Adoptive Family Adjustment and Its Relation to Perceived Family Environment

ABSTRACT

Fifty-one adopted college students from three mid-sized East Coast universities participated in interviews structured to gather information regarding adoptees' perceptions of adoptive family life. Additionally, subjects completed a scale which measured their perceptions of general characteristics of family environment. Multiple regression analysis revealed that of ten adoption-specific factors derived from interview data, overall satisfaction with one's adoptive status and family life was the strongest predictor of perceived general family environment. Adoptee satisfaction predicted high levels of family expressiveness, ethical focus and involvement in shared activities as well as low levels of family conflict. Adoptees' perception of adoptive fathers' and mothers' communication styles predicted different aspects of family environment. Adoptees' acknowledgment of life differences due to their adoptive status did not relate to family expressiveness. The latter finding lends support to recent research suggesting that acknowledgment and expressiveness are independent aspects of adoptive family functioning.     

Relational Sacrifices about Intimate Behavior and Relationship Quality for Expectant Cohabitors

ABSTRACT

Using interdependence theory, we examined how relational sacrifices specific to intimacy were associated with positive (commitment, satisfaction, love, and maintenance) and negative (ambivalence and conflict) relationship quality among expectant, unmarried cohabitors (n = 69 individuals), because this group may struggle relationally. We examined how often individuals made sacrifices for their partners and their partners’ perceived awareness of their sacrifices (i.e., individuals’ perceptions that their partners are aware that intimate sacrifices had been made for them) for both members of the couple using Actor Partner Independence Models. We controlled for children from previous relationships, unplanned pregnancy, gender, education, and race/ethnicity. Results showed that frequency of intimate sacrifices was not associated with any aspects of relationship quality. Instead, as expected, perceived partner awareness of intimate sacrifice was associated with greater commitment, satisfaction, love, and maintenance for individuals; lower ambivalence for individuals; and lower conflict for both individuals and their partners. These results suggest that for expectant cohabitors, perceived partner awareness of intimate sacrifices is central to achieving more positive, and less negative, relationship quality.     

Family Functioning and Mental Health of Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Youth in the Trans Teen and Family Narratives Project

Transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGN) youth are at increased risk for adverse mental health outcomes, but better family functioning may be protective. This study describes TGN youth’s mental health and associations with family functioning in a community-based sample. Participants were from 33 families (96 family members) and included 33 TGN youth, ages 13 to 17 years; 48 cisgender (non-transgender) caregivers; and 15 cisgender siblings. Participants completed a survey with measures of family functioning (family communication, family satisfaction) and mental health of TGN youth (suicidality, self-harm, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, resilience). TGN youth reported a high risk of mental health concerns: suicidality (15% to 30%), self-harm (49%), clinically significant depressive symptoms (61%); and moderate self-esteem (M = 27.55, SD = 7.15) and resiliency (M = 3.67, SD = 0.53). In adjusted models, better family functioning from the TGN youth’s perspective was associated with better mental health outcomes among TGN youth (β ranged from ?0.40 to ?0.65 for self-harm, depressive symptoms, and anxious symptoms, and 0.58 to 0.70 for self-esteem and resiliency). Findings from this study highlight the importance of considering TGN youth’s perspectives on the family to inform interventions to improve family functioning in families with TGN youth.     

Work and Family over the Life Course: Do Older Workers Differ?

This study explored how older workers (age 55+) differed from middle-aged (ages 35–54) and young workers (<35 years) in their experience of the work–family interface. Data came from a subset of a survey conducted by a multi-national corporation in 79 countries (N = 41,813, n = 2,700). Older workers reported significantly less work-to-family and family-to-work conflict and greater work–family fit, life success, and work success than middle-aged and young workers. They reported significantly greater job flexibility and job satisfaction but were significantly less likely to be aware of and use work–family programs than young workers. Older men reported significantly less awareness and use of work-life programs and less family-to-work conflict than older women. Implications of this research are presented.     

Work‐Family Enrichment and Conflict: Additive Effects,Buffering, or Balance?

We used data from the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS I) (N = 2,031) to compare three models of how work‐family conflict and enrichment might operate to predict well‐being (mental health, life satisfaction, affect balance, partner relationship quality). We found no support for a relative‐difference model in which the conflict‐enrichment balance predicted outcomes. In the work‐to‐family direction, the additive model fit best: Both work‐to‐family conflict and work‐to‐family enrichment were independently linked to outcomes. In the family‐to‐work direction, the interactive model fit best: Family‐to‐work enrichment buffered the negative outcomes ordinarily linked to family‐to‐work conflict. Enrichment is key because with the additive model, it contributed incremental explanatory power, and with the buffering model, it conditioned conflict‐outcome relationships. Work‐to‐family conflict and family‐to‐work enrichment appeared particularly salient for well‐being.     

Within‐ and Between‐Family Associations of Marital Functioning and Child Well‐being

This study clarifies within‐family and between‐family links between marital functioning and child well‐being. Expanding on existing prospective research, this study tests whether changes in parents' marital functioning are associated with corresponding changes in their children's well‐being, independent from associations that exist when comparing different families. Participants (N = 1,033) were members of married, opposite‐sex couples with children who participated in five waves of a larger study of marriage in the U.S. Army. Spouses' constructive communication, verbal conflict, and marital satisfaction each showed between‐family associations with parent‐reported child internalizing and externalizing problems. In contrast, within‐family associations were significant only for parents' communication behaviors. That is, parents who reported lower levels of marital satisfaction also reported lower child well‐being, whereas change in parents' communication was associated with change in child well‐being over time. Isolating within‐family effects is important for understanding marital and child functioning and for identifying potential targets for effective intervention.     

Venting to Unify the Front: Parents’ Negative Relational Disclosures about Their Children as Mediators of Coparental Communication and Relational Quality

In families with children, presenting a unified front is important for healthy couple and family functioning, yet the behavioral mechanisms that explain how coparental communication strengthens the interparental relationship remain unclear. In this study, we examined how parents’ negative relational disclosures about their children to each other serve as mediators of coparental communication and relational quality in divorced (n = 65 dyads) and married couples (n = 173 dyads). Coparents’ reports of closeness and satisfaction in both couple types were predicted primarily by their reports of supportive and antagonistic coparental communication. The results also revealed significant indirect effects of supportive coparental communication on closeness through negative relational disclosures about young adult children for married mothers and divorced fathers. Antagonistic coparental communication positively predicted married coparents’ disclosures about their children, but not divorced coparents’ disclosures. The results extend theoretical models of coparenting and provide implications for coparenting education programs.     

Adolescent Perceptions of Interparental Conflict, Stressors, and Coping as Predictors of Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction

Using family stress theory, this study examined the relationship between adolescent reports of selected demographic variables (gender, age, family form), interparental conflict (style, content, intensity, resolution), stress due to the pileup of stressors, coping strategies (social support, detrimental coping), and adolescent family life satisfaction. The sample was comprised of 155 adolescents ranging from 14 to 18 years of age who completed self-report questionnaires at one of three rural Oklahoma high schools. Four dimensions of interparental conflict (overt conflict style, conflict about childrearing, conflict about family roles/finances, conflict resolution), stress due to pileup, social support coping, and detrimental coping were significantly related to family life satisfaction. Adolescent age was positively related to family life satisfaction. Within the scope of family stress theory, scholars have addressed how the combination of stressors and coping strategies relates to the adaptation of individuals within family systems (McCubbin and Patterson 1983). Further, investigations of the relationship of parental divorce to well-being in children and adolescents suggest that interaction patterns within various family forms may be more fruitful in explaining the adaptation of youth than parental marital status (Demo 1992). The perception by youth of conflict between their parents (i.e., interparental conflict) has emerged as a key family stressor that has the potential to explain variation in adolescent adaptation in a variety of family forms (Buehler, Krishnakumar, Anthony, Tittsworth, and Stone 1994). Stressor events for adolescents such as interparental conflict generally do not occur in isolation. Rather, they exist within the context of other stressors such as economic stress, difficulties at school, or normative developmental tasks for families with adolescents (e.g., changing family roles to allow greater adolescent autonomy; McCubbin and Patterson 1986). Further, considerable variation exists in the coping strategies (e.g., social support, avoidance) that adolescents use in response to stress (McCubbin and Patterson 1986). Finally, previous research shows variation between certain demographic variables and adolescent adaptation. Thus, the current study was developed to examine how selected demographic variables (gender, age, family form), adolescent perceptions of interparental conflict (style, content, intensity, degree of resolution), stress based on the pileup of stressor events, and coping strategies relate to adolescent satisfaction with family life (one indicator of adaptation).     

A Cross-Cultural Examination of Family Communication Patterns,Parent-Child Closeness,and Conflict Styles in the United States,China, and Saudi Arabia

The current study was designed to examine the impacts of family communication patterns (FCP), relational closeness, and culture on adult children’s conflict styles with their parents. Participants (N = 594) from the United States, China, and Saudi Arabia completed self-report questionnaires that included questions about their family’s conversation and conformity orientations, relational closeness, and their conflict styles with their parents. The results show that conversation orientation is a positive predictor of collaboration and compromise, conformity orientation is a positive predictor of accommodation and avoidance, and relational closeness is a negative predictor of dominance across cultures. Relational closeness also interacts with conversation orientation to influence dominance. The cross-cultural invariance provides empirical evidence of the universal application of FCP in family conflict communication. More importantly, significant interactions between culture and conformity orientation and closeness show that culture’s influence on family communication is better understood through indirect rather than direct roles.     

Family Integration,Achievement Values,Academic Self-Concept and Dropping Out of High School

Recognizing the linkages among family, neighborhood, and work, this study examines whether neighborhood resources (neighborhood satisfaction and informal helping) mediate the relationships between job stressors (work hours, job inflexibility, and work-to-family conflict), family stressors (housework hours and family-to-work conflict), and father-child relationship quality. We performed OLS regressions on data from fathers (N?=?85) from a random sample of couples from the northern part of a western state. Results indicate a direct and negative relationship between job inflexibility and father-child relationship quality that is partially mediated by neighborhood satisfaction. Additionally, family-to-work conflict bears a direct and negative relationship with father-child relationship quality, and neighborhood satisfaction mediates this relationship. Altogether, the analyses support the contention that neighborhood resources may mitigate some of the stresses associated with work and family life.     

Narrating the Past,Enhancing the Present: The Associations Among Genealogical Communication,Family Communication Patterns,and Family Satisfaction

Using the theories of communicated narrative sense-making and family communication patterns as a basis, this study examined (a) the characteristics of family genealogists, (b) dimensions of genealogical communication, and (c) the extent to which such communication predicts both immediate and extended family satisfaction. Data were collected from 423 participants (recruited in classrooms and online) who completed an online survey. Results revealed four genealogical communication behaviors: (a) frequent engagement, (b) coherent perspectives (i.e., regarding family history), (c) personal research, and (d) dark side. Family communication patterns predicted these genealogical communication behaviors, which in turn predicted family satisfaction, with genealogical communication dimensions serving as significant mediators. Among the identified dimensions of genealogical communication, coherent perspectives served as a particularly consistent predictor and mediator regarding extended and immediate family satisfaction.     

Trajectories of Conflict Over Raising Adolescent Children and Marital Satisfaction

The present study examined trajectories of marital satisfaction among couples with adolescent children and evaluated how changes in parents' conflict over raising adolescent children were associated with changes in marital satisfaction over 4 years. Using a prospective, longitudinal research design and controlling for family socioeconomic status, dyadic growth curve analysis from a sample of 431 couples with adolescent children indicated that marital satisfaction decreased over time for parents with adolescent children and that the trajectories for mothers and fathers were substantially linked. More importantly, the study demonstrated that increases or decreases in parents' marital conflict over raising adolescent children were associated with corresponding decreases or increases in marital satisfaction for both mothers and fathers.     

Family Members' Narratives of Divorce and Interparental Conflict: Implications for Parental Alienation

This study focused on the internal dynamics of family members who experience divorce and interparental conflict. Interparental conflict and triangulating children increase the likelihood of alienating children from a parent. Narrative interviews with members of three families were used to explore meaning structures. Results showed how parents and children thought, felt, and created meaning about their experiences; how family members responded to conflict and behaviors associated with parental alienation; and how they viewed family relationships. Metalevel findings suggested each family member held dichotomous views and used cognitive and behavioral control response strategies. Thus, parental alienation stems from a relational dynamic and needs to be addressed from a family systems perspective.     

The Effects of Briefly Interrupting Marital Conflict

This study examined couples’ (N = 94) behavior resulting from two proximal change interventions. One was a spousal “compliments intervention” to increase positivity, and the other was a “criticize intervention” to increase negativity. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two intervention conditions or a control group. There was no main effect in affect from the pretest conflict discussion to the posttest conflict discussion between the interventions or control group. However, a manipulation check on how couples acted during either intervention produced a significant interaction effect. Pretest affect during conflict and marital satisfaction significantly predicted couples’ construal of the intervention. Professionals may need to monitor how couples use specific interventions and direct the processes how the intervention is construed by the couple.     

The Impact of Family Functioning on Caregiver Burden among Caregivers of Veterans with Congestive Heart Failure

A cross-sectional study of 76 family caregivers of older veterans with congestive heart failure utilized the McMaster model of family functioning to examine the impact of family functioning variables (problem solving, communication, roles, affective responsiveness, and affective involvement) on caregiver burden dimensions (relationship burden, objective burden, stress burden, and uplifts). Regression analyses indicated that the five dimensions of family functioning were significantly related (p < 0.01) to relationship burden (R ² = .27) and uplifts (R ² = .29). More specifically, increased relationship burden was associated with problems in family roles, and increased uplifts was related to higher levels of affective responsiveness.     

From Caregivers to Caretakers: The Impact of Family Roles on Ethnicity Among Children of Korean and Chinese Immigrant Families

Scholars have long examined the effects of family and community on ethnicity, but they have less to say on why some children may be more receptive to the positive influences of ethnic communities than siblings within the same family. As more immigrants struggle to adapt to the needs and demands of the new global economy, many families are turning to alternative caregiving arrangements that significantly impact the long-term ethnic identities of the second generation. The article considers how adult-age children of immigrants negotiate the emotional disconnects created by these varying contexts of care depending on their individual role within the family and how it shapes their views on ethnicity and culture in their own adult lives. The study focuses in-depth on fourteen semi-structured, in-person interviews with adult-age children of Asian immigrant families in the NY-NJ metropolitan area. Depending on their social status, children of immigrants are integrated into their families: as cultural brokers expected to mediate and care for their family members, as familial dependents who rely on their parents for traditional caregiving functions, or as autonomous caretakers who grow up detached from their parents. I argue that because of their intense engagement with family, cultural brokers describe their ethnic-centered experiences as evoking feelings of reciprocated empathy, whereas on the other end, autonomous caretakers associate their parents’ ancestral culture with ethnocentric exclusion. Depending on how they are able to negotiate the cultural divide, familial dependents generally view their parents’ culture and immigrant experiences through the hierarchical lens of emulation.     

Attachment,Conflict Resolution,and Sexual Satisfaction in Adoptive Couples

Abstract

Attachment theory affirms that one’s partner is vital to fostering support and security. It is important for adoptive couples to be mindful of this support because it is at the forefront of healthy family functioning. With a sample of adoptive couples (n?=?166), this study examines the influence of attachment style on conflict resolution and sexual satisfaction. Significant findings indicate that an avoidant attachment style is directly associated with lower conflict resolution and sexual satisfaction. Better conflict resolution significantly predicts greater sexual satisfaction. These findings demonstrate the importance of establishing a more secure romantic attachment in clinical work with adoptive couples.     

Editor's Comments

There are two purposes of this marriage education marketing study: (1) to compare the self-reported intra- and interpersonal qualities of 121 married couples (n = 242 individuals) attending a marriage education program with 46 married couples (n = 92 individuals) who were contacted through marketing promotional materials to attend the program but did not participate and (2) to determine if intra- and/or interpersonal qualities would predict the likelihood of marriage education attendance versus nonattendance. Results showed that compared with program nonparticipants, program participants reported lower levels of self-esteem, marital communication quality, marital commitment, marital satisfaction, family strengths, less consensus and intimacy, less fulfillment of marriage expectations, and increased levels of marital conflict. Levels of religiosity and fusion were the same for participants and nonparticipants. Wald logistic regression analysis indicated communication was the only significant predictor of marriage education participation. Implications for marriage education programming and practitioners are outlined.     

Family farms in the Scottish borders: a practical definition by hill sheep farmers

The theme of this paper is the family farm and the problems of defining it. The approach taken is to recognize the difference between theoretical definitional practices of sociologists and anthropologists, on the one hand, and everyday definitional practices of family farmers on the other. The former focus upon observable behaviour and/or quantitative measures that are used to construct an analytical concept with precise boundaries; the latter are not interested in defining the boundaries of the concept of the family farm but in understanding the nature and operations of their family farms so that they can reproduce them in their everyday activities. They attend to what is most central and ideal to the family farm and this is the basis of their concept of the family farm. Through an ethnographic account of hill sheep farms in the Scottish borderlands, the paper argues that the essence of family farms is a consubstantial relation between family and farm such that the distinct existence and form of both partake of or become united in a common substance that is transmitted over generations. The analysis highlights the economic and social interdependence of family and farm, the process by which the farm becomes embodied through family labour, the strategies adopted by the family to ensure the transfer of the farm to the following generation, and the use of a genetic metaphor to transpose a legal relation between family and farm into a consubstantial one.     

When Work and Family are in Conflict: Impact on Psychological Strain Experienced by Social Workers in Australia

Abstract

The impact of workplace stress and the need for work-life balance are increasingly recognised within social work. Recent theorising on work–family interface suggests that work-related stress cannot be contained within the workplace without it impacting on other life domains such as the family. Similarly, it is claimed that family-related issues also affect what happens at work. The present study examined the impact of different forms of work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC) on social workers' psychological strain. An online survey of Australian Association of Social Workers members yielded a final sample of 439 responses. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses examining the direct effects of work–family conflict on psychological strain showed that respondents experienced all three forms of WFC (time, behaviour, and strain) and two forms of FWC (strain and behaviour), and these were significantly associated with psychological strain. These findings may be useful in developing strategies that aim to reduce conflict, thereby enabling social workers to make meaningful contributions in their work and family lives.