Family Transitions Research Articles

Focused on the Family: Development of a Family-Based Intervention Promoting the Transition to Adult Health Care for Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes

Background/Objectives: There is minimal evidence for current interventions promoting the transition to adult healthcare for youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Few interventions exclusively target modifiable individual and family-based factors that contribute to transition readiness. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of Behavioral Family Systems Therapy for Diabetes Transition (BFST-DT), a virtual family-based transition readiness intervention for adolescents with T1D. Methods: The development of BFST-DT occurred in three phases. In phase 1, focus groups with adolescents and young adults with T1D, their caregivers, and pediatric and adult diabetes providers were conducted to assess perspectives on common family challenges surrounding diabetes management and the transition to adult healthcare. In phase 2, focus group data were used to create video vignettes to be used as part of the intervention. In phase 3, BFST-DT was created through the adaptation of a previous evidence-based family intervention for families of adolescents with T1D. Results: BFST-DT is a virtual, 6-month family-based intervention involving four multi-family group meetings and six individual family meetings. It targets the modifiable and reciprocal interactions among individual and family transition readiness factors. Conclusions: BFST-DT is the first family-focused intervention promoting transition readiness in adolescents with T1D and is currently being tested. Intervention development benefits from prioritization of engagement with patients, caregivers, and providers, as their perspectives are invaluable for creating interventions that are relevant and acceptable to communities.

Participation in medication safety of older-adult patients with chronic disease during the transition from hospital to home: a descriptive qualitative study

BackgroundMedication safety issues occur frequently among older-adult patients with chronic diseases during the transition from the hospital to their homes. Patient participation in medication safety has been found to be an effective measure for improving patient safety. However, few studies have been conducted on the safety of older-adult patients with chronic disease during the hospital to family transition period. This study aimed to understand the experiences and perceptions of such patients regarding participation in medication safety during the hospital to family transition period and to explore the actual situation and obstacles during this period in the Chinese context.MethodsA descriptive, qualitative research approach was adopted using purposive sampling. Eighteen patients with chronic disease (aged 61–84 years) participated, all of whom were in the period of transition from hospital to home. Data were collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews and analysed using directed qualitative content analysis.ResultsFour themes and 12 sub-themes were identified in this study. The four themes were participation in medication decision-making, participation in medication self-management, participation support, and barriers to patient participation.ConclusionsPatient participation is important in ensuring medication safety during the hospital to family transition period. This study highlights that older-adult patients’ participation in medication safety includes three aspects: participation in medication decision-making, participation in medication self-management, and participation support. Health literacy, medical communication, and family care support are the key factors affecting patient participation in medication safety. Effective intervention strategies for this patient group during the transition period would target improving patients’ cognition, health literacy, doctor-prescription communication, and family care support to encourage patients to be more actively involved in the process of drug treatment.

Phase transitions in typical fluorite-type ferroelectrics

While ferroelectric hafnia (HfO2) has become a technically important material for microelectronics, the physical origin of its ferroelectricity remains poorly understood. The tetragonal P42/nmc phase is commonly assigned as its paraelectric mother phase but has no soft mode at the Brillouin zone center. In this work, we propose that the paraelectric—ferroelectric transition in the fluorite-type Pca21 ferroelectric family can be described by a Pcca—Pca21 transition, where the Pcca mother phase will evolve into either the Pca21 ferroelectric phase or the centrosymmetric P21/c monoclinic phase, depending on the strain conditions. The Pcca phase is directly linked to both phases in the context of continuous phase transition. Hafnia is regarded as a special case of this family in that it has accidental atomic degeneracy because all anions are oxygen. The theory is also correlated with the seven-coordination theory that explains the ferroelectricity in hafnia from a chemical perspective. In addition, the strain conditions to promote the ferroelectric phase in hafnia are discussed.

Family transition and older adults: does age still matter?

Purpose In the current scenario, with rapid socioeconomic transformation occurring in all aspects of society, the adversities experienced by older adults have come to the forefront. The lived experiences within joint families are making it harder for the elderly to adjust to the changed familial setup. In such a situation, they undergo many problems which are most often overlooked and considered not worthy of serious attention. Loneliness and isolation are the most crucial and serious issues experienced by the elderly within the nuclear family. After spending a significantly larger part of their lives within large families, with caring people, interdependent, adjusting to the changing familial setup has become hard and strenuous. Moreover, lack of emotional support is yet another major concern of the elderly. As they grow older, care and emotional support become necessary to maintain an effective and active life in old age. However, such emotional support and care that the joint family offered is missing in the changing familial setup. Now, in light of these issues, this paper aims to explore the multidimensional concerns of the elderly (60 years and above) who, on account of familial transitioning from joint to nuclear in Kashmir, are experiencing isolation and other, hard to adjust, life changes. The paper is based on 20 oral narratives conducted, over time, with elderly people undergoing life changes due to family transition from joint to nuclear. The finding of the study revealed that the elderly experience a greater degree of change in their lifestyle due to the family transition from joint to nuclear. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative study that describes the multidimensional concerns of the older adults. The study was conducted in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir using in-depth face-to-face interviews with 20 respondents aged 60 years and above who have witnessed a transition in family from joint to nuclear and have undergone many problems during this transition. Apart from this, two interviews with the sons of older persons were also included in the study to know the status of age in the current situation. After the data was collected from the first 10 respondents, the study witnessed a data saturation, as the same set of results were obtained. Meanwhile, 3 more respondents were included in the study to make sure that no data was left behind; however, again same results were witnessed. This led the investigator to halt the data collection process. Thereafter, the data was then analyzed using Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis technique, which involved familiarizing oneself with the data, looking for themes, validating and refining themes, identifying and labeling themes and finally creating the report. Findings The traditional joint family is undergoing rapid transformation in the current scenario. With a trend toward the nuclearization of families, which resulted in the diminishing status of the elderly, the vulnerabilities of the elderly have come to the forefront (Kumar et al., 2014). The transition of the family from joint to nuclear can be difficult for the elderly as it involves the elderly having to adjust and adapt to a new social milieu, which can be quite complex as it involves major changes in their lifestyle and daily routine. The elderly may also experience difficulty with increased social isolation and reduced family interaction. Such problems may seem insignificant and trivial to the younger ones, but stepping into the shoes of the elderly would help us understand the intensity and vulnerability of such problems. This cultural shift is quickly making changes, in part due to the rise of individualism in modern societies and the existence of a consumerist perspective among the younger generations. Such situations lead to greater alienation and isolation among the elderly from society in general and the members of the family in particular. Originality/value The is an empirical study conducted to know the status of older adults in nuclear families.

Cohort profile: the Dynamics of Family Conflict (FamC) study in Norway

PurposeThe Dynamics of Family Conflict (FamC) prospective cohort study was set up to investigate how and why interparental conflicts and family relations develop over time, and in which contexts which...

Family trajectories among immigrants and their descendants in three European countries: A multistate approach in comparative research

This study investigates partnership changes and childbearing among immigrants and their descendants in the UK, France, and Germany. Our analysis of longitudinal data shows, first, significant diversity in family trajectories among immigrants and their descendants in Europe. Immigrants from other European countries and their descendants tend to cohabit prior to marriage, and their fertility in unions is often similar to that of the native population. In contrast, South Asians and Turkish populations exhibit marriage-centred family behaviour with elevated third-birth rates. Individuals of sub-Saharan African or Caribbean origin display higher rates of non-marital family transitions. Second, we observe some changes in partnership and childbearing patterns across migrant generations; these are stronger for fertility than for partnership patterns. Third, migration background is particularly associated with partnership patterns, whereas the destination country context influences childbearing patterns. We expect some patterns to persist across future migrant generations (e.g. preference for marriage vs cohabitation), whereas others are likely to vanish (e.g. large families).

Inter-generational governance transition in Chinese family businesses: Relational or contractual?

Inter-generational succession in family enterprises influences internal governance models, and their relationship is mediated by the successor's socialization process. Drawing on the enterprise capability theory, the author employed a survey method to examine the relationship between cognitive assets held by family enterprise successors and two governance modes. The findings confirm that tacit knowledge, relational networks, and entrepreneurial spirit among family enterprise successors positively influence their socialization roles, thereby triggering governance adaptation. Specifically, relational governance is continuously strengthened, while contractual governance exhibits an inverted U-shaped trend. Organizational conventions play a positively moderating role in this influencing process. This study extends the application boundaries of enterprise capability theory, deepens the understanding of enterprise cognitive systems, enriches the literature on the relationship between relational and contractual governance, and provides theoretical foundations for inter-generational governance in family enterprises.

Relational turbulence during family transitions: a lifespan perspective and roadmap for future research

ABSTRACT This essay answers recent calls to explore the application of Relational Turbulence Theory (RTT) within family relationships (Knobloch, L. K., Solomon, D. H., Theiss, J. A., & McLaren, R. M. [2018]. Relational turbulence theory: Understanding family communication during times of change. In Engaging theories in family communication [pp. 255–266]. Routledge). Although family relationships are perceived to be contextually distinct from romantic partnerships given the perceived involuntary nature of these relationships, we argue relational turbulence manifests in family members’ relational experiences and communication processes, at multiple levels of family systems, and across various types of family transitions that evoke the experiences of relational uncertainty, interdependence processes, biased cognitions, emotional reactivity, polarizing communication, and relational turbulence among various members of the family system. In this essay, we present a roadmap for research that both integrates existing insights and suggests lines of future inquiry regarding relational turbulence in families.

Families in transition (FIT) study protocol: feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effects of a group-based parent training in parents of youth in psychiatric residential treatment

IntroductionAlthough adolescents make treatment gains in psychiatric residential treatment (RT), they experience significant difficulty adapting to the community and often do not sustain treatment gains long term. Their parents are...

The Evolution of the Phase Space Structure Along Pitchfork and Period-Doubling Bifurcations in a 3D-Galactic Bar Potential

We investigate how the phase space structure of a Three-Dimensional (3D) autonomous Hamiltonian system evolves across a series of successive Two-Dimensional (2D) and 3D pitchfork and period-doubling bifurcations, as the transition of the parent families of Periodic Orbits (POs) from stability to simple instability leads to the creation of new stable POs. Our research illustrates the consecutive alterations in the phase space structure near POs as the stability of the main family of POs changes. This process gives rise to new families of POs within the system, either maintaining the same or exhibiting higher multiplicity compared to their parent families. Tracking such a phase space transformation is challenging in a 3D system. By utilizing the color and rotation technique to visualize the Four-Dimensional (4D) Poincaré surfaces of section of the system, i.e. projecting them onto a 3D subspace and employing color to represent the fourth dimension, we can identify distinct structural patterns. Perturbations of parent and bifurcating stable POs result in the creation of tori characterized by a smooth color variation on their surface. Furthermore, perturbations of simple unstable parent POs beyond the bifurcation point, which lead to the birth of new stable families of POs, result in the formation of figure-8 structures of smooth color variations. These figure-8 formations surround well-shaped tori around the bifurcated stable POs, losing their well-defined forms for energies further away from the bifurcation point. We also observe that even slight perturbations of highly unstable POs create a cloud of mixed color points, which rapidly move away from the location of the PO. Our study introduces, for the first time, a systematic visualization of 4D surfaces of section within the vicinity of higher multiplicity POs. It elucidates how, in these cases, the coexistence of regular and chaotic orbits contributes to shaping the phase space landscape.

"The Children Are Not Controllable Because They Follow Western Values" - Narratives of the Parenting Experiences of African Immigrants in Alberta, Canada.

African immigrants are moving to high-income nations such as Canada in greater numbers in search of a better life. These immigrants frequently struggle with several issues, including limited social support, shifts in gender roles/status, cultural conflicts with their children, and language barriers. We used participatory action research (PAR) to gather data about Sub-Saharan African immigrants residing in Alberta, Canada, with a focus on their viewpoints, difficulties, and experiences of parenting children in Canada. We contextualized our study and its findings using both postcolonial feminism and transnationalism approaches. Study findings show African immigrant parents place a high priority on respect between generations. The absence of assistance, conflicts caused by culture, and language barriers are notable difficulties they encountered in parenting. An additional factor is a lack of acquaintance with and comprehension of the culture of their new home nation. Several implications stem from our findings, including the need for interventional research that explores effective, culturally relevant strategies for enhancing parenting among African immigrants. Our findings demonstrate the need for culturally sensitive policies and practices that support the transition and integration of African immigrant families into Canadian society. It is imperative for health care providers and policy makers to develop and revise culturally appropriate policies that take into consideration the importance of African immigrants in destination countries. Adopting culturally relevant policies and practices will improve the wellbeing of this growing but underprivileged minority of Canadians.

Magma intrusion process during pre-magmatic period (2010−2013) of Sinabung volcano as revealed by seismicity of volcano-tectonic and hybrid earthquakes

Sinabung volcano in Indonesia reactivated, with a series of phreatic eruptions, in August and September 2010. These eruptions were followed by various types of magmatic eruption at the summit, including lava dome growth, pyroclastic density currents, lava flow, and vulcanian eruptions, starting in December 2013. Prior to the magmatic eruptions, Sinabung exhibited two sequences of phreatic eruption and an increase in the seismicity of volcanic earthquakes. This study clarifies the progress of magma intrusion during the pre-magmatic period based on the hypocenter distribution, waveform similarity, seismic moment, rupture length, and stress drop for volcano-tectonic (VT) and hybrid earthquakes. It was found that the hypocenters of VT earthquakes are distributed north and northwest of the summit at a depth range of 1–10 km below sea level. Deep seismicity (4–10 km) alternated with shallow seismicity (2–4 km). The last shallow seismicity, from July to mid-December 2013, was different from previous seismicity in terms of higher intensity, as determined from the seismic moment, a temporary increase in the rupture length, and the migration of hypocenters towards the summit. The seismicity of VT earthquakes was altered by a swarm of hybrid earthquakes in mid-December. The hybrid earthquakes were smaller, in terms of seismic moment (mostly <3 × 1010 Nm), than the VT earthquakes. Their hypocenters were concentrated in the shallowest depth range (−0.5 to 1.5 km below sea level) directly below the summit, their source process was repeatable (they could be grouped into six earthquake families), their dominant peak was in a low-frequency range (2.5–4.5 Hz), and they had a relatively low stress drop (<0.15 MPa). This suggests that the swarm of hybrid earthquakes was induced by a frequent repeated fracture of fluid-filled cracks due to the intrusion of magma up to directly below the summit. The transition of the earthquake family and the change in its source parameters, namely an increase in the stress drop prior to the appearance of a lava dome and then a slight decrease, may reflect a gradual change in internal pressure in the hypocentral zone through the magma intrusion process.

Does Family Structure Account for Child Achievement Gaps by Parental Education? Findings for England, France, Germany and the United States

AbstractThis paper explores the role of family trajectories during childhood in explaining inequalities by maternal education in children's math and reading skills using harmonized, longitudinal, and nationally representative surveys, which follow children over the course of primary and lower secondary school in four high‐income countries (England, France, Germany, and the United States). As single parenthood and family transitions are more likely among less educated parents and are associated with fewer resources for children, we explore whether growing up outside a stable two‐parent family mediates educational inequalities in math and reading scores.Results show a strong educational gradient in family trajectories in the four countries, but this varies by child age and by country. Children who experience a family transition record lower test scores, although the magnitude differs by the type of postseparation arrangements.Overall, family trajectories are strongly associated with children's math and reading scores but, because of the importance of selectivity in family trajectories, they play only a modest role in explaining the skills gaps by maternal education, considerably less than determinants such as income. The penalties associated with not living within a stable two‐parent family are always larger in the United States and England than in France and Germany.

“I Don’t Want to be a Girl. I Am a Girl!” Experiences Before, During and After Transition in Families with Trans Children and Adolescents

Families often have little knowledge and skills to support their trans children. Therefore, our aim was to learn more about the experiences of parents of trans children and adolescents and how the transition process is experienced. Using a qualitative approach, we analyzed 22 life stories written by parents of trans children and adolescents. The data were analyzed with MAXQDA. Three key periods were considered: (1) before, (2) during, and (3) after social transition. The themes most frequently reported by parents were: children’s not expected gender expressions and negative attitudes and feelings, and parents’ negative feelings, denial and repression attitudes, confussion and search of information, before transition; children’s explicit disclosure, name selection and more positive attitudes, followed by parental understanding, acceptance and support, during transition; and both parents’ and children’s positive attitudes and feelings, as well as concern about pubertal development and expectations and fears about the future, after transition. In general, the stories reflect children’s negative emotions before social transition and parents’ doubts and lack of knowledge, which were followed by acceptance and more positive emotions once the social transition had taken place. Concerns and problems were reported by most of the families throughout the three time periods. Our findings emphasize the need to facilitate social transition and to design specific approaches to better support transitioning children and adolescents, and their families.

Gathering voices and experiences of Australian military families: Developing family support resources

LAY SUMMARY Research has often overlooked the voices of children from Australian Defence Force families. Past research on how young children experience military family life relied heavily on parents’ perspectives alone, leaving children’s voices unheard. In this study, 19 young children were recognized as competent communicators and experts in their own lives while also valuing the insights of their parents and early childhood educators. Children’s unique perspectives, knowledge, and experiences were collected through shared stories, chats, observation, photographs, reflection, and the creative arts. The study found children of deployed parents experienced physical, social, emotional, and cognitive responses and difficulty with frequent relocations and family transitions, often related to parental deployment and training episodes. Risk and protective factors, and a shortage of resources that cater to their age and cultural backgrounds to support children in making sense of their experiences, were discovered. The authors co-created free online research-based resources to address this gap and build children’s strengths.

Designing eHealth interventions for children with complex care needs requires continuous stakeholder collaboration and co-creation

ObjectiveHospital-to-home (H2H) transitions challenge families of children with medical complexity (CMC) and healthcare professionals (HCP). This study aimed to gain deeper insights into the H2H transition process and to work towards eHealth interventions for its improvement, by applying an iterative methodology involving both CMC families and HCP as end-users. MethodsFor 20-weeks, the Dutch Transitional Care Unit consortium collaborated with the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, HCP, and CMC families. The agile SCREAM approach was used, merging Design Thinking methods into five iterative sprints to stimulate creativity, ideation, and design. Continuous communication allowed rapid adaptation to new information and the refinement of solutions for subsequent sprints. ResultsThis iterative process revealed three domains of care – care coordination, social wellbeing, and emotional support – that were important to all stakeholders. These domains informed the development of our final prototype, ‘Our Care Team’, an application tailored to meet the H2H transition needs for CMC families and HCP. ConclusionComplex processes like the H2H transition for CMC families require adaptive interventions that empower all stakeholders in their respective roles, to promote transitional care that is anticipatory, rather than reactive. InnovationA collaborative methodology is needed, that optimizes existing resources and knowledge, fosters innovation through collaboration while using creative digital design principles. This way, we might be able to design eHealth solutions with end-users, not just for them.

Family structure transitions and educational outcomes: Explaining heterogeneity by parental education in Germany

Recent research has documented that the effect of parental separation on children’s educational outcomes depends on socioeconomic background. Yet, parental separation could lead to a stable single-parent family or to a further transition to a stepfamily. Little is known about how the effect of family structure transitions on educational outcomes depends on the education of parents and stepparents, and there has been limited empirical research into the mechanisms that explain heterogeneity in the effects of family transitions. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and models with entropy balancing and sibling fixed effects, I explore the heterogeneous effects of family transitions during early and middle childhood on academic secondary school track attendance, grades and aspirations. I find that family transitions only reduce the academic school track attendance among children of less educated parents living in stepfamilies or with a single mother after parental separation, and among children of highly educated fathers living in single-mother families. The mechanisms that partly explain these effects relate to reduced income and exposure to poverty after parental separation. The findings underscore the importance of considering the stepparent's educational level, indicating that the adverse consequences of parental separation on educational outcomes are mitigated when a highly educated stepfather becomes part of the family. Overall, these findings align more closely with the resource perspective than the family stability perspective.

Negotiating Work-Family Transitions: Reverse Family Migration among Second-Generation Hong Kong Mothers

ABSTRACT Gendered and generational understandings of circular migration are scant in studies of Chinese family migration. Filling this gap, this paper draws on in-depth interviews with twenty-six returnee families to examine the work–family transitions of previously employed, overseas-educated mothers who have re-migrated from Hong Kong to Canada, Australia, the United States, or the United Kingdom. These overseas-educated returnee mothers possess transnational backgrounds that differentiate them from most first-generation immigrant mothers. This paper shows that, despite this distinction, reverse migration leads to compromised careers and domestication for these women, although they accept, and in some cases embrace, such compromises. This study elucidates how both husbands and wives in these families justify women’s post-migration changes in their work and caregiving roles. It argues that beyond economic rationalization, interrelated gender, cultural, transnational, and family lifestyle dimensions distinctively impact how second-generation returnee mothers negotiate work–family transitions. This paper offers new insights involving generational and gendered dimensions into the study of Chinese family migration. It also widens the discussion of the impact of family migration on skilled immigrant women in transnational circuits beyond its focus on the lives of first-generation skilled immigrant women.

Education systems as life course policies? The example of subnational educational regimes and young adults’ family transitions

Abstract This study investigates the role of subnational educational opportunities for three typical transitions in young adulthood: 1) leaving the parental home, 2) starting to cohabit and 3) becoming a parent. Educational opportunities shape young adults’ life courses as they facilitate the accumulation of human capital, labour market entry and financial independence. Education systems and opportunities are part of transition regimes shaped by the specific cultural, economic and policy characteristics of a (subnational) context, and are thus likely to affect moving out and family formation. Drawing on the example of Switzerland with its large cantonal variation in educational opportunities, we use longitudinal data from the TREE panel study to follow a cohort of young adults born in the mid-1980s from ages 16 to 29. Event history models show that larger shares of young people in vocational education at a cantonal level are associated with earlier moving out and parenthood, but later partnership formation. The influence of vocational opportunities is moderated by the presence of a university in the canton.

The influence of sibling relationship quality on emotional distress from adolescence to early midlife.

This study examines continuity and change in sibling relationship quality (warmth and hostility) from adolescence to adulthood, as well as how changes in sibling relationship quality across developmental stages are associated with early midlife emotional distress. Data come from the Family Transitions Project, a two-decade longitudinal study of youth and their families followed from adolescence to adulthood. The present study included target adolescent self-report data on warmth and hostility toward and received from their sibling over ten data points from ages 15 to 31. Target to sibling warmth decreased from ages 23 to 31, whereas sibling to target warmth increased in emerging adulthood and then decreased into adulthood. Both sibling to target and target to sibling hostility decreased in adolescence and emerging adulthood and then remained low and stable from emerging adulthood to adulthood. Target to sibling warmth at age 23 predicted lower levels of anxiety at age 41. Sibling to target warmth at age 23 also predicted lower levels of depressive symptoms. Target to sibling hostility at age 23 predicted anxiety and hostility in middle adulthood, whereas sibling to target hostility at age 23 predicted anxiety, depressive symptoms, and hostility. In addition, a slower decline in sibling to target hostility from ages 15 to 19 was associated with higher levels of anxiety at age 41. This study is one of the first to examine the quality of sibling relationships across developmental stages and exemplifies how relationship quality between siblings from adolescence to young adulthood can influence emotional distress into early midlife. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).