Spouse's Parents Research Articles

"As I dropped the phone, she slapped me for the first time": Experiences of intimate partner violence among Nigerian men during COVID-19 restrictions.

Limited literature exists on men's experiences with intimate partner violence (IPV) during the COVID-19 lockdown, especially in resource-constrained settings like Nigeria. We investigated the prevalence, risk factors, and lifetime experiences of IPV among men in Nigeria, during COVID-19 restrictions. Using a mixed methods design, we interviewed 420 married men with a structured questionnaire and conducted 20 in-depth interviews. Logistic regression and a framework approach were used for data analysis. Approximately 86.4% of respondents (n=363) experienced IPV at some point in their lifetime. The prevalence of IPV during the COVID-19 restrictions was 76.2% (n=320). Over a lifetime, verbal (67.4%), physical (78.1%), and sexual coercion (81.0%) were the most common forms of IPV. During the COVID-19 lockdown, the corresponding proportions were 48.6%, 69.5%, and 57.4%, respectively. Male- and female-perpetrated IPV over a lifetime (88.3% vs 87.6%) and during COVID-19 restrictions (88.3% vs 81.4%) were similar (p>0.05). Older age, non-Muslim religion, longer marital duration, partner's profession, and no formal education were associated with higher IPV risk. Home confinement, financial stress, childbirth, disrespect towards spouse's parents, emotional detachment, disputes about child discipline, and suspected infidelity contributed to IPV. Men's active involvement in family life, improved communication, and increased transparency emerged as protective factors. Our findings highlight the high rates of IPV during the pandemic, with men as both perpetrators and victims. Future epidemic preparedness plans should prioritize IPV prevention strategies that enhance partner communication, promote male involvement in family life, address the gender education gap, and provide support services.

Effectiveness of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy(PCIT) for Children with Problem Behavior: Meta-Analysis

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based short-term treatment program designed for preschool children (2 to 7 years old) and parents with behavior or emotional problems, and is an effective intervention method to improve parent-child relationships and reduce children’s problem behavior. The purpose of this study is to estimate the effect of PCIT studied in Korea and to prepare an integrated basis. From 1991 to February 2022, papers studied in Korea were selected as exploration and target studies. A total of 17 studies were selected, and 11 studies (212 children, 12 father, 212 mother, 436 total) were finally included in the meta-analysis study, excluding 3 studies that presented the ranking sum. As a result of this study, the effect of PCIT improved children's problem behavior (1.32), reduced parenting stress (1.06) and mother's depression (0.99), and increased parenting efficacy (1.06) and spouse's parenting cooperation (0.86), which showed a significant effect (d>.8). This study is the first to conduct a meta-analysis on the effects of PCIT based on domestic literature and is expected to be widely used as a child counseling and parent education program.

Effects of various medical expense characteristics on the occurrence of household debt burden

AbstractMedical expenses can aggravate the debt burden of households and in severe cases also lead to household bankruptcy. Using longitudinal data, this study identified various characteristics of medical expenses that could lead to household debt burden. In particular, we investigated whether household debt burden varied according to the beneficiary of medical expenses based on mental accounting. Data of 5007 households (number of observations = 34,071) from 2010 (13th wave) to 2018 (21st wave) surveys of the Korean Labor Panel were analysed using descriptive statistics and a random effect logistic regression model. Descriptive statistics showed that 8.3% of households began to feel debt burden during the survey period. The results of the random effects model revealed that the size of medical expense and debt impacted the probability of debt burden. Although medical expense support for parents or children living separately did not affect the household debt burden significantly, medical expense support for the spouse's parents increased the debt burden probability. The results showed that the household conducted mental accounting and it was driven by the subject with whom the household had a relationship. These results imply the necessity of expanding the medical insurance coverage to reduce the burden of medical expenses, and policies to supplement the gap or decrease in income caused by the occurrence of a medical event.

Cognitive reactivity and emotional dysregulation mediate the relation of paternal and maternal harsh parenting to adolescent social anxiety

BackgroundExtant models of the association between harsh parenting and social anxiety among adolescents are mostly partial mediation models, leaving much of the relationship unaccounted for. ObjectiveThe current study intends to test a two-mediator model in which adolescents' cognitive reactivity and emotional dysregulation were assumed to mediate the potential impact of harsh parenting on their social anxiety. Participants and settingsA sample of 726 adolescent students with their parents was recruited from two middle schools located in a provincial city of Northern China. MethodsBoth fathers and mothers were required to report on their spouse's harsh parenting practices. The “Behind your back” task was used to assess cognitive reactivity of adolescents who also reported on their emotional dysregulation and social anxiety. Moderated mediation model and simple slope analyses were used to examine the meditational relations and the moderating role of child sex. ResultsFor the current model, cognitive reactivity and emotional dysregulation could completely mediate the potential influence of harsh fathering and harsh mothering on adolescents' social anxiety. Moreover, harsh fathering has a greater effect on adolescents' social anxiety than harsh mothering, especially for girls. ConclusionsCognitive reactivity in conjunction with emotional dysfunction can better account for the relationship from harsh fathering and harsh mothering to adolescents' social anxiety.

Stressful life events and poor sleep quality: a cross-sectional survey in the Chinese governmental employees

Evidence has shown that stressful life events are associated with sleep quality, yet studies on employees are scarce. In the present study, we explored the association between stressful life events and sleep quality in Chinese governmental employees. The cross-sectional data on 10,994 Chinese governmental employees aged 20–60 years were derived from a cohort study on chronic diseases of governmental employees in Hunan Province, China. Logistic regression models were used to calculate the adjusted odds ratio (OR) and the 95% confidence interval (CI). Of the participants, 3517 (32.0%) reported poor sleep quality in the past month. Participants who experienced more than two life events in the past year were associated with 3 times (OR: 3.681, 95%CI:3.287–4.123) greater likelihood of poor sleep quality. Negative life events, but not positive life events, were significantly associated with poor sleep quality. Regarding the types of events, economic-related life events were associated with poor sleep quality only in employees aged 20–35 years. Regarding the specific life events, work stress, job dissatisfaction, pregnancy or wife pregnancy,quality in Chinese governmental employees. discord with spouse's parents, separation from spouse due to work, bad relationship between spouse, unsatisfied sex life, misunderstood, blamed, false accusation or argument, and lifestyle changes were significantly associated with poor sleep quality. When stratified by sex, age and occupational position, the association of specific events and sleep quality were different. The present study showed that cumulative life events, negative life events and several specific events were significantly associated with poor sleep quality on Chinese governmental employees.

Factors associated with family cohesion and adaptability among Chinese registered nurses.

To identify determinants of family cohesion and adaptability among Chinese registered nurses. In China, the shortage of registered nurses imposes a higher physical and emotional workload, which will aggravate their work-family conflicts. Therefore, it is easy for nurses to ignore the importance of family, which is undeniably detrimental to healthy self-development and providing better care to patients. With a cross-sectional and observational study design (see the STROBE checklist and Supplementary File 1). The Family Cohesion and Adaptability Scale was administered to registered nurses (N=825) from 10 hospitals throughout China. Multiple linear regression was used to analyse the related factors for family cohesion and adaptability. The multiple regression analysis revealed that inharmonious relationship with spouse's parents, discordant nurse-patient relationship, parents live in countryside, and poor leadership was found to be important risk predictors of family cohesion, and inharmonious relationship with spouse's parents, discordant nurse-patient relationship, high education, feel overworked and poor leadership was found to be important risk predictors of family adaptability. Hospital managers need to pay attention to the risk factors that affect nurses' family cohesion and adaptability. To achieve this, they should employ targeted measures to enhance these aspects in time, which will help improve nurses' family life and promote their participation and role in family decision-making. This will not only help them create a better external environment for their healthy self-development but also allow them to maintain a better mood and energy to take care of patients. Family cohesion and adaptability are important for nurses, as they may affect nurses' healthy self-development and quality of service provided to patients. Hospital managers should pay attention to the risk factors of nurses' family cohesion and adaptability, such as poor nurse-patient relationship, and consider employing corresponding measures to help them.

Marital interaction quality over the transition to parenthood: The role of parents' perceptions of spouses' parenting.

Drawing from the concept of family systems theory, the present study examined how partners' marital hostility and net positive affect observed in prenatal couple interactions forecast their perceptions of each other's parenting 8 months later, and in turn, how these perceptions forecast their subsequent hostility and net positive affect in couple interactions 24 months after childbirth. Data were obtained from a longitudinal study of 124 families in central Texas over their first 2 years of parenthood. Each parent's perceptions of their spouse's parenting were coded from a couple interaction task when infants were 8 months old, and couple interaction qualities were coded from marital interaction tasks when the mothers were pregnant and 24 months after childbirth. Parents' more positive perceptions of their spouse's parenting at 8 months were predicted by greater couple interaction net positive affect and by less couple interaction hostility before childbirth. Greater couple interaction hostility at 24 months after childbirth was predicted indirectly by greater couple hostility before childbirth through mothers' (but not fathers') less positive perceptions of their spouses' parenting. Greater couple net positive affect before childbirth was associated with greater couple net positive affect 2 years later, controlling for parents' perceptions, and fathers' (but not mothers') more positive perceptions were associated with greater couple net positive affect at 24 months. This study should help researchers further understand the role of parents' attitudes toward each other's parenting in couple interaction qualities during the transition to parenthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Parents' perceptions of their spouses' parenting and infant temperament as predictors of parenting and coparenting.

The present study examined how mothers' and fathers' perceptions of each others' parenting competence and infant temperament interact to predict each parent's individual behaviors during coparenting (involvement, support, and warmth) and their dyadic child-centered coparenting behavior. Data were obtained from a longitudinal study of 125 families in central Texas over their first 2 years of parenthood. Ratings of infants' temperament were obtained when infants were 6 weeks old. Each parents' perceptions of their spouse's parenting were coded from a couple interaction task when infants were 8 months old, and parents' coparenting behaviors were coded from triadic (mother-father-child) interactions obtained when children were 24 months old. Parents' perceptions of their spouse's parenting at 8 months interacted with their infants' temperament to predict their later warmth and dyadic child-centered coparenting. High maternal perceptions of fathers' parenting predicted high levels of father warmth and high levels of dyadic child-centered coparenting when infant temperamental reactivity was high. In contrast, high paternal perceptions of mothers' parenting marginally predicted high levels of mother warmth and high dyadic child-centered coparenting when infant temperamental reactivity was low. Parents' individual warmth and fathers' involvement and support were also associated with dyadic child-centered coparenting. This study should help researchers further understand how parents' attitudes toward each other's parenting interact with their infants' temperament qualities across the early years of parenthood to influence the quality of their dyadic coparenting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Differences in the effects of informal family caregiving on health and life satisfaction between wives and husbands as caregivers

AbstractWe analyze whether or not informal family caregiving worsens caregivers’ health and life satisfaction among Japanese married middle‐aged and elderly individuals from the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement. Unlike previous studies, we distinguish between wives and husbands as caregivers and between one's own and one's spouse's parents as care recipients. We find women's depressive state is negatively associated with caregiving for spousal parents both in our instrumental variable estimations and fixed‐effect panel analysis, and also find women's life satisfaction is negatively associated with caregiving for spousal parents in our fixed‐effect panel analysis, though only marginally so. However, as our results are marginally significant, caregiving for either own or spousal parents does not seem to matter much for caregiver's health or life satisfaction. All that can be said for certain in our paper is that men's subjective health, depressive state, and life satisfaction are generally less sensitive to informal care, for both spousal and own parents, than that of women.

Marital Quality over the Transition to Parenthood as a Predictor of Coparenting

This study examined changes in first-time parents' marital quality over the transition to parenthood as predictors of their coparenting quality and mothers' and fathers' involvement in parenting and support of their spouse's coparenting. Mothers and fathers (N = 96 cou- ples) individually completed measures of marital conflict and satisfaction prenatally, at 8 months, and at 24 months. Triadic family interactions observed at 24 months were coded for coparenting quality (cooperative and competitive coparenting), and coparenting dynamics (fathers' involve- ment in parenting, mothers' involvement in parenting, fa- thers' support of mothers' parenting, and mothers' support of fathers' parenting). Latent growth curve modeling demonstrated that declines in fathers' marital satisfaction predicted higher competitive coparenting and lower father involvement in parenting, and increases in fathers' marital conflict predicted lower cooperative coparenting. Increases in mothers' marital conflict predicted mothers' lower sup- port of fathers' parenting. Thus, declines in fathers' marital quality may have more direct effects on coparenting quality, whereas declines in mothers' marital quality may indirectly affect coparenting through mothers' support of their spouse's parenting.

Positive aspects of the coping of mothers of adolescent children with developmental disability in the Bedouin community in Israel

This research examines the positive aspects of coping experienced by 270 mothers of adolescent children with and without a developmental disability in the Bedouin community. The mothers completed the Sociodemographic Data Questionnaire, the Grandparents Functional Support Assessment, the Gratitude Questionnaire, and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. Mothers of adolescent children with developmental disability reported higher levels of social support, gratitude, and personal growth than did mothers of adolescent children without developmental disability. Additionally, mothers demonstrated a higher level of gratitude toward their spouse's parents. Positive correlation was also found between gratitude and personal growth and between gratitude and support from the husband's parents. The findings highlight the important need to develop awareness and culturally appropriate intervention programs based on these positive aspects, to enhance these mothers' coping abilities.

The Influence of Living with Parents on Women's Decision-Making Participation in the Household: Evidence from the Southern Philippines

This article analyses the dynamics of women's participation in the decisions made in the household by looking at the effects of events that transpired in the recent period. Results suggest that the wife's participation status is positively affected by the presence of parents, either hers or the spouse's, in the household. Results also show that the wife's parents significantly affect participation in minor issues while the spouse's parents significantly affect the more relevant financial issues. The article also offers a cursory discussion on the role of household headship.

Pitfalls in Training Simulated Patients to Respond Appropriately to Questions from Medical Students in Family History-taking Activities: The Current Situation Surrounding the Training of Simulated Patients for Learning Activities at Nippon Medical School

Our goal was to train simulated patients (SPs) to respond appropriately to questions about family history from medical students in simulated medical interviews. To this end, we carried out a survey of 91 SPs and 76 4th-year medical students to investigate their notions of what constitutes a family. All of the SPs and students surveyed deemed parents and children living together to be members of a family. In a situation where one spouse's parents live together with the basic family unit, 93% of the SPs considered them to be members of the family, whereas only 79% of the students did. Married children living apart from their parents were considered members of the family by 18% of the SPs and 39% of the students. These results indicate clear differences between the SPs and students in their notions of the family. To verify the level of understanding of the definitions of family and blood relatives in particular scenarios used in simulated medical interviews, we administered a written test to 14 SPs who were training to assist in the nationwide common achievement test in medicine, the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). The overall score of the SPs was 93.5%; the incorrect answers were "a sibling is not a blood relative" and "a spouse is a blood relative." We analyzed the performance of these 14 SPs in medical interviews carried out after training for the OSCE, in which they were asked questions that required them to reveal their understanding of blood relatives, cohabiting relatives, and the family. All of the SPs responded appropriately to the students' questions about family history. After the OSCE, we asked the SPs to assess themselves on how well they had given their family histories and to evaluate the usefulness of the SP training they had received. Their mean self-assessment score on providing a family history was 3.6 (scale: 1-4); on the usefulness of training, it was 3.4 (scale: 1-4). In conclusion, training SPs to respond appropriately to questions about family history in medical interviews is very important. Medical students have to learn how to take family histories accurately, so SP trainers should pay attention to training SPs in giving appropriate responses to students' questions, bearing in mind the differences between family history taking and everyday conversations about the family.

CARING AND FAMILY

This article explores marriage migration within a ‘Malay’ ethnic group – the Cocos Malay population on Home Island of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Marriage is considered important because it produces legitimate children and gives achieved status. Marriage migrants and their Home Island spouses portray their betrothal as jodoh – a good match made by the extended family. Marriage is also associated with the role of family, as couples often live with or close to one of the spouse's parents or relatives and getting the right match centres on family and caring for family members.

The effectiveness of support groups in increasing social support for kinship caregivers

Abstract Kinship caregivers face a variety of stressors including strains on family resources, legal challenges, conflicts with their own child, and loss of personal time. This paper focuses on the particular stress of reduced social support that grandparents and other relatives often experience. Frequently, kinship caregivers report feeling isolated from friends and family, and feeling unsupported at a time when they are likely to need greater social support. An intervention purported to increase the feeling of social support is the kinship support group. Though widely acclaimed as a valuable intervention, there has been limited research on the support group's actual effectiveness in increasing social support. The current study used the Dunst Family Support Scale (Dunst, Trivette, & Hamby, 1994) to measure how social support changed for kinship caregivers who participated in support groups versus kinship caregivers who did not attend the support groups. Findings indicated that caregivers who attended support groups experienced a significantly greater increase in social support than those caregivers who did not attend the support groups. An additional finding was that kinship caregivers attending the support groups were more likely to increase formal social supports from sources such as parent groups, social groups/clubs, church members, family physician, early childhood programs, school or day care, professional helpers and agencies compared to an increase in informal support such as spouse's parents, relatives, spouse's relatives, spouse, friends, spouse’ friends, and children. Conclusions include the recommendation for continued efforts to find or create the best measure of kinship support group effectiveness as well as continuing efforts to understand informal kinship caregivers about whom much less is known than formal caregivers. A practice recommendation is to continue and even increase the use of kinship support groups because of this beginning evidence of their effectiveness as well as the economy and relative ease in conducting them.

Reciprocity in parenting of adolescents within the context of marital negativity.

The authors investigated the degree to which parents become more similar to each other over time in their childrearing behaviors. Mothers and fathers of 451 adolescents were assessed at 3 points in time, with 2-year lags between each assessment. Data on parent warmth, harshness, and monitoring were collected by parent self-report, adolescent report, and observer ratings of family interactions. After controlling for earlier levels of parenting, parent education, and adolescent deviancy, spouse's parenting and marital negativity were significant predictors of later parenting. Marital negativity tended to be a stronger predictor of fathering than mothering. For fathers, associations between spouse's parenting and later fathering were strongest in marriages characterized by low negativity.

Representations of Marriage and Expectations of Parenthood: Predictors of Supportive Coparenting for First-Time Parents

SYNOPSIS Objective. We examine how spouses' representations of marriage and expectations about first-time parenthood predict support of the other spouse's parenting in postpartum triadic family interactions. Design. Prenatally, spouses' representations of marriage were assessed based on the content and insightfulness of memories from their parents' marriage, and spouses also rated their expectations about parenthood. At 24 months postpartum, partners were each rated on support of their spouse's parenting. Results. In general, individuals' higher expectations that their personal well-being would improve following first-time parenthood predicted lower support of the partners' parenting. But this effect was modified by individuals' marital representations, indicating that potential disillusionment due to unrealistically high expectations may be mitigated by having the insight to learn from the negative marital relationships of one's parents. Conclusions. What partners bring to the transition to parenthood, including how they expect it to affect their lives and how they represent marital relationships, have important effects on supportive coparenting for first-time parents.

Living arrangement and coronary heart disease: the JPHC study

Background:Previous studies have suggested that living in a multi-generational household (a type of family structure prevalent in Japan) confers mixed health benefits and stresses, especially for women who report such...

Familial aggregation of lung cancer in a high incidence area in China

To investigate whether lung cancer clusters in families in a high incidence county of China, an analysis was conducted using data on domestic fuel history and tobacco use for family members of 740 deceased lung cancer probands and 740 controls (probands' spouses). Lung cancer prevalence was compared among first-degree relatives of probands and of controls, taking into account various factors using logistic regression and generalised estimating equations. First-degree relatives of probands, compared with those of controls, showed an excess risk of lung cancer (odds ratio (OR)=2.05, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.68–2.53). Overall, female relatives of probands had a greater risk than did their male counterparts, and the risk was 2.90-fold for parents of probands as compared with parents of spouses. Female relatives of probands had 2.67-fold greater risk than female controls. Lung cancer risk was particularly marked among mothers (OR=3.78, 95% CI: 2.03–7.12). Having two or more affected relatives was associated with a 2.69–5.40-fold risk increase. The risk elevation was also found for other cancers overall. Results confirm previous findings of a genetic predisposition to lung cancer, and also imply that lung cancer may share a genetic background with other cancers.

Correspondence between maternal and paternal parenting styles in early childhood

The goal of the present study was to investigate perceived similarities and differences in parenting styles between mothers and fathers in the same family. The 56 parents of 28 preschool children independently completed the parenting styles and dimensions questionnaire (PSDQ) [Robinson, C. C., Mandleco, B., Frost Olsen, S., & Hart, C. H. (2001). The parenting styles and dimensions questionnaire (PSDQ). In B. F. Perlmutter, J. Touliatos, & G. W. Holden (Eds.), Handbook of family measurement techniques. Vol. 2: Instruments and index (p. 190). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage]. Results reveal only modest similarity in parenting styles used by two parents within the same home. Permissive (and to a lesser extent, authoritarian) parenting was somewhat positively associated across parents but no cross-informant association was found for authoritative parenting. Fathers perceive their spouses to be more authoritative, more permissive, and less authoritarian than themselves, whereas mothers only perceive themselves to be more authoritative than fathers. Parents who share similar parenting styles are more accurate at reporting on their spouses’ parenting styles than are parents with differing styles. Correspondence in parenting style across both parents in the home is important as are parental perceptions of similarity and differences in styles. Independent assessment of both mother's and father's parenting styles, and each parent's perception of their spouse's parenting appears needed in research and practical settings.