Adult-child Relationships Research Articles

The Noncustodial Father–Child Relationship From Adolescence Into Young Adulthood

The relationship between adult children aged 18 – 24 and noncustodial fathers was explored with longitudinal data from the National Survey of Families and Households (n = 359). Noncustodial fathers’ commitment to their adolescent children (contact, involvement in childrearing decisions) was strongly associated with father‐child relations in early adulthood. Father–adult child relations were weaker when children were born to an unmarried mother and when children had no memory of living with the father. Contrary to expectations, both mothers’ and fathers’ remarriage was associated with stronger father‐child relationships in early adulthood. The results show continuity in the father‐child relationship from adolescence into young adulthood and suggest that the life course transitions of family members influence the father‐child bond.

Diversity and Structure of Intergenerational Relationships: Elderly Parent–Adult Child Relations in Korea

Korean society has undergone a rapid demographic transition that has challenged traditional patterns of family exchanges. The structure and directions of support flows have become more complex as multiple generations coexist. This article examines the complexity of contemporary Korean intergenerational relationships. The study analyzed two different samples to address anticipated differences in perceptions of and attitudes toward relationships between adult children and elderly parents. The researchers used maximum likelihood latent structure analysis to discover the latent patterns of the association among three main subdimensions of intergenerational relationships: geographic proximity, exchange of support, and cultural norms of family support. Results show that the perspectives on intergenerational relationships differ significantly between middle-aged children and elderly parents. Intergenerational relationships among middle-aged adults comprise five distinct patterns: strong reciprocal, strong traditional, intermediate normative, intermediate circumstantial, and weak. The interpretation of intergenerational relationships from the elders' perspectives is more straightforward, with only three patterns: traditional, reciprocal, and weak. Along with significant socioeconomic differences in the prevalent patterns of intergenerational relationships, these results emphasize the complex interplay of contingency and path dependency in diversifying the value and support exchanges of intergenerational relationships.

Feeling Caught Between Parents: Adult Children's Relations With Parents and Subjective Well‐Being

Research on divorce has found that adolescents’ feelings of being caught between parents are linked to internalizing problems and weak parent‐child relationships. The present study estimates the effects of marital discord, as well as divorce, on young adult offspring's feelings of being caught in the middle (N =632). Children with parents in high‐conflict marriages were more likely than other children to feel caught between parents. These feelings were associated with lower subjective well‐being and poorer quality parent‐child relationships. Offspring with divorced parents were no more likely than offspring with continuously married parents in low‐conflict relationships to report feeling caught. Feelings of being caught appeared to fade in the decade following parental divorce. These results suggest that, unlike children of divorce, children with parents in conflicted marriages (who do not divorce) may be unable to escape from their parents’ marital problems—even into adulthood.

Introduction: The Interpersonal Contexts of Teaching, Learning, and Motivation

Ohio State University In recent years, there has been increasing interest in exploring social-contextual factors both within and outside of the classroom. Within a sociocultural framework, “context” has traditionally been defined as the cultural and historical situation one finds oneself in as one engages in a learning process (Wertsch, 1991). This is to include immediate social groups such as dyads, small groups, and broader cultural settings. In this vein, many studies in educational psychology have attempted to define and explore the role of social context as adultchild relationships, peer relationships, cooperative group dynamics, and classroom climate. However, there have been few attempts to integrate findings across multiple “contexts” in order to examine teaching, learning, and developmental outcomes in a complex and dynamic manner. One notable exception is Anderman and Anderman’s (2000; see also Juvonen & Wentzel, 1996) special issue of Educational Psychologist. Since then, educational psychologists have focused more on the awareness of social dynamics in the classroom by increasing research on the role of social contexts in education. Although the issue (Anderman & Anderman, 2000) helped us understand researchers’ need to examine theory in social contexts, our issue goes one step further by presenting new frameworks and empirical studies currently exploring the social contexts of classrooms and schools. For example, researchers across the Educational Psychologist special issue called for explorations of learning and motivation to be more inclusive of the multiple perspectives operating in the classroom and the differing levels of context. Our authors an-

Art Education as a Trap

Art education is often talked about as a general good that will solve problems of every description and meet the most varied current problems. In Finland, for example, art education tends to be seen as something that fosters human growth, teaches aesthetic and ethical values, promotes self‐expression and social skills, and meets the challenges of the media age. Any problems that might emerge stem simply from insufficient resources. Instead of continuing what is, probably, a generally known and shared discussion, we want to ask ourselves and others what are the traps art education might conceal, possibly in part under precisely such rhetoric. Our phenomenological perspective emphasises presence, the importance of the sensory, and an opportunity to seize contemporary art and fleeting moments. Given this, however, we must also ask what is feasible at school in the first place when its activities and everyday practices are considered from the perspective of hierarchical and symbolic exercise of power and in terms of the adult–child relationship. Our aim is to arouse discussion; we are not offering answers.

Barn som relasjonspartnere: Diskurser om det kulturelt adekvate barnet

Parental relationships are to a great extent theoretically naturalised, in psychology as well as in other social sciences. This article aims to analyse parental relationships as culturally and historically situated. The meaning of being a child and a responsible caregiver related to one another are negotiated in everyday life practices in continual care relationships between children and adults. Discourses of children and relationships are cultural tools for the participants of those practices. This paper will focus on adult expectations to children. The analysis is based on an interview study with adults and children living in foster families. In foster families, what is taken for granted in other families, will be more explicit. Thus, it is a strategic area to explore cultural meaning of adultchild relationships. The article elaborate “the discourse of the child with limited responsibility”, “the discourse of the child competent of reciprocity”, and “the discourse of the self constructing child”, discourses that are dynamically related.

Clinical assessment and treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood disorder that frequently persists into adulthood, with significant levels of inattentive, hyperactive and impulsive behavior. Impairments associated with adult ADHD include distress from the symptoms, impaired ability to function in work and academic settings, and problems sustaining stable relationships. The disorder is commonly associated with volatile moods, antisocial behavior, and drug and alcohol misuse. There is an increased risk of developing comorbid anxiety, depression, personality disorders, and drug and alcohol dependence. Despite the proven effectiveness of drugs such as methylphenidate, dexamphetamine and atomoxetine, few cases of ADHD are recognized and treated in the UK. The reasons for this are unclear, since most psychiatrists working with children and adolescents are aware that ADHD commonly persists into adult life and they also see the disorder affecting parents of children with ADHD. Issues of transition from the care of child to adult psychiatry and the need to refer adult relatives of children with ADHD to suitable psychiatric services are a major concern. Furthermore, many cases of adult ADHD go unrecognized or are seen by mental health teams that are not familiar with the subtleties of the adult presentation. As a result, misdiagnosis and treatment for conditions such as atypical depression, mixed affective disorder, cyclothymia, and borderline and unstable emotional personality disorders is not uncommon. There is therefore a requirement for further training in this area. This review will describe the common clinical presentation and provide guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in adults. Any psychiatrically trained physician using standard psychiatric assessment procedures can perform clinical evaluations for adult ADHD. As with other psychiatric disorders in adulthood, ADHD has its own characteristic onset, course and psychopathology. Symptoms of ADHD are trait-like, being stable characteristics from early childhood, and commonly co-occur with affective instability. Stimulants are the mainstay of treatment and are effective in around 70% of cases. Psychotherapeutic interventions also have an important role. These guidelines will assist psychiatrists and other adult mental health workers in identifying and treating individuals with adult ADHD.

Perceptions of early childhood teachers and parents of teacher–parent interactions in an Indian context

The study assessed the nature of parent–teacher interactions of preschool teachers in India with parents of preschool children. Specifically, the impact of teacher training, satisfaction with training and the job, years of experience and class size on the nature of interactions with parents were examined. Perceptions of both parents and teachers were sought. Sixty‐five preschool teachers and 173 parents from an urban city in India comprised the total sample. Results using teacher reports indicated that 32% of the variance was accounted for. Satisfaction with training and the job emerged as significant, while the amount of training, years of experience and class size did not. According to parent reports, 24% of variance was accounted, and where only one variable emerged significant. Amount of training of teachers inversely impacted the nature of teacher–parent interactions. These findings suggested the interplay of specific factors like limited space, finances and cultural notions of teaching/education, and adult–child relations.

Infância e adolescência na sociedade contemporânea: alguns apontamentos

O objetivo deste trabalho é indicar aspectos que configuram a infância e a adolescência na sociedade contemporânea, especificamente no que diz respeito à relação com o adulto. Este estudo foi desenvolvido a partir da revisão de alguns autores em psicologia e demais áreas afins, e pretende contribuir para o aprofundamento do debate sobre este tema. Na sociedade moderna, as crianças e os adolescentes inserem-se em condições sociais específicas que acentuam a sua dependência frente ao adulto. Hoje, no entanto, há uma nova forma de reconhecimento social dessas fases da vida que enfatiza um tratamento igualitário entre adulto, criança e adolescente. O desvelamento desse processo permite caracterizar os contornos que essas etapas do desenvolvimento humano vêm adquirindo atualmente e suas implicações na vida cotidiana.

Missed Opportunities: The Subordination of Children in Philip Pullman?s His Dark Materials

In the His Dark Materials trilogy, Pullman reworks the fall of humanity into an ascent and suggests that ascent into adulthood through sexual experience is the desired goal for children. Although this ascent is accompanied by a radical reconceptualization of life and death, Pullman fails to offer any genuinely new ideas of the world with respect to adult–child relationships and the roles that children play in our society. Situated as it is at the crossroads of children’s literature and fantasy, His Dark Materials fails to take advantage of the freedom these two genres provide and reinforces current conceptions of children and their role in society.

An educational intervention improves developmental progress of young children in a Romanian orphanage.

From 1991 to 1994, a group of Romanian and American colleagues undertook an experimental and humanitarian effort to try to improve the quality of life, mental health, and developmental progress of young children in a Romanian orphanage. In the context of institutional care, we experimentally introduced stable adult-child relationships, small group size, and a protocol of enriched caregiving and educational activities. These procedures were adapted from an intervention in childcare centers in the United States that had been proven effective in reducing intellectual decline in at-risk children. Developmental scores for orphanage children were derived from the Denver II (a revision of the Denver Developmental Screening Test; Frankenburg & Dodds, 1990), which was translated into Romanian and administered as a pre- and posttest to the experimental subjects and comparison groups in the same institution. Mixed models combining both within- and between-subject heterogeneous variance-covariance structures were utilized to analyze the impacts of time, intervention/control group assignment, child sex, child age, and interaction of Group × Time on the developmental scores. For the developmental outcome variables, the effects of group assignment (experimental vs. comparison) were highly significant. There also was a Group × Time interaction effect. We conclude that an educational intervention which includes the addition of resources and training can be initiated and sustained in an orphanage for young children as a way of improving institutional care. ©2005 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

Otherness in me, Otherness in Others

In childhood studies identity and difference are generally framed in the context of adult–child relationships. In this article it is explored how children and youth come to construe self and other in relation to other children and youth. Difference/otherness becomes an important organizing aspect of children’s social practices favouring a new agenda of analysis: that which examines the conditions of children’s constructions of social bonds in the midst of perverse social inequalities and social antagonism. Furthermore, a certain positive ‘value’ of difference is argued for having in view its political underpinnings: difference can be regarded as the result of discursive-material social practices which introduce plurality and diversity in human societies. This point seems to be crucial to the dynamics of social life and to a discussion of social cohesion and social fragmentation.

The Hand that Rocked the Cradle: A Critical Analysis of Rockefeller Philanthropic Funding, 1920-1960

Past research into the mental hygiene movement in Canada and the United States has tended to view it in isolation from co-temporary projects funded by Rockefeller philanthropy, such as mass communications research. The mental hygiene campaign aimed to modify adult-child relations by reducing the influence parents and teachers held over children’s personality development; the central aim of mass communications research was the development of conformity of opinion. One a project of social engineering, the other of social control, the two projects combined appear to have possessed considerable potential to work in concert to shift weight in the socializing matrix from families and schools to the media at the outset of the post-World War II baby boom.

Beyond the Disneyesque

The article describes a case study of children and young people’s participation and the attendant effects on professional practice and child-adult relations. The authors consider the findings under four headings: professional learning, child-adult relations, childhood memories and the spatial dimensions of change. Evidence indicates that adults and children were finding new ways of working and relating and that these processes were inherent in efforts to reconfigure space. The analysis shows how adult and child identification, relations and associated constructions of childhood and adulthood were connected. We argue that changes occurred in and through the shaping of real and imagined places.

Gaps and Reconnections in the Mother–Adult Child Relationship

This article features a therapeutic counseling technique that can be used with clients who struggle with painful relationships with their mothers. Instead of focusing solely on unmet needs, this technique helps clients gain more realistic perceptions of their mothers, with the premise that clearer perceptions will lead to honesty and acceptance. On the basis of Bowen’s theory of intergenerational family therapy, the strategy provides a context and common language for examining mothers’ strengths and shortcomings. In addition to the authors’ “gaps” technique, other family systems strategies to help clients reconnect with their mothers are briefly described. Although the counseling technique is explained in the context of mother-child relationships, it is equally applicable to other important family-oforigin relationships, including fathers and their adult children.

Carnivalizing the Future: A New Approach to Theorizing Childhood and Adulthood in Science Fiction for Young Readers

The comic narrative strategies that Reeve uses in Mortal Engines set it apart from the bulk of deeply serious, starkly pessimistic science fiction for young readers. Sambell illustrates how Reeve eschews the oppressive admonitory tone of the dystopian genre, by playfully and humorously carnivalising the future instead. She argues that this innovative approach allows him to critique and subvert the polluted adult world in a manner that is not at odds with the desire to offer young readers optimistic possibilities within the post-catastrophe novel. A new style of didacticism is achieved, based upon an emancipatory model of child-adult relations.

Parental marital conflict and divorce, parent‐child relationships, social support, and relationship anxiety in young adulthood

AbstractBased on research documenting harmful long‐term consequences of parental conflict and divorce for offspring, relations between recollections of parental conflict, parental divorce, and social outcomes in young adulthood were examined. A total sample of 566 young adults from divorced and intact families completed measures of parental conflict, quality of parent–adult child relationships, anxiety in relationships with others, and perceptions of social support from others. As hypothesized, divorce and conflict had significant independent effects on outcomes in young adulthood. Effects of conflict were uniformly negative for quality of parent‐child relationships, perceived social support from others, and anxiety in personal relationships. Parental divorce was associated with lower quality father‐child relationships, yet divorce was associated with significant positive outcomes for quality of mother‐child relationships, social support, independence facilitated by both parents, and reduced anxiety in relationships. Importantly, these effects occurred regardless of participant sex, parental remarriage, and parental socioeconomic status.

Constructing an understanding of mind with peers

Carpendale & Lewis (C&L) stress the importance of social interaction for social understanding, but focus on the adult-child relationship. In the present commentary, we discuss the development of social understanding within early peer relationships. We argue that peer interaction stretches the limits of early social understanding, thereby providing both unique challenges and unique opportunities for constructing an understanding of others' minds.

Conceptualising risk in relational terms:Associations among the quality of child–adult relationships prior to school entry and children’s developmental outcomes in first grade

Children’s ability to acquire skills necessary for school success, and thus avoid being ‘at risk’, is believed to vary as a function of the regulatory processes provided in the context of adult–child relationships. As adult–child dyads are exposed to greater levels of socio-economic risk, the association between relational risk and child outcomes is hypothesised to grow stronger. Three questions were posed to address this relationship-based conceptualisation of risk and to examine how associations between early adult–child relationships and children’s developmental outcomes at first grade vary as a function of level of socio-economic risk. First, differences in levels of relational risk with mothers and caregivers were examined as a function of socio-economic risk. Second, maternal risk and caregiver risk were associated with children’s acquisition of skills necessary for success at first grade. Finally, the predictive power of risk in the mother–child relationship was compared to that of risk in the caregiver–child relationships. Results indicate that (1) relational risk varies as a function of socioeconomic risk, particularly with regard to risk in the mother–child relationship, (2) indicators of relational risk, particularly maternal risk, are robust predictors of children’s social and academic development, and (3) relational risk is most closely associated with first-grade outcomes among children in poverty. Ways that findings may guide intervention efforts are discussed.

Disposable Mothers, Deployable Children (Review Essay)

This essay reviews Randall Kennedy's Interracial Intimacies (2003), a book that explores African American-white interracial adult-adult relationships and African American- and Native American-white adult-child relationships. For Kennedy, such relationships reflect and promote racial liberty or justice. The paper praises the book for highlighting the arbitrariness and destructiveness of racial classifications, but criticizes it for cloaking in terms of racial liberty what is essentially a conservative narrative about race and poverty that limits socioeconomic and racial mobility. The essay explores how the book fails to take into account fallacies of race neutrality and important distinctions between youth and adults, private and public family law systems, men and women, and adoptive and birth families. The essay first outlines the content and structure of the book and then explores the larger contexts the book ignores. Paying particular attention to Kennedy's portrayal of transracial adoption, the paper shows how his depiction and promotion of such adoption fails to account for the needs and experiences of children, masks institutional racism in, and affecting, the child welfare system, and reflects a white supremacist, patriarchal social agenda that seeks to limit the ability of poor women of color to bear and raise children.