This research examined the impact of sexual orientation on heterosexuals' judgment of parental competence. Using a vignette approach, Study 1 presented participants with a lesbian, gay, or ...heterosexual couple who desired to have a child, either as adoptive parents or, in an additional heterosexual target condition, as biological parents. Study 2 presented a lesbian, gay, or heterosexual parent couple; heterosexual targets were either adoptive parents, reflecting the LG target conditions, or biological parents. Contradicting Hypothesis 1, neither target sexual orientation nor way to parenthood (with the latter varied in the heterosexual target condition only) had an impact on parental competence attributions. Confirming Hypothesis 2, participants with personal contact with lesbian and gay (LG) people provided higher ratings of LG target parental competence, mediated by positive attitudes toward homosexuality. Importantly, this mediation did not occur in the heterosexual target condition, corroborating the specificity of the intergroup contact effect.
Coping with a child’s psychiatric disorder involves various challenges for parents that can result in family burden. One factor related to family burden, which has been examined in previous studies, ...involves the interaction of the parent with the child diagnosed with the disorder. The current study, expanding on this notion, examined the interactions between parents and two of their children, one with a disorder and one without, by assessing parental expressed emotion (EE). The study also assessed the relations between the interactions with each child, examining whether these two interactions were positively or negatively-related: the “spillover hypothesis” and the “compensation hypothesis,” respectively. In addition, the current study examined a mediation model whereby parental competence would mediate the association between parental EE towards each child and perceived family burden. 41 parents, whose children were treated at a mental health center, participated in the study. The Five Minute Speech Sample was administered to the parents to assess parental EE, as well as scales of parental competence and family burden. Results showed positive correlations between parental EE towards the two children (in the relationship and warmth subscales). The mediation model was confirmed only with regard to parental EE (relationship subscale) towards the child with the disorder. These findings support the spillover hypothesis, according to which feelings and cognitions are transferred from one family subsystem to another. Findings also highlight the importance of sense of competence in parenting a child with a psychiatric disorder, as it reduces family burden.
Highlights
Parental expressed emotion (EE) towards child with a disorder and healthy child were positively-related.
The finding supports the “spillover hypothesis”—transferring emotions from one child to the other.
More warmth and less emotional over-involvement towards the healthy child were observed.
We found negative association between parents competence and family burden.
Parental competence is a key factor in reducing family burden for a child with a disorder.
The present study intended to explore and compare the mediating role of negative thoughts between the sense of parental competence and postpartum depression in postpartum mothers who gave birth to ...their baby either through vaginal or cesarean delivery. A purposive sample of 170 women suffering from postpartum depression was recruited from different hospitals in Gujrat, Pakistan. Urdu versions of the Parenting Sense of Competency Scale, Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale were used to measure the focal constructs of the study. Data were collected from May 2018 to October 2018. Path analysis revealed that parental competence had negative direct effects on postpartum depression (β = −.17, p < .05) and negative thoughts (β = −.27, p < .05) and both of these effects were stronger for women with cesarean delivery (Δβ = .04, p < .001; Δβ = .36, p < .001, respectively). Negative thoughts had a positive direct effect on postpartum depression (β = .43, p < .05) and this direct effect was also stronger among women with cesarean delivery (Δβ = −.12, p < .001). Furthermore, parental competence reduced the negative thoughts, which in turn, lowered the postpartum depression (β = −.12, p < .05), however, this indirect effect was true only for the group of women with cesarean delivery (Δβ = .20, p < .05). Our findings indicate the powerful role of parental competence in reducing the likelihood of postpartum depression through the regulation of negative thoughts and highlight that cesarean delivery may increase mothers' vulnerability to negative thoughts and postpartum depression.
Mental health problems during adolescence constitute a major public health concern today for both families and stakeholders. Accordingly, different family-based interventions have emerged as an ...effective treatment for adolescents with certain disorders. Specifically, there is evidence of the effectiveness of concrete approaches of systemic family therapy on the symptoms of adolescents and family functioning in general. However, few studies have examined the effectiveness of other relevant approaches, such as structural and strategic family therapy, incorporating parent⁻child or parental dyadic measurement. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a structural⁻strategic family therapy with adolescents involved in mental health services and their families. For this purpose, 41 parents and adolescents who participated in this treatment were interviewed at pre-test and post-test, providing information on adolescent behavior problems, parental sense of competence, parental practices, parenting alliance, and family functioning. Regardless of participants' gender, adolescents exhibited fewer internalizing and externalizing problems after the treatment. Parents reported higher family cohesion, higher satisfaction and perceived efficacy as a parent, and healthier parental practices (less authoritarian and permissive practices, as well as more authoritative ones). An interaction effect between parenting alliance and gender was found, with more favorable results for the mothers. In conclusion, this paper provides evidence of the usefulness of structural⁻strategic family therapy for improving family, dyadic, and individual facets in families with adolescents exhibiting mental health problems.
Abstract Introduction: Women with high-risk pregnancy are at increased risk of depression and anxiety during pregnancy, as well as a less favorable parent-infant interaction. This study aimed to ...investigate the effect of midwife-led psycho-education intervention on parental stress, competency, and postpartum depression in nulliparous women hospitalized with high-risk pregnancy. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was carried out on 66 nulliparous women admitted to the high-risk pregnancy ward of Kamali Hospital, Karaj, Iran. Using convenient sampling method, the mothers were randomly assigned to control and intervention groups. In addition to routine care, the intervention group received four sessions of midwife-led psycho-education intervention in two group sessions in pregnancy and two individual sessions immediately after delivery. The parental stress, parental competency, and postpartum depression questionnaires were used for data collection before, after, and one month after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS software ver. 13.0. Repeated-measures ANOVA test was used for comparing the mean scores of parenting stress, parental competency, and depression between and within both study groups before, after, and one month after delivery. Results: While postpartum depression and parental stress decreased in intervention group, parental competency increased. Conclusion: Our findings indicated that midwife-led psycho-education was effective on parental stress, competency, and postpartum depression in high-risk pregnancy mothers. Accordingly, prenatal distress in high-risk pregnancies should be assessed routinely.
The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether perception preceded belief when it came to predicting delinquency. Perceived parental competence served as the first stage of a socialization ...process designed to reduce delinquency. The second stage of this process entailed obstructing antisocial belief in the form of moral neutralization or cognitive impulsivity. We hypothesized that moral neutralization and cognitive impulsivity would mediate the relationship between perceived parental competence and delinquency in a model where perception preceded belief but that perceived parental competence would not mediate the relationship between neutralization/impulsivity and delinquency in a model where belief preceded perception. This hypothesis was tested in a group of 845 (406 boys, 439 girls) middle school (Grades 6-8) youth. Results from a three-wave prospective study revealed that moral neutralization and cognitive impulsivity both mediated the perceived parental competence-delinquency relationship, whereas parental competence did not mediate the neutralization/impulsivity-delinquency relationship. When the two components of perceived parental competence—parental support and parental monitoring/control—were analyzed separately, only the monitoring-to-neutralization-to-delinquency path achieved significance.
This paper grants some considerations on a critical phenomenon for child health: child neglect. It is an omission-type form of childhood maltreatment, which is widespread but very hard to intercept. ...For the assessment of child neglect, the Italian Society of Pediatric Psychology (S.I.P.Ped.) has developed and validated a specific assessment technique (the C.N.A. technique). It is supposed to be for parents of children between 3 and 9 years old. It is based on a paradigm that identifies the dysregulation of parental competence as the cause of neglect. It can occur in hypo- or hyperactivation of three fundamental factors (recognition, stimulation, and care). The child neglect assessment technique (C.N.A.) differs from the retrospective tools available in the literature since it allows for interception of the "signs" of possible child neglect when negligence occurs.
Over the past few years, there has been an increase in concern for studying the relationship between parents and children in order to improve it. Clarifying and understanding the concepts of parental ...style, parental competence and parents’ emotional intelligence and how they intertwine in raising and educating children is essential for improving the way parents educate their children. This research investigates the relationship between these three concepts and the results highlight the fact that both the parental style adopted by the parent and the high level of parental competence positively correlate with emotional intelligence.
: Schema Therapy, an approach that integrates cognitive-behavioural and attachment principles, helps us understand the impact of early interactions with caregivers on adult mental health. These early ...interactions can be assessed through Schema Therapy-informed tools; however, these tools have yet to be used with a postnatal population, which represents a period of vulnerability for new mothers. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the impact of positive and negative early parenting interactions on a first-time mother's mental health and her sense of competence during the postnatal period, using recently revised and newly developed Schema Therapy-informed tools.
: This is a cross-sectional study.
: First-time mothers (N = 220) participated in an online survey within 12 months post-birth. Participants completed the Positive Parenting Schema Inventory (PPSI), Young Parenting Inventory-Revised (YPI-R2), Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and Parenting Sense of Competence (PSOC) scale. The data were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression and mediational analysis.
: Negative early interactions with mothers and fathers led to greater postnatal depressive symptomology, while positive early interactions with mothers led to fewer postnatal depressive symptoms. Mediation analyses revealed that postnatal depressive symptoms mediated early parenting interactions and participants' sense of parenting competence as a new mother.
: The protective effects of positive early interactions with caregivers can help first-time mothers' postnatal emotional adjustment and their sense of competence through diminished postnatal depressive symptoms. However, the enduring effects of negative early interactions with caregivers can contribute to a first-time mother's risk of developing postnatal depression and negatively affect her sense of parental competence.
The present investigation examined motivation for parenting and some of its correlates in parents and children. The data came from samples of 151 first-time mothers of infants, 153 mothers of middle ...school children, and 260 mothers and fathers of high school children. Parents provided self-report data about their motivation in their parenting role as well as reports of role satisfaction, parental competence, child temperament, and parenting styles. Using three samples, factor analyses confirmed the distinction between autonomous and controlled forms of parenting motivation. Autonomous motivation refers to investing in the parenting role because it is interesting and meaningful whereas controlled motivation refers to investment based on external or internal pressures. Results showed that autonomous motivation was associated concurrently with parenting satisfaction and competence as well as with authoritative and autonomy-supportive parenting styles. Child temperament was unrelated to parenting motivation, but mothers reported greater autonomous motivation for girls than boys and for younger children rather than older children. Autonomous parenting motivation was associated with children reporting autonomy supportive parenting and high levels of well-being. A prospective analysis showed that controlled parenting motivation in first time mothers was associated with reductions in parenting satisfaction as infants became toddlers. A similar analysis showed that autonomous parenting motivation was associated with children developing fewer behavior problems whereas controlled motivation was associated with children developing more behavioral problems. The present findings highlight the heuristic value of assessing why parents invest themselves in the parenting role.
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