Parent-child Subsystems Research Articles

Typologies of daily relationship quality in marital and parent-child subsystems: Implications for child adjustment.

The ways in which marital relationships (MR) affect parent-child relationships (PCR) vary from day-to-day and differ from one family to another. The day-to-day fluctuations of MR-PCR associations and the between-family differences, however, have been largely overlooked in the literature. Using daily diary data from 152 mother-father couples (with a 7- to 17-year-old child) across three consecutive years, we identified typologies based on parents' daily relational dynamics and examined the association between family typologies and child adjustment. State space grids of daily relationship quality (i.e., MR and PCR) were constructed for each parent at each wave of assessment. Grid-sequence analysis was subsequently conducted to identify multiple family typologies, including cohesive, fluctuating cohesive, spillover, compensatory, and moderate relationship typologies. Some typologies changed over the years and differed for fathers and mothers (e.g., the compensatory typology). Child adjustment problems were the highest in children from families with poor MR and PCR quality (i.e., the spillover typology). Overall, our results evince the heterogeneous nature of family relationship dynamics and the developmental implications of these typologies. For practitioners and therapists who work with families, our findings highlight the value of improving marital and parent-child relationship quality in promoting positive child outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Parents’ self-concept clarity, marital satisfaction and parent-child relationship quality: Actor-partner interdependence analyses

The family can be viewed as an integrated system consisting of interdependent subsystems, among which marital and parent–child subsystems are critical for family functioning. Given the dominance of parents in the family, it is important to investigate the associations between parents’ characteristics and these two subsystems. In addition, researchers have found a unidirectional effect of parents’ self-concept clarity on their children’s self-concept clarity. Exploring whether and how parents’ self-concept clarity is related to family relationships may provide insight into this intergenerational transmission since the family plays an important role in the development of children’s self-concept. Taken together, the main aim of this study was to examine the links across parents’ self-concept clarity and marital and parent–child relationships. A total of 363 Chinese parental dyads of primary and secondary students completed the self-concept clarity, relationship assessment, and child–parent relationship scales, and the data were analyzed by adopting the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) and the actor–partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM). The APIM results indicated significant positive associations between parents’ self-concept clarity and parent–child relationship quality perceived by the parents (actor effects) and their partners (partner effects). The APIMeM results showed that fathers’ marital satisfaction partially mediated the actor effects from parents’ self-concept clarity to parent–child relationship quality. Moreover, after controlling for covariates (e.g., family income), parents’ self-concept clarity had significant indirect partner effects on parent–child relationship quality mediated completely via fathers’ marital satisfaction. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of family system processes and the intergenerational transmission of self-concept clarity and have implications for family interventions.

Reciprocal influences between marital quality, parenting stress, and parental depression in Chinese families of children with oppositional defiant disorder symptoms

An increasing body of research showed families with ODD children struggle with impaired quality of family interactions, such as low marital quality and high parenting stress. Yet relatively little is known about their interplay in families of children with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms. To examine longitudinal, reciprocal associations, we utilize a three-year, cross-lagged design with a sample of 340 Chinese families of children with ODD symptoms. We also examined the role of parental depression. Marital quality, parenting stress, and parental depression were measured at each wave (T1, T2, and T3) across three years. Results support the “spillover” hypothesis in both directions, such that parenting stress significantly and directly predicts low marital quality, and impaired marital quality predicts parenting stress largely through parental depression. Our findings clearly evidenced the reciprocal relationship between marital and parent-child relationship, and further revealed two different processes for their interplays, among families of children with ODD symptoms. The present study extended the prior understanding of associations between marital and parent-child subsystems and provided suggestions for enhancing the quality of whole family life for families of children with ODD symptoms.

Supplemental Material for Typologies of Daily Relationship Quality in Marital and Parent–Child Subsystems: Implications for Child Adjustment

Supplemental Material for Typologies of Daily Relationship Quality in Marital and Parent–Child Subsystems: Implications for Child Adjustment

Parental relationship stability and parent–adult child relationships in stepfamilies: A test of alternative models.

Stepfamily relationships remain important over the life course to both children and parents. Unfortunately, limitations in availability of longitudinal data that include useful measures of stepfamily relations remain, thereby scholars must rely mostly on cross-sectional examinations. As a way to more rigorously test some of the mixed cross-sectional findings related to the links among stepcouple stability and parent-adult child relationships (closeness, involvement) for three parent-child subsystems (mother-child, father-child, stepparent-child), we used an alternative modeling strategy to test three plausible models. Multiple group analyses also were used to compare associations for stepmother and stepfather families. Stepfamilies (N = 330) from the National Survey of Families and Households with data from both adult children and primary respondents (resident parent or stepparent) were included. All three models fit the data. The best-fitting model suggests the most probable order of association is that parental involvement is associated with parent-child closeness which, in turn, is associated with stepcouple stability. Results also suggest that multiple parent-child relationships and stepcouple relationship stability are generally positively linked for both stepmother and stepfather households, although some differences emerged. Taken together, findings underscore the influence of cross-household stepfamily relationships even when children are adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Predictors of Emotional Security in Survivors of Interpersonal Violence

As emotional security theory has recently been extended to understand recovery from interpersonal violence, the present study aimed to understand whether and to what extent trauma-specific aspects of the family environment (caregiver responses to disclosure, non-disclosure) and more general aspects of the family environment (interparental conflict, parental invalidation of emotions) explained variance in emotional security in the family in a sample of emerging adults with a history of interpersonal violence (physical or sexual abuse or assault). Results indicated that substantiated aspects of the interparental subsystem (interparental conflict) and parent–child subsystem (parental invalidation of emotions) predicted all three aspects of emotional security (preoccupation, disengagement, and security) in regression models where trauma-specific variables were included. Additionally, non-supportive caregiver response to disclosed trauma also accounted for significant variance in felt security, supporting the idea that problematic caregiver responses to traumatic events can erode emotional security for survivors of interpersonal violence, in addition to broader patterns in the interparental and parent–child subsystems.

Family Processes and Children's Representations of Parentification

SUMMARY This study investigated relationships between interparental conflict, parental responses to children's emotions, and representations of role-reversal and vulnerability in children's family drawings. As predicted, more frequent interparental conflict and more child involvement in inter-parental conflict were associated with drawings rated higher in role-reversal and maternal satisfaction with conflict strategies was associated with drawings rated lower in vulnerability. For younger children, efficacy of conflict resolution was also related to higher ratings of role-reversal. Further, thematic content of conflict associated with role-reversal and vulnerability was examined. Mothers whose children's drawings were rated high in both role-reversal and vulnerability reported higher levels of problems in several areas than did other mothers. The findings support family systems models emphasizing the relationship between problems in the marital subsystem and problems in parent-child subsystems. Implications of these findings for clinicians using family drawings in assessment or treatment are discussed.

Applications of the Theory ofNatural Selection to the Studyof Family Communication

If one's goal is to account for patterns of variation in the communicative behaviors of family relationships, then we contend that no single theory explains as many aspects of family interaction, or explains them with as much depth, as does Darwin's (1859) theory of natural selection. In this article, we delineate the major precepts of the theory (and of associated theories that have been derived from it) and apply them to a number of relational phenomena in the marital and parent-child subsystems. We then speculate as to why the theory has not been widely used in family communication research, despite the breadth and depth of its explanatory power, and we offer suggestions to scholars wishing to incorporate principles of natural selection and evolutionary psychology into their research on families.

Links between marital and parent–child interactions: Moderating role of husband-to-wife aggression

The present study examined how marital conflict may compromise parenting by identifying interdependencies across marital and parent-child subsystems in a sample of 86 two-parent families with a child aged 9-13. The study used direct observation of three family discussions to examine interdependencies across family subsystems. The study also assessed whether a history of husband-to-wife aggression strengthened interdependencies. Overall, families with husband-to-wife aggression showed a negative tone that pervaded throughout the family. Consistent with theories about physically aggressive men tending to withdraw from conflict, fathers who had engaged in husband-to-wife aggression showed an association between marital hostilities and lower levels of empathy toward their children. Consistent with stress theories, women who had been exposed to husband-to-wife aggression showed a link between marital hostilities and negative affect when interacting with their children. These findings illustrate how a history of exposure to marital aggression can create a family environment of multiple risks for children. For children in families with prior marital aggression, ongoing marital hostilities can be linked to the additional risk of erosions in parental support.

Interdependencies among interparental discord and parenting practices: The role of adult vulnerability and relationship perturbations

We examined the nature and directionality of associations between interparental discord and parenting practices in a sample of 227 mothers and fathers of kindergarten children over two measurement waves spaced 1 year apart. Cross-lagged models indicated that associations between interparental discord and maternal and paternal parenting practices (i.e., acceptance, discipline) were generally negligible with one exception: interparental discord at Time 1 predicted decreases in maternal acceptance from Time 1 to Time 2. However, consistent with the family systems conceptualization of the family as an open system, prospective associations among interparental and parent-child subsystems varied significantly as a function of parental depressive symptoms, interparental relationship insecurity, and child-rearing disagreements. The moderating role of adult characteristics commonly varied across the type of adult vulnerability (e.g., depressive symptoms, interparental relationship insecurity, child-rearing disagreements), dimension of parenting practices (e.g., maternal and paternal acceptance and inconsistent discipline), and the directionality of the paths between interparental and parent-child subsystems.

Crianças com síndrome de Down e suas interações familiares

Criancas com deficiencia exercem um impacto profundo sobre o funcionamento da familia que necessita ser melhor investigado. Este estudo tem como objetivos a) descrever alguns aspectos do desenvolvimento e da vida familiar de criancas com sindrome de Down, segundo o relato dos genitores e b) identificar os padroes de interacao familiar, destacando os subsistemas genitores-crianca. Seis familias, consistindo de pai, mae e uma crianca pre-escolar com sindrome de Down, foram selecionadas. As maes responderam um questionario e participaram de entrevistas semi-estruturadas com os pais, separadamente. Dezoito sessoes de observacao do comportamento foram conduzidas na residencia das familias, totalizando 171 minutos de gravacao em video de atividades livres. Os resultados mostraram que as atividades foram desenvolvidas predominantemente de forma conjunta e que as interacoes familiares foram caracterizadas pela sincronia, supervisao, lideranca e amistosidade. Os dados sugerem que, para compreender o funcionamento de familias de criancas com sindrome de Down, faz-se necessario focalizar o papel do pai.

Marital and Family Therapy: A Decade Review

ed with permission from A.S. Gurman and D.P. Kniskern, on marital and family therapy; Progress, perspective and prospect. In Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change, by Garfield and Bergin (1978). superior to those reported for individual therapies. The following implications for practice are supported by the empirical research and overlap with the recommendations Gurman and Kniskern (1978b) make for the training of marriage and family therapists: 1 . Conjoint marital therapy appears more useful than individual therapy for improving marital relationships. 2. Family therapy appears as effective as individual therapy for a wide range of presenting problems. However, for most presenting problems, it is not possible to specify the best type of family treatment. 3. No one school of marital or family therapy has been demonstrated to be effective with a wide range of presenting problems. 4. Therapist relationship skills are important regardless of the conceptual orientation or school of the family therapist. Advances and Suggestions for Outcome Research The decade of the 1970s has seen the following advances in the empirical evaluation of relationship therapy: 1. Use of multimethod assessment aimed at multiple levels. 2. Increased use of objective as well as subjective data. 3. Inclusion of comparison and control groups. 4. Use of short-term followups. 5. Acknowledgment of deterioration. 6. Development of sequential research projects which link an understanding of relationship dynamics to intervention. The following are recommendations for future outcome research based upon the progress already documented. There should be: 1. Increased assessment of outcome by practicing therapists, which will require diagnosis and followup assessment. 2. Continued use of multiple outcome measures, including combinations of subjective, objective, and system-relevant measures. 3. Greater specification of treatment procedure applied to a narrowly defined client group. 4. Continued effort to match treatment to relationship dynamics rather than to presenting complaints--e.g., match treatment to system rather than to symptom. 5. Investigation of the generalizability of treatment approaches to different settings. 6. Investigation of the generalization of treatment effects from the marital to parent-child subsystems and vice versa. PROMISING TRENDS AND