Impact of an environmental education program on students' and parents' attitudes, motivation, and behaviours.

Changes in 184 6th grade students' and their parents' environmental knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behaviors following an environmental education program (EEP) over a school year were investigated. Results indicated that at the end of the school year, children who were part of the EEP group engaged in ecological behaviors less for extrinsic motives than did children who were part of a control group. Parents of children in the EEP group were significantly more dissatisfied with local environmental conditions compared to parents of children in the control group. No other significant differences between groups were observed for other measured child and parental variables. Recommendations are presented to guide future studies evaluating an EEP. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interaction of parent and child gender in physical child maltreatment.

Assessed cross-generational patterns of physical child maltreatment taking the gender of both parents and child into consideration, and the experience of shame regarding one's own physically abusive behaviors. 1536 parents (mean age 47 yrs) and their 983 children (mean age 18 yrs) were administered the Conflict Tactics Scale (M. A. Straus, 1989) along with other questionnaires to gather information on aggressive behavior, shame experienced in abusing their children and demographic data. The parents were categorized as physically abusive or nonabusive if both parent and child ratings of the parents' behavior were in agreement. Results show that parents received more physical child maltreatment from their own same gender parent than from opposite gender parents. Among the abusive parents, the more maltreatment they received as children by the same gender parent, the less shame they felt for using such punishment on their own children. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquisition of the mental state verb know by 2- to 5-year-old children

The production of the cognitive internal state word know by four 2- to 5-year-old children and their parents was examined. The levels of meaning of cognitive words can be categorized hierarchically along the dimensions of conceptual difficulty and abstractness (see Booth & Hall, 1995). The present study found that children and their parents expressed low levels of meaning less frequently, whereas they expressed high levels of meaning more frequently as a function of age. The children's use of know was also correlated positively with (1) their number of different words produced suggesting that cognitive words are related to more general semantic processes, and (2) with parental use of those same cognitive words suggesting that parental linguistic input may be an important mechanism in cognitive word acquisition. Finally, young children tended to use know more to refer to themselves than to refer to others, whereas their parents tended to use know equally to refer to self and others. The importance of cognitive words in a theory of language acquisition is discussed.     

Parenting during the second year: effects of children's age, sex, and attachment classification

70 2-parent families with 12-month-old infants and 67 2-parent families with 18-month-old toddlers participated in the study. Mothers and fathers participated in separate interviews and filled out questionnaires on family and child behaviors. Mothers and their children participated in the Ainsworth Strange Situation, and the families were observed for a total of 4 hours in their homes. Families were compared on composite measures of family environment variables, parents' perception of their children, and on process variables from home observations. Family differences in environmental stress and marital adjustment showed no effects for attachment classifications, although parents of 12-month-olds reported greater marital adjustment and more pleasure in parenting than parents of 18-months-olds. Both mothers and fathers reported that children classified as resistant were more difficult on several temperament measures. During home observations, 12-month-old children received more positive responses from mothers, and 18-month-old children received more instructions and directions from both parents. Insecure boys (both avoidant and resistant) received the least instructions and directions from both parents, but insecure-avoidant girls received the most instruction from fathers.     

Affected sibpair linkage tests for multiple linked susceptibility genes

The recent suicidal behavior of fifty-three hospitalized preadolescents was assessed in interviews with children and their parents. Children described by their parents as more suicidal scored higher on measures of verbal intelligence and language production than their less suicidal counterparts, with unique variance predicted only by language production ability. The results suggest that parents of preadolescents with better language production skills may be more aware of their youngsters' suicidal thoughts than parents of children with poorer language production ability.     

Acceptability of alternative treatments for children: Evaluations by inpatient children, parents, and staff.

32 child psychiatric inpatients (7–13 yrs), 32 parents, and 32 staff evaluated the acceptability of alternative treatments for children. Clinical cases of children who displayed severe behavioral problems at home and at school were described along with 4 different treatments. The treatments included positive reinforcement of incompatible behavior, positive practice, medication, and time out from reinforcement. Results show that reinforcement of incompatible behavior was more acceptable than other treatments that followed, in order, positive practice, medication, and time out from reinforcement. Positive practice and medication were no different from each other in acceptability but significantly more acceptable than time out. Although children rated treatments as less acceptable than did parents, the relative standing of different treatments was identical for children, parents, and staff. Results indicate that disturbed children and their parents can readily distinguish the acceptability of alternative treatments. The implications and relevance of acceptability as an important dimension for treatment selection and evaluation are highlighted. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Power and conflict resolution in sibling, parent–child, and spousal negotiations.

This study used a within-family observational design to examine conflict strategies (planning, opposition) and resolutions (standoff, win-loss, compromise) across family subsystems, with an emphasis on power differences between parents and children during relatively symmetrical within-generation (spousal, sibling) and relatively asymmetrical between-generation (parent–child) dyadic interactions. Up to six dyads in 67 families (children's ages ranging from 3 to 12 years) discussed an unresolved conflict. Results revealed that within-generation discussions ended more in standoff, whereas between-generation discussions ended with more win-loss resolutions. Multilevel analyses indicated that parents engaged in more planning and opposition than children; however, they opposed more and planned less with their spouses than their children. In general, more planning and less opposition were associated with achieving resolutions rather than failing to resolve differences. Some effects were qualified by within-family differences between mothers versus fathers and older versus younger siblings, as well as between-family differences in younger siblings' age. Implications for theories of power and family relationship dynamics are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting parent–child interactions from children's activity level.

Examined the relationship between children's activity level and parent–child (P–C) interactions in 117 preschool children and their parents. Four P–C combinations (mother–daughter, father–daughter, mother–son, and father–son) were studied. Using R. Q. Bell's (see record 1968-08747-001) conceptualization of upper and lower limit parental control behavior, it was predicted that P–C interactions involving active children would be marked by more strife and conflict than P–C interactions involving more quiescent, less active children. Parents of highly active children tended to intrude physically and could be described as getting into power struggles and competition with their children. Impatience or hostility toward active children was observed in parents of all P–C pairings except the father–son combination. In contrast, interactions involving less active children were generally peaceful and harmonious. (28 ref)-008 6504 (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of Francophone nursery-school children with employed and nonemployed mothers.

Data from a study of 64 French-speaking Canadian 4-yr-olds and their parents were compared to data from a similar study of English-speaking children (D. Gold and D. Andres, see record 1979-23189-001). Results indicate that maternal employment had fewer effects on the development of children in the Francophone sample than in the Anglophone sample. Support was found for the hypothesis that fathers are more salient in Francophone than in Anglophone families. Francophone families reported less differentiated behavior of mothers and fathers and more supervision of children by both parents, regardless of the employment status of the mother. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Homosexual parents

Does the homosexuality of parents affect the sexual orientation or experiences of their children? Seventeen of 5,182 randomly obtained adults from six U.S. cities answered questionnaires indicating that they had a homosexual parent. Parental homosexuality may be related to findings that: (1) 5 of the 17 reported sexual relations with their parents; (2) a disproportionate fraction reported sexual relations with other caretakers and relatives; and (3) a disproportionate fraction: (a) claimed a less than exclusively heterosexual orientation (47%); (b) indicated gender dissatisfaction; and (c) reported that their first sexual experience was homosexual. Of 1,388 consecutive obituaries in a major homosexual newspaper, 87 of the gays who died had children and registered a median age of death of 47 (the 1,267 without children had a median age of death of 38); 10 lesbians did and 24 did not have children. We estimate that less than 1% of parents are bisexual or homosexual and that < 7% of gays and about a third of lesbians are parents.     

Parents with human immunodeficiency virus infection: perceptions of their children's emotional needs

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the likelihood of patients who have human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) being parents and to identify concerns of these parents about their children. DESIGN: A survey was conducted of parental status, demographics, perceptions of social/emotional needs of self and one's children. Responses were analyzed for demographic differences. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 242 patients from the university HIV/AIDS clinics completed the survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Parental status, number, and ages of children, parental concerns about their children related to their own HIV/AIDS: RESULTS: Nearly one third (31.8%) of the sample of HIV/AIDS patients were parents, and three fourths (76%) of the female patients were mothers. Slightly more than one third of these were married, and these were not predominantly families who also had infected children. The percentage of women in the parent subsample (40.8%) was higher than the percentage of women in the overall patient sample (16.7%). Only half of the parents reported that their children > 4 years of age knew of their diagnosis. Two thirds of the parents reported they believed their children did not need to talk to someone about their parent's health, and nearly half of the parents reported that they did not need help dealing with their children concerning issues related to AIDS. CONCLUSION: The percentage of HIV/AIDS patients who are parents is high, and parental status and emotional needs of parents and their children will likely become an increasingly important issue. Many questions are raised by our findings. Should we be concerned that many parents have been unable to talk to their children about their own health? Should we help parents acknowledge that their children may need some outside help to cope?     

Children's beliefs about drinking

This paper reports the results of a study in which age (grade level), racial/ethnic, and gender differences in beliefs and perceived norms about drinking were examined in a multi-ethnic urban sample of 4th through 7th grade children. Results showed that older children held beliefs and perceived norms that were more favorable toward drinking than younger children. The major difference between older and younger children lay in their differential estimates of the likelihood of certain consequences occurring and not in their evaluation of these consequences of drinking. Further, older children not only displayed less motivation to comply with their parents and greater motivation to comply with their peers, but they also perceived their parents, as well as their peers, as less disapproving of drinking than did younger children. There were few gender or race/ethnicity differences at these ages in children's beliefs and perceived norms about drinking.     

Creating informal play opportunities: Are parents' and preschoolers' initiations related to children's competence with peers?

Preschoolers' social competence may depend on the frequency with which informal play activities are initiated by parents, children, and playmates. In this study, measures of children's peer relations in informal and school contexts and the frequency of parents', children's, and peers' play initiations were obtained with 83 preschool children and their families on 2 occasions. Frequent parent initiations were associated with higher levels of prosocial behavior, lower levels of nonsocial behavior, and, among boys, greater peer acceptance in preschool. Children who were more initiating of informal peer contacts displayed less anxious behavior in school and were better liked by their classmates. Finally, the degree to which parents involved children in the process of arranging informal play activities was positively related to the frequency with which children initiated their own peer contacts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological evaluation of clinical disturbance in children at risk for psychopathology.

Evaluated children of 1 schizophrenic or 1 manic-depressive parent for clinical disturbance in the St. Louis risk research project between 1967 and 1971. The investigation employed a psychological battery using the WISC or WAIS, figure drawings, the TAT, the Rorschach, and the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Form Sequence, plus blind clinical disturbance ratings from the test batteries. Tests were administered individually to 339 6–20 yr old children from intact families with 1 schizophrenic, manic-depressive, or physically ill parent, or 2 normal parents. Children of psychiatrically ill parents were found to be more disturbed than children of nonpsychotic parents. Children with a schizophrenic parent demonstrated peformance on psychometric evaluation that was in some ways continuous with that of adult schizophrenics. Children of schizophrenic and manic-depressive parents differed from one another and from controls on 2 measures. In the aggressive content of their TAT stories, children with a schizophrenic parent showed less aggression than normals, and children with a manic-depressive parent showed more aggression than normals. On the Rorschach, children of schizophrenics gave more primitive responses than children of manic-depressives, and the children of normal parents gave an intermediate number of such responses. (2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shared parenting agreements after marital separation: The roles of empathy and narcissism.

The identification of psychological and interpersonal factors that predict cooperation and agreement between ex-spouses is important to understanding, and eventually promoting, healthy postdivorce adjustment of parents and their children. By drawing on object relations theory, the authors identified differences between 16 ex-couples who were able to negotiate and maintain a cooperative parenting plan after separation ( "agreed ex-couples") and 16 ex-couples who disagree about parenting arrangements ("disagreed ex-couples") but were similar in age, educational background, age of their children, and time since separation. As expected, disagreed ex-couples were more narcissistic, more interpersonally vulnerable, less able to take another's perspective, less concerned about the feelings and needs of others, more self-oriented, and less child-oriented and more self-important in their parenting attitudes than agreed ex-couples. Our findings also supported a process mediational model of "child-centeredness" that attempts to elucidate the pathways through which these variables are interrelated… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shyness and symptoms of illness in young children.

Investigated the association between shyness and symptoms of illness in young children and the types of symptoms differentiating shy and nonshy children. 16 shy children and 16 nonshy children (mean age 7 yrs 3 mo) were matched on sex, parental education, familial stress, and height-weight ratio. For 4 wks, parents recorded their children's health complaints and their own observations and conclusions of their children's health. There were more days on which shy children complained of unwellness and parents observed symptoms of unwellness than for nonshy children. Shy children made more affective complaints and were observed to experience more gastrointestinal upset. Several interpretations of the results are presented including the possibilities that lower thresholds for arousal in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axes of shy children affected their immunocompetence, that parents of shy children and the children themselves were more sensitive to symptoms of illness, and that feeling unwell may contribute to shy behaviour. Results suggest that the health of shy children merits further study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who helps whom in older parent-child families

While previous research has assumed that older persons who live with adult children do so because of their poverty or disability, some recent evidence suggests that many of these extended households primarily benefit the child. This article attempts to provide a better understanding of the relative contributions of parents and adult children who live together through detailed analysis of data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). We find unmarried children tend to benefit more from and contribute less to extended households than married children. Similarly, unmarried parents benefit more from living with children than married parents. Results of logistic regression show that financial need and need for assistance with activities of daily living wre important determinants of coresidence for both unmarried children and unmarried parents. Controlling need, racial and ethnic minorities were more likely to live in extended families than non-Hispanic Whites.     

Parents and procedures: a randomized controlled trial

INTRODUCTION: Previous work has shown that parents prefer to be present when their children undergo common invasive procedures, although physicians are ambivalent about parental presence. PURPOSE: To determine the effect of a parent-focused intervention on the pain and performance of the procedure, anxiety of parents and clinicians, and parental satisfaction with care. POPULATION: Children younger than 3 years old undergoing venipuncture, intravenous cannulation, or uretheral catheterization. SETTING: Pediatric emergency department of Boston City Hospital. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial with three groups; parents present and given instructions on how to help their children; parents present, but no instructions given; and parents not present. INTERVENTION: The parents were instructed to touch, talk to, and maintain eye contact during the procedure. RESULTS: A total of 431 parents was randomized to the intervention (N = 153), present (N = 147), and not present (N = 131) groups. The groups were equivalent with respect to measured sociodemographic variables and parents' previous experience in the pediatric emergency department. No differences emerged with respect to pain (3-point scale measured by parent and clinician, and analysis of cry); performance of the procedure (number of attempts, completion of procedure by first clinician, time); clinician anxiety; or parental satisfaction with care. Parents who were present were more likely to rate the pain of the children as extreme/severe (52%) in comparison to clinicians (15%, kappa .07, poor agreement) and were significantly less anxious than parents who were not present. CONCLUSION: Overall, the intervention was not effective in reducing the pain of routine procedures. Parental presence did not negatively affect performance of the procedure or increase clinician anxiety. Parents who were present were less anxious than those who were not present. CLINICAL IMPLICATION: In general, parents have indicated that they want to be present when their children undergo procedures. The results of this study challenge the traditional belief that parental presence negatively affects our ability to successfully complete procedures. We should encourage parents who want to be present to stay during procedures.     

My children and me: Midlife evaluations of grown children and of self.

215 midlife parents (mean age 53.7 yrs) were interviewed about how their adult children (mean age 27.6 yrs) had "turned out." These assessments were then related to parents' views of themselves. Perceived accomplishments and adjustment of children were expected to be positively linked with parents' well-being (e.g., self-acceptance, environmental mastery, purpose in life), and social comparisons were hypothesized to contribute to the link between parents' assessments of children and their own well-being. Multiple regression analyses revealed that children's perceived adjustment significantly predicted 6 of 7 well-being outcomes for mothers and fathers. Children's attainment was less strongly linked with parental outcomes. Personal comparisons were significant negative predictors: Parents who saw their children as better adjusted than themselves had lower well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)