Reports Of Family Functioning Research Articles

Effect of reproductive status changes on family functioning and well-being of mothers and daughters.

Associations among family relations, mother reproductive status, daughter reproductive timing, and well-being were examined in 144 mothers and their adolescent daughters. First, effects of mother reproductive status and daughter reproductive timing on reports of family functioning were explored. Mothers of early maturing daughters perceived less family conflict than did those with on-time or late daughters. Second, the correlates of mother and daughter well-being were examined. Maternal perceptions of family cohesion were associated negatively with maternal depressive affect and positively with maternal body image. Maternal dieting behavior and bulimic symptoms were higher in postmenstrual mothers. For daughters, maternal perceptions of family cohesion were associated negatively with dieting and bulimic symptoms, and positively with body image. The interaction between mother menstrual status and daughter age at first menarche also influenced daughter dieting. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for mother-daughter interaction during the adolescent years.

Intellective Functioning and Strategy Use in Children with Insulin-dependent Diabetes Mellitus

The cognitive development of children with either early or late onset insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) was investigated with tasks measuring intellectual ability, memory, and academic progress. In addition, children's perceptions of their competence and parents' perspectives on family functioning and their children's behavior were compared. It was found that children with IDDM scored within the normal range on standardized measures of intelligence and academic performance but evidenced some school difficulties, as reflected in subscale performance as well as in their need of remedial education services. Further, evidence was found to suggest deficiencies in children's use of strategies to organize and recall information, particularly for those with early onset of disease. Children's perceived self-competencies and parents' reports of family functioning were strikingly similar across groups. However, parents of those children whose illness began prior to age 5 reported their children to have poor attention spans and difficulty completing tasks.