Nonclinical Families Research Articles

Dynamics of the Transmission of Trauma through three Generations of Slovene Families

In this paper, we will present a study into the dynamics of the transmission of emotional traumatic in three families of victims of World War II and post-war communist oppression. This study is taken from a broader research project in which we investigated the experiences of nonclinical families that managed to survive through three generation, and in which post-traumatic growth is present, i. e. the ability to integrate traumatic experiences and provide greater security for future generations.
 The main focus will be on how emotional content is transmitted and transformed through generations and how to recognise it in various forms of behaviour, thinking and emotions, that appear in each of the generations. As we follow the transformation of traumatic content, we will also follow the the signs that show how traumatic content has integrated and begun to bring new, deeper emotional and mental insights.
 The emotional depth of the traumatic experience is what burdens the victim the most and slows down the dynamics of trauma processing. It appears in the form of symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome, insecurity and mistrust. This is found even in victims who have articulated the trauma sufficiently to rise above intimidation, managed to develop emotionally strong and connecting interpersonal relationships, maintain faith in the future, and form a coherent narrative of their traumatic past.
 The most interesting result of the research was that all three families, regardless of their diversity, are similar in term of processing the trauma. They were all able to speak openly about their traumatic experiences. In all three families there there was a great deal of discussion and searching for the social framework and personal truth of historical events, and the desire to present and describe the events that left such deep wounds in such a way that they would be clear, reworked and accessible to future generations as a document of the reality of some tragic and difficult times.
 Another source of trauma processing was religious faith, which allowed all the participants in this study to look at trauma and life more deeply, through relationships and connections between people and through a deeper understanding of human history embedded in a broader and deeper spiritual flow. Faith helped these families to find the courage to make decisions, to face life’s challenges, and to endure even the most severe of life's trials.
 A third source that facilitates the processing and integration of a traumatic experience is secure interpersonal relationships and compassionate parenting. Despite the fact that the whole question of parenting was demanding and full of challenges for our interviewees, the quality of parenting has been improved from generation to generation, and sincere affection for children and gratitude for children were present everywhere. The ability to follow the new generation and its initiatives while maintaining a connection to its roots is a dynamic that characterises all three families. There is also a lot of thinking and conscious effort in establishing and maintaining good marital relationships in these families.
 For the recovery from trauma this study shows the importance of talking about it and also talking about it in a safe relationship until it takes a form that is genuine and at the same time clear, coherent and thus suitable for the general public. That’s when the traumatic story ceases to be traumatizing and becomes a story of courage, perseverance, and truth.

Parent-child interactions and childhood OCD: Comparing OCD families with other clinical and non-clinical families

Background and objectivesFamily factors, such as family accommodation and parent-child characteristics, are hypothesised as important maintaining factors in paediatric OCD. There is limited research assessing parent and child behaviour amongst young people with OCD during family interactions. Thus, the current study sought to further explore parent-child interaction variables in OCD, using an observational design with three groups. Methods23 young people with OCD, 30 young people with other anxiety disorders, and 23 young people with no clinical problems, along with their primary caregiver, completed a brief problem-solving discussion task designed to assess family interaction variables. Groups were compared on observer-rated and self-rated parent and child behaviours. It was expected that OCD families would differ from both anxious and nonclinical families on some behavioural dimensions, for example, rating lower on warmth, confidence, and positive problem solving. ResultsResults showed that young people in the OCD group could be differentiated from young people in the clinical and nonclinical comparison groups based on observed behaviour. Young people in the OCD group showed less warmth during their interactions and less confidence in their ability to solve the problem. These children and adolescents also had higher levels of doubt and withdrawal during interactions with their parent. Interestingly, parent behaviour did not differ between the groups, suggesting that parent behaviours are a less reliable indicator of OCD symptomatology. ConclusionsDuring family interactions, young people with OCD behave in a different way to young people with another anxiety disorder as well as young people with no diagnosis. These findings provide interesting and important exploratory information relating to observed parent and child behaviour across different clinical and nonclinical groups. Limitations of this study are addressed and directions for future research are discussed.

Emotion Regulation in Families of Children with Behavior Problems and Nonclinical Comparisons

The current study compared parents’ emotion regulation (ER) in clinical (those with a child with externalizing behavioral problems) and low-risk comparison families. Additionally, mediation models were explored with parent ER predicting child behavior problems through child ER. Participants were 60 families with children (71.7% boys; 73% Caucasian) ages 2 through 8 years (M = 4.62; SD = 1.69) from a rural population in the United States: 34 clinical families referred for parent training and 26 nonclinical families. A blocking design was used to balance the two groups on key demographic characteristics. Parents’ and children’s ER was assessed using parent-report surveys and structured behavioral observations. Analyses indicated higher rates of parental emotion dysregulation (specifically, more difficulty when upset with achieving goal-directed behaviors, p = .01, d = 0.67; controlling impulses, p = .01, d = 0.64; limited use of ER strategies, p = .02, d = 0.62; and more negative verbalizations to their child during the observed task, p < .01, d = 0.73) and child emotion dysregulation (specifically, more difficulty as reported by parents, p < .01, d = −2.42) in the clinical group. Mediational analyses indicated there were indirect paths from parental ER to children’s behavioral problems through child ER. Findings from this research suggest a need to measure and target ER in both parents and their children when working with families who are referred for treatment of child behavior problems.

Family-based music therapy: from dissonance to harmony

ABSTRACTThis study is unique in that it expands the use of family music therapy to a broader range of families. It moves beyond the prevailing tendency to employ family music therapy with families of children with special needs to nonclinical families seeking therapy. Joining Alvin’s free improvisation model and Satir’s experiential family therapy, the study engages family members in mutual musical improvisation. It explores the clinical application and therapeutic value of short-term family-based music therapy with three families in a community setting. Each family received six pre-structured interventions from the dual-expertise music and family therapist. Results reveal family-based improvisations accurately accentuated family dynamics as musical representations. They provoked heightened awareness of family difficulties, which were explored using process questions and verbal reflections. Evidence suggests that family-based music therapy can serve as an effective and accurate family clinical assessment, and an intervention addressing an array of family objectives. Family-based music interventions tapped into family resources for the sake of promoting family and individual congruence and well-being. The study informs music therapists of the clinical value of adding a family-systems perspective to their professional toolbox, and family therapists and other clinicians of the potential of family-based musical interventions in family therapy.

Children and Parents Deserve Better Parental Discipline Research: Critiquing the Evidence for Exclusively “Positive” Parenting

ABSTRACTThis article critiques the scientific evidence for the emerging view in nonclinical parenting research and in popular books that parents should use only positive methods of parenting and rarely resort to any disciplinary consequences. Four methodological fallacies pervade research used to support this viewpoint: the correlational fallacy (inferring causation from correlations), the trumping fallacy (permitting correlational conclusions to trump stronger causal evidence), the extrapolation fallacy (extrapolating favorable comparisons of under-usage versus over-usage to zero usage), and the lumping fallacy (lumping inappropriate and appropriate usages together). Conclusions based on any of these methodological fallacies are premature at best and counterproductive at worst. These fallacies would incorrectly make many medical procedures appear to be harmful, such as radiation treatment. Premature conclusions supporting exclusively positive parenting may partially explain the immigrant paradox in the United States and escalating criminal assaults against minors according to Swedish criminal records (where positive parenting is most prominently advocated). Exclusively positive parenting needs to be supported by stronger research, including randomized trials with oppositional defiant children, before being accepted as definitive. We also need research to understand how the parental management skills featured in effective clinical treatments for young oppositional defiant children generalize to parenting in nonclinical families.

Coparenting Problems with Toddlers Predict Children's Symptoms of Psychological Problems at Age 7.

This study examined whether coparenting during toddlerhood predicts children's later symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, affective disorder, and somatic complaints. When children were 2years old, 108 middle-class nonclinical families were observed in triadic interactions to assess two domains of dyadic coparenting (competitive and cooperative), as well as each parent's individual competitive behavior toward the spouse. Teachers and mothers reported children's symptoms of psychological problems at age 7. Independent of cooperative coparenting and each parents' individual harsh parenting, competitive coparenting predicted children's symptoms of ADHD and ODD. Interactions with child gender indicated that competitive coparenting predicted ADHD symptoms in boys (not in girls) and teacher-reported (not mother-reported) somatic complaints in girls (not in boys). ODD and ADHD symptoms were also predicted by fathers' (not mothers') individual competitive behaviors. The children of parents who were both low in competitive behaviors had the lowest teacher-rated symptoms of affective disorder.

Conjoint Family Drawing: A Technique for Family Clinical Assessment

Born in 1970 by Bing, Conjoint Family Drawing is very useful in research as well as in clinical settings because it allows to assess the family as a whole. Unfortunately, a lack of studies and researches identifying a clear grid or unambiguous criteria for its interpretation is to be acknowledged. How can data from the Conjoint Family Drawing be used in a standardized and structured fashion? Which of t he elements and aspects in the drawings need to be considered to assess families? This paper aims to identify a group of categorical variables that will serve for an objective interpretation of drawings as well as to verify the instrument's discriminant capacity. In particular, the criteria and variables found in literature on t he use of drawings and other family assessment instrument s were explored and t heir suitability for the explanation of Conjoint Family Drawings (CFD) was tested out. A coding grid of 18 categorical variables (10 concern various element s in the drawing and the remaining 8 concern the drawing making process) was developed and applied on a sample of 117 CFDs from clinical and non-clinical families. The variables consider emotional, interactive and relational aspect s. A two –step cluster analysis was carried out to define discriminant variables and 6 different family typologies were identified.

Emotional flooding and hostile discipline in the families of toddlers with disruptive behavior problems.

This study examined the relationship between negative parenting practices and dysfunction in parents' cognitive processing of child affect cues in families of toddlers with disruptive behavior problems. This dysfunction comprised a bias toward the misclassification of child affect as anger (affect appraisal bias) and parents' proneness to emotional flooding (Gottman, 1991, 1993). Participants were families of toddlers (n = 82; 53% male; aged 18-48 months) referred to a tertiary-level health service for the treatment of disruptive behavior problems. Affect appraisal bias was indexed in terms of the discrepancy between rates of child anger coded from video recordings of parent-child interactions and rates of child anger estimated by parents immediately after these interactions. Parenting practices and emotional flooding were assessed using the Parenting Scale and the Parental Flooding Scale. Both hostile and overreactive discipline were positively associated with severity of disruptive behavior problems, however only hostile discipline was associated with the biased appraisal of child affect and emotional flooding. Emotional flooding was found to be a unique predictor of hostile discipline, independent of covariates including the severity of disruptive behavior problems. Variance in hostile discipline was further explained by the interaction between emotional flooding and affect appraisal bias. Emotional flooding appears to be particularly proximal to hostile discipline in the families of toddlers with disruptive behavior problems, consistent with evidence previously reported for nonclinical families.

Parental Validating and Invalidating Responses and Adolescent Psychological Functioning

The current study assessed the extent to which parental validating and invalidating behaviors (a) could be reliably measured in parent–adolescent relationships, (b) differed significantly between clinic and nonclinic families, and (c) were associated with measures of adolescent emotion dysregulation, behavior problems, and parent–adolescent relationship satisfaction. Adolescents ( N = 29; age range = 12–18; 62% female) and their parents completed a variety of self-report and parent-report measures of adolescent functioning. Ratings of parents’ validating and invalidating responses during video-recorded social support and problem-solving interactions were obtained. Results indicated that parental validating and invalidating behaviors (a) were measured with a high degree of reliability, (b) differed significantly between clinic and nonclinic families, and (c) were correlated, in expected directions, with adolescent emotion dysregulation, externalizing problem behaviors, and adolescent relationship satisfaction. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of both research and potentially improved family interventions.

Unterschiede in Bindung und Persönlichkeit bei Kindern in Erziehungsberatung, in Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und in Kontrollfamilien

Insecure attachment and deficits in self-regulation as personality traits are risk factors for the development of psychopathological symptoms from infancy on. This study examines differences in attachment and personality in late childhood, comparing children from non-clinical families, from a child guidance center, and child psychiatry units with in-patient care. Children's attachment representations, their attachment behavior strategy, reported distressing parental behavior, their emotional openness, and attachment coherency were assessed with the Late Childhood Attachment Interview (LCAI). Ego-resiliency, ego-undercontrol, field-independence, aggressiveness, and anxiety were assessed by means of the California Child Q-Sort. The results show clear attachment differences, with the child guidance group showing more attachment insecurity in the LCAI compared to the control group, and the psychiatric in-patient group even more attachment insecurity, more distressing parenting from both mother and father, and more attachment disorganization than the other two groups. Whereas children from the child guidance center and the child psychiatry unit did not differ in personality, both groups were significantly different from the control group in all personality dimensions. The results suggest that personality differences may be a risk factor for behaviour problems, however problem severity and the choice of the treatment institution seem to be influenced by attachment security.

FAMILY PROBLEM-SOLVING: HOW DO FAMILIES WITH ADOLESCENTS MAKE DECISIONS?

In the present study, we adopt an observational method for the analysis of family members’ interactions during a problem-solving task. The specific focus of our work is to put the family as a whole beneath the lens of observation, as well as to analyze how the parents and the adolescent separately contribute to the task solution. Twenty-eight non-clinical families with adolescents (13 to 16 years old) were filmed in their homes during a problem-solving task. Family interactions were analyzed according to four observational measures: family efficiency, family communication, family climate, and family participation. Three different patterns of family decision-making are described: families that control (high efficiency, calm family climate, collaborative participation), families that surrender (low efficiency, tense family climate, individual participation), and families that struggle (intermediate efficiency, serious family climate, alternated participation). Theoretical and practical implications in terms of everyday ways of dealing with problems in families with adolescents are discussed.

Addictive Behavior and Family Functioning During Adolescence

The purpose of this study was to examine how adolescent and parental perceptions of family system characteristics predict adolescent addictive behavior patterns. The sample consisted of 252 families. Questionnaires included measurements of family functioning using the FACES III instrument and addictive behavior using the Shorter Promis Questionnaire (SPQ). To predict addictive behavior we conducted step-wise regression analyses (forward method), with the dimensions of the four SPQs as dependent variables and individual (age and gender) and family functioning variables as predictors. Results: Data provide support for the proposal that family system characteristics could predict adolescent addictive behavior; despite our taking not only a normative sample, but also non-clinical families into consideration. Data in literature suggest that adolescent addictions increase in families characterized by weak emotional bonds (low cohesion) and the incapacity to change their power structure, role relationships, and relationship rules in response to situational and developmental stress (high adaptability). These findings reinforce the need to continue to explore family functioning and therefore may provide additional protection against adolescent addiction.

Interactional Cornmaanmication Patterns in Father/Daughter Incest Families

This paper focuses on a broad spectrum of interactional communication patterns in fatherldaughter incest families. Live were analyzed using Lorna Benjamin's Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASE!) circum lex model. Incest familiesy communications were compared to familes who had daughters classified as 0 positional and to Nonclinical families. In light of current research t R e study examined the concepts of mother1 daughter role-reversal, controlling incest fathers, and conflictual motherldaughter relationships. Implications of the findings as applied to treatment are discussed.

Comparison of Separation Patterns between Parents and Offspring in Psychiatric and Nonclinical Families

This study examined the specific separation patterns of binding and expelling in families with young adults. 103 families were divided into three groups according to the ICD-10 diagnosis of offspring (18-35 years old): (1) schizophrenia (ns=32 mothers and 30 fathers), (2) personality disorders (ns=34 mothers and 30 fathers), (3) control, nonclinical group (ns=34 mothers and 32 fathers). The participants (mothers and fathers) independently completed the Relational Individuation Questionnaire designed for this study. Despite expectations, there was no statistical significance found between the mean scores of the parents' binding of offspring diagnosed with schizophrenia or personality disorders or from the nonclinical families. There was, however, a difference in the intensity of the mothers' expelling (F2.97 = 10.90, p < .0001) and of the fathers' expelling (F2.89 = 5.96, p < .005) from different family groups. The parents of offspring from clinical families expelled their offspring more intensively than parents from nonclinical families. The correlation between expelling by mothers and expelling by fathers in all families was positive. These results suggest that expelling may be a strategy used by parents with children with serious mental disorders when these children reach young adulthood.

Family Ritual and Routine: Comparison of Clinical and Non-Clinical Families

Research demonstrates that the constructive use of family rituals is reliably linked to family health and to psychosocial adjustment. This study explores the relationship between family rituals and child well-being. Two samples participated: 21 families whose adolescent was receiving psychiatric treatment and 21 families in which the adolescent was a public school student. A parent and the adolescent were individually interviewed regarding family rituals and completed standardized measures of adolescent and family functioning. Analyses demonstrated that, in addition to significant sample differences in the expected direction on measures of functioning, the non-clinical families scored significantly higher on the index of family rituality than did the treatment families; this is additional evidence that family rituals are a correlate of child well-being. Further analysis of the data pointed to “people resources” as a robust dimension in its association to adolescent functioning. The role family ritual and routine plays in defining family relationships, both within the nuclear family and with other important adults, was significantly related to clinical status. This work may point to an important, yet overlooked, dimension of family ritual life, the relational qualities of rituals and routines.

Do parent and child behaviours differentiate families whose children have obsessive-compulsive disorder from other clinic and non-clinic families?

Limited research has been conducted investigating parent and child behaviour during family interactions in families who have a child with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). While a number of authors in the field of childhood OCD have suggested possible parent and child behaviours that are characteristic of these families, few studies have attempted to explore these in a methodologically sound approach. This study compared the observed behaviours of parents and children in families whose children were diagnosed with OCD, to families whose children were diagnosed with other anxiety disorders, externalising disorders and no clinical problems. During family discussions, parent and child behaviours and affect were coded using a Likert-scale system. Family members were rated on behavioural dimensions of control, warmth, doubt, avoidance, confidence, positive problem solving, and rewarding independence. Results indicated that parents and children in the OCD group could be clearly differentiated from families in the other groups based on parent and child behaviour. Mothers and fathers of OCD children were less confident in their child's ability, less rewarding of independence, and less likely to use positive problem solving. Children in the OCD group showed less positive problem solving, less confidence in their ability to solve the problem, and they displayed less warmth during their interactions with their parents. Parents and children in families where there is a child with OCD behave in a different manner during family interactions to other families. These findings offer interesting and important exploratory information relating to observed parent and child behaviour across different clinical and non-clinical groups. Limitations of this study are addressed and directions for further research are discussed.

Anorexia nervosa in teenagers: Patterns of family function

This study looks at family function in families with a child with anorexia nervosa, at the time when they begin treatment. We wanted to see how these families differed from normal, non-clinical families. Thus, we examined 26 families, picked from a consecutive series of patients and their families at the Eating Disorders Unit. The families were rated by means of self-report questionnaires?the FARS (FAmily Relation Scale) and the FCS (Family Climate Scale)?and videotaped family tasks. The differences between families with anorexia nervosa patients and non-clinical families seem to confirm the clinical description by Minuchin et al. in that the ratings done by independent observers describe families with anorexia nervosa patients as more enmeshed. However, the observers also found various family types within the anorexia nervosa group. Ratings based on self-report questionnaires showed that both fathers and mothers in the anorexia nervosa group scored high on cohesion as measured with the FARS.

Family of origin and current relationship influences on codependency.

This study investigated codependency in Caucasian individuals within the framework of Bowen's Family Systems Theory. The sample consisted of a group of couples, in which one member of the couple was a recovering alcoholic in an aftercare program, and a group of matched, comparison couples. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Friel Codependency Assessment Inventory, and the Personal Authority in the Family System (PAFS) Questionnaire. The findings confirmed that codependency levels were higher in clinical than in comparison couples. Moreover, within the clinical group, there was little difference between alcoholics and their spouses with respect to dysfunction in their families of origin, current families, or their codependency levels. The findings further suggested that the etiology and function of codependency are different in clinical and nonclinical families. In the clinical sample, the family of origin and current relationship characteristics were related to codependency in patterns consistent with previous theory and research. For the nonclinical sample, however, the findings contradicted conventional codependency theory. The findings suggest that, in contrast to clinical populations, codependency in nonclinical populations has some links with favorable characteristics of family functioning.

Transmission intergénérationnelle et processus de paternalisation-filiation

This paper begins with some considerations about the interest of the notion of intergenerational transmission, specially when the therapist is using his/her empathy during the therapeutic consultations. The situation is quite different, when we have to evaluate non-clinical families to evaluate the same notion through a process, which is driving us from the initial « triade » (to be three) through the triadification till the œdipal situation. It is proposed to take in account the equilibrium between the intergenerational transmission of the father and of the mother. This equilibrium may give a picture of the transgenerational mandate devoted to the infant, but this mandate may change, what enlights the possibility of an active role of the child in the process of « paternification » (fabrication of a father) and of « parentalisation ».

Clinical and Nonclinical Adoptive Families of Special-Needs Children

The author applies a resource and stressor family system model developed from crisis theory to adoptive families. Matched samples of clinical and nonclinical families were used to examine resources and stressors in adoptive families. Results indicate modest support for the hypothesis that adoptive families in crisis have more stressors than do adoptive families who are not in crisis. Implications for practice are discussed.