Parental Problems Research Articles

Human service professionals’ observations of suboptimal parenting: Barriers to intervention and potential solutions

This study was designed to learn about the types of sub-optimal parenting observed by human service professionals and the barriers they faced in moving from being a bystander to an intervenor on behalf of children. Twenty-four human service professionals participated in an in-depth audio interview about the types of poor parenting they observed and the barriers they perceived to their intervening. Using an inductive grounded theory approach, a set of themes were identified based on the content of the interviews. Teams of coders independently coded statements extracted from the transcripts according to these themes and subthemes (average kappa = 0.80). Seven types of problematic parenting were mentioned (physical aggression, verbal aggression and rejection threats, lack of supervision, poor parental coping, interfering with a child abuse investigation, and imposing their own needs on the child) along with five main categories of barriers to intervention (role constraint, behavior not bad enough, bad timing, uncertain what to do, and fear of parental response). Human service professionals are in a position to observe parents engaging in behaviors that if persistent or severe would qualify as child maltreatment. Many do not intervene even though they are concerned about the impact of these parental behaviors on children. Agencies that provide human services to parents and children can benefit from providing their workers with enhanced training, support, and practice in intervening in ways that can feel helpful and respectful. In addition, they could engage in efforts to improve the environments and culture of their agencies to reduce parental stressors which are significant triggers for poor parenting.

Coparenting and Adolescent Academic Engagement: The Mediating Role of Parent–Child Communication Among a National Sample of Chinese Families

ABSTRACTThe relationship and related mediating mechanism between parental coparenting and adolescent academic engagement have yet to be elucidated during the pandemic. The present study is set to investigate the relationship between parental coparenting and adolescent academic engagement within Chinese families. Then it examines the mediating effects of parent–child communications in relationships. As a part of the national online survey in China, fathers, mothers and adolescents from 700 families across the country participated in the online survey. Both parents reported their coparenting support and conflict, while adolescents rated the level of open and problematic parent–child communication and their own academic engagement. Paternal coparenting conflict was related to adolescent academic engagement through both open and problematic communications. Paternal and maternal coparenting support was related to adolescent academic engagement through the mediating effect of open communication. Maternal coparenting conflict was related to adolescent academic engagement through problematic communication. Moreover, paternal coparenting support was positively directly related to adolescent academic engagement in the overall model. The research findings supported the effects of parental coparenting on adolescent academic engagement through the mediating effects of open and problematic parent–child communication. Paternal coparenting support had a greater impact on adolescent academic engagement.

Parent‐child contact problems: Family violence and parental alienating behaviors either/or, neither/nor, both/and, one in the same?

AbstractThis article argues that in order to intervene effectively and ethically with children who are manifesting Parent–child contact problems (PCCPs) after parental separation, we begin by being mindful of what is normal about divorce transitions and use developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive analysis to rule out children's common transitory reactions. It is then important to concurrently assess for both family violence (FV) and severe parental alienating behavior (PAB) on the part of both parents, which can co‐occur in some cases. The article asserts that it is also important to consider common problematic parenting responses that may potentiate the PCCP but not necessarily rise to the level of abuse. FV is defined as a child's direct experience of physical, sexual, or psychological maltreatment and indirect exposure to sibling abuse and/or to intimate partner violence (IPV). PAB is defined as an ongoing pattern of unwarranted negative messages on the part of one parent that conveys that the child's other parent is disinterested, irrelevant, dangerous, and not to be trusted. Any one or all of these factors may contribute to a child's strident negativity and sustained rejection of one parent, these being defining features of a PCCP. This article proposes ethical principles and priorities for decision‐making in these cases, considering the growing social science controversy about assessment and intervention for PCCPs. It concludes with an analysis of recent, contrasting policy approaches to PCCPs (e.g., Kayden's Law and the Joint Statement of the AFCC and NCJFCJ) and their potential impact on family justice system professionals and the families they serve.

Mothers' resilience and potential for disrupted parenting in COVID-19: The protective effect of cognitive reappraisal.

Stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic may pose acute threats to caregivers' capacity to cope and result in problematic parenting. However, studies have suggested that some caregivers were able to maintain high resilience when facing hardship. The goal of the present study was to examine how COVID-19-related stress affects resilience and parenting of mothers with young children and whether mothers' individual differences in emotion regulation skills lead to different resilience and parenting outcomes. We followed a sample of 298 mothers in the United States with children between 0 and 3 years old over 9 months beginning in April 2020 when most states were on lockdown. Results indicated that both COVID-19-related stress in April 2020 and greater increases/smaller decreases of COVID-19-related stress across 9 months were associated with mothers' lower resilience in January 2021. Low resilience, in turn, was associated with mothers' higher parenting stress, perceptions of parenting incompetence, and risk for child abuse. Furthermore, for mothers with low and moderate levels of cognitive reappraisal, a greater increase/smaller decrease in COVID-19-related stress was associated with their lower resilience after 9 months. In contrast, for mothers with high cognitive reappraisal, the change in COVID-19-related stress was not related to their resilience. This study demonstrates the importance of cognitive reappraisal for mothers of young children to resist and thrive against chronic and uncontrollable external stressors, which are crucial to preventing mothers' child abuse potential and maintaining positive parenting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Hovering or invalidating? Examining nuances in the associations between controlling parents and problematic outcomes for college students

Objective: The purpose of these studies was to examine whether college students’ beliefs about themselves (i.e., self-compassion and beliefs about emotions) could be mechanisms explaining the relationship between problematic parenting behaviors (helicopter parenting and parental invalidation) and outcomes including perfectionism, affective distress, locus of control, and distress tolerance. Participants: Respondents included 255 (Study 1) and 277 (Study 2) college undergraduates. Methods: Simultaneous regressions and separate path analyses with helicopter parenting and parental invalidation as predictors, with self-compassion and emotion beliefs as mediators. Results: Across both studies, parental invalidation predicted perfectionism, affective distress, distress tolerance, and locus of control, and these links were often mediated by self-compassion. Self-compassion emerged as the most consistent and strongest link between parental invalidation and negative outcomes. Conclusion: People who internalize their parents’ criticism and invalidation such that they hold negative beliefs about themselves (i.e., low self-compassion) may be vulnerable to negative psychosocial outcomes.

Maternal History of Childhood Maltreatment and Brain Responses to Infant Cues Across the Postpartum Period.

Adults with histories of childhood maltreatment (CM) are more likely to display problematic parenting behaviors. The goal of this study was to examine changes in maternal brain activation to negative infant cues over the early postpartum period among new mothers with and without histories of CM, as this is a period of immense neuroplasticity in the maternal brain. CM was measured using the Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) conducted at approximately 5 and 13 weeks postpartum measured brain responses to own and unfamiliar infant cues in primiparous women. Women with histories of CM displayed increasing activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, and greater increases in anterior cingulate cortex activation was associated with maternal reports of less regulatory capacity in their infants. Preliminary results suggest that new mothers with CM histories display greater brain responses to negative infant cues compared to new mothers without CM histories. Women with CM histories may benefit from additional supports during the transition to parenthood.

Single-Session Computer-Delivered Intervention for Parental Accommodation and Overcontrolling Behaviors: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT Despite repeated calls regarding the need to target parental accommodation and overcontrol in child anxiety treatment, brief protocols specifically targeting these behaviors in parents of clinically anxious youth are currently limited in number. The present investigation piloted and refined a theoretically informed, internet-delivered, single-session intervention (SSI) specifically aimed at reducing parental accommodation and overcontrolling behaviors. Socioeconomically and racially diverse parents of clinically anxious children (N = 12; M age =10.08 years, SD = 1.74, range = 7–14 years) were recruited in two phases. In Phase One, three online focus groups with two parents each (n = 6) received the intervention and provided qualitative and quantitative feedback on the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention program. Parental feedback from the focus groups was used to revise the program. In Phase Two, the revised program was administered to six new parents to examine the program’s acceptability and feasibility for increasing psychoeducational knowledge regarding child anxiety, parental accommodation, and overcontrol. Across both phases, the intervention was well-received by parents in terms of relevance, acceptability, and feasibility. Parents demonstrated significant increases in knowledge of parental accommodation, overcontrol, and child anxiety from pre- to post-intervention. Qualitative data indicated that parents benefited from the unique online format as well as the content. Findings support the feasibility and acceptability of an accessible and time-efficient SSI designed to target problematic parenting behaviors among parents of clinically anxious children.

Masculinity in the consulting room: A child psychotherapist’s experiences

ABSTRACT This paper takes its cue from those given at the conference Psychotherapy and Healthy Masculinity. These prompted the author to reflect on how he experienced masculinity as a psychotherapist working with families within NHS England’s CAMHS. The difficulties in children leading to their referral demonstrated a problematic parenting in which the diminished role of the father was causal. Beliefs about masculinity held within the family matrix were largely ones that functioned to fill epistemic lacunae. Such filling represents a double injustice. Not only is there very little empirically based thinking about fathers in our western culture for families to draw upon to make sense of their experiences. Instead, this dearth is often falsely compensated through ideologically derived pejorative concepts, that invariably do not relate to experience. The paper discusses the perniciousness of relying upon ideological perceptions of masculinity through focusing upon how easily they are acquired and work against the mental health of children and their families.

How does parent–child communication affects posttraumatic stress disorder and growth in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic? The mediating roles of self-compassion and disclosure

BackgroundResearch suggests that family factors play an important role in adolescent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and posttraumatic growth (PTG). Parent–child communication has attracted particular attention. However, it remains unclear whether parent–child communication affects PTSD and PTG via unique or shared underlying mechanisms. The study aim was to examine the effect of parent–child communication on PTSD and PTG via self-compassion and self-disclosure. MethodsSelf-report questionnaires were administered to 683 adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. ResultsOpen parent–child communication was positively associated with PTG and negatively associated with PTSD via two 1-step indirect paths of self-compassion and self-disclosure, and by one 2-step indirect path of self-compassion to self-disclosure. Problematic parent–child communication was negatively associated with PTG and positively associated with PTSD via two 1-step indirect paths of self-compassion and self-disclosure. LimitationsFirst, pandemics differ from other disasters, generalizing these findings to other traumatized populations must be cautious. Then, this was a cross-sectional study, so longitudinal effects could not be examined and causal relationships cannot be confirmed. ConclusionsDifferent types of parent–child communication have different influencing mechanisms on PTSD and PTG. Therefore, distinct intervention strategies are needed targeted to these two psychological reactions.

Profiles of family-based social experiences in the first 3 years predict early cognitive, behavioral, and socioemotional competencies.

This study utilized latent profile analyses to identify unique configurations of children's family-based social experiences during the first 3 years of life and examine differences across profiles with respect to developmental outcomes at 36 and 48 months of age. Seven family process variables were used: maternal emotional functioning, maternal sensitivity, negative controlling parenting, cognitive stimulation, corporal punishment, adult-adult aggression, and household disorganization. Data were collected by the Family Life Project (N = 1,087), a longitudinal study of families living in low-wealth, nonurban areas, for whom the biological mother was the child's primary caregiver from 6 to 36 months of age. On average, mothers were 26 years of age at 2 months of child age. Approximately 36% of the families lived below the federal poverty limit, and 41% identified as Black; 49% of children were female. Latent profile analyses identified four groups: (a) positive exposure (b) average exposure, (c) problematic adult functioning, and (d) problematic parenting . Comparisons indicate that children in the positive exposure profile had the highest levels of socioemotional and cognitive outcomes compared to overall profiles. Children in the problematic adult functioning and problematic parenting profiles had the most problematic child outcomes, with children in the problematic parenting profile scoring lowest overall. Results indicate that there is configural heterogeneity in family-based social experiences at the highest levels of risk and that exposures to problematic parenting may be more consequential for later child outcomes than exposures to problematic adult functioning in the absence of compromised caregiving. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

In vivo social regulation of high-risk parenting: A conceptual model of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for child maltreatment prevention

Meta-analyses show that Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) significantly reduces child abuse and neglect in families where maltreatment has already occurred; however, research into the underlying mechanisms of change (i.e., how PCIT effects positive changes in parenting) remains limited. In this article, we discuss a new conceptual model of PCIT’s active ingredients that is informed by biobehavioral research documenting the physiological underpinnings of problematic parenting. We describe deficits in self-regulation observed in child maltreating parents and PCIT’s unique live coaching approach and associated techniques that may form the basis for in-vivo social regulation in the act of parenting that supports more effective, positive parenting behavior, strengthens parents’ self-regulation skills, and reduces child maltreatment.

Processes and outcomes of an emotion-focused family therapy two-chair intervention for transforming problematic parenting patterns.

Emotion-focused family therapy (EFFT) is a therapy model which includes a two-chair intervention aimed at facilitating awareness and an interruption of problematic patterns of parenting as well as a reconnection to healthy caregiving instincts. The present study employed a task analysis to examine the process of this intervention with parents in a therapeutic setting and report on preliminary outcomes. Four trained EFFT therapists conducted chair work interventions with four parents (total of 16) and parents completed questionnaires directly following the intervention. Results indicated that most parents experienced significant emotional resolution of their love-based fears and an increase in confidence in supporting their children struggling with mental health issues. Use of the intervention in clinical settings is an effective and efficient way to support parents in responding to their children's mental health challenges.

Parenting behaviours among mothers of pre-schoolers on the autism spectrum: Associations with parenting stress and children’s externalising behaviour problems

BackgroundParents of pre-schoolers diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) report increased parenting stress (i.e., stress related to the parent role) and more behaviour problems of the child compared with parents of non-autistic pre-schoolers. Parenting stress and children’s behaviour problems are both associated with parenting behaviours, but have not yet been investigated together. Method42 mothers of autistic and non-autistic pre-schoolers were observed during mother-child interaction and they reported on parenting behaviours, parenting stress, and children’s externalising behaviour problems. Spearman correlations between all variables were calculated for the ASD group and the non-ASD group separately, and Linear Mixed Models were built to investigate whether parenting stress and externalising behaviour problems were similarly associated to parenting behaviours in both groups. ResultsMothers in the ASD group reported more parenting stress and more externalising behaviour problems than mothers in the non-ASD group. In the ASD group only, parenting stress was related to externalising behaviour problems but not to the level of autism characteristics. In both groups, more externalising behaviour problems were associated with more observed negative parenting behaviours (i.e., criticising and ignoring the child), and more parenting stress was associated with less reported autonomy support. ConclusionsOur findings indicate that in the case of possibly problematic parenting behaviours, such as negativity and lack of autonomy support, it is important to investigate associated factors like parenting stress and children’s behaviour problems. An individualised strengths and needs assessment could then offer a tailored intervention to families with an autistic pre-schooler.

A biomarker of maternal vicarious reward processing and its association with parenting behavior

Parenting styles play a critical role in child well-being, yet the neural bases of parenting behaviors remain nebulous. Understanding the neural processes associated with parenting styles can both clarify etiological mechanisms underlying parenting behaviors and point us toward new targets for intervention. A novel electrocortical biomarker called the observational reward positivity (oRewP) that occurs in response to observing another receive a reward has been linked to self-reported authoritarian parenting behavior. The current study sought to replicate associations between the oRewP and self-reported and observationally-coded parenting in a sample of mothers selected to be at elevated risk for problematic parenting. Self-reported authoritarian parenting was associated with observationally-coded problematic discipline, while no other self-reported parenting scales were associated with observationally-coded scores. We replicated the previously reported association between a blunted oRewP and increased self-reported authoritarian parenting. We additionally found that an attenuated oRewP was associated with greater permissive parenting, and that only the relationship with permissive parenting was conserved after adjusting for other parenting styles and other relevant covariates. We did not find significant associations between the oRewP and observationally-coded parenting. The current findings suggest that the neural process indexed by the oRewP are relevant to parenting behavior. Further research is needed to better understand the discrepancy between self-reported and observed parenting.

Development and psychometric characteristics of analog measures of parental empathy.

Despite substantial literature on the effect of empathy on parenting, empathy research has historically suffered from definitional and methodological limitations. Parental empathy can be characterized as parents’ ability to recognize, take the perspective of, and appropriately react to children’s emotions. Current parental empathy assessment largely relies on self-report measures of dispositional empathy, but many argue parental empathy is distinct from dispositional empathy. Despite efforts to measure parental empathy implicitly, such analog approaches are labor intensive. The current report describes the preliminary development of the Empathy Measure for Parents Analog Task (EMPAT), two novel analog measures of parental empathy: one EMPAT analog uses audio stimuli and a second version uses written evocative scripts. After piloting with a sample of undergraduate students (Study 1), the measures were then administered to a sample of 212 parents (Study 2). For each study, the accuracy of the audio and script stimuli were first confirmed by examination of frequency distributions, then exploratory factor analyses were conducted to determine factor structure for each emotion subscale (i.e., Happy, Mad, Sad, Scared), and finally the composition of each emotion subscale was confirmed with scale reliability analyses. Correlations between each EMPAT version and measures of dispositional empathy, parental empathy, and positive parenting indicators were examined to assess the initial validity of the EMPAT measures. The new analog tasks demonstrated good reliability as well as preliminary evidence of validity, with potential utility in assessing cognitive elements of empathy in particular. With continued efforts to examine measure validity, the implications of these studies suggest the EMPAT tasks show promise in providing improved implicit, efficient assessments of child-directed empathy, which may be important for understanding positive and problematic parenting.

Emotion socialization in mothers who experienced maltreatment: Mentalizing the past may help the present.

Adults who experienced childhood maltreatment (CM) are at increased risk for parenting problems. Mentalization capacity may disrupt intergenerational patterns of problematic parenting among mothers with a CM history. In this study, we examine: (a) parents' use of negative emotion socialization practices as one path of intergenerational transmission of risk in mothers with CM and (b) whether mothers' ability to mentalize about the emotion socialization behaviors of attachment figures diminishes intergenerational similarity in negative emotion socialization practices. Mentalization was operationalized as the frequency of cognitive processing words in mothers' narrative responses to questions about how and why attachment figures responded to their negative emotions during childhood. Participants included 154 mothers with and without a self-reported CM history in a case-control design, matched on child age, gender, maternal education, and race/ethnicity. Mothers with CM recollected more unsupportive responses to their negative emotions during childhood, which in turn predicted using more punishing, ignoring, and magnifying responses toward their own child's negative emotions (i.e., a significant indirect effect). However, greater cognitive processing language when describing the emotional climate of childhood diminished this pathway (i.e., a significant moderated effect). Among mothers who recollected unsupportive responses to emotions from their parents, those whose narratives included more cognitive processing words did not act in similar ways toward their own child whereas those who used fewer cognitive processing words did. These preliminary findings support the growing body of research suggesting that the quality of mentalization can be a protective factor among adults who experienced childhood maltreatment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

School Teachers’ Perception of Problematic Parent Behaviour

This paper is part of the Doctoral work of the first author completed under the supervision of the second. The study’s sample comprised 252 male and female primary and secondary level school teachers of private and public schools of Patna (Bihar). Though the purpose of the Doctoral work was to study the relationship between the ‘difficult parent behavior’ and the ‘school teachers’ stress,’ this presentation shall address the school teacher’s perception of the problematic parent behaviour. The difficult parent behavior was studied with the help of descriptions of behaviours likely to be shown by the problematic parents developed by the Hoge school of the Educational Faculty of Utrecht, Netherlands (2007). Analysis of the data included extracting factors from the school teachers’ ratings for the ‘frequency of occurrence’ of the behaviours displayed by the problematic parent. Additionally, qualitative data was collected from the school teachers with the help of three open ended questions. Factor analysis helped extract five factors of the problematic parent behavior that were named, Domineering Parent, concerned without Action Parent, Excessively Concerned Parent, Indifferent Parent and Imposing Parent. Further, thematic analysis of the descriptive content of the open-ended questions, helped arrive at six themes of difficult parent behaviours namely, Imposing/Blaming Parent, Concerned without Action Parent, Uncooperative Parent, Irresponsible Parent Rude/Disrespectful Parent and High Expectation Parent.

The Family Check-Up Online: A Telehealth Model for Delivery of Parenting Skills to High-Risk Families With Opioid Use Histories.

Growing opioid misuse in the United States has resulted in more children living with an adult with an opioid use history. Although an abundance of research has demonstrated a link between opioid misuse and negative parenting behaviors, few intervention efforts have been made to target this underserved population. The Family Check-Up (FCU) has been tested in more than 25 years of research, across multiple settings, and is an evidence-based program for reducing risk behavior, enhancing parenting skills, and preventing the onset of substance use. It is designed to motivate parents to engage in positive parenting practices and to change problematic parenting and has been tested across a variety of ages including early childhood and adolescence. It is highlighted in NIDA’s Principles of Substance Use Prevention for Early Childhood: A research-based guide as one of only three effective selective prevention programs for substance abuse among families with young children. Recently, we developed an online version of the FCU that has now been adapted for early childhood and families with opioid use histories. The online platform and telehealth model allow for wide-scale dissemination, ease of training with community providers, and increased public health reach for families in remote, rural areas. This is particularly important when targeting families with opioid misuse and addiction because there are high rates of addiction in remote areas, yet few services available. In this article, we describe the FCU Online and review new content in the model that targets a population of young adult parents with substance abuse histories, including opioid use. New modules include content focused on harm reduction for this high-risk population of parents, such as safety in the home, substance use while parenting, and managing conflict with partners and friends.

The effect of non‐directive play therapy on reduction of anxiety disorders in young children

AbstractBackgroundThere is strong evidence that non‐directive play therapy, which is also known as child‐centred play, may be useful in reducing anxiety in young children. Non‐directive play is an approach to playing where the child is given ultimate freedom rather than a practitioner impressing ideas on them.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of non‐directive play therapy for anxiety reduction in children.MethodsFor this purpose, 20 elementary students who had been diagnosed as anxious according to the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) were selected through random sampling and were divided into an experimental group and control group. The experimental group participated in 10 sessions of play therapy, and after finishing the sessions, the SCAS questionnaire was implemented again as a post‐test. Analysis of covariance was used to analyse the data.ResultsThe results of the study showed that scores on the anxiety scale reduced significantly in the experimental group.ConclusionsNon‐directive play therapy was useful in reducing children's anxiety, so it may be implicated as an education plan for problematic parent–child relationships. However, more studies are needed to support these results.

CHILD VIOLENCE AGAINST PARENTS: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL ASPECTS AND PROBLEMS OF LEGAL REGULATIONS OF LIABILITY

Domestic violence is a cycle of various harassment in which the abuser can be any member of the family. Both media and research on domestic violence focus on the behaviour of adult family members, while there is a lack of research analysing child abuse, for example against their parents. The current legal framework establishes the procedure for bringing an abusive person to justice, however, the provided sanctions do not apply to a child being violent in case the offense is not of a criminal nature. The study presents the research in two parts, the first part, indicating the psychological and pedagogical aspects of the problem, and the second - the problem of the legal regulation of liability.The aim of the study was to analyse the regulatory framework, which determines the child's responsibility in cases of child-to-parent violence, to identify the problems of the legal framework and to develop proposals for the improvement of the legal framework.The study was developed interdisciplinary, performing the analysis of national and international legal acts, analysing statistical data and research on current issues. Analytical and descriptive method, grammatical, historical, teleological and systemic interpretation methods were used in the study.As a result of the research, a number of problems were identified. These were related to the identification of a child being violent, the rights and responsibilities of the family and society in cases of escalating violence, as well as the issue of taking responsibility for the child's violence. At the same time, it was concluded that cases of violence by children to parents are difficult to identify, which may be due to the parent-child relationship and ignorance of the parent's problem, resulting in a formal determination of the child's responsibility in case of violence. In turn, the legal framework should strengthen not only the procedure of holding the children responsible for their violent behavior, but also to call for interdisciplinary prevention of violence committed by children.