The relation of parental marital status and perceived family conflict to adjustment in White adolescents.

Examined 2 contrasting views of how divorce relates to the long-term adjustment of children. The physical-wholeness position views divorce as the salient explanatory variable to adversely affect children's later adjustment through the physical dissolution of the 2-parent family; the psychological-wholeness position views perceived current family conflict as the critical variable that influences adjustment, regardless of parental marital status. Results from 823 White adolescents (age 13–18 yrs) fail to support the physical-wholeness position; parental marital status was not significantly related to psychological adjustment or satisfaction with social life. However, results provide strong support for the psychological-wholeness position: Ss' psychological adjustment and satisfaction with social life were significantly related to level of perceived conflict in the family. It is suggested that divorce be conceptualized as a crisis situation rather than as a universally negative event. Use of conflict identification and resolution interventions to reduce family conflict may prevent future problems in child development. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic and environmental influences on global family conflict.

This study examined genetic and environmental influences on global family conflict. The sample comprised 872 same-sex pairs of twin parents, their spouses/partners, and one adolescent child per twin from the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden. The twins, spouses, and child each reported on the degree of family conflict, and there was significant agreement among the family members’ ratings. These shared perspectives were explained by one common factor, indexing global family conflict. Genetic influences explained 36% of the variance in this common factor, suggesting that twins’ heritable characteristics contribute to family conflict, via genotype-environment correlation. Nonshared environmental effects explained the remaining 64% of this variance, indicating that twins’ unique childhood and/or current family experiences also play an important role. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal rhythms in family life: Seasonal variation in the relation between parental work and family processes.

Families with school-age children were interviewed 3 times, at 6-mo intervals (winter-summer-winter), to test whether summer brings discontinuity in family processes. Longitudinal patterns of parent–child involvement, parental monitoring, and children's involvement in activities were examined for 125 families in 3 groups: DDD (consistently dual-earner), SSS (consistently single-earner), and DSD (dual-earner at Times 1 and 3, single-earner over the summer). In SSS and DSD families, mothers became more involved with their children over the summer, and the division of parenting became more traditional (with mothers more involved than fathers), whereas DDD families maintained a more egalitarian division of parenting. DSD fathers monitored their children less over the summer, whereas DDD fathers became more knowledgeable about their children's activities. (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)     

Moderators of the relation between perceived and actual posttraumatic growth.

Although numerous studies suggest that most people report posttraumatic growth (PTG) following traumatic events, the relations between measures of self-reported PTG and actual pre- to posttrauma growth are small (Frazier et al., 2009). The purpose of the current study was to investigate moderators of the relation between perceived and actual growth. Participants were undergraduates who had experienced a traumatic event between Time 1 and Time 2 (2 months later; n = 122) and a matched no-trauma comparison group (n = 122). Participants completed self-report measures of perceived growth (Posttraumatic Growth Inventory; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996) at Time 2, actual growth from Time 1 to Time 2 (Frazier et al., 2009), and 4 potential moderators (i.e., distress and life satisfaction at Time 2 and neuroticism and self-esteem at Time 1 pre-event). The moderator analyses suggested that, in the trauma group, perceived growth was more strongly related to actual growth for individuals who reported less distress and more life satisfaction posttrauma. None of the 4 variables were significant moderators for the no-trauma group. Clinical and research implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of psychosocial well-being among overweight adolescents: The role of the family.

An ethnically diverse sample of at-risk-for-overweight and overweight youths (body mass index greater than the 85th percentile for age and gender; n = 667 male participants, and n = 684 female participants) completed a school-based survey measuring family variables (connectedness, mealtime environment, and weight commentary), psychosocial well-being (depressed mood, body satisfaction, and self-esteem), and unhealthy weight-control behaviors; all measures were assessed concurrently. Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that measures of general family connectedness, priority of family meals, and positive mealtime environment were significantly positively associated with psychological well-being and inversely associated with depressive symptoms and unhealthy weight-control behaviors. Familial weight commentary (i.e., weight-based teasing and parental encouragement to diet) was associated with many indicators of poor psychological health. The authors conclude that greater psychosocial well-being and fewer unhealthy weight-control behaviors are associated with making family time at meals a priority, creating a positive mealtime atmosphere, and refraining from weight commentary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linkages between spouses' psychological distress and marital conflict in the home.

To elucidate the processes that underlie the established association between psychopathology and marital functioning, researchers have given attention to how symptomatic individuals manage their interpersonal contexts, particularly during the handling of disagreements. In the current study, the authors evaluate the role of marital conflict strategies in relation to wives' and husbands' psychological distress levels. A sample of 100 community-based couples completed assessments of psychological distress and diaries describing marital conflict that occurred at home during a 15-day reporting period. Findings from multilevel modeling of dyadic data revealed associations between both spouses' psychological distress and multiple behavioral and emotional conflict expressions in the home. Psychological symptoms uniquely predicted the occurrence of certain conflict expressions, even when accounting for global negative marital sentiments. The findings encourage subsequent consideration of marital conflict expressions and resolution strategies when studying processes involved in the marriage-psychological adjustment link. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships among organizational family support, job autonomy, perceived control, and employee well-being.

The authors analyzed data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce (N = 3,504) to investigate relationships among availability of formal organizational family support (family benefits and alternative schedules), job autonomy, informal organizational support (work-family culture, supervisor support, and coworker support), perceived control, and employee attitudes and well-being. Using hierarchical regression, the authors found that the availability of family benefits was associated with stress, life satisfaction, and turnover intentions, and the availability of alternative schedules was not related to any of the outcomes. Job autonomy and informal organizational support were associated with almost all the outcomes, including positive spillover. Perceived control mediated most of the relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional conflict and well-being: Relation to perceived availability, daily utilization, and observer reports of social support.

The link between emotional conflict and the perceived availability and use of social support was examined. One hundred and five undergraduate students completed measures of ambivalence over expressing emotion, repressive defensiveness, fear of intimacy, social support, and well-being. Self-reports, observer reports, and daily reports of social support during the previous month were collected. Both ambivalence and fear of intimacy were negatively related to self-report and daily measures of social support and to well-being. Repressive defensiveness was unrelated to the social support measures. Perceived social support mediated the relation between emotional conflict and well-being. Results suggest the presence of a negative bias toward the use of social resources by conflicted individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of work–family conflict on employees’ well-being: The moderating role of recovery strategies.

Based on the effort-recovery model, this study links work–family conflict (WFC) and family–work conflict (FWC) with the concept of recovery. The authors hypothesize that 2 recovery strategies—psychological detachment from work and verbal expression of emotions—moderate the relationship of these 2 types of conflict with 2 indicators of well-being, namely psychological strain and life satisfaction. For our sample of 128 emergency professionals from Spain, psychological detachment from work moderated the relationship between WFC and psychological strain, and between FWC and life satisfaction. Verbal expression of emotions moderated the relationship between both types of conflict and psychological strain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moderators of the relation between perceived control and adjustment to chronic illness.

It was predicted that the relation between perceived control and adjustment to chronic illness would be stronger when (1) perceptions of control were based in reality and (2) the threat was severe. Perceived control was assessed during the hospitalization of 80 first cardiac event patients, and adjustment was assessed during hospitalization and 3-mo follow-up. Results indicated that perceptions of vicarious control (perception that other people and things have control) were related to better adjustment only for patients who had undergone invasive procedures by physicians. The relation between control and adjustment was stronger under more severe threat conditions (poor prognosis and rehospitalization). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal study of the relations between parent-adolescent conflict and adolescent psychological well-being

The enzyme glutaryl-7-ACA acylase from Pseudomonas sp. NCIMB 40474, produced by a recombinant Escherichia coli host, was purified to homogeneity. The enzyme is a tetramer composed of two couples of asymmetric dimers, each of them constituted of two subunits of mol wt 18 and 52 kDa, respectively. It was found that glutaric acid, one of the products of the substrate hydrolysis, is an effective acylase inhibitor. Between pH 6.0 and pH 10.0, the enzymatic activity is almost constant, but below pH 6.0 it progressively declines. The acylase activity decreased sharply as a function of guanidine HCl concentration. The loss is significant even at concentrations of denaturant lower than those causing unfolding, as suggested by UV spectroscopy and fluorescence emission studies. In these conditions (low denaturant concentration and low pH) the inactivation of the enzyme is caused by the tetramer dissociation into dimers. The lability of the quaternary structure of the enzyme is a key feature that must be taken into account for the improvement of the catalyst stability.     

The home as a workplace: Work–family interaction and psychological well-being in telework.

Home-based telework is a growing phenomenon with great potential to affect employees' psychological well-being. Although prior studies show both positive and negative effects on work–family interaction, conclusions are limited by the way telework, well-being, and work–family interaction have been modeled. The authors present a conceptual framework that describes telework as a multidimensional phenomenon and separates the effects of the home environment from those of distance from the organization. Propositions concerning work–family interaction are developed from P. Warr's (1987) model of the environmental antecedents of well-being, prior telework studies, and the work–family literature. Spillover between work and nonwork domains of well-being is discussed, and suggestions for future research on this complex issue are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of work–family conflict and family–work conflict scales.

Researchers report on a 3-sample study that developed and validated short, self-report scales of work–family conflict (WFC) and family–work conflict (FWC). Using conceptualizations consistent with the current literature, the researchers offer content domains and definitions of the constructs. Advocated procedures were used to develop the scales and test dimensionality and internal consistency. Estimates of construct validity are presented by relating the scales to 16 other on- and off-job constructs. Mean-level difference tests between WFC and FWC also provide evidence of validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Daily family assistance and the psychological well-being of adolescents from Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds.

The daily diary method was used to examine the implications of adolescents’ daily assistance behaviors for both positive and negative aspects of psychological well-being among an ethnically diverse sample of 752 adolescents of ages 14 to 15 years. Results indicated that, contrary to the expectations of some observers, providing daily assistance to the family generally was not stressful for adolescents. Rather, assisting the family was associated with higher levels of happiness due, in large part, to the sense of role fulfillment it provided the adolescents. Few individual or group differences were observed in the association between family assistance and psychological well-being. These results suggest that family assistance serves as a meaningful activity in adolescents’ lives by creating a sense of connection to the family. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mind your own business! Longitudinal relations between perceived privacy invasion and adolescent-parent conflict.

Privacy coordination between adolescents and their parents is difficult, as adolescents’ changing roles require adjustments to expectations about family boundaries. Adolescents’ perceptions of privacy invasion likely provoke conflicts with parents, but higher levels of conflict may also foster invasion perceptions. This longitudinal study assessed relations between privacy invasion and conflict frequency among adolescents, mothers, and fathers (N = 309). Bidirectional relations were present; all reports showed that invasion provoked conflict in later adolescence, but the timing and direction of conflict-to-invasion relations differed between respondents and measurement waves. The findings suggest a functional role for conflict in adolescent-parent privacy negotiations, in that it both draws attention to discrepant expectations and provides youths with a means of directly managing perceived boundary violations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resolution of conflict between goal-directed actions: Outcome encoding and neural control processes.

According to O-R theory of instrumental learning, incongruent biconditional discriminations should be impossible to solve in a goal-directed manner because the event acting as the outcome of one response also acts as a discriminative stimulus for an opposite response. Each event should therefore be associated with two competing responses. However, Dickinson and de Wit (2003) have presented evidence that rats can learn incongruent discriminations. The present study investigated whether rats were able to engage additional processes to solve incongruent discriminations in a goal-directed manner. Experiment 1 provides evidence that rats resolve the response conflict that arises in the incongruent discrimination by differentially encoding events in their roles as discriminative stimulus and as outcome. Furthermore, Experiment 2 shows that once goal-directed control has been established the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex is not directly involved in its maintenance but rather plays a central role in conflict resolution processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychophysical relation between perceived threat of AIDS and willingness to impose social restrictions.

15 young men (aged 18–28 yrs), 15 married women (aged 40–60 yrs), 15 female college students, and 12 male homosexuals (aged 23–44 yrs) rated and gave magnitude estimations for the amount of social restriction in 12 possibilities (e.g., quarantine) for controlling acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Results show that the relation between ratings and magnitude estimations was curvilinear, meaning that the high end of the rating scale could be masking large differences in magnitudes. Perceived threat to society increased as the estimated number of people with AIDS increased. The amount of social restriction imposed was a negatively accelerated growth function of increasing levels of threat. This negative acceleration was probably due to ethical considerations associated with more stringent methods of control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Daily family conflict and emotional distress among adolescents from Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds.

The authors employed a daily diary method to assess daily frequencies of interparental and parent–adolescent conflict over a 2-week period and their implications for emotional distress across the high school years in a longitudinal sample of 415 adolescents from Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds. Although family conflict remained fairly infrequent among all ethnic backgrounds across the high school years, its impact on emotional distress was significant across ethnicity and gender. In addition, parent–adolescent conflict significantly mediated the association between interparental conflict and emotional distress. These associations were observed at both the individual and the daily levels, providing evidence for both the chronic and episodic implications of family conflict for adolescents’ emotional adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Employee age as a moderator of the relation between perceived work alternatives and job satisfaction.

This study was designed to explore whether employee age influences the relation between perceived work alternatives and job satisfaction. Moderated regression analyses were conducted using the survey responses of 226 employees between the ages of 24 and 50 who worked for a mental health institution. The analyses revealed that a Perceived Work Alternatives?×?Employee Age interaction significantly predicted job satisfaction. Neither organizational tenure nor employee educational level accounted for job-satisfaction variance beyond that accounted for by perceived work alternatives alone, nor did they interact with perceived work alternatives to predict job satisfaction. These findings indicate that employee age is associated with the relation between perceived alternatives and job satisfaction. They also provide some insight into which of a number of age-related effects may be most pertinent to this relation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)