Poor Parent-child Relationships Research Articles

Youth engaging in online harassment: associations with caregiver–child relationships, Internet use, and personal characteristics

To date, research focused on “traditional” (i.e. in-person) youth bullying behaviour has documented serious psychosocial challenges for those involved. How this literature translates to youth engaging in aggressive behaviours online has yet to be examined. Using the largest US sample of youth Internet users to date, psychosocial characteristics of youth engaging in Internet harassment were examined. Results from the nationally representative survey suggested that Internet harassment is a significant public health issue, with aggressors facing multiple psychosocial challenges including poor parent–child relationships, substance use, and delinquency. Comparisons to traditional bullies were made, with similarities and differences noted.

Do maternal concerns at delivery predict parenting stress during infancy?

Objective: In a previous study, we found that new mothers could and would express concerns about their parenting, including concerns about maltreatment and poor care. In this study, we examine the utility of early maternal concerns for predicting parenting stress in the first year. Parenting stress is important because it has been shown to be related to maltreatment and poor parent-child relationships. Method: A sample of 246 mothers were interviewed shortly after delivery in a publicly funded hospital about their parenting concerns, and 93% were reinterviewed in their homes about their parenting when the infants were 6 to 12 months old. Standardized measures with demonstrated psychometric properties were employed, including a measure of parenting stress due to the demands of the parenting role, characteristics of the child that make him or her difficult to care for, and stress due to difficult interactions. Results: Multiple regression results indicate that both mothers concerns at delivery and sociodemographic variables are significant predictors of all three types of parenting stress in infancy. Maternal concerns were more powerful than sociodemographics in predicting stress related to the demands of parenting, while sociodemographics were more powerful for the prediction of stress related to difficult child characteristics and difficult mother-infant interaction. Conclusions: These findings suggest that knowledge of new mothers’ parenting concerns might be useful for predicting parenting problems, as well as for engaging mothers’ in and enhancing the effectiveness of parenting services.

A Growth Curve Analysis of the Course of Dysthymic Disorder: The Effects of Chronic Stress and Moderation by Adverse Parent-Child Relationships and Family History.

Using mixed effects models, the authors examined the effects of chronic stress, adverse parent-child relationships, and family history on the 7.5-year course of dysthymic disorder. Participants included 97 outpatients with early-onset dysthymia who were assessed with semistructured interviews at baseline and 3 additional times at 30-month intervals for 7.5 years. Results indicated that higher levels of chronic stress 6 months prior to each follow-up predicted greater depression severity at follow-up, controlling for depression severity at the start of the chronic stress assessment. In addition, adverse parent-child relationships and family history of dysthymic disorder moderated this association. For patients with poorer parent-child relationships, chronic stress was associated with increased depression severity at follow-up, whereas patients with a higher familial loading for dysthymic disorder were less responsive to chronic stress over time.

Conduct disorder: a biopsychosocial review.

To review published works on the epidemiology, risk factors, protective factors, typologies, and genetic aspects of conduct disorder (CD). Findings from refereed journal articles and current texts in the field are briefly summarized. CD is commonly encountered in clinical practice. Factors strongly predictive of future delinquency include past offenses, antisocial peers, impoverished social ties, early substance use, male sex, and antisocial parents. Factors that moderately predict recidivism include early aggression, low socioeconomic status (SES), psychological variables such as risk taking and impulsivity, poor parent-child relationships, poor academic performance, early medical insult, and neuropsychological variables such as poor verbal IQ. Mildly predictive variables include other family characteristics such as large family size, family stress, discord, broken home, and abusive parenting, particularly neglect. Protective factors include individual factors such as skill competence (in social and other arenas), adult relationships, prosocial and proeducational values, and strong social programs and supports. We know a great deal about psychosocial risk factors for CD. Some research into protective factors and genetic contributions exists but is in its early stages. Future work will increase our knowledge about subtypes, developmental pathways, and CD treatment.

Parent-child relationships, child temperament profiles and children's alcohol use norms.

The purpose of this study was to examine the contributions of child temperament, parents' alcohol use norms for their children and parent-child relationship quality to children's alcohol use norms. Observational and self-report data on these variables were gathered from mothers, fathers and target children during home visits to a purposive random sample of 171 intact white families with a 10- to 12-year-old child, 85 with girls and 86 with boys. Liberality in children's norms was associated with active, sensation-seeking temperament, liberality in parents' norms and poor parent-child relationship quality. Positive parent-child, particularly father-child, relationships were associated with less liberal child norms even when parents' norms were liberal and children's temperaments were active and sensation oriented. Positive parent-child relationships have a conventionalizing effect on children's alcohol use norms that moderates the effects of temperament and parental norms. The development of alcohol use norms is best described by transactional models.

Long-Term Effects of Parental Divorce on Love Relationships: Divorce as Attachment Disruption

This study is an exploration of the long-term effects of parental divorce on a person's romantic relationships. Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969a) suggests that parental divorce in itself may not cause poor romantic relationships, but rather, growing up with poor parent-child relationships and protracted interparental conflict may be what is most destructive to subsequent romantic relationships. Seventy-eight college students with divorced parents and a control group of 94 students from non-divorced households responded to a questionnaire assessing early experiences with parents and with any other individual besides a biological parent, called a `parent-substitute' who the subjects reported was `like a mother or father to them' while growing up (e.g. a stepparent, grandparent, older sibling, etc.). The questionnaire also assessed the perceived level of interparental conflict between the biological parents, and the subjects' current style of relating in romantic love relationships. A stepwise multiple regression was performed to clarify the effects of early parental relationships, interparental conflict and parent's marital status (divorce or married) using style of relating in romantic relationships as the criterion variable. Students who reported having accepting parents who encouraged their independence were most likely to report feeling secure in their current love relationships. Students who reported growing up with protracted interparental conflict, or rejecting, overprotective parents were most likely to report jealousy and fears of abandonment in their love relationships. Growing up with an accepting parent may increase an individual's resilience to possible negative effects of parental divorce. Additionally, this parent may not necessarily have to be a biological parent. Students from both non-divorced and divorced households who reported growing up with accepting parent-substitutes (e.g. step-parents, grandparents) were also likely to report feeling secure in their romantic love relationships.

What Clinicians Want to Know About Teaching Families New Disciplinary Tools

NOT ALL FAMILIES HAVE THE SAME EDUCATIONAL NEEDS Dr Howard's paper points out that punishment (one way of decreasing undesired behaviors) is only part of a larger system for helping children develop adaptive interpersonal skills and culturally acceptable patterns of conduct. Parents also rely on promoting a close relationship with their child, reinforcing positive behaviors, and helping children learn a set of basic behavioral rules that are adaptable to changing situations. One of the things that we don't know about families using corporal punishment is the extent to which they lack skills in all of these areas or whether, at the risk of gross oversimplification, we would suggest that they change nothing except to replace one form of punishment (spanking) for another. In some families, corporal punishment occurs in the context of poor parent-child relationships and other forms of emotionally harsh punishment, and in other families it does not.1,2 WHAT ROLE DO PRIMARY CARE PROVIDERS HAVE IN PARENTING EDUCATION? Dr Howard shows that a variety of behavioral interventions are available, that they have demonstrable effects, and that they work for a variety of populations. Most of the studies she described, however, would have to be classified as efficacy studies. We now know these interventions work in the hands of clinical psychologists in laboratory conditions with selected patients. What do we know about how to build these into routine pediatric practice, especially those that require several training sessions and specialized training materials?3 Research in adult mental health services suggests one direction to pursue—the development of novel collaborative arrangements between behavioral specialists and primary care providers.

Parent-Child Relationships of Victims and Siblings in Incest Families

Clinical accounts suggest that families in which sexual abuse occurs are characterized by poor parent-child relationships. However, there have been no empirical studies utilizing standardized measures to assess the quality of such relationships. In this study, information on parent-child relationships was obtained for 36 child victims and 41 nonabused siblings in families in which father-child sexual abuse had been acknowledged by the father/perpetrator. Results indicated that child victims reported greater relationship problems with father/perpetrators than with mothers. In addition, victims reported greater relationship difficulties with father/perpetrators than did siblings. There were no differences between father/perpetrator and mother reports of relationship quality for victims and siblings. Victims' self-reported depression and anxiety were associated with father/perpetrators' views of father-child relationships, whereas nonabused siblings' self-reported depression and anxiety were associated with ...

Protective and resource factors in highand low-risk children: A comparison of children with unipolar, bipolar, medically ill, and normal mothers

AbstractThis study distinguished between factors that were protective for children at high risk and those that were resources for children regardless of risk level and determined the generality of these factors across three different risk definitions: school-age children of mothers with (a) unipolar depression (n = 22), (b) bipolar disorder (n = 18), and (c) medical illness (n = 18), each compared to a low-risk control group (n = 38). Results were verified at a 1-year follow-up. Positive self-concept, academic success, social competence, and positive perceptions of the mothers were resource factors associated with lower diagnostic ratings for children in all risk groups. Maternal social competence and having a healthy father in the home were resource factors for maternal unipolar risk but, unexpectedly, were vulnerability factors for maternal bipolar risk. Children's friendships were protective for children of medically ill mothers; however, frequent contact with an adult friend was a risk factor for unipolar offspring. The latter finding suggests that such contact might be a consequence of poor parent-child relationships. Findings are discussed in terms of possible interventions for children at risk, and suggestions for additional research are offered.

The psychosocial adjustment of Australian Vietnam veterans.

The authors reviewed the case records of a random sample of 126 Australian Vietnam veteran inpatients, recorded the diagnostic and background data, and made new DSM-III diagnoses. Neurotic disorders accounted for 49% of the primary or secondary diagnoses. Only 10% of the overall sample had a primary diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder but 27% of the veterans who had seen combat had a primary diagnosis of the disorder. Twenty-nine percent of the overall sample were given a primary diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence. The early developmental environment of the overall sample frequently included poor parent-child relationships, high rates of parental separation, and family histories dominated by parental alcohol abuse.