried couples decreases as the frequency of interaction with quasi-kin (former spouses) increases, and (c) divorced–remarried women exhibit lower marital quality than men. 27 couples from complex stepfamilies and 13 couples from simple stepfamilies were divided into 3 levels of frequency of contact with quasi-kin groups (high, moderate, and low) and completed the Marital Adjustment Test, the Areas of Change Questionnaire, the Life Experiences Survey, and a Quasi-Kin Relationship Questionnaire. Ss from simple stepfamilies registered higher marital quality than Ss from complex stepfamilies. Ss who maintained moderate frequencies of contact with quasi-kin exhibited better marital quality than Ss who maintained either high or low frequencies of contact (these groups did not differ). The prediction that women would exhibit lower marital quality than men was not confirmed. Role strain and the concept of "permeability of boundaries" are used to interpret these findings. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal scaffolding of children's problem solving and children's adjustment in kindergarten: Hmong families in the United States.

The study examined relations between maternal scaffolding of children's problem solving and children's adjustment in kindergarten in Hmong families living in the United States. Mothers and their children (63 dyads) were visited the summer before kindergarten. Mothers' years in the United States, age, education, reasoning skills, and parenting beliefs were assessed. Maternal scaffolding (cognitive support, directiveness of instruction, praise, and criticism) was coded while mothers helped their children with school-like tasks. Children's reasoning skills, conscientiousness, autonomous behavior, and task persistence in kindergarten were reported by teachers at the end of kindergarten (54 children). Maternal cognitive support of children's problem solving predicted children's reasoning skills in kindergarten even after controlling for maternal education and reasoning skills. Maternal directive instruction positively predicted children's conscientious behavior and negatively predicted children's autonomous behaviors after controlling for maternal education and parenting beliefs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family functioning and mental illness: a comparison of psychiatric and nonclinical families

The primary objective of the present investigation was to examine adaptive functioning in the families of patients with a wide range of psychiatric disorders. Seven dimensions of family functioning, as measured by the Family Assessment Device (FAD), were compared across families of patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (n = 61), bipolar disorder (n = 60), major depression (n = 111), anxiety disorder (n = 15), eating disorder (n = 26), substance abuse disorder (n = 48), and adjustment disorder (n = 46). Families in each psychiatric group were also compared to a control group of nonclinical families (N = 353). Results indicated that regardless of specific diagnosis, having a family member in an acute phase of a psychiatric illness was a risk factor for poor family functioning compared to the functioning of control families. However, with few exceptions, the type of the patient's psychiatric illness did not predict significant differences in family functioning. Thus, having a family member with a psychiatric illness is a general stressor for families, and family interventions should be considered for most patients who require a psychiatric hospitalization for either the onset of, or an acute exacerbation of, any psychiatric disorder.     

Adjustment of young adolescents in two-parent nuclear, stepfather, and mother-custody families.

This study examined differences in the psychological adjustment (self-reports of global severity of psychopathology, goal directedness, and school-related problems) and correlates of the psychological adjustment of 234 seventh- and ninth-grade students who resided in two-parent nuclear (intact) families, stepfather families, or mother-custody divorced families. These three family structures were equivalent, or were equated statistically, on demographic and socioeconomic variables. Adjustment was unrelated to family structure, gender, and grade or to any interactions among these variables. However, trends in the correlates of adjustment were similar for adolescents in each of the three family-structure groups. Generally, adjustment was negatively related to family conflict and to the use of externalizing coping strategies; was positively related to the family dimensions of cohesion, expressiveness, and personal growth; and was positively related to social support from friends. Current models of adolescent adjustment are discussed, and the limitations of self-report data are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental functioning and children's adjustment in families of divorce: a prospective study

This paper prospectively examined relations between marital status, predivorce parenting practices, and children's adjustment, using data from the New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS). Prospective analyses of children's predivorce adjustment indicated that neither boys nor girls showed more problematic behavior prior to parental separation, and only boys had more difficulties after divorce. However, parents of to-be-divorced families reported more difficulties in childcare practices before divorce than did parents of always-married families. Parenting difficulties in to-be-divorced families were found consistently for boys but not for girls. Results suggest that the difficulties found among boys after divorce may be linked with parenting problems that begin before divorce.     

Interparental conflict and children's school adjustment: The explanatory role of children's internal representations of interparental and parent-child relationships.

This study examined how children's insecure internal representations of interparental and parent-child relationships served as explanatory mechanisms in multiple pathways linking interparental conflict and parent emotional unavailability with the emotional and classroom engagement difficulties the children had in their adjustment to school. With their parents, 229 kindergarten children (127 girls and 102 boys, mean age = 6.0 years, SD = .50, at Wave 1) participated in this multimethod, 3-year longitudinal investigation. Findings revealed that children's insecure representations of the interparental relationship were a significant intervening mechanism in associations between observational ratings of interparental conflict and child and teacher reports on children's emotional and classroom difficulties in school over a 2-year period. Moreover, increased parental emotional unavailability accompanying high levels of interparental conflict was associated with children's insecure representations of the parent-child relationship and children's difficulties in classroom engagement at school entry. The findings highlight the importance of understanding the intrinsic processes that contribute to difficulties with stage-salient tasks for children who are experiencing interparental discord. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family involvement in school and low-income children's literacy: Longitudinal associations between and within families.

Longitudinal data from kindergarten to 5th grade on both family involvement in school and children's literacy performance were examined for an ethnically diverse, low-income sample (N = 281). Within families, increased school involvement predicted improved child literacy. In addition, although there was an achievement gap in average literacy performance between children of more and less educated mothers if family involvement levels were low, this gap was nonexistent if family involvement levels were high. These results add to existing evidence on the value of family involvement in school by demonstrating that increased involvement between kindergarten and 5th grade is associated with increased literacy performance and that high levels of school involvement may have added reward for low-income children with the added risk of low parent education. As such, these results support arguments that family involvement in school should be a central aim of practice and policy solutions to the achievement gap between lower and higher income children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intrapsychic and interpersonal factors related to adolescent psychological well-being in stepmother and stepfather families.

Using transition theory, the authors surveyed 78 adolescents from stepmother and stepfather families. Simultaneous multiple regression analysis indicated that one interpersonal factor (Communication With Stepparent) and one intrapsychic factor (Self-Esteem) were the best predictors of adolescent well-being. When adolescents from stepfather families were analyzed separately from adolescents from stepmother families, Communication With the Stepfather was found to be the only significant predictor of well-being of adolescents in stepfather families, and Communication With the Custodial Parent and Self-Esteem were the only significant predictors of adolescent well-being in stepmother families. Analysis of parent and stepparent perceptions indicated no association with adolescent well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family and legal indicators of child adjustment to divorce among families with young children.

This research used structural equation modeling to examine relations among family dynamics, attorney involvement, and the adjustment of young children (0-6 years) at the time of parental separation. The article presents baseline data (N = 102 nonresidential fathers and N = 110 primary caretaking mothers) from a larger longitudinal study. Results showed that the effects of parental conflict on child outcomes were mediated by paternal involvement, the parent-child relationship, and attorney involvement. A scale assessing parental gatekeeping yielded two significant factors: Spouse's Influence on Parenting and Positive View of Spouse. Paternal involvement was related to children's adaptive behavior, whereas negative changes in parent-child relationships predicted behavior problems. Mothers who experienced greater psychological symptomatology were less likely to utilize an attorney, which in turn predicted greater internalizing problems in their children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent-child relationships in stepparent families.

Compared college students' perceptions of parent–child relationships in stepfamilies with those in continuously intact families. 47 students from stepfamilies and 130 from intact families completed a parent–child relationship survey developed by M. A. Fine et al (see record 1984-01194-001). Results suggest that adult stepchildren perceived relationships with their noncustodial biological mothers and stepmothers less positively than adult children from intact families perceived relationships with their biological mothers. No significant differences were found between adult children's perceptions of father–child and stepfather–child relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distress and self-restraint as measures of adjustment across the life span: Confirmatory factor analyses in clinical and nonclinical samples.

The Weinberger Adjustment Inventory (WAI; D. Weinberger & G. Schwartz, 1990) was designed as a hierarchical self-report measure of general social-emotional adjustment in older children and adults. The superordinate constructs of distress (i.e., anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and low well-being) and self-restraint (i.e., impulse control, suppression of aggression, consideration of others, and responsibility) are each operationalized as a composite of 4 subscales. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted using 6 samples (n?=?153–392; N?=?1,486). The factor structure was highly comparable with a mean comparative fit index (CFI) of .968 for youth (ages 10–17), young adults (ages 18–30), and adults (ages 31–65) within both clinical outpatient and nonclinical populations. The results suggest that there may be little justification for the routine practice of using different measures of general adjustment when investigating older children vs adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of nonclinical psychologists toward clinical psychology and clinical psychologists.

Surveyed psychologists outside the clinical realm to ascertain their views on the efficacy of psychotherapy, as well as their views on clinical psychologists. Surveys were mailed to 300 nonclinical psychologists randomly chosen from the American Psychological Association Directory. Results of 109 usable surveys suggest that although the majority had a positive view of clinical psychology, a substantial minority either were uncertain or disagreed that therapy was effective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The continuity of depression in clinical and nonclinical samples.

Historically, depression researchers have examined continuity in terms of whether the symptoms and characteristics of mild, moderate, and severe depression differ in degree along a continuum (i.e., a quantitative difference) or in kind (i.e., qualitative difference). The authors propose a differentiated framework that distinguishes 4 direct tests of continuity (i.e., phenomenological, typological, etiological, and psychometric continuity). They use this framework to suggest that most evidence is consistent with the continuity hypothesis. Moreover, they maintain that the findings of future research can be incorporated into a 2-factor model of depression that allows for both continuities and discontinuities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent-child relationships in Vietnamese immigrant families.

This study assessed 49 Vietnamese-born and 124 American-born university students' views of their parental relationships and personal characteristics. Questionnaire packets were also returned by 221 of their parents. Vietnamese-born students reported a lower quality of parental relationships and less social integration than did American-born students. Mothers, but not fathers, of Vietnamese-born students perceived less available social support than did their American-born counterparts. More positive parent–student relationships were predicted by membership in the American-born group, even after personal characteristics of both students and parents were taken into account. Vietnamese-born male students were at particular risk for poor paternal relationships. The study showed the need to consider implications of immigrant experience as well as personal characteristics in understanding parent–child relationships in immigrant groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's adjustment in joint and sole physical custody families.

Examined patterns of custody and their relationship to the behavioral-emotional and social adjustment of 93 children, ages 3–14, in divorcing families. Assessed children and their parents within 1 year after parents filed for divorce, and again 1 and 2 years later. Children in joint physical custody (38%) had more access to both parents and made slightly more transitions between parental homes. However, custody arrangements were not significantly related to child adjustment. Factors associated with child adjustment included number of children in the family, child age and gender, parental depression/anxiety at baseline, and parental conflict at 1-year follow-up. Thus, no evidence was found that joint physical custody arrangements are different from sole physical custody arrangements with regard to child adjustment postdivorce. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An integrative perspective on children's divorce adjustment.

Discusses children's adjustment to their parents' divorce as an interaction among 4 components: (a) current beliefs, values, and attitudes surrounding modern family life (the macrosystem); (b) social supports available to reduce stresses associated with single parenting and the stability of the postseparation environment (the exosystem); (c) the nature of pre- and postseparation family functioning and support systems available to the child (the microsystem); and (d) children's individual psychological competencies for dealing with stress (the ontogenic system). Research related to each of the components is summarized, relevant problems and issues are discussed, and interactions among the 4 components are briefly outlined. (118 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived self-competence, stepfamily myths, and (step)parent role ambiguity in adolescents from stepfather and stepmother families.

Assessed type of stepfamily (stepfather vs stepmother) and gender differences in junior high school students' perceived self-competence, myths about stepfamilies, and perceived ambiguity of the (step)parent role. In self-competence, there were no significant effects for type of stepfamily, gender, or their interaction. Ss rating stepparents reported more role ambiguity than did those rating biological parents. Without control variables, but not with them, stepmother role ambiguity was negatively correlated with self-competence. Contrary to expectations, self-competence was positively correlated with adherence to stepfamily myths. For those in stepmother families, self-competence was positively correlated with years since parental divorce and years living with the stepparent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of marital and parent-child relations on children's adjustment.

Investigated the effects of marital dissatisfaction, marital conflict, and the parent–child relationship on the childhood adjustment of 30 boys and 26 girls (aged 6–14 yrs) in 47 nonclinic families. In support of previous findings, results of a battery of tests show a strong relationship between mothers' marital satisfaction and conflict style and their own ratings of boys' adjustment. However, based on fathers' and children's reports, marital satisfaction and conflict style did not contribute unique variance over the parent–child relationship in predicting children's adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital conflict and children's adjustment: A cognitive-contextual framework.

Marital problems have been related to numerous indexes of maladjustment in children. Although several parameters of this association have been identified, the process by which exposure to interparental conflict gives rise to adjustment problems in children is largely unexplored. Research on the link between marital conflict and child maladjustment therefore is critically evaluated, and a framework is presented that organizes existing studies and suggests directions for future research on processes that may account for the association. According to the framework, the impact of marital conflict is mediated by children's understanding of the conflict, which is shaped by contextual, cognitive, and developmental factors. The implications of the framework for children's adjustment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)