Parental Representations Research Articles

Children in Conflictual Separations: Representations of Self and Family through the Blacky Pictures’ Test

ABSTRACTThis exploratory study aimed to evaluate the effects of conflictual separation and divorce on children’s representations of self and of family relationships in child custody evaluations. Forty-seven school-aged children, assessed in the course of civil separation procedures characterized by high levels of marital conflict (high conflict group), and a control group (low conflict group, n=47) matched for sex, age, and social level were asked to complete the Blacky Pictures Test. The protocols were analyzed by experts using the double-blind method on the base of an ad hoc grid. Results showed that children involved in high conflictual separations provided a more unstable self-representation and more negative representation of parents, higher emotional dysregulation (anger, guilt, persecutory distress), and inability to stay alone and to tolerate the ambivalence than the low conflict group.

Migrant Parents of Adolescents With School Refusal: A Qualitative Study of Parental Distress and Cultural Barriers in Access to Care.

Introduction: School refusal is an important problem in adolescent psychiatry. However, little is known about the experience of school refusal among minority youth (migrants and minority ethnic groups). This study assesses how parents of various cultural backgrounds experience their adolescents’ school refusal. Method: This qualitative study is based on interviews of 11 parents of teenagers diagnosed with school refusal at three adolescent outpatient mental health units in Paris and its suburbs. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used for the thematic investigation. Results: The analysis found four themes: (i) confronting school and school refusal distresses parental representations; (ii) school refusal as a failure of the family’s obligation to succeed after migration; (iii) representations of school that fluctuate with time since arrival: idealization, followed by mistrust and disappointment in the inequalities, even the racism; (iv) solutions envisioned for school refusal, confronting the healthcare system, stigma, and, again, inequality. Conclusion: All parents question their parenting choices when their children become school refusers. However, when families belong to minority groups, school refusal calls into question parents’ relations with the French school system and their immigration choices. At the same time, the construction of a multicultural identity for children and adolescents in transcultural situations requires them to strike a balance between two worlds, and school refusal endangers this delicate negotiation. Subsequent misunderstandings can lead clinicians to misdiagnose school refusal as truancy. Clinicians must take the parents’ culture and migration history into account to minimize the risk of complete failure of treatment for school refusal and the ensuing inequality of care and opportunity that can result.

Posthumanism, Parenting, and Agency: A Review of Naomi Morgenstern's Wild Child

Posthumanism, Parenting, and Agency:A Review of Naomi Morgenstern's Wild Child Jen Harrison (bio) Morgenstern, Naomi. Wild Child: Intensive Parenting and Posthumanist Ethics. U of Minnesota P, 2018. 280 pp. $25.00 pb. ISBN 9781517903794. Posthumanism and the posthuman have become increasingly popular theoretical lenses in children's literature and culture studies with their growing focus on embodiment, which Maria Nikolajeva identified in 2016. Scholars such as Zoe Jaques, Victoria Flanagan, and Elaine Ostry have all produced convincing arguments for "the child" as a symbol of both human embodiment and humanist values, and as a site for the contestation of that symbolism. Of particular concern to such studies has been the depiction of "the child" in various historical and contemporary works of fiction and the reading of such interpretations as symptomatic of a growing social, critical, and philosophical disillusionment with humanist ideals. Wild Child, therefore, enters a discourse which is already producing rich and provocative material. Morgenstern takes parenting and the parent-child relationship as the focus for her study, arguing that the depiction of "wild" children within extreme parent-child relationships in literature works to contradict humanist ideas about autonomy and agency. Such depictions, Morgenstern argues, help to "precipitate a posthumanist encounter with the ethics of reproductive choice and with the figure of the wild child" (2). The lack of clearly conceptualized definitions, norms, and perspectives for key concepts such as "wild," "child," "extreme parenting," and "parenting ethics" as they relate to posthumanism limits the scope of this fascinating contribution to current discourse. Morgenstern builds specifically on Cary Wolfe's work, which blurs the demarcation between humanism and posthumanism to posit the child as a liminal figure in humanism, hovering between the "animal" state of uncivilization [End Page 168] and the ideal, rational humanist subject. She argues throughout the volume for an understanding of the child as "situated precisely in [the] unstable, or wild, terrain" theorized by Wolfe to lie "between the humanist and the posthumanist" (6) and uses both psychoanalytical and deconstructive theory alongside posthumanist theory to argue that this liminal child figure serves as a locus for textual explorations of posthumanist parenting fears. Interestingly, the collection engages with ideas of the posthuman as well as posthumanist theory, exploring how modern political and technological complications—from the "designer babies" famously described by Francis Fukuyama to changing conceptions of who and what can be a parent, which Morgenstern explains is fundamentally dependent on ideas about agency—contribute to a destabilization of humanist ideologies. The volume begins with a long introduction, laying out the theoretical framework for the application of posthumanism, psychoanalysis, and deconstruction to representations of reproduction, parenting, and ethics. Five theoretical chapters then provide close textual analysis of representations of posthuman reproduction and parenting: Emma Donoghue's Room (chapter 1), Cormac McCarthy's The Road (chapter 2), Toni Morrison's A Mercy (chapter 3), Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin (chapter 4), and Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners and Alice Munro's "Miles City, Montana" (chapter 5). An afterword works to pull these close analyses back within the theoretical framework and explain the theoretical significance of the "wild child" as a focus for representations of extreme parenting. The fundamental weakness of this volume appears immediately in the introduction. This long, multi-section chapter draws on a range of theoretical frameworks, from feminist writers like Judith Butler and posthumanist feminists Rosi Braidotti, Donna Haraway, and Karen Barad to Derridian deconstruction and the psychoanalysis of Laplanche and Winnicott, to support an exploration of parent-child relationships within posthumanist contexts. The introduction attempts to cover the basic tenets of these theories and how they work together in the analysis, while simultaneously exploring their application to the primary texts analyzed in the rest of the volume. With its focus not only on the posthuman and posthumanism, but also on psychoanalysis, deconstruction, feminism, and Levinasian ethics, [End Page 169] the theoretical framework informing the analysis of these texts can be difficult to follow—both in the chapters themselves and in the explanatory subsections of the introduction—and at times the argument about posthumanism becomes lost. Even more problematically, there is no clear articulation of the concept of the "wild child...

The Analysis of the Meaning of the Person’s Internal World as a Basis of Self-Efficacy in the Educational System

The formation of the subject of the education system is inextricably linkedwith factors of self-knowledge and self-awareness that includes the knowledge of one’s own inner world. The inner world was associated with mental processes, conscious and unconscious factors, feelings and emotions, semantic reality. In recent years, in connection with the understanding of a person as a collective phenomenon, the inner world begins to be perceived as a representation of significant others. In particular, in psychoanalysis it is the representation of parents, in individual psychology it is siblings, in analytical psychology it is a multitude of personalities, up to the first man, that determine the formation of subjectivity. Based on this, we define the inner world not just as a semantic reality, but a reality for the production of meanings, provided by the cooperation of all the intimate personalities represented in one person, with whom she/he interacts directly and indirectly.Based on this, we propose a semantic analysis of the inner world, which involves the identification of a system of significant personalities, the subjective reflection of their values and actions, the study and rethinking of positive and negative influences that ensure the formation of new meanings.

The Impact of Children's Pre-Adoptive Traumatic Experiences on Parents.

For the last decade, children are adopted increasingly at an older age. Their pre-adoptive past can bare traumatic experiences consequent to abandonment, violence, or deprivation in birth family or orphanage. The objective of this study is to explore the impact of the child’s traumatic past on parental representations and subsequent parent-child interactions. The study includes 41 French parents who adopted one or more children internationally. Each parent participated to a semi-structured interview, focused on the choice of country, the trip to the child’s native country, the first interactions with the child, the knowledge of the child’s pre-adoptive history. The interviews were analyzed according to a qualitative phenomenological method, the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Five themes emerged from this analysis: absence of affects in the narrative; denial of the significance of the child’s traumatic experiences; perceptions of the uncanny concerning the child; parental worry about traumatic repetition for the child; specific structure of the narrative. These extracted themes reveal a low parental reflective function when the child’s past is discussed. They highlight the impact of the child’s traumatic past on parents. Exploring the impact of the child’s traumatic experiences on adoptive parents enables professionals involved in adoption to provide an early support to these families and to do preventive work at the level of parental representations and family interactions.

СОВРЕМЕННОЕ РОДИТЕЛЬСТВО: ПСИХОСЕМАНТИЧЕСКИЙ АНАЛИЗ

Statement of the problem. The authors study modern social concepts of parenthood. A large number of studies related to parenthood are recorded, with virtually no research devoted to the study of social representations of modern parents. The purpose of the article is to describe the semantic core of modern parents’ ideas about parenthood. Materials and methods. The research methodology consists of the concept of social representations of S. Moskovichi and synthesized studies of Russian and international scientists in the field of social representations (K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, G. M. Andreyeva, E. Yu. Artemyeva, L. G. Pochebut, J. K. Abrik, P. Verges). Results. The analysis of the results shows that the semantic core consists of ideas about the role of parents, including mother and father, the main tasks of parents, feelings and emotions associated with parenthood, acceptable behavior for the role of a parent. It should be noted that at their core these ideas tend to the traditional Russian understanding of parenthood and reflect some model of the “ideal parent” as an educator. At the same time, quite “new” for the Russian mentality can be considered the idea of the right of parents to their own life, not subordinate to the tasks of raising a child. Conclusion. The results of the study make it possible to contribute to the design of the general knowledge system and obtain data that are of particular practical importance for the development and implementation of educational programs for teachers. The knowledge of social representations of modern parenthood allows development of the education of parents, adequate to their features and needs.

Representasi Single Parent dalam Film Susah Sinyal

The Susah Sinyal movie is a lm that takes the theme of the life of a single parent woman in carrying out her role. single parent is a picture of a single parent who is very tough because they have to play both roles as father and mother. The purpose of conducting research is to show how the stereotypical representation of single parent women in lm Susah Sinyal. This type of research used in this udy is a qualitative udy using the Roland Barthes semiotic analysis method. This research focuses on the role of a single parent woman named Ellen who is represented in the lm. The results of this udy indicate that the stereotypical representation of single parent is shown in 3 (three) categories. First, the stereotype representation of single parent women that describes emotional women and women who are weak in carrying out both roles. Second, the representation of women’s resi ance based on liberal feminism which shows the stereotype that single parent women are hard- working women. Third, the representation of patriarchal ideology found a ereotype that problem children are the failure of single parent women in educating and caring for children.

Temperature preference can bias parental genome retention during hybrid evolution.

Interspecific hybridization can introduce genetic variation that aids in adaptation to new or changing environments. Here, we investigate how hybrid adaptation to temperature and nutrient limitation may alter parental genome representation over time. We evolved Saccharomyces cerevisiae x Saccharomyces uvarum hybrids in nutrient-limited continuous culture at 15°C for 200 generations. In comparison to previous evolution experiments at 30°C, we identified a number of responses only observed in the colder temperature regime, including the loss of the S. cerevisiae allele in favor of the cryotolerant S. uvarum allele for several portions of the hybrid genome. In particular, we discovered a genotype by environment interaction in the form of a loss of heterozygosity event on chromosome XIII; which species’ haplotype is lost or maintained is dependent on the parental species’ temperature preference and the temperature at which the hybrid was evolved. We show that a large contribution to this directionality is due to a temperature dependent fitness benefit at a single locus, the high affinity phosphate transporter gene PHO84. This work helps shape our understanding of what forces impact genome evolution after hybridization, and how environmental conditions may promote or disfavor the persistence of hybrids over time.

Representações das figuras parentais e dor psicológica: Um estudo exploratório

O objectivo deste estudo de cariz exploratório é testar, em adultos da comunidade, a relação entre representações das figuras parentais e dor psicológica. A amostra final é constituída por 164 participantes, com idades entre os 18 e os 65 anos, que responderam à Psychache Scale e ao Inventário para Aceder às Memórias de Infância Relativas às Práticas Parentais (EMBU) e, realizaram uma descrição livre de cada uma das figuras parentais. Estas descrições foram codificadas recorrendo à Escala de Diferenciação e Relacionamento (Escala DR). Os resultados mostraram que à excepção do nível DR para a descrição da figura materna, as restantes cinco variáveis, nível DR para a descrição da figura paterna, rejeição paterna, rejeição materna, sobreprotecção paterna e sobreprotecção materna, se correlacionam significativamente com a variável dor psicológica. Uma análise de regressão múltipla do tipo forward mostrou que as variáveis, nível DR para a descrição da figura paterna, rejeição paterna e sobreprotecção materna deram um contributo significativo para a previsão da dor psicológica, embora explicando uma percentagem baixa de variância da dor psicológica. Este modelo foi corroborado através de Modelação de Equações Estruturais. Os resultados são discutidos no âmbito da teoria psicanalítica e da perspectiva da aceitação-rejeição de Rohner.

Parental Roles in “The Circle of Life” Representations of Parents and Parenting in Disney Animated Films from 1937 to 2017

With such an expansive global reach, greater research is needed to evaluate messaging within Disney animated films as it relates to societal implications. The present analysis examined the portrayal of parents and parenting over time through a census content analysis of 85 Disney animated and computer-animated films that aired from 1937 to 2017. The constructs of parent demographics, parental configurations, parent roles within and outside of the home, and parenting behaviors were examined. Results revealed that the vast majority of parents were viewed as mature, competent adults, with 56% use of the authoritative parenting style. Father figures were significantly more likely to use authoritarian and permissive parental approaches whereas female caregivers were more authoritative. Although parents were portrayed as overall mature and competent adults, implications are discussed regarding the portrayal of parental approaches that do not provide children with the support needed to overcome obstacles.

Surgical decision-making in infants with suspected UPJ obstruction: stakeholder perspectives

Although there are significant demographic and clinical variations in treatment decisions for infants with high-grade hydronephrosis concerning for ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO), there has been little research on the roles of parents and surgeons in the surgical decision-making (DM) process. The purpose of this study was to understand parents' and surgeons' perceived roles in the surgical DM process for infants with high-grade hydronephrosis. Semistructured interviews were conducted with pediatric urologists from three regionally diverse tertiary referral sites and parents of infants diagnosed and treated for unilateral Society for Fetal Urology grade 3 or 4 hydronephrosis at one tertiary pediatric urology practice. Purposive sampling was used to ensure adequate representation of parents based on treatment choice, patient gender, race/ethnicity, and distance from the practice. Survey domains included(1) discussions about diagnosis and treatment options, (2) factors guiding treatment choice, and (3) participants' role in the DM process. Transcribed data and field notes were analyzed using a team-based, inductive grounded theory qualitative approach. Thirteen physicians and 32 parents were interviewed between November 2016 and November 2017. Parents and surgeons agreed that the surgeon was best equipped to guide treatment decisions because of their clinical knowledge and experience. Parents reported that their trust in the surgeon was the primary factor in their decisions. Surgeons reported tailoring discussions with parents to not only educate them about treatment options but also to develop an ongoing relationship with parents. Both parents and surgeons reported being satisfied with their roles in the DM process. This study suggests that parental trust in the surgeon and surgeon recommendations drive DM. This may be due to a lack of explicit discussion of options or of parental values and preferences for care. Limited discussions may also impact parental understanding of risks and potential complications. These findings are similar to those of prior studies in adults and children considering elective surgery. In this study, parents and surgeons reported that surgeon recommendations, rather than parent preferences, guide treatment choices for infants with suspected UPJO. Both parents and surgeons are satisfied with a physician-driven approach to DM, suggesting that, in situations where the perceived risk is low and parental knowledge is limited, parents may find a physician-led approach beneficial. Data gleaned from this study will be used to inform future quantitative studies evaluating factors guiding surgeon recommendations for treatment and their associations with underlying treatment variation.

Effects of an interdisciplinary approach to parental representation in child welfare

This study utilizes a quasi-experimental propensity score matching design to assess the causal impact on child welfare outcomes when parents facing an abuse or neglect case in the New York City Family Court were provided interdisciplinary law office representation as opposed to a standard panel attorney. The interdisciplinary law office approach includes social work staff and parent advocates for the parent, and salaried attorneys working in nonprofit organizations. Using administrative child welfare data, the study assesses the foster care and safety outcomes of 9582 families and their 18,288 children. The propensity score matched results do not indicate a preventive effect toward foster care entry nor any difference in children's likelihoods of experiencing a subsequent substantiated report of maltreatment. However, when children's parents received the interdisciplinary representation and those children did enter foster care, children spent 118 fewer days on average in foster care during the four years following the abuse or neglect case filing. Subsequent competing risk models show that children whose parents received the interdisciplinary law office model achieved overall permanency, reunification, and guardianship more quickly. These results provide evidence that interdisciplinary law office parental representation is an effective intervention to promote permanency for children in foster care.

Ambiguous Loss in Transnational Families' Adolescents: An Exploratory Study in Ecuador.

In psychosocial migration literature, the perspective of ambiguous loss has been relevant to articulate personal and relational experiences in the context of transnational families and ongoing separation. Most studies have focused on adult members' experiences of transnational families, but research exploring ambiguous loss in adolescents whose parents have migrated is still lacking. The present study aimed to explore adolescents' lived experiences of parental migration. In a pilot explorative study, 14 adolescents with at least one parent who migrated were interviewed about their lived experiences of transnational parent-child relationships and ongoing parent-child separation. Data analysis identified four themes in participants' accounts: practices of separation creating confusion; current relationship with migrant parents permeated by ambiguity; distrustful representations of migrant parents; and family and social dynamics reactivating the pain of loss. The findings reveal how in the context of parental migration, patterns of separation and ongoing relational processes, compounded by the uncertainty of reunification and an exclusionary social fabric, constitute core elements that shape adolescents' lived experiences of parent-child relationships characterized by ambiguity.

Parenting self-efficacy in the context of poverty and HIV in Eastern Uganda: A qualitative study.

We sought to understand social representations of effective parenting and parenting self-efficacy among female HIV-affected caregivers in rural Eastern Uganda. We conducted in-depth interviews (n = 21) to describe parenting experiences and caregivers' perceptions of their own parenting abilities and to create vignettes for use in directed focus groups. We carried out open focus groups (n = 2) to gain social perspectives on parenting, and directed focus groups (n = 2) concentrated on parenting self-efficacy. Analysis involved memoing and inductive and deductive coding of transcripts. Caregivers' perceptions of their own parenting were grounded in parenting values such as providing children with basic needs, having well-behaved children, and having good relationships with children. Caregivers' perceptions were influenced by challenges, including single parenthood, living with HIV, limited family resources, and mental health problems. When facing challenges, caregivers relied on social support and faith as well as their own parenting confidence. Caregivers' perceptions of their parenting abilities were influenced by how they felt others perceived them, their satisfaction in the parenting role, their perseverance despite challenges, and the extent to which they had a vision for their family. Our findings contextualize parenting self-efficacy within parenting values, challenges, and social perceptions among HIV-affected caregivers in rural Uganda.

Perfectionism and beliefs about emotions in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome and their parents: a preliminary investigation in a case control study nested within a cohort

Objectives: To investigate perfectionism and beliefs about emotions in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and their parents.Design: Case-control comparing adolescents (age 11–18) with CFS (N = 121), asthma (N = 27) and healthy controls (N = 78) with a 3-month follow up for CFS participants.Main outcome measures: Adolescents: Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire, physical functioning, Beliefs about Emotions scale (BES), Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale, Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS). Parents: BES, FMPS, Self—sacrificing scale, Affective styles questionnaire.Results: Adolescents with CFS did not consistently report higher levels of perfectionism and unhelpful beliefs about emotions than adolescents with asthma or healthy adolescents. Mothers’ and adolescents’ beliefs about emotions and unhelpful perfectionism were significantly associated (p = .007). Linear regression found that neither adolescent perfectionism nor beliefs about emotions accounted for variance in subsequent fatigue or physical functioning.Conclusion: Parental perfectionism and emotion regulation style may contribute to perfectionism in adolescents with CFS. Parental representations could contribute to fatigue maintenance.

The influence of pregnant couples’ attachment representation for parents of origin on their psychological symptoms

This study investigated the significant difference in the influences of pregnant couples’ attachment representation for parents of origin on their psychological symptoms according to groups. One hundred and eighty two pregnant couples answered the questionnaire. Data were analyzed by means of frequency, percentages, t-test. Pearson’s correlation using SPSS ver. 21.0 and multiple group structural equation modeling using AMOS ver. 20.0. The findings are as follows. First, there were significant differences in attachment representations according to parents of origin and psychological symptoms between pregnant women and spouses. Second, there were negative influences of attachment representations to parents of origin on psychological symptoms for both the pregnant women group and their spouses group, respectively. Last, the negative effects of attachment representation for parents of origin on their psychological symptoms according to groups were significantly different; consequently, the impact on the spouses group was stronger than the pregnant women group. The results imply that policies to help pregnant couples reduce psychological symptoms should be provided. In addition, the unexpected result on the weaker impact of pregnant women’s attachment representation for parents of origin on their psychological symptoms suggests it is better to consider other factors simultaneously (such as a romantic attachment to spouses) that might provide a moderating role. The study results are meaningful because it is the first to apply a statistically advanced method to analyze pregnant women and spouses in relation to parents of origin on their psychological symptoms. Keywords: attachment representation, psychological symptoms, multiple group analysis, moderating effect

Decoding and understanding the causes of emotions

An attempt to analyse mental representations of basic emotions – joy and fear – is made in terms of child-parent relations. On the basis of theoretical analysis the possible levels and components in the views of parents about the emotions of preschool children are identified. The importance and significance of parents' knowledge about the causes and patterns of emotional behaviour in children are indicated. The scheme of the pilot study is proposed, the procedure of the survey based on written verbal reports is described. The qualitative-quantitative, comparative analysis of the selected units in the mental representations of parents about the reasons for the demonstration and the basis for their recognition (decoding) is given. The proposed thesaurus of situations that contribute to experiencing emotions of joy, fear. The main patterns in the demonstration of emotional behaviour of children, according to parental representations are revealed. The data obtained correlate with the results of previous studies on problems in the field of child-parent relations, psychology of emotions and can be applied in practice.

Сравнительный анализ представлений родителей о личностных качествах дошкольников и младших школьников

The paper reflects the stages and presents the results of a study on social representations of parents about the personal qualities of their preschool- and primary-school-age children as well as their characteristics that will be needed to become successful and happy. The authors identify the correlation between the ideas of parents and their age. The study findings demonstrate that the ideas of modern parents about the personal qualities that are essential for the happy and successful life of their children vary slightly according to the particular child’s age and do not depend on the parents’ age. Preschoolers’ parents regard such qualities as activity, curiosity, and kindness as common to children while parents of primary school students note intelligence and stubbornness in addition to the above-mentioned qualities. Parents of the younger (up to 33–35 years old) and older age groups (after 33–35 years old) have different ideas about the qualities under review. The first group emphasizes self-confidence, and the second one focuses on sociability as a quality children need to be happy. There are slightly different ideas about the qualities required for success: young parents consider persistence to be the key to success, and the parents of the older age group highlight hard work.

ВЗАИМОСВЯЗЬ КОНФЛИКТНОЙ КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТИ ПОДРОСТКОВ С ИХ ПРЕДСТАВЛЕНИЯМИ О РОДИТЕЛЬСКОМ ВОСПИТАНИИ

Цель. Статья посвящена выявлению взаимосвязи между конфликтной компетентностью подростков и их восприятием параметров родительского воспитания, что позволит определить факторы риска социализации в семье, ведущие к неэффективному поведению в конфликте.Метод или методология проведения работы. Основу исследования составляет структурный подход к изучению конфликтной компетентности, представленный в научных работах М.М. Кашапова, М.В. Башкина, C. Runde. В работе использованы метод теоретического анализа и психологическое тестирование.Результаты. В результате исследования было обнаружено, что доминирующим типом реагирования в конфликте у подростков 14–15 лет является «Оптимальное решение», для них характерен достаточно высокий уровень осведомленности о конфликте, способах поведения в нем, сочетающийся с неумением управлять своим эмоциональным состоянием в предконфликтных и конфликтных ситуациях, сложностями в открытом проявлении своих эмоций. Корреляционный анализ показал наличие взаимосвязи низкого уровня конфликтной компетентности и выраженности в представлении подростков параметров родительского воспитания, которые могут быть отнесены к авторитарному стилю (гиперпротекция, чрезмерность запретов и санкций и т.д.).Область применения результатов. Результаты исследования могут быть применены в сфере образования в рамках профилактики асоциального поведения подростков.

Parent Representations in Filicide: An Interactionist Analysis

This paper discusses its findings of an eight-year study (between 2000-2008) of filicide in New South Wales (‘NSW’), Australia using the data from selected case files held in the National Coronial Information System (‘NCIS’). The study examines the nature of intervention in filicide cases in NSW. Specifically, it questions why support services were not able to identify the risks posed by the parent to the child, given that the parent(s) had been known to these services such as, child protection, mental health professionals and the police prior to the filicide. The findings indicate that certain interactions between the parent(s) and support services precede and tended to characterise the violence to follow. Specifically, parent representations have the ability to conceal risks of harm to the child. The article suggests the need to better understand the context of parental interactions and engagement with support services, in order to develop improved strategies to prevent filicide once risk factors have been identified.