Father absence in low-income Mexican-American families: Children's social adjustment and conceptual differentiation of sex role attributes.

Investigated the effects of paternal deprivation on 248 4th-grade Mexican-American students. Drawings of the human figure--1 male and 1 female--were obtained from each S, following the procedures of the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test. Ss were also administered Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices and the Bender Gestalt Test. Each S was rated on degree of personal adjustment by his/her classroom teacher on a 4-point scale, ranging from well adjusted, no problems in relating to others, to serious maladjustment. Results show that father-present Ss obtained significantly higher Goodenough-Harris scores than father-absent Ss on both the male and the female figures drawn. The female figures drawn by the father-absent Ss had significantly fewer feminine attributes than those drawn by father-present Ss. Whereas teachers found father-present males and females and father-absent females fairly well adjusted, father-absent males were found to show significantly more signs of social and emotional maladjustment than all the other 3 groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's coping with marital conflict and their adjustment and physical health: Vulnerability and protective functions.

Children's strategies for coping with parental marital conflict were examined as predictors, mediators, and moderators of the relations between marital conflict and 8- to 11-year-olds' internalizing, externalizing, and physical health problems. In the context of marital conflict, a higher level of active coping and support coping combined was a protective factor against girls' depression symptoms and self-esteem problems and both boys' and girls' health problems. Further, avoidance coping was a vulnerability factor for externalizing, internalizing, and physical health problems in boys, and distraction coping was protective against children's depression and health problems. These findings extend the literature by delineating coping strategies that either protected children against, or heightened their vulnerability to, adjustment and health problems associated with exposure to parental marital conflict. (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)     

Goal instability and adjustment to physical disability.

Few studies have examined psychoanalytic constructs in the adjustment of individuals who incur physical disability. According to H. Kohut (1977), optimal adjustment during life transitions is contingent on the individual's capacity for maintaining and pursuing meaningful goals, which reflects a stable sense of self. A series of studies was conducted to determine if goal instability would predict adjustment and health following disability. Goal instability was predictive at depressive behavior and acceptance of disability among individuals with recent-onset disability. Goal instability predicted subjective well-being 1 year later. Among community residents with a disability, goal instability was associated with life satisfaction; this relationship was not mediated by perceived stigma or community mobility. These findings indicate that a flexible yet durable goal orientation is associated with optimal psychological adjustment among individuals with a physical disability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's Rorschach scores as predictors of later adjustment.

Tested the hypothesis that Rorschach measures of object relations and thought organization could help predict later adjustment. Ss were 70 former patients at a child residential treatment center who were followed-up as adults as part of an earlier investigation (age at initial assessment 6–11 yrs; age at follow-up 17–30 yrs). One-half of the Ss were reported at follow-up to have been rehospitalized for at least 6 mo, the other half had no further psychiatric services. The 2 groups were compared on a wide variety of preadmission and treatment variables. The Mann-Whitney test and Goodman-Kruskal's index of predictive association measure were employed to test whether J. Urist's (see record 1977-27679-001) object relations scale and W. Becker's (see record 1958-03143-001) thought organization scale could discriminate between the 2 groups. Object relations measures were found to be effective discriminators and predictors of later rehospitalization for the 58 boys in the study, particularly when used in conjunction with one another. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family relationships and children's adjustment in clinical and nonclinical stepfather families.

Investigated differences in marital and family process, children's behavioral adjustment in clinical and nonclinical stepfather families, and the relationship of family process to children's psychosocial adjustment. Nonclinical stepfamilies had better parent–child relations, better marital adjustment, and more marital individuation than clinical stepfamilies. Children in clinical stepfamilies had more behavior problems rated with fewer prosocial behaviors, and had more shy and withdrawn behavior than children in nonclinical stepfamilies. More negative and less positive child-to-parent interactions and less spousal individuation correlated with more behavior problems and less prosocial behavior of children. Implications for clinical interventions and future research on stepfamilies are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's misbehaviors and parental discipline strategies in abusive and nonabusive families.

In 20 abusive families with 4–11 yr old children and a matched control group of 20 nonabusive families, parents were trained to report children's misbehaviors, parental disciplinary and affective reactions, and children's responses to discipline for 5 consecutive days. Abused children committed more aggressive transgressions and were more likely to oppose parental interventions than control children. Abusive parents used punitive disciplinary practices more frequently than control parents, who made more frequent use of reasoning techniques and simple commands. Abusive parents more often reported being angry and disgusted after disciplinary interventions. Sequential analyses indicated that the type of discipline used by control parents depended on the type of child misbehavior. For abusive parents, punishment was the predominant type of discipline regardless of the types of child misbehavior. Findings are discussed in terms of coercion models of family interaction and internalization models of socialization. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child custody evaluations when one divorcing parent has a physical disability.

Objective: To explore how parents' physical disability status might impact the process of divorce-related child custody evaluations and custody decisions, the level of training received by psychologists regarding assessment of parents with physical disabilities, and whether psychologists recognize that testing persons with physical disabilities requires specialized knowledge. Study Design: Survey mailed in 4 waves. Participants: 206 child custody evaluators (31% response rate). Outcome Measures: A survey regarding custody evaluations, a custody questionnaire, evaluation practices, education and training regarding disability, demographics, and a question about the purpose of the study. Results: Almost 70% had performed ≥1 child custody evaluation involving a parent with a physical disability. Over 85% of participants reported no training with regard to such evaluations, and 49% reported no training regarding any disability issues. 65% stated they would use the same tests without modifications, regardless of disability status of the parent. Conclusions: Recommendations include mandated training on disability for child custody evaluators, graduate training on disability accommodations in assessment, specifying conditions when evaluating parents with disabilities, more information regarding accommodations in custody evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's extension of disgust to physical and moral events.

Adults use the terms revolting, gross, and disgusting to describe entities and actions, such as feces, rotten food, and sex with corpses, which elicit a certain visceral response. But adults also apply such expressions to certain sociomoral transgressions, such as cheating on one's spouse or stealing from the poor. Here, the authors explore whether young children associate disgust with physical and moral events by endorsing either verbal or facial expressions of disgust. Results indicate that children in Grades K, 2, and 4 (N = 167) label moral violations disgusting more often than nondisgusting physical acts or neutral negative acts but less often than physically disgusting acts. Likewise, children associate facial expressions of disgust with moral violations. These findings are discussed in the context of different theories about the relationship between physical disgust and moral disgust. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's physical attractiveness and sex as determinants of adult punitiveness.

Investigated a child's physical attractiveness and sex as potential elicitors of differential adult punitiveness. Ss in Exps I and II were 52 white females and 44 white males, respectively. Ss in both groups viewed a videotaped interaction between the E and a child who was made to appear either physically attractive or unattractive. Subsequently, Ss monitored what was presumably the child's performance on a picture-matching task and administered penalties to the child for incorrect responses. The specific penalty involved taking 1-5 pennies away from the child for each error. Results show that women behaved more leniently towards an attractive boy than towards either an attractive girl or an unattractive boy; these results were interpreted in the context of a cross-sex leniency effect mediated by a child's physical attractiveness. Men were not influenced in administering penalties by either a child's attractiveness or sex. It is suggested that the data reflect differences in men's and women's orientations toward children's task behavior. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's internalization of rules of conduct: Role of parenting in alcoholic families.

This study examined the association between fathers' alcoholism and children's internalization of rules of conduct at 2 to 3 years of age. The sample consisted of 220 families (102 without alcoholism, 118 with alcoholism). Results indicated that there was no direct association between fathers' alcoholism and children's internalization measured with a behavioral paradigm at age 3 years. However, the indirect association between fathers' alcoholism and children's behavioral internalization was significant through fathers' sensitivity during play interactions at age 2 years. Children of fathers with alcoholism were rated by their mothers as having lower internalized conduct over the 2- to 3-year period. This direct association was not mediated by parental sensitivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Appearance-reality distinction: Children's understanding of the physical and affective domains.

The relation between children's performance on physical and affective appearance–reality (AR) tasks was investigated with a within-Ss design. Children participated in a standard color physical task (a color cutout behind a filter) and an affective measure that used stories and pictures depicting characters who were judging their emotions. The performance of 147 4–8 yr olds was examined under conditions of varying task similarity. As expected, older children performed better than younger children on both tasks. More important, children's physical and affective AR performance differed significantly only when the affective task required a greater use of inference than the physical task. Results are discussed in terms of the general representational ability underlying AR performance across domains and the ecological validity of these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotionally expressive coping predicts psychological and physical adjustment to breast cancer.

This study tested the hypothesis that coping through emotional approach, which involves actively processing and expressing emotions, enhances adjustment and health status for breast cancer patients. Patients (n ?=?92) completed measures within 20 weeks following medical treatment and 3 months later. Women who, at study entry, coped through expressing emotions surrounding cancer had fewer medical appointments for cancer-related morbidities, enhanced physical health and vigor, and decreased distress during the next 3 months compared with those low in emotional expression, with age, other coping strategy scores, and initial levels on dependent variables (except medical visits) controlled statistically. Expressive coping also was related to improved quality of life for those who perceived their social contexts as highly receptive. Coping through emotional processing was related to one index of greater distress over time. Analyses including dispositional hope suggested that expressive coping may serve as a successful vehicle for goal pursuit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapy and privileged communications in child custody cases.

Although many states have privileged communication laws for mental health clients, these laws contain exceptions, including client waiver, communication made in the presence of third parties, court-ordered mental examinations, situations in which parents introduce their mental condition into the proceedings, and cases in which child abuse is suspected. In addition, judges are likely to interpret privileged communication laws strictly because they place a high value on the welfare of children and because the laws run counter to the legal tradition of admitting evidence into court. Psychotherapists are alerted to the limits and ambiguities of privileged communication laws. It is recommended that these laws be extended to cover all mental health professionals and to communications made in group, family, and marital counseling. (50 ref) (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)     

Influence of adjustment and physical attractiveness on the employability of schizophrenic women.

Compared manifest adjustment and physical attractiveness for their effects on hirability. Employment interviewers assessed 21 18–54 yr old female psychiatric patients who had been videotaped taking part in a simulated job interview. Results indicate that (a) 43% of the interviewees were considered employable by at least 3 of 4 interviewers, although all interviewees were hospitalized with diagnoses of psychosis at the time. (b) Manifest adjustment (i.e., during the interview) related strongly to Ss' hirability. (c) Variables that had nonsignificant correlations with hirability included physical attractiveness (whether judged from videotapes or still photos) and demographic indexes such as number of previous hospitalizations and age at 1st hospitalization. The significant correlation between manifest adjustment and employability corroborates results of earlier studies that used "normal" confederates (stooges) rather than actual mental patients. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Caregiver social problem-solving abilities and family member adjustment to recent-onset physical disability.

Objective: The authors examined the relation of caregiver problem-solving abilities to patient adjustment. Design: Correlational methods were used to test the hypothesis. Participants: Data from 11 male and 55 female caregivers were matched with data from 38 men and 18 women with recent spinal cord injuries. Main Outcome Measures: The Acceptance of Disability Scale score and pressure sore diagnosis were the outcome measures. Results: Caregiver tendencies to impulsively and carelessly solve problems were associated with lower acceptance of disability and were significantly predictive of pressure sore diagnosis among those returning for a medical evaluation 1 year later. Conclusions: Caregiver characteristics are associated with the adjustment of persons with SCI and warrant consideration in terms of psychological interventions and health policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Follow-up study of parents in custody and access disputes.

35 parents responded to a questionnaire a minimum of 1 yr after assessment was completed for dispute over child custody and access. 63 children, 1–17 yrs old, were involved. In retrospect, parents found the assessment and/or mediation by mental health clinicians to be helpful and satisfying. At follow-up, parents reported a reduction in personal stress and an improvement in the children's adjustment. Joint custody arrangements were least likely to survive at follow-up, raising questions about the advisability of this custody arrangement. (French abstract) (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.     

Ethical and professional considerations in divorce and child custody cases.

The provision of psychological (e.g., psychotherapy, coparenting, mediation, collaborative divorce, child custody evaluation) services for families of divorce are growing specialties for many clinical and forensic psychologists. However, practice in domestic relations psychology, such as divorce and custody assessment and testimony, is a high-risk venture for incurring ethics complaints and law suits. The lead article and the three commentaries that follow enumerate the various roles practitioners might play, clarify how each role requires specific skill sets that may be outside one’s particular competence and necessitate additional training, describe how countertransferential issues arise, urge meticulous record keeping, discuss some of the subtleties of confidentiality and the releasing of information, describe how transparency in clarifying expectations leads to a lowering of contentiousness, and provide tips for divorce and forensic practice. The special challenges associated with psychologists being tempted to move beyond their role on a case and those of particularly high-risk situations (e.g., complaints of child abuse or domestic violence) are also discussed. Suggestions are offered to help psychologists better serve the public while taking steps to better inoculate themselves from complaints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)