Adult-child Relationships Research Articles

Love and agency in ethnographic fieldwork with children

Analysing emotions such as love can enable new ways of understanding human relationships and deepen reflexive ethnographic practice. Love in research with children, however, carries a unique set of implications due to children’s structural vulnerability, the power imbalances and abuses that manifest in many adult-child relationships, and cultural taboos on love expressed between adults and children. Yet, the ability to elicit love and affective care from adults is an essential component of children’s survival, and children actively coproduce relationships, making researchers into whom they need them to be. How, then, can we approach love in fieldwork with children? Drawing from fieldwork experiences at a New Zealand primary school with participants aged 8-12, I analyse how children recruited me into their survival systems by cultivating love and associated processes of empathy, care, and attachment. I suggest that ethical fieldwork with children means attending to how we feel and respond to love.

Raising children: Discussing and practicing modern/colonial family education in Colombia

This paper focuses on how a colonial logic shaped ideas and practices about childhood in the modern/colonial interplay between family members, knowledge, activities, and goods that combined difference, structural subordination, and modern adult-child relations in Colombia. Based on a local magazine directed by elite women, it refers to the cultural mechanism that merged northern and central perspectives with the regional and national modern/colonial horizon of family, public and private sex roles, children, and the broader framework of modernization between 1926 and 1940.

Psychological Features of the Relationship of Adults to their Parents

The article deals with the problem of the relationship of adult children to their parents. The study consisted of two parts. The purpose of the first part was to obtain the most complete picture of the possible aspects of the relationship of adult children to their parents without taking into account the prevailing options. The research method was a series of slightly structured interviews. With the help of a qualitative analysis of the conducted slightly structured interviews, generalized categories describing different aspects of the relationship of adult children to their parents are identified. Based on the data obtained, a questionnaire was compiled, which was used in the second part of the study. The questionnaire was filled out by 146 respondents. The results were analyzed using factor analysis. There are 8 factors that characterize the subjective perceptions of adult children about their attitude to their parents: the relationship of love and a sense of comfort; caring with problems of compliance with parental expectations; insults and claims; criticism; emphasizing the importance of relationships with grandparents; custody is down to parents; emotional dependence with separation problems, as well as the perception of parents as a model and a model. The novelty of this study was the development of a questionnaire using the method of a slightly structured interview, which made it possible to identify a number of significant aspects of these relationships when considering the relationship of adult children to their parents

Beyond Parenting Socialization Years: The Relationship between Parenting Dimensions and Grandparenting Functioning.

Parental socialization has been studied mainly when is in process, but less is known about its long-term impact on older adults, particularly on one of the most important developmental tasks in later life: being a grandparent. Participants were 313 Spanish grandparents. The present study examined the relationship between parenting and its impacts in the long term, when the child is a grandparent. The variables examined were parenting (parental warmth and parental strictness) and grandparenting functioning (satisfaction with life, meaning of life, parent–adult child relationship quality, emotional closeness with grandchildren, and role overload). The statistical analyses were a correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analyses. A constant pattern between parenting and grandparenting functioning has been found. Warmth was positively associated with grandparenting functioning, as opposed to strictness, which did not show benefits for grandparents and even showed a significant negative relationship with an indicator of grandparenting functioning. Present findings highlight that, during the socialization years, greater parental warmth but not parental strictness might be of benefit for children at the end of their life (i.e., when they are grandparents) but also for their descendants because they have a better relationship with the two following generations (i.e., adult children and grandchildren).

'n Onwaarskynlike onderneming: 'n Ondersoek na die kritiek op fundamentele pedagogiek

Hierdie artikel begin met 'n kort skets van my professionele oorgang as natuurwetenskaplike na dié van 'n fenomenologiese navorser in Opvoedkunde, aanvanklik in Opvoedkundige Sielkunde, soos geïnspireer deur die fenomenologiese navorsing deur die Fakulteit Opvoedkunde by die Universiteit van Pretoria. Ek was geïnteresseerd toe ek 'n verwoestende kritiek oor hierdie studies gelees het, wat geensins ooreengestem het met my eie begrip van die vakgebied nie. Dit het my gelei om die redes vir hierdie teenstrydighede te ondersoek, wat dan die hoofargument van hierdie artikel is. Die fenomenologiese metode wat in Pretoria gebruik word, word aanvanklik kortliks uiteengesit, veral die belangrikheid van die fenomenologiese reduksie (bracketing) om hierdie vraag te probeer beantwoord. Hierna bied ek my begrip van die fundamentele pedagogiek aan en die aspekte daarvan wat ek verdedig. Dan beskou ek in detail enkele bewerings van Suransky-Dekker (1998) oor die verband tussen Langeveld se pedagogiek en fundamentele pedagogiek in die konteks van apartheidsonderwys. Ten slotte oorweeg ek 'n paar van haar spesifieke aansprake oor fundamentele pedagogiek noukeurig om die moontlikheid aan te toon dat die verskil in die begrip of interpretasie van die betekenis van fundamentele pedagogiek moontlik kan verband hou met die feit dat fenomenologiese reduksie (bracketing) van krag is, al dan nie.

The quality of relationships with adult children and depressive symptoms among grandparents

Objectives: The present study aims to identify distinct types of relationships between grandparents and their adult children, measure the associations between these relationship types and depressive symptoms among grandparents, and determine whether these associations vary by grandparent status. Method: This study uses data from a sample of 1,196 grandparents age 51 and older from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study. Latent class analysis (LCA) is applied and identifies types of grandparent–adult children relationships. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models are used to estimate the association between relationship types and depressive symptoms by grandparent status. Results: LCA identified four grandparent-adult children relationship types: amicable, ambivalent, detached, and disharmonious. Custodial and co-parenting grandparents were most likely to report having an ambivalent relationship with their adult children. Among co-parenting and custodial grandparents, disharmonious relationships were associated with more depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Interventions are suggested to improve emotional relationships with adult children and dyadic family relationships among grandparent families.

How Parental Confirmation Is Associated with Family Quality: Applying the Theory of Resilience and Relational Load to Parent-Young Adult Child Relationships

Utilizing confirmation theory and the theory of resilience and relational load (TRRL), this study evaluated mediators of the association between parental confirmation behaviors and young adults’ perceptions of family quality. Young adults (N = 273) were surveyed about their family of origin. Resilience and relational load served as significant mediators. This pattern was qualified by resilience also functioning as a moderator; young adults high in resilience can benefit directly from parental confirmation whereas those low in resilience can experience greater family quality due to diminished relational load. Results extend confirmation theory by identifying TRRL processes that can partially account for parent-child confirmation.

Preschool children’s social competence: the roles of parent–child, parent–parent, and teacher–child relationships

ABSTRACT Children’s relationships with adults (e.g. parents and teachers) and within-family relationships (e.g. parent–parent) are important drivers for the development of children’s social competence. The current study examined the contributions of adult–child relationships (parent–child and teacher–child) and parent–parent relationships to preschool children’s social competence. In addition, the moderating roles of teacher–child relationships between parent–child and parent–parent relationships, and children’s social competence were examined. Participants were parents and teachers of 127 children (M = 54.65, SD = 9.22 months) from Turkey. Parents reported on parent–child and parent–parent relationships and teachers reported on teacher–child relationships and children’s social competence. Hierarchical regression models accounting for the nesting structure of the data were run to test the hypotheses. Results showed that teacher–child closeness was positively and teacher–child conflict was negatively associated with children’s social competence. Parent–child and parent–parent relationships were not associated with children’s social competence. Teacher–child closeness moderated the association between parent–parent conflict and social competence. The findings highlight the importance of examining both parent–parent and teacher–child relationships in the prediction of children’s social competence.

Instrumental support exchanges among kin and non-kin in light of personal configurations

AbstractAs exchanges of instrumental support between kin and non-kin remain essential to buffer the impact of critical life events, we consider the characteristics of personal configurations that may enhance or hinder them. Personal configurations vary in terms of their composition and two aspects of their structure: density and centrality. These dimensions are investigated to uncover whether they influence the type of instrumental support being exchanged (financial, material, and care) and the likelihood of their being reciprocal. Drawing on a representative sample of individuals living in Switzerland, results show that overall instrumental support is present in all personal configurations irrespective of their composition, but financial support is more prevalent in configurations based on parent–adult child relationships. Furthermore, configuration structures characterized by density of emotional support are positively associated with giving care support and with reciprocity, while those characterized by density of conflict are associated with giving less instrumental support overall.

Facilitating practices to support children's self-regulation in classrooms: a scoping review protocol.

The objective of this scoping review is to describe practices for supporting children's self-regulation in the classroom. Self-regulation is an integral component of children's well-being and learning in the classroom. Self-regulation is a broad concept that encompasses behavioral, emotional, cognitive, or sensory regulation processes. Children often struggle to self-regulate in class and teachers have difficulty supporting them, which affects children's participation and academic achievement, as well as teachers' self-efficacy and well-being. This review will consider studies that include mainstream primary school children regardless of diagnosis or disability, classroom teachers, and allied health professionals who provide services in mainstream public or private school settings. Self-regulation support practices may include pedagogical, classroom- or curriculum-based practices, environmental modifications, class-management strategies, adult-child relationships, and trauma-informed classroom practices. The review will be conducted using the JBI three-step search strategy. The databases to be searched include MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, CINAHL, OTSeeker, and ERIC. Documents from 2010 to the present in English will be included. Data will be extracted and charted by two reviewers using a data extraction tool based on JBI recommendations. Study findings will be presented in tabular or diagrammatic format that aligns with the objective, and a narrative summary will be provided.

Patterns and Processes of Intergenerational Estrangement: A Qualitative Study of Mother-Adult Child Relationships Across Time.

Drawing from the life course perspective, we explored patterns of estrangement between mothers and their adult children across time, and the processes through which these ties remained estranged, or moved in or out of estrangement. We used a prospective design in which data were collected in face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 61 older mothers about their relationships with their 274 adult children at two time points 7 years apart. We began by examining the patterns of stability and change in intergenerational estrangement and identified movement in and out of estrangement across time. Qualitative analyses of the processes underlying estrangement revealed that movement in and out of estrangement reflected nuanced changes in contact and closeness over time rather than abrupt changes resulting from recent transitions in either mothers' or children's lives. Taken together, these findings illustrate the complexity of patterns and processes of intergenerational estrangement in later-life families.

Художественно-философское осмысление детства в рассказах Алима Теппеева о войне и выселении

The paper aims to reveal specificity of artistic and philosophical interpretation of the childhood theme in Alim Teppeev’s stories about the Great Patriotic War and deportation. Scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that the childhood phenomenon is for the first time examined by the material of the Balkarian classic’s creative work, taking into account social, historical, ethno-national factors. The conducted research allows identifying peculiarities of the child’s world vision under the war and deportation conditions. The researcher tackles a wide range of moral and ethical issues (child’s spiritual evolution, intergenerational continuity, nature of child-adult relations), which makes it possible to reveal philosophical, social, psychological aspects of human existence.

The Roles of Gray Divorce and Subsequent Repartnering for Parent-Adult Child Relationships.

Divorce is now widespread in later life, yet little is known about how older adults and their adult children respond in the aftermath of gray divorce. Guided by the life course perspective, this study examines the consequences of gray divorce and subsequent repartnering for parent-adult child relationships from the parent's perspective. Using longitudinal data from the 1998-2014 Health and Retirement Study in the United States, we estimated growth curve models to compare fathers' and mothers' frequent contact with and financial support to their adult children prior to, during, and following gray divorce. Gray divorce and repartnering had disparate effects on father- versus mother-adult child relationships. Following a divorce, fathers' frequent contact with their adult children decreased but financial support to their adult children increased. Fathers' repartnering had an enduring negative effect on frequent contact with their children. Gray divorce did not alter mothers' financial support to adult children and it actually increased interaction between mothers and adult children as the odds of frequent contact doubled upon divorce. Repartnering had no appreciable effects on mothers' relationships with their adult children. The results of our study are consistent with prior research showing that divorce creates a matrifocal tilt in our kinship system. The shifting dynamics of parent-adult child relationships in response to gray divorce and repartnering raise questions about whether gray-divorced parents will be able to rely on their adult children for care as they age.

Feeling Informed Versus Being Informed: Mixed-Methods Analysis of Family Perceptions and Behavior Following a Pediatric Emergency Department Visit

PurposeTo examine perceptions of family-centered care, satisfaction, and quality of communication with health professionals during a pediatric emergency department visit, and to evaluate the perceived usefulness of the information received and whether provider treatment recommendations were followed after discharge. DesignEmbedded mixed methods design with two concurrent phases. Participants in phase 1 were 385 adult relatives of children (age 6 days-17 years, mean 5.0 years, SD 4.5) seen in a pediatric emergency department. On the day of the visit, relatives completed questionnaires exploring perceptions of family-centered care, satisfaction (CSQ-8), and quality of communication with professionals (ad hoc instrument). For phase 2, we conducted daily structured telephone interviews with 37 of these parents over the six consecutive days following the emergency visit. ResultsSatisfaction with the visit was significantly related to the perception of family-centered care (B = 0.25; 95% CI [0.20, 0.29]; p < .001). Follow-up interviews revealed that 45.9% (n = 17) of families did not follow the prescribed treatment and 32.4% (n = 12) made a further appointment with their primary care pediatrician. Qualitative analysis suggested that families lacked certain information from care providers. ConclusionsElements of a family-centered approach were rated positively and families believed that the information they received was useful. Importantly, more than half of the families who were followed up by telephone had doubts about provider treatment recommendations. Practice implicationsFamily-centered care in the pediatric emergency department could enhance communication and help to ensure that treatment recommendations are followed at home.

조부모의 양육효능감이 양육스트레스에 미치는 영향 - 성인 자녀관계의 매개효과를 중심으로 -

본 연구는 조부모의 양육효능감이 양육스트레스에 미치는 영향에서 성인 자녀와의 관계가 가지는 매개효과를 검증하는데 그 목적이 있다. 연구대상은 부산에 소재한 현재 손자녀를 돌보고 있는 조부모 120명이었으며, SPSS 23.0을 사용하여 데이터를 분석하였다. 수집된 자료는 Pearson의 상관분석과 Baron and Kenny(1986)의 매개 회귀분석 3단계를 사용하여 분석하였다. 연구결과는 첫째, 주요 변인들의 상관관계를 분석한 결과 조부모의 양육효능감과 성인 자녀관계 간에는 정적 상관을, 성인 자녀관계와 양육스트레스 간에는 부적 상관을 나타냈다. 둘째, 조부모의 양육효능감이 양육스트레스에 미치는 영향에서 성인 자녀 관계의 매개효과를 살펴본 결과, 성인 자녀와의 관계는 조부모의 양육효능감이 양육스트레스에 미치는 영향에서 부분 매개 효과를 가지는 것으로 나타났다. 이는 손자녀를 돌보는 조부모의 양육효능감에 대한 지원과 성인 자녀와의 관계에 대한 상담지원, 조부모 교육 등의 프로그램 개발에 필요한 기초적인 자료를 제공한다.

Child psychopathology and power abuse in selected classics of Nigerian children’s fiction

The classics of Nigerian children’s novels identify various sources of child psychopathology. This article focalises the adult role in the etiology of child psychopathology. Viewed from the critical lens of postcolonialism as enunciated by Edward Said, the article avers that the abuse of power by adults is a major cause of psychopathology in children. And from textual exhibits, it proves that child psychopathology may be remediated through a reorientation and conscientisation of the adult on the centrality of the child. This is achieved through a juxtaposition of the ideal and the flawed in the adult-child relationship.

Недетское чтение: маркеры «взрослой» фантастики в творчестве С. Лукьяненко

New forms of science fiction had emerged in several post-Soviet countries in years 1990–2000. New science fiction inherits and transforms traditions and conventions of Soviet “science fiction” (nauchnaya fantastica). The emergence of market relations in the “field of literature” provoked an identity crisis, also initiating various attempts to redefine the boundaries between science fiction and previously closely related discourses, including children’s literature. This article, using several works by S. Lukyanenko as an example, examines how this rhetorical strategy has been implemented within science fiction texts. At the level of motifs and themes, references to sexuality and violence (especially in child-adult relations), tabooed in children’s literature, play a significant part in categorizing Lukyanenko’s novels as adult literature. In the system of typical of SF generic conventions this presents the depicted world as the harsh reality, thus creating a realistic effect. Markers of the second type point to historical dimensions of the fictional world, and this technique invokes conventions of “serious” (i.e. adult) speculative fiction. Also the references to iconic science fiction texts show that the novels are intended for adults and not for children. In conclusion the article raises the issue of children’s literature as being a specific construct and being the neglected Other within science fiction.

Il canto nelle cure primarie pediatriche

Singing is one of the most used forms of language for the child and is present in all cultures. The musicality at the base of singing causes measurable biological responses in the singing adult and in the listening child. This article summarizes the most recent scientific evidence on the effects of adult singing (parent or caregiver) during the first years of life of a child. Singing reduces stress, promotes adult-child relationship and the child’s attention skills. Finally, the knowledge of singing’s positive effects emphasizes the importance of this knowledge for the pediatrician in informing families of this useful practice for supporting child development.

A Child is a Human Being Now. Responsible Parenthood in the Light of Janusz Korczak’s Pedagogy

The author extracts from the Humanae Vitae encylical the thread of responsible parenthood. He asks about the situation of a child in family half a century after the publication of the papal document. He points towards a number of threats and disruptions in the adult-child relations, which result from an improper understanding of who a child is from the philosophical perspective. He opts for a development of philosophical reflection on a child and enriching it with new aspects. He reaches out for inspiration to the works by Janusz Korczak, which present an outline of the original philosophy of a child. What deserves particular recognition is the perception of a child as a “a project of a future man,” and not as a full-valued person who deserves appreciation of the contemporary ontic and social status. In the conclusion the author develops and clarifies Korczak’s controversial postulate of the “children’s right to death,” giving it a contemporary interpretation.

Teachers, afterschool program staff, and mothers: Relationships with key adults and children’s adjustment in early elementary school

According to bioecological theory, children’s experiences in one developmental setting are meaningful for their adjustment in other settings. In the current study, the quality of children’s relationships with classroom teachers, afterschool program staff, and mothers in 1st grade (n = 137) were examined in relation to their academic, social-emotional, and behavioral adjustment at school in 2nd grade. Closeness and conflict varied across these three adult-child relationships. Our hypotheses were partially supported such that higher teacher-child conflict in 1st grade related to poorer work habits and cooperation in 2nd grade. More conflict with afterschool staff in 1st grade was associated with lower social self-control and more externalizing behaviors at school in 2nd grade. Closeness was not related to children’s adjustment in 2nd grade. These findings highlight the potential negative implications of conflictual relationships with teachers and afterschool staff for children’s school adjustment.