Favorable Parent Research Articles

Relationship between Parenting Style and Peer Relationships during Early Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Parental Mentalizing

Although previous research has suggested that parenting style affects children’s peer relationships, the influential mechanism remains a subject of debate. We propose that parental mentalizing plays a crucial role in parenting style and peer relationships. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the relationships between family parenting styles, parental mentalizing, and peer relationships during early adolescence. In this study, 379 primary school students (Mean age = 12.17 years, SD = 0.92) and their parents were assessed using the Family Parenting Style Scale, Peer Relationship Satisfaction Scale, and a distorted mentalizing task. The results showed a mediating effect of parental mentalizing between parenting style and peer relationships. For fathers, a favorable parenting style affects children’s peer relationships through mentalizing. Among mothers, interference, protection, and punishment affect their children’s peer relationships through mentalizing. In conclusion, parenting style affects peer relationships through parental mentalizing. Fathers’/mothers’ parenting style and parental mentalizing affect their children’s peer relationships differently.

Relationships between Parenting Style and Children’s Self-Efficacy: A Systematic Review

It is crucial to identify parenting techniques that are suitable for the present-day environment to promote the optimal mental well-being of children. Following a PRISMA method, this study conducted a systematic review of the relationships between parenting style and children’s self-efficacy. A total of 32 journal articles published on Scopus and Web of Science in the last five years were included in the review. The synthesis indicated that while an authoritative parenting style often generates good results, parents’ permissiveness nowadays can be beneficial to offspring’s growth of self-efficacy. Combined with the analysis of different dimensions of parenting style, this study concluded that a warm-based parenting style is favorable parenting for developing children’s self-efficacy, no matter the children’s age, cultural contexts, and types of self-efficacy. This study not only highlights the gaps in existing research and offers guidance for future study in the field, but also provides practical implications for contemporary family education. Parents and educators can gain valuable insights to implement effective parenting strategies and create a supportive atmosphere that is consistent between home and school.

Predicting Satisfaction with Money Management and Life Satisfaction in Parents of Emerging Adult Students

AbstractMany parents cope with the prolonged financial dependence of their emerging adult children and problems arising from sharing a household, which may challenge parental satisfaction with money management (SMM) and life satisfaction (LS). We created and tested a conceptual model of potential pathways to parental SMM and LS. Data were collected in a sample of 482 student–parent pairs via an online survey that included adjusted questionnaires on financial functioning (Shim et al., Journal of Youth and Adolescence 39:1457–1470, 2010) and Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., Journal of Personality Assessment 49:71–75, 1985). Relying on the model of financial satisfaction from the student perspective (Sirsch et al., Emerging Adulthood 8:509–520, 2020), we proposed pathways of the family SES, financial parenting (explicit teaching and financial behavior; parent report; 22.8% fathers), and parent–child financial relationships (student report; Mage = 19.94; 45.2% males) to parental SMM and LS. We also anticipated intermediate relations of financial parenting with the students' self-reported financial learning outcomes (cognitive and behavioral/relational). The SES, proactive parental financial behavior, and favorable parent–child financial relationships predicted parental SMM and LS. Financial parenting was linked to the student's positive financial learning outcomes, but only financial knowledge further influenced the financial relationship with their parents. The findings suggest the benefits of successful parental financial socialization for both the offspring's finance-related outcomes and their parents' satisfaction.

Effects of parenting styles on adult personality traits, depressive trait, and brain structure

This study explored the complex triangular relationships between parenting styles, personality traits, and depressive trait in Chinese Han adults (N = 490; Mean age=24.25; 51.0% women), and examined the relationship between parenting styles and brain structure. The data indicated that depressive trait in adulthood were negatively correlated with a favorable parenting style (emotional warmth) and positively correlated with undesirable parenting styles (punishment, rejection, and overprotection/over-intervention). Additionally, depressive trait in adulthood were positively related to neuroticism and psychoticism, and negatively related to extraversion. Using a multiple parallel mediation analysis, we found that neuroticism could be worsened by undesirable parenting styles and ameliorated by favorable parenting styles, and it further mediated the relationship between parenting styles and depressive trait across all models. Psychoticism played a similar role in two models: 1) parental punishment and depressive trait and 2) parental rejection and depressive trait. Extraversion played a mediating role between the father’s overprotection and depressive trait. Subgroup analysis showed that different mediating pathways existed between different sexes. In terms of brain structure, we found that gray matter volume of the right inferior frontal gyrus was negatively related to overprotection by the father and positively related to psychoticism. Our findings highlight the importance of parenting style on personality traits, depressive trait, and brain structure over the long term.

Связь стилей родительского воспитания c учебной мотивацией и эмоциональным состоянием подростков в условиях цифровизации

Background. The emotional state, the length of screen time and the level of educational motivation of schoolchildren are often a matter of concern for many parents. The study examines the relationship between educational motivation, the level of anger, and parenting styles from the adolescents’ point of view. Objectives. Identification and description of the specific interrelations between various aspects of parenting and the teenagers' motivation and anger in the context of global digitalization. Study Participants. The study involved 265 people (54% — female). The average age of the respondents was 13.8 years (M = 13.8, Me = 14, SD = 1.62). Methods. To study parenting styles, teenagers filled out the ad hoc questionnaire “Adolescents about parents”. The motivational and emotional components of the adolescents’ personality were examined by means of Andreeva & Prikhozhan’ questionnaire “Motivation of learning and emotional attitude to learning”. The level of digital engagement of adolescents was assessed on the basis of daily statistics of the average time spent using a mobile phone. Statistical analysis was performed using the general linear model (GLM) method in the Jamovi 2.3.16.0 program. Results. According to the results of the GLM model, the adolescents’ achievement motivation is negatively related to their average screen time. The level of educational motivation of adolescents is positively associated with the positive interest and autonomy provided by their parents. The teenagers’ level of anger is positively associated with directiveness, hostility and inconsistency of parents. According to the Wilcoxon test results, parenting styles such as directiveness, hostility and autonomy are more pronounced in fathers than in mothers. Conclusions. The most favorable parenting style for achieving high academic motivation and reducing the level of anger in adolescents is a pronounced positive interest and autonomy provided by parents along with a low level of directiveness, hostility and inconsistency. Achievement motivation has a negative relationship with the length of teenagers' screen time.

The Val158Met Polymorphism in 8-Year-Old Boys and Girls Moderates the Influence of Parenting Styles on Proactive Aggression: Testing the Sensitivity to the Environment.

The aim of the study was to explore the possible vulnerability (diathesis-stress), susceptibility (differential susceptibility), or vantage (vantage sensitivity) properties of COMT gen Val158Met polymorphism to adverse and favorable parenting styles from both parents in relation to children's reactive and proactive aggressive behavior. Within 279 eight-year-old children (125 girls and 154 boys) from Spain, reactive and proactive aggressive behavior was measured through the "Reactive and Proactive Questionnaire" (RPQ). Saliva samples were collected to genotype for the COMT Val158Met polymorphism via real-time PCR. Finally, parenting styles were assessed using the "Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire" (PSDQ). The results revealed that for boys, the Met allele was a vulnerability factor for proactive aggression in response to low-authoritative parenting from the father. For girls, it was the Val allele, the vulnerability variable to the high authoritarian style of the father, and the susceptibility factor to the authoritative style of the mother over proactive aggression. The results are discussed, considering possible sex differences. Our results indicate that the COMT Val158Met polymorphism is a biological variable that confers greater sensitivity to the environment.

Abstract P508: Social Polarization and Parent Support for Child Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health

Healthy People 2030 estimates that 3 out of 4 children (ages 6-13) do not meet guidelines for aerobic physical activity, an important contributor to cardiovascular health. Determinants of physical activity (PA) occur at individual, household, and neighborhood levels yet little is known about how geospatial risk factors (neighborhood segregation and income inequity) interact with parental influences on child PA. The current study explored the association between index of concentration of extremes (ICE) and child cardiovascular health outcomes, and whether parents PA, child PA, and parent support of child PA modified this association. Methods: A subsample of parent-child dyads from the Family Matters Phase II cohort study (n=350) participated in a multi-method follow up study including survey, geospatial (American Community Survey), and biomarker data collection in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN (2019-2022). Parents self-reported PA, child PA and parent support of child PA, and sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., family structure, educational attainment, annual household income) via an online survey. Children attended a clinic visit to measure height, weight, pulse, and systolic [SBP] and diastolic [DBP] blood pressure. ICE, used as a measure of census tract social polarization reflecting racial segregation and tract income inequity, was operationalized in these tertiles: concentrated deprivation, middle, and concentrated privilege. Multivariable linear regressions were used to evaluate the association between ICE tertiles and child cardiovascular health indicators (SBP, DBP, pulse, and BMI percentile). Models were adjusted for parent age, education, race and ethnicity, and household income. Interaction terms between ICE and parents PA, child PA, and parent support of child PA were further explored in these models. Results: Increases in parent engagement in light- and moderate-intensity PA (~30-45-minute increments) were associated with -2.65 mmHg lower DBP (P<0.001) and -2.39 mmHg lower SBP respectively (P=0.001) among children living in the least privileged tracts. The overall interaction of the relationship depended on the census tract privilege (Int. P=0.014), and there was no evidence of a favorable parent PA relationship in medium and most privileged tracts. Light parent PA and ICE interactions were consistent for child pulse and DBP (Int. P<0.05). Parent limiting of screen time had favorable interaction effects for child moderate PA in medium privilege tracts but not at the extremes (Int. P=0.024). Conclusions: Interventions targeting structural disadvantages should consider multilevel components that integrate parent support and modeling of PA to address cardiovascular health disparities in pre-adolescent children. In privileged contexts, alternative interventions may need to target sedentary behaviors to improve child PA.

Scholarly rumors: Citation analysis of vast misinformation regarding parental alienation theory.

Misinformation is widespread in political discourse, mental health literature, and hard science. This article describes recurrent publication of the same misinformation regarding parental alienation (PA), that is, variations of the statement: "PA theory assumes that the favored parent has caused PA in the child simply because the child refuses to have a relationship with the rejected parent, without identifying or proving alienating behaviors by the favored parent." Ninety-four examples of the same misinformation were identified and subjected to citation analysis using Gephi software, which displays the links between citing material and cited material. The recurrent misinformation reported here is not trivial; these statements are significant misrepresentations of PA theory. Plausible explanations for this trail of misinformation are the psychological mindset of the authors (i.e., confirmation bias) and the authors' writing skills (e.g., sloppy research practices such as persistent use of secondary sources for their information). The authors of this article recommend that publications containing significant misinformation should be corrected or retracted.

3.71 Citation Analysis of Misinformation Regarding Parental Alienation Theory

Misinformation regarding parental alienation (PA) frequently occurs in journals, books, and presentations. The purpose of this study was to identify recurrent publication of the same misinformation, that is, variations of the statement: “Parental alienation theory assumes that the favored parent has caused parental alienation in the child simply because the child refuses to have a relationship with the rejected parent, without identifying or proving alienating behaviors by the favored parent.” The recurrent misinformation reported here is not trivial; these statements are significant misrepresentations of PA theory.

3.27 Parent Survey of Habilitative Teletherapy for Children with ASD

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether service losses during COVID-19 were associated with worsened parent or child behavioral health among families of children with ASD and to identify factors associated with favorable parent appraisals of habilitative teletherapy (applied behavior analysis, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy) for their child with ASD.

Habilitative Teletherapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Survey of Parents.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether service losses during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic were associated with worsened parent mental health or child behavioral health among families of children with autism spectrum disorder and to identify factors associated with favorable parent appraisals of habilitative teletherapy (applied behavior analysis; speech, occupational, physical therapy) for their child. This web-based survey study was conducted from May to July 2021 with parents whose children were receiving habilitative therapy for autism from an integrated health system. A total of 322 parents responded to the survey (20% response rate). The outcome variables were pandemic-related parent mental health, pandemic-related child behavioral health, and appraisal of habilitative teletherapy. Predictors were COVID-19-related services changes in health care or child care, COVID-19 history (COVID-19 stress, testing positive for COVID-19), and child autism factors (autistic behaviors, caregiving strain). Loss of regular child care was associated with higher odds of worsened parent mental health (odds ratio [OR] = 2.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.5-4.8); higher levels of caregiving strain were associated with worsened child behavioral health (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.4-3.8). Higher levels of COVID-19 stress were associated with more favorable appraisals of telehealth (β = 0.4, p < 0.01), whereas higher caregiving strain scores were associated with less favorable appraisals of telehealth (β = -0.2, p < 0.01). During COVID-19, caregiving factors were associated with worsened parent mental health and worsened child behavioral health, and telehealth is not preferred by all families. Policy interventions to support caregivers, such as affordable, high-quality child care and paid family leave, are a high priority.

Comparison of Solitaire and Neuroform Stenting for Coiling of Intracranial Bifurcation Aneurysms.

To compare the technical performance and outcomes of Solitaire and Neuroform stents for treatment of intracranial bifurcation aneurysms (IBAs). IBAs treated by stent-assisted coiling using a Solitaire or Neuroform stent between October 2010 and December 2019 were retrospectively evaluated. Patient demographics, aneurysm information, treatment technique, periprocedural and device-related complications, parent artery angle change, along with initial and follow-up angiographic results were analyzed. One hundred twenty-one patients with 121 IBAs treated with Solitaire (n = 101) or Neuroform (n = 20) stent-assisted coiling were included. Aneurysm size, thrombotic and hemorrhagic complication rate, initial occlusion rate and in-stent stenosis between the two cohorts were not significantly different. Aneurysm location was significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.032). Jailing technique rate for coiling was significantly higher in the Solitaire than the Neuroform group (70.3% vs. 35.0%, p < 0.01). Follow-up DSA demonstrated a significantly lower recurrence rate for the Solitaire cohort (2.9% vs. 22.2%, p = 0.016). Parent artery angle changes, immediately post-operative and on follow-up were significantly greater in the Solitaire stent group (p < 0.05). For intracranial bifurcation aneurysms, Solitaire stent-assisted coiling achieved a significantly lower recurrence rate and induced more favorable parent artery angular remodeling than Neuroform stenting.

The power of the neighborhood: Perceived normative behaviors moderate individual predictors of walking and biking to school

IntroductionParent attitudes and perceptions of convenience are primary determinants of children's mode of school travel. Parents may favor the use of active transportation to school, such as walking or biking, if supportive neighborhood normative behaviors are present. MethodsA series of logistic regressions with marginal effects were conducted to investigate whether seeing others, talking or waving, seeing kids walk alone, or seeing kids walk with adults along the way to school modified the impact of parent attitudes and reported ease of driving a car on active school travel among parents of children in grades K-6 (N = 390) in Phoenix, AZ (USA). ResultsThe likelihood of using active transportation to school was positively associated with favorable parent attitudes, and the odds of using active travel modes differed less than 10% with the presence of neighborhood normative behaviors and low or high attitudes. As reported ease of driving increased, the likelihood of using active transportation to school decreased. The presence of neighborhood norms did not change the negative trajectory, but differences existed when ease of driving was low compared to high. The probability of using active transportation to school when ease of driving was low compared to high was greater when participants saw others (29.3%to, 32.8%from), talked/waved to others (11.0%to, 0%from), saw kids walking alone (28.6%to, 35.7%from), and saw kids walking with adults (27.8%to, 51.5%from). ConclusionsEchoing prior work, parent attitudes and perceptions of convenience of driving remain influential determinants of children's active school travel behavior. This study provides preliminary evidence on the influences of psychosocial support within the neighborhood to promote active transportation to school. The impact of supportive normative behaviors during the school journey should be considered in active transportation to school interventions, particularly in conjunction with efforts to change parent perceptions of ease of driving.

Recurrent Misinformation Regarding Parental Alienation Theory

Misinformation regarding parental alienation theory has been published many times in journals and books since the 1980s. This article discusses a specific example of misinformation, i.e., variations of the statement: Parental alienation theory assumes that the favored parent has caused parental alienation in the child simply because the child refuses to have a relationship with the rejected parent, without identifying or proving alienating behaviors by the preferred parent. This is an unusual phenomenon, i.e., the same misinformation was found in journal articles, books, and presentations by critics of parental alienation 40 times between 1994 and 2020. This trail of recurrent misinformation is not trivial; it is a major misrepresentation of basic tenets of parental alienation theory. The article concludes with action items, including the proposal that these false statements should be corrected and/or the journal articles should be withdrawn from publication.

Attitudes and Perceptions of Parenthood Among Young Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer.

Purpose: Increasing numbers of childhood cancer survivors enter adulthood and encounter decisions surrounding parenthood. However, limited research has systematically examined how childhood cancer may influence parenthood attitudes among survivors. Methods: Adult survivors of childhood cancer, who had or wanted to have children (N = 77; Mage = 30.2 years, range: 22-43; 91% White), rated their perceived impact of cancer at enrollment and parenthood attitudes using the "Attitudes to Parenthood After Cancer Scale" 2 years later. First, internal consistencies for the parenthood measure were examined, and modified subscales were proposed. Second, hierarchical stepwise regressions analyzed the contribution of background factors and cancer's impact on parenthood attitudes. Results: Reevaluation of parenthood items yielded four subscales with improved internal consistency (α's > .78): improved parenting due to cancer, no children due to cancer, concerns about a (potential) child's health, and parenthood desire irrespective of own health concerns. Already having children (n = 38) was related to more favorable ratings on most subscales. Older age was associated with perceiving improved parenting due to cancer (r = .24) and shorter time since diagnosis was related to considering having no children due to cancer (r = -.23). Hierarchical stepwise regressions reconfirmed parenthood status as related to more favorable parenting attitudes. Cancer preoccupation and perceiving cancer as a most difficult life experience predicted more concerns toward parenthood (R2 = .044-.216). Conclusions: Parenthood attitudes were more favorable among survivors with children, who were older, and/or further into survivorship. Survivors burdened by their cancer experience reported more concerns about parenthood. Childhood cancer may shape parenthood perceptions positively and negatively, warranting further research to inform interventions.

Vulnerability and resilience in the wake of COVID-19: family resources and children’s well-being in China

The present study uses data from a 2020 survey conducted in Shaanxi Province during the COVID-19 outbreak to examine the family resources and psychological well-being of four major groups of Chinese children (urban, migrant, rural nonmigrant, and rural left-behind children). The results highlight the complex ways in which family resources intersect with the pandemic to affect these different groups of children. Family economic resources have generally declined across all groups, but left-behind children have suffered the most severe economic shock. However, parent–child relationships for all children have improved across the board during the pandemic. Diminished economic resources act as a risk factor, while improved family relationships play a protective role in children’s psychological well-being. Parent–child relationships have had a more pronounced positive impact on psychological outcomes for migrant and left-behind children, who are the most deprived of parental input under normal circumstances, than for other groups of children. Because of these processes, migrant children and left-behind children fare similarly to urban children in terms of their resilience to the COVID-19 crisis. Among children enjoying especially favorable parent–child relationships, migrant children and left-behind children even appear to have higher psychological well-being than urban children during the pandemic. In comparison to this social impact, the impact of family economic resources is more moderate in magnitude and does not vary systematically across different groups of children. As a result, the positive impact of improved parent–child relationships largely outweighs the adverse effect of reduced family economic resources. Overall, the findings provide new insight into the relationship among disasters, family resources, and child well-being in the context of the COVID-19 crisis in China.

Cross-Substitution Promoted Ultrawide Bandgap up to 4.5eV in a 2D Semiconductor: Gallium Thiophosphate.

Exploring 2D ultrawide bandgap semiconductors (UWBSs) will be conductive to the development of next-generation nanodevices, such as deep-ultraviolet photodetectors, single-photon emitters, and high-power flexible electronic devices. However, a gap still remains between the theoretical prediction of novel 2D UWBSs and the experimental realization of the corresponding materials. The cross-substitution process is an effective way to construct novel semiconductors with the favorable parent characteristics (e.g., structure) and the better physicochemical properties (e.g., bandgap). Herein, a simple case is offered for rational design and syntheses of 2D UWBS GaPS4 by employing state-of-the-art GeS2 as a similar structural model. Benefiting from the cosubstitution of Ge with lighter Ga and P, the GaPS4 crystals exhibit sharply enlarged optical bandgaps (few-layer: 3.94eV and monolayer: 4.50eV) and superior detection performances with high responsivity (4.89 A W-1 ), high detectivity (1.98×1012 Jones), and high quantum efficiency (2.39×103 %) in the solar-blind ultraviolet region. Moreover, the GaPS4 -based photodetector exhibits polarization-sensitive photoresponse with a linear dichroic ratio of 1.85 at 254nm, benefitting from its in-plane structural anisotropy. These results provide a pathway for the discovery and fabrication of 2D UWBS anisotropic materials, which become promising candidates for future solar-blind ultraviolet and polarization-sensitive sensors.

Speaking of Rights and Duties: Implying Mothers’ Citizenship in the US Congressional Welfare Reform Debate

Researchers have demonstrated that legislators did not explicitly recognize mothers’ parenting as an important citizenship duty in the 1994–1996 welfare reform debate. Despite this, some supportive parenting programs emerged from the debate, such as expanded child care. This study examined how legislators successfully supported some assistive programs within a predominantly punitive political discourse. Did legislators rather imply the citizenship value of mothering through allusions to rights and duties of citizenship? A critical discourse analysis of the entire welfare reform debate was conducted to determine if parenting as an important citizenship activity was implied by legislators through allusions to rights and obligations. All 66 relevant welfare reform debates and hearings of 1994–1996 were analyzed using a combination of grounded theory methods and content analysis within a critical discourse analysis framework. Legislators’ articulations of rights and benefits related to parenting were often favorable. Themes included that the government should support parenting, parenting is an important activity, and that no behavioral obligations should be placed upon parents to receive benefits. Including all themes, favorable parenting discourse was nearly 50%. However, legislators also used implicit citizenship messaging to diminish value and importance of parenting with themes related to gender order, parenting as non-work, and poor mothers’ parenting as dangerous. In the discourse, legislators overtly endorsed the personal responsibility ideology while often tacitly supporting poor mothers. The authors caution politically liberal legislators to carefully weigh policy gains won through implicit discourse against the overall costs to poor mothers’ citizenship construction.

Dog-Directed Parenting Styles Mirror Dog Owners’ Orientations Toward Animals

ABSTRACT Parents raise children in consistent ways, and these parenting styles affect child wellbeing and societal adjustment. Recently, we identified such parenting styles in the owner–dog relationship. Dog owners of the authoritarian- correction orientated (AUC) type stand out for demandingness. Authoritative dog owners adopt either an intrinsic-value orientated style (AUI), of high responsiveness and attention to a dog’s needs, or an authoritative-training orientated style (AUT) of high demandingness and responsiveness in teaching a dog how to behave socially. The causes for dog owners to favor certain dog- directed parenting styles are presently unknown. Orientations toward animals could play a role, and these have previously been determined in dog owners, capsulizing views on dog ownership. A dominionistic orientation values the dog for its utility, a humanistic orientation humanizes dogs, and a protectionistic orientation acknowledges the dog’s species-specific interests. We wanted to know how these views on dog ownership are associated with dog-directed parenting styles. Therefore, orientations toward animals and dog-directed parenting styles were determined from dog-owner reports collected online (n = 518). The Likert-scale items regarding the orientations toward animals were grouped using data reduction techniques. The scores for our newly formed orientations were then rank correlated to the dog-directed parenting styles, with all scores expressed as percentages of the theoretical maximum. A dominionistic orientation was associated with AUC, indicating that combined demandingness and non-responsiveness in dog-directed parenting partly results from the owner’s perceived need to dominate the dog. A humanistic/protectionistic orientation was associated with AUI, suggesting that the combination of parenting responsiveness and relatively low demandingness is an outcome of humanizing dogs. These findings support the idea that orientations toward animals partly underlie dog-directed parenting styles and may constitute a starting point for guiding owners away from less favorable dog-directed parenting styles.

Methodological Challenges in Social Science: Making Sense of Polarized and Competing Research Claims

Legal and mental health professionals face significant challenges when addressing situations in which children resist contact with a parent. There remains only limited empirical research on the differentiation of types and severity of contact problems, the resulting impacts on children and adolescents, and the outcomes of interventions. Often, family justice professionals encounter conflicting information that presents wildly diverging views on the scientific knowledge base used to guide understandings of human interaction. In cases involving resist‐refuse dynamics (“RRD”), the polarized claims, characterized by dichotomous thinking, often assert abuse by the rejected parent, on the one hand, or alienating behavior by the favored parent, on the other hand. When presented with conflicting social science research, understanding basic experimental design methodology is critical to resolving questions of the reliability and utility of the information presented. Equally important, is an understanding of cognitive bias and the human tendency to experience difficulty in modifying belief systems when presented with updated information; this understanding includes changing conceptual frameworks for decision making in family law cases. While polarized and often acrimonious debate in the field may be reflective of larger societal strife, recognizing strengths and weaknesses in the ideas presented in research literature allows for an integrative approach to bring more light, and less heat, to the larger conceptualization of human interactions we have to address in the family court setting.