Insiders' and outsiders' views of family: The assessment of family competence and style.

110 intact families (53 nonclinical, 57 clinical) completed a self-report family inventory (W. R. Beavers et al; see record 1986-15035-001) and were rated by observers on family interactional competence and style scales. Across the entire sample, significant levels of correspondence were found between conceptually related aspects of family functioning across insider (family) and outsider (observer) ratings. Insider and outsider ratings of family style were less directly related. Adolescents showed greater correspondence between their views of family health, conflict, and cohesion and those of outside observers' perceptions of the family's health and style. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding parent-adolescent interactions: Perceptions of family members and outsiders.

To see whether adolescents view parent–child relationships more like their parents or more like outsiders, 41 mother–father–adolescent child triads were videotaped interacting over two tasks. Each family member then viewed both interactions and rated levels of anxiety, dominance, involvement, and friendliness, for each interactant. These same interactions were also watched and rated by another mother–father–adolescent triad (outsider family) who did not know the family. These interactions were then rated by a trained observer. For ratings of anxiety, dominance, involvement, and friendliness, analyses involved comparisons (a) between the insider and outsider families ratings, on correlations between insider family members and outsider family members with the trained observer, and (b) comparisons among the three types of observers. Ratings by members of the outsider family were generally more negative than those by members of the insider family. Ratings of self tended to be more objective than ratings of other family members. Ratings by the trained observer were more highly correlated with those of the outsider family, although differences between the means showed that trained observers used a similar metric to the insider family. The importance of looking at patterns of ratings as well as mean differences is emphasized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of childhood sexual abuse and family functioning on four dimensions of women's later parenting

OBJECTIVE: While child sexual abuse and its negative effects have been of increasing interest to researchers and practitioners, more empirical focus has been given to measuring mental health consequences rather than other areas of life functioning such as parenting. Furthermore, recent questions have been raised about whether documented negative effects of abuse stem from the abuse itself or the more general negative family environment which often accompanies it. The aim of the current study was to examine the impact of a history of child sexual abuse and more general family relationship quality on the parenting of a sample of low-income mothers. METHOD: The current study was a secondary analysis of archived data collected by Zuravin (1996) on 518 low-income mothers. Parenting was assessed using measures such as frequency of worry about child problems, views of self as a parent, and how child discipline problems were handled. RESULTS: Child sexual abuse was associated with more negative views of self as a parent and the greater use of physical punishment strategies even after accounting for differences in family-of-origin relationship quality. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that sexual abuse may be a risk factor for more negative views of self as a parent beyond differences between abused and nonabused samples in more general assessments of family-of-origin quality. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.     

Negative effects on family functioning from psychosocial treatments: A recommendation for expanded safety monitoring.

Whereas biomedical products are required to be tested for safety with respect to vulnerable organ systems, psychosocial treatments are not required to be tested for safety with respect to vulnerable social systems such as the family. This article provides some evidence for the need to document the potential negative effects of psychosocial treatments on family-level outcomes. Three randomized controlled trials are reviewed in which independent ratings or self-reports of family functioning were measured. Each of the 3 studies compared the efficacy of a family and a nonfamily treatment. Totally unexpectedly, the nonfamily treatment in each of the 3 trials demonstrated significant declines in family functioning. The authors suggest that psychosocial treatments with vulnerable populations have the potential to produce negative side effects on families. Therefore, it is important to conduct further research to determine whether safety studies should be required for psychosocial treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multilevel analysis of whole family functioning using the McMaster Family Assessment Device.

This study demonstrates the use of multilevel modeling to examine influences on ratings of whole family functioning collected from multiple family members (N=26,614) living in 11,023 families with 1 or more dependent children aged 0 to 24 years. Results indicate that 45.7% of the variance in ratings of whole family functioning was shared among family members, whereas 54.3% was nonshared. Family-level characteristics, such as socioeconomic status (SES), family structure and composition, and family well-being, accounted for 30.6% of between-family variation (i.e., shared perceptions). Individual-level characteristics, such as sex, age, dependent child status, education, and well-being, accounted for 5.6% of within-family variance (i.e., unique perceptions). There was significant between-family variation in the relationship between dependent child status and ratings of family functioning, and increased rating discrepancies among members of the same family were linked with higher levels of family SES. The findings attest to the validity of measuring whole family functioning directly from self-report ratings provided from multiple family members. However, caution is warranted when assessments are available only from single respondents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-knowledge and social inference: I. The impact of cognitive/affective and behavioral data.

Two studies investigated the sources of information that people would perceive as diagnostic of self. In Study 1, 40 undergraduates completed a questionnaire in which they rated private thoughts and feelings, other peoples' as well as their own, as far more informative and prototypic of self than overt actions. In Study 2, 48 undergraduate speakers participated in a structured interview during which they revealed either a sample of their past thoughts and feelings, a sample of their past behavior, or a mixture of these 2 types of information to 71 undergraduate observers who watched and listened from behind a 1-way mirror. The interviews offering cognitive/affective revelations were perceived, both by the speakers themselves and by observers, to be more informative than interviews offering behavioral revelations. Analyses from both studies, however, suggest that the tendency to weight cognitive/affective information more heavily than behavioral information may be stronger and more consistent for self-perception than social perception. Study 2, in particular, indicates that speakers made more extreme dispositional inferences based on cognitive/affective interviews, whereas observers did not. Ratings of interpersonal liking closely paralleled ratings of perceived informativeness for the questionnaire responses in Study 1 but not for the responses to explicit revelations of thoughts and feeling vs behavior in Study 2. Sex differences were also observed on several measures. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental affective style risk and the family system: A social relations model analysis.

Social relations model analysis was used to clarify family dynamics associated with parental affective style, an index of parent-to-child behavior associated with severe psychopathology in the child. Results from 70 families who had sought clinical services for an adolescent family member (39 girls and 31 boys) suggest (1) that adolescents elicit the negative parental affective style that puts them at risk and (2) that elicitation of negative parental affect is strongly tied to adolescents' expression of negative affect toward their parents (i.e., a reciprocity effect). The findings support the views that children contribute to their own risk of psychopathology and that parent–child behavior ought to be interpreted in the broader context of the family system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coparental and family group-level dynamics during infancy: early family precursors of child and family functioning during preschool

This study examines longitudinal correlates of coparental and family group-level dynamics during infancy. Thirty-seven couples observed at play with their 8-11-month-old infants (15 boys, 22 girls) rated their child's internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and their own coparenting behavior 3 years later. Teachers also rated child behavior at the 3-year follow-up. Several significant relationships emerged between observed family process (high hostility-competitiveness, low family harmony, and high parenting discrepancies in the triad) at Time 1, and subsequent reports of child and coparenting behavior at Time 2. Larger parenting discrepancies at Time 1 predicted greater child anxiety as rated by teachers; greater hostility-competitiveness and lower harmony forecast higher child aggression. Time 1 family process continued to predict Time 2 aggression even after controlling for individual and marital functioning. Several links were also found between distressed family process and later parental reports of negative coparenting behavior. These parental reports of coparenting also explained unique variance in concurrent child behavior ratings. The significance of coparenting as a distinct family construct is discussed.     

Smile intensity and warm touch as thin slices of child and family affective style.

The authors investigate the claim that thin slices of expressive behavior serve as reliable indicators of affective style in children and their families. Using photographs, the authors assessed smile intensity and tactile contact in kindergartners and their families. Consistent with claims that smiling and touch communicate positive emotion, measures of children’s smile intensity and warm family touch were correlated across classroom and family contexts. Consistent with studies of parent–child personality associations, parents’ warm smiles and negative facial displays resembled those of their children. Finally, consistent with observed relations between adult personality and positive display, children’s smiling behavior in the classroom correlated with parent ratings of children’s Extraversion/Surgency. These results highlight the utility of thin slices of smiling and touch as indicators of child and family affective style. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Filial family play therapy with an adoptive family: A response to preadoptive child maltreatment.

This article describes an in-depth case study analysis of the process of working therapeutically with a family, who adopted a young male after several child maltreatment experiences, using filial family play therapy. Psychological and behavioral assessments conducted before and after the play therapy process illustrates a varying picture of results in the scores of both parent and child functioning. In-depth narratives collected from the adoptive parents a year later reflect the positive influence the play therapy process had on long-term family dynamics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Continuing medical education in marital and family therapy: a survey of South Australian psychiatrists

OBJECTIVE: South Australian psychiatrists were surveyed to determine their impressions of the usefulness of marital and family therapy (MFT) in the management of serious psychiatric conditions and to ascertain their previous experience with Continuing Medical Education (CME) about family therapy. It was expected that psychiatrists' preferences regarding CME would be related to their clinical experience of the usefulness of MFT. METHOD: One hundred and twenty psychiatrists returned a questionnaire about their training, clinical and research interests, with ratings of the usefulness of MFT and CME preferences. This represented 65% of those eligible for the CME programme. RESULTS: Thirteen percent of the respondents found MFT to be extremely useful and a further 47% found it moderately useful in their current practice. There was evidence of a possible training effect: respondents who had previous CME rated MFT as more useful, especially for mood disorders. Furthermore, the treatment of mood disorders seemed to have a particular relevance in family psychiatry, making a statistically unique contribution to ratings of MFT usefulness in the respondents' total practice. Sixty-nine percent of the respondents requested further CME in family therapy. This represented 45% of all South Australian psychiatrists. Respondents who rated MFT as more useful in practice were significantly more likely to be interested in CME. CONCLUSIONS: There seems to be sufficient interest and clinical experience among psychiatrists for MFT to be included in CME courses. It is recommended that further training focus on major mental disorders, especially mood disorders and schizophrenia.     

Impact of prebirth parent personality and marital functioning on family development: A framework and suggestions for further study.

A framework for studying the impact of prebirth parent personality and marital functioning on family development is outlined. In the context of the delineation of four influences on infant and family development—namely, personality, social interaction, role, and ecology—the presentation focuses on the general hypothesis that certain relatively stable characteristics of the parents' personality and their marriage make an important and persistent impact on the family's development. Evidence for such stability is cited. As a further step in the delineation of prebirth influences, global and specific assessments of such influences were distinguished. Because variations in infant characteristics influence marital and parent personality functioning, the advantage of assessing this functioning before the birth of the first child is also stressed. Finally, the nature of the impact of certain stable aspects of the parents' personality and marital characteristics on a particular parent–infant transaction, infant soothability-responsiveness to need, is documented from existing research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Efficacy of brief strategic family therapy in modifying Hispanic adolescent behavior problems and substance use.

This study investigated the efficacy of brief strategic family therapy (BSFT) with Hispanic behavior problem and drug using youth, an underrepresented population in the family therapy research literature. One hundred twenty-six Hispanic families with a behavior problem adolescent were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: BSFT or group treatment control (GC). Results showed that, compared to GC cases, BSFT cases showed significantly greater pre- to post-intervention improvement in parent reports of adolescent conduct problems and delinquency, adolescent reports of marijuana use, and observer ratings and self reports of family functioning. These results extend prior findings on the efficacy of family interventions to a difficult to treat Hispanic adolescent sample. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ratings of helper roles by multicultural psychologists and Asian American students: Initial support for the three-dimensional model of multicultural counseling.

The results of 2 surveys investigating support for psychologists' roles advocated by the three-dimensional (3-D) model of multicultural counseling are reported. Eight vignettes were developed depicting an ethnic minority person with high or low acculturation experiencing or about to experience a problem with an internal or external etiology. Psychologists interested and experienced in multicultural issues (Study 1) rated 6 of the 8 helper roles recommended by the 3-D model for conditions depicted in the 8 vignettes higher on average than they did nonrecommended helper roles. Asian American university students (Study 2) also gave higher mean ratings to 3 of the recommended roles than they did the nonrecommended roles. Examination of the Asian American students' helpfulness ratings revealed a consistent preference for 2 roles: facilitator of indigenous support systems and consultation. Implications for the 3-D model, direct service, future research, and training of counseling psychologists are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing the validity of nicotine abstinence effects by self- and observer ratings under "blinded" conditions.

The authors examined the validity of nicotine abstinence effects by using both self- and observer ratings. Participants were 61 cigarette smokers undergoing 48 hr of smoking abstinence and 61 collateral observers. Ratings of abstinence effects were derived from both self- and observer reports. A 3-part analytic strategy was used. First, the authors conducted an analysis of variance to determine which negative mood states both observers and abstaining cigarette smokers report as abstinence effects. During abstinence, both groups reported significant increases in anxiety, anger, impatience, restlessness, and confusion, and a significant decrease in vigor. Both groups reported nonsignificant changes in fatigue and drowsiness. The authors compared the magnitude of self- and observer-reported abstinence effects and found no differences between these 2 sets of scores. The results of a multitrait multimethod analysis indicated modest convergent and poor discriminant validity for individual abstinence effects. Results converge with previous findings to support the validity of a general nicotine abstinence syndrome but highlight the need for refinement in the assessment of individual component symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intrapersonal and social comparison determinants of happiness: A range-frequency analysis.

Examined whether intrapersonal comparisons and social comparisons operate in similar ways to determine ratings of happiness. Events were varied to create positively and negatively skewed distributions. The events in each distribution were ascribed to either a single person or a group of people; Ss rated how happy they would feel if they experienced specific events within the distribution. Ratings for both intrapersonal and social comparisons were fit well by Parducci's (1984) range-frequency theory. Individual events received higher ratings when presented within the positively skewed context. Overall happiness, as measured by both the mean of the happiness ratings as well as direct ratings, was highest for the negatively skewed distributions. The effects of skewing were more pronounced for intrapersonal comparisons, but ratings were more closely defined by the range of experimental stimuli for social comparisons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social support from family and friends as a buffer of low spousal support among mothers of critically ill children: A multilevel modeling approach.

Objective: To investigate whether social support from family and friends (family/friend support) attenuated ("buffered") adverse effects of having low spouse support (spousal support) among mothers of children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Design: One hundred sixty-three married mothers who were their child's primary caregiver during treatment completed assessments during the child's hospitalization for HSCT and 3-, 6-, and 12-months post-HSCT. Measures: Family/friend support and spousal support were assessed during hospitalization. Maternal physical and mental health-related functioning (the main outcome measures) were assessed at all timepoints. Results: Multilevel modeling was used to analyze trajectories of maternal functioning. Findings indicated that mothers with low spousal support and low family/friend support demonstrated the worst functioning across all timepoints. Mothers with low spousal support and high family/friend support demonstrated significantly better functioning, supporting the hypothesized buffering effect. Their functioning compared to the functioning of mothers with high spousal support. Moreover, mothers with high family/friend support demonstrated trajectories of physical health-related functioning that were more stable than the trajectories of mothers with low family/friend support. Conclusion: These findings have clinical implications in addition to advancing knowledge of social support processes among couples coping with the shared stressor of a child's life-threatening illness and treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychosocial functioning and family environment of depressed adolescents

OBJECTIVE: This study examined measures of functional impairment and family relations in a sample of 62 adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 38 normal controls with no history of psychiatric illness. METHOD: Ratings of the following domains were obtained: mother-child relations, father-child relations, spousal relations, sibling relations, peer relations, and school performance. Ratings of each domain for the 3-month period preceding the assessment were derived from information obtained using a semistructured interview administered independently to the adolescents and one of their parents. RESULTS: Adolescents with MDD were found to have severe difficulties in all areas. Ninety percent of the depressed adolescents had scores greater than 2 SD above the mean of the normal controls on one or more of the domain ratings. In addition, adolescents with difficulties in parent-child relations were more likely than those adolescents without problems in family relations to have difficulties in peer relations and school performance. CONCLUSIONS: The authors discuss the importance of systematically examining psychosocial variables in future studies of the etiology, course, and treatment of MDD in adolescents.     

Levels of family assessment: II. Impact of maternal psychopathology on family functioning.

The association of maternal and contextual risk factors with whole-family, marital, and parent–child levels of family functioning was examined. Maternal mental illness and multiple contextual risk best predicted whole-family functioning, but each was related to marital and parent–child levels as well. Nonspecific indicators of maternal illness, rather than diagnostic category, were the better predictors of family functioning. The multiple contextual risk index was the variable most associated with all levels of family functioning, more so than any indicator of maternal illness. These results indicate (a) that maternal mental illness and family functioning are strongly associated and (b) that variation in the conceptualization and measurement strategy for risk and family functioning affects the conclusions of research. The importance of clear conceptualization of family levels and psychopathology risk in families of young children is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with illness: Interrelationships across family members and predictors of psychological adjustment.

This study examined coping in families in which there was a chronically ill parent. Husbands, wives, and one child (aged 7–18 yrs) from 75 families in which the husband had hemophilia participated. Coping styles and psychological adjustment were assessed, and patterns of coping among family members were examined. Avoidant coping was associated with poorer adjustment for all family members. In addition, the coping style of one family member was found to be related to the psychological adjustment of other family members. Avoidant coping by one spouse related to poorer psychological functioning in the other spouse, and avoidant coping by either parent related to greater child adjustment problems for girls and boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)