"As far as I am aware, there is no other scholarly book on adult mother/daughter relationships, particularly one that incorporates data from pairs of mothers and daughters...I believe that the ...contents provide useful material for instructors, researchers, and therapists alike." - Rosemary Blieszner, PhD Professor of Gerontology and Family Studies Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University The mother/daughter tie is one that persists well past childhood and it takes on unique characteristics as daughter enter midlife and mohers enter old age. Incorporating vivid descriptions by mothers and daughters about their relationships, this book addresses both the rewards and the costs that mothers and daughters incur in maintaining their relationships into old age. For psychologists, gerontologists, and sociologists, as well as academics and researchers in women's and family studies.
In Nigeria and South Africa, women often have less voice and are less visible given cultural norms and related gender stereotypes. It is important to understand parents’ gender roles in the context ...of caregiving for children with autism spectrum disorder because inequality in caregiving roles may influence the health of children with autism and that of their parents. We explored the lived caregiving experiences of male and female parents with autistic children in Nigeria (
n
= 15) and South Africa (
n
= 10) using structured and unstructured questionnaire. Results showed that women often experienced stress in relationship to multiple and substantial caregiving roles while men commonly limited their caregiving roles based on a patriarchal ideology related to their culture.
We investigated what a dyadic framework added to Eisenberg, Cumberland, and Spinrad's (1998) parental emotion socialization model based on the argument that the dynamic organization of emotion in the ...dyad is more than the sum of its parts and thus makes a unique contribution to emotion socialization. Preschoolers (N = 235) completed challenging problem-solving tasks with mothers and fathers, during which parental emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs), child negative emotional arousal, and dyadic positive emotion data were collected. We examined whether dyadic synchrony of positive emotion at age 3 was a mechanism by which age 3 parental ERSBs impacted children's age 5 aggressive behavior in school, accounting for child gender, child negative emotional arousal, and aggressive behavior in preschool. ERSBs were significantly positively related to dyadic positive synchrony with both mothers and fathers at age 3. Longitudinal models supported an indirect effect, not a moderating effect, of dyadic synchrony: both mothers' and fathers' ERSBs contributed to children's less aggressive behavior at age 5 through the effects of higher dyadic positive synchrony. Findings suggest dynamic, dyadic emotional processes should be considered as a mechanism of emotion socialization and that parent-child positive emotional synchrony is supportive of early childhood emotional development.
Objective: This study aims to document birth parents commitment from a systemic perspective. Characteristics of birth parents mental health (depressive symptoms), placement characteristics (family ...reunification, parentchild contact), and systemic characteristics (parents perception of the foster parents opinion on parent-child contact) are examined. Background: Foster placement creates a highly vulnerable situation within families of origin. Moreover, birth parents are liable to have been exposed to multiple risk factors. Foster placement comes with many challenges that are not without consequences on the parenting experience, including loss of parenting responsibilities and redefinition of the parenting role. Method: Parents (n = 59) participated for 70 parent-child dyads in 90-minute home visits where data on sociodemographic characteristics, mental health status, experience of the placement measure and parent-child contact, as well as level of parental commitment were gathered. Results: Three-step hierarchical regression models were used to examine the independent contribution of the parents perception of the foster parents opinion on contact on parental commitment after accounting for the birth parents mental health and placement characteristics. Results suggest that parent-child contact and parents perception of foster parents opinion on contact have a significant contribution to parental commitment. Conclusion: These findings underscore the importance of addressing parenthood in placement situations and the relevance of examining parental commitment from a systemic perspective. Implications: A deeper understanding of this vulnerable population would require reflecting on the psychosocial practices in Child Protective Services while accounting for the needs of birth parents in the placement system.
Foster and adoptive parents often face challenges while taking care of children who, due to their adverse early life experiences, are at risk of developing insecure attachment relationships, behavior ...problems, and stress dysregulation. Several intervention programs have been developed to help foster and adoptive parents to overcome these challenges. In the current study, a series of eight meta-analyses were performed to examine the effectiveness of these intervention programs on four parent outcomes (sensitive parenting, k = 11, N = 684; dysfunctional discipline, k = 4, N = 239; parenting knowledge and attitudes, k = 7, N = 535; parenting stress, k = 18, N = 1,306), three child outcomes (attachment security, k = 6, N = 395; behavior problems, k = 33, N = 2,661; diurnal cortisol levels, k = 3, N = 261), and placement disruption (k = 7, N = 1,100). Results show positive effects for the four parent outcomes and child behavior problems, but not for attachment security, child diurnal cortisol levels, or placement disruption. Indirect effects on child outcomes may be delayed, and therefore long-term follow-up studies are needed to examine the effects of parenting interventions on children.
The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a model of stressful situations for parents insofar as it led to unprecedented difficulties in childcare and caregiving, resulting in increased levels of parental ...burnout, worldwide. To date, research on parental burnout has mainly involved heterosexual parents. However, parents with minoritized sexual identities face partially different stressors, including internalized sexual stigma, and they also have partially different resources, including a more egalitarian division of childcare labor. Between April 2020 and February 2021, 32 lesbian mother families by donor insemination (n = 64 lesbian mothers) and 28 gay father families by gestational surrogacy (n = 56 gay fathers), all with a child aged 6-10 years and living in Italy, were recruited. In each family, both parents self-rated their parental burnout, coparenting, and internalized sexual stigma. Multilevel modeling indicated that lesbian mothers reported greater parental burnout than gay fathers. Moreover, lower coparenting quality was associated with greater parental burnout. Finally, internalized sexual stigma had a significant both direct and interactive effect on parental burnout, with higher levels of internalized sexual stigma resulting in greater parental burnout, especially in gay fathers. Considering the sexual minority stress theory and the risks and resources balance theory, the results indicate the importance of preventing and treating parental burnout in lesbian and gay parents by focusing on their internalized sexual stigma and coparenting relationship. Also, incorporating the positive psychology framework in future research would help identify in these parents the resources deriving from their minoritized sexual identities to deal with parental burnout.
Telemedicine tools have potential for increasing access to diagnostic services for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Past work has utilized tele-assessment procedures in which remote ...psychologists observe administration of interactive screening instruments by trained, on-site providers. Although promising, this approach relies on two clinicians, limiting its efficiency and scalability. The present study examined the use, acceptability, and parents’ perceptions of two caregiver-mediated tools for assessing ASD risk in toddlers, in which remote clinicians guided parents to complete interactive screening activities with their children. Most parents found tele-assessment to be comfortable, and many reported liking the parent-led nature of these tools. Parents also offered constructive feedback, which was used to modify the tele-assessment process for future study.
The present study used a daily reporting design to examine the bidirectional spillover in conflict and conflict strategies between the interparental relationship and the parent-child relationship. ...Participants were 60 parents with a preadolescent child at risk for aggressive behavior. Parents reported on their experience of interparental and parent-child conflict and their use of constructive and destructive conflict strategies through daily telephone interviews over 7 days. Each day was divided into 3 equal time periods roughly corresponding to early morning, daytime, and evening. Time-lagged analyses investigated the spillover in conflict within and across days. Results revealed that the presence of interparental conflict significantly predicted the presence of parent-child conflict 1 time period later and 1 full day later. Likewise, the presence of parent-child conflict significantly predicted the presence of interparental conflict 1 full day later. In terms of conflict strategy use, results revealed that parents who engaged in constructive patterns of interparental conflict were more likely to engage in constructive patterns of parent-child conflict 1 time period later and 1 full day later. Reciprocal effects for constructive parent-child conflict predicting subsequent interparental conflict were significant across all 3 time lags assessed. There were no significant, bidirectional effects for the spillover in destructive conflict. Findings have important clinical implications.
Socioeconomic disparities in children's early vocabulary skills can be traced back to disparities in gesture use at age one and are due, in part, to the quantity and quality of communication children ...are exposed to by parents. Further, parents' mindsets about intelligence contribute to their interactions with their children. We implemented a parent gesture intervention with a growth mindset component with 47 parents of 10‐month‐olds to determine whether this approach would increase parents' use of the pointing gesture, infants' use of pointing, and child vocabulary growth. The intervention had an effect on parent gesture such that by child age 12‐months, parents who received the intervention increased in their pointing more than parents in the control condition. Importantly, the intervention also had a significant effect on child gesture use with parents. There was no main effect of the intervention on child vocabulary. Further, the effect of the intervention on pointing was stronger for parents who endorsed fixed mindsets at baseline, and had an added benefit of increased vocabulary growth from 10–18 months for children of those parents who endorsed fixed mindsets. Incorporating growth mindset approaches into parenting interventions is encouraged.
We implemented a parent gesture intervention with a growth mindset component with 47 parents of 10‐month‐olds to determine whether this approach would increase parents' use of the pointing gesture, infants' use of pointing, and child vocabulary growth. The intervention had an effect on parent gesture such that by child age 12‐months, parents who received the intervention increased in their pointing more than parents in the control condition. Importantly, the intervention also had a significant effect on child gesture use with parents. Further, the effect of the intervention on pointing was stronger for parents who endorsed fixed mindsets at baseline, and had an added benefit of increased vocabulary growth from 10–18 months for children of those parents who endorsed fixed mindsets.
Two parenting capacity assessment (PCA) protocols, with a short parent-child intervention embedded in each protocol, evaluated the potential for enhanced parenting to orient child placement decision. ...Parents (n = 69), with substantiated reports of maltreatment by child protective services, and their children (0–6) were randomly assigned to one of two PCAs with either the Attachment Video-feedback (PCA-AVI) or a psychoeducational intervention (PCA-PI) as the embedded intervention component. The PCA-AVI group showed the highest increases in parent-child interaction quality at post-test. Also, at PCA completion, evaluators’ conclusions about the parents’ capacity to care for both PCA groups were associated with parent-child interactive improvements at post-test, the court’s placement decision at post-test, and child placement one year later. However, only conclusions drawn by PCA-AVI evaluators were predictive of child re-reports of maltreatment in the year following PCA. PCAs, relying on short attachment interventions to assess the potential for enhanced parenting, are promising tools to orient child placement decisions.
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