Consumer genomics databases have reached the scale of millions of individuals. Recently, law enforcement authorities have exploited some of these databases to identify suspects via distant familial ...relatives. Using genomic data of 1.28 million individuals tested with consumer genomics, we investigated the power of this technique. We project that about 60% of the searches for individuals of European descent will result in a third-cousin or closer match, which theoretically allows their identification using demographic identifiers. Moreover, the technique could implicate nearly any U.S. individual of European descent in the near future. We demonstrate that the technique can also identify research participants of a public sequencing project. On the basis of these results, we propose a potential mitigation strategy and policy implications for human subject research.
Recent research not only confirms the existence of substantial psychological variation around the globe but also highlights the peculiarity of many Western populations. We propose that part of this ...variation can be traced back to the action and diffusion of the Western Church, the branch of Christianity that evolved into the Roman Catholic Church. Specifically, we propose that the Western Church's transformation of European kinship, by promoting small, nuclear households, weak family ties, and residential mobility, fostered greater individualism, less conformity, and more impersonal prosociality. By combining data on 24 psychological outcomes with historical measures of both Church exposure and kinship, we find support for these ideas in a comprehensive array of analyses across countries, among European regions, and among individuals from different cultural backgrounds.
Positive Family Connections is a coproduced, positively oriented, family-systems program for families of children with a developmental disability aged 8-13 years. The study was a feasibility cluster ...randomized-controlled trial which was registered prospectively (International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number 14809884). Families (clusters) were randomized 1:1 to take part in Positive Family Connections immediately or to a waitlist condition and were followed up 4 months and 9 months after randomization. Feasibility outcomes included participant and facilitator recruitment rates, retention, intervention adherence, and fidelity. The proposed primary outcome measure was the family APGAR, a measure of family functioning. Quantitative data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Sixty families (60 primary parental carers and 13 second carers) were randomized. 73.33% of primary parental carers and 71.43% of second carers in the intervention group attended ≥4 intervention sessions, and fidelity of delivery was high (M = 94.02% intervention components delivered). Retention for the proposed primary outcome was 97.26% at 4-month follow-up and 98.63% at 9-month follow-up. Intervention condition was not associated with family APGAR scores at 9-month follow-up (estimate = 0.06, 95% CI −0.49, 0.61, p = .86, Hedges' g = 0.03, 95% CI −0.43, 0.49). However, meaningful improvements were observed for other secondary outcomes related to parental well-being and family relationships. A definitive randomized-controlled trial of Positive Family Connections is feasible. Preliminary evaluation of outcomes shows that Positive Family Connections may be beneficial for parental psychological well-being and family relationships.
The importance of the family institution requires that family lawsuits be dealt with in a specialized court, indicating the considerable importance of discussing the inherent jurisdiction of this ...judicial body. Therefore, to legitimize and consolidate family foundations, it is necessary to define the concept of family based on the Molazemeh Rule, so that the goals of the Iranian legislature, which include facilitating the formation of the family institution, protecting the sanctity. Relationships of family members and preventing the disruption of the said institution can be achieved by setting forth familyrelated matters and components in this exclusive judicial body.
In general, social support from family members affects chronic illness outcomes, but evidence on which specific family behaviors are most important to adult patient outcomes has not been summarized. ...We systematically reviewed studies examining the effect of specific family member behaviors and communication patterns on adult chronic illness self-management and clinical outcomes. Thirty studies meeting inclusion criteria were identified, representing 22 participant cohorts, and including adults with arthritis, chronic cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and/or end stage renal disease. Family emphasis on self-reliance and personal achievement, family cohesion, and attentive responses to symptoms were associated with better patient outcomes. Critical, overprotective, controlling, and distracting family responses to illness management were associated with negative patient outcomes. Study limitations included cross-sectional designs (11 cohorts); however results from longitudinal studies were similar. Findings suggest that future interventions aiming to improve chronic illness outcomes should emphasize increased family use of attentive coping techniques and family support for the patient’s autonomous motivation.
Incarceration separates individuals from their families and communities, strictly limiting and controlling contact with the outside world. Despite these barriers, those who maintain contact with ...their families during incarceration tend to function more adaptively postrelease. Within a longitudinal framework, the current study examines mechanisms (i.e., family connectedness, postrelease planning) by which contact with family during incarceration may impact postrelease functioning (i.e., recidivism, substance misuse, mental illness, community functioning), considering differences between type of contact (visits, phone calls, letters) and whether it occurred in a jail or prison setting. Participants included 507 adults incarcerated in a local jail (Mage = 32 years, SD = 10 years; 70% male; 44.3% Black, 36.4% White; 59.5% parents). Structural equation modeling results demonstrated having more frequent contact with family during incarceration predicts increases in family connectedness, which in turn predicts better mental health during the first-year postrelease. Although not related to frequency of contact, making plans for postrelease predicted adaptive community functioning during the first-year postrelease. There were no differences in the overall model based on type of contact or incarceration in a jail versus prison setting. These findings suggest maintaining contact with family during incarceration can facilitate more psychologically healthy adjustment during the stressful process of reentering society. Furthermore, incarcerated individuals should be encouraged to make plans for postrelease while still incarcerated either independently or in collaboration with family.
The demands arising from the combination of work and family roles can generate conflicts (work-family conflicts), which have become recognized as major social determinants of mothers' and fathers' ...mental health. This raises the question of the potential effects on children. The current study of 2496 Australian families (7652 observations from children aged 4–5 up to 12–13 years) asks whether changes in children's mental health corresponds with changes in mothers' and fathers' work-family conflicts. Using longitudinal random-effect structural equation models, adjusting for prior child mental health, changes in work-family conflict were examined across four adjacent pairs of biennial data waves. Children's mental health deteriorated when their mother or father experienced an increase in work-family conflict, but improved when parents' work-family conflict reduced. Results held for mothers, fathers and couples, and the key pathways appear to be changes in children's relational environments. These results contribute new evidence that conflicts between the work-family interface are powerful social determinants of mental health which have an intergenerational reach.
•The work-family interface is a key social determinant of mental health and it has an intergenerational reach.•Children's mental health deteriorates when parents' work-family conflict increases and improves when it resolves.•Children's relational family environments are the key pathways connecting work-family conflict to mental health.•Parents' work-family conflict can be an important target for protecting and promoting children's health.
The paradox of hope Mattingly, Cheryl
2010., 20101102, 2010, 2010-12-02
eBook
Grounded in intimate moments of family life in and out of hospitals, this book explores the hope that inspires us to try to create lives worth living, even when no cure is in sight. The Paradox of ...Hope focuses on a group of African American families in a multicultural urban environment, many of them poor and all of them with children who have been diagnosed with serious chronic medical conditions. Cheryl Mattingly proposes a narrative phenomenology of practice as she explores case stories in this highly readable study. Depicting the multicultural urban hospital as a border zone where race, class, and chronic disease intersect, this theoretically innovative study illuminates communities of care that span both clinic and family and shows how hope is created as an everyday reality amid trying circumstances.
Objective
Investigating what contributes to perceptions of ambiguity in stepfamily relationships among adolescents, and which strategies adolescents use to deal with ambiguity.
Background
Relational ...losses or acquisitions marked by ambiguity (i.e., ambiguous losses and gains) are taxing as they often evade resolution. The frequent assumption that family relationships in postdivorce stepfamilies are per se ambiguous has only received limited empirical foundation. Little is known about how adolescents experience ambiguity, how and why ambiguity emerges, and what strategies adolescents develop to deal with ambiguity.
Method
Semi‐structured interviews with 30 Dutch adolescents (aged 16–20) living in diverse postdivorce stepfamilies were conducted. The data were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding.
Results
Relationships with stepparents, stepsiblings, and biological parents were especially likely to be experienced as ambiguous. Two key categories of reasons emerged that helped to explain the emergence of ambiguity: information (i.e., incomplete or contradictory knowledge about family relationships), and relationality (i.e., the ways in which family relationships were assessed and compared to each other). Results point towards potential chains of ambiguity in stepfamilies, and show that respondents compared their relations with constructed archetypes of stepparents. Respondents used three strategies to deal with ambiguity: (a) improving relationships, (b) accepting ambiguity, and (c) creating distance.
Conclusion
Ambiguity was common in postdivorce stepfamilies, yet mostly confined to relationships between adolescents and stepparents, stepsiblings, and biological parents. This suggests that, in stepfamilies, ambiguous gain might occur more frequently than ambiguous loss. The negative feelings associated with ambiguity might explain why many adolescents perceive living in stepfamilies as burdensome.
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