Cultivating knowledge of resiliency and reintegration among military youth through a national youth leadership program

Youth in military families are frequently challenged by the adjustment demands associated with the deployment and reintegration of a parent. A positive youth development approach was undertaken by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to develop and implement a Military Teen Ambassadors (MTA) training for youth in military families that would facilitate knowledge of resiliency and reintegration and foster leadership skills to build assets for themselves as well as their peers within their local communities. To determine if MTA was functioning as intended and to refine future programming, this preliminary formative study assessed perceived participant learning outcomes associated with MTA on variables pertaining to knowledge acquisition, perceived skill acquisition, and community needs awareness. Data were collected prior to the training, immediately following the training, and 6 months after the training. Repeated measures analysis indicated significant mean increases over time in knowledge and awareness of resiliency and reintegration; perceived leadership skills; and community awareness. Qualitative findings provided triangulation in the aforementioned areas. These findings strengthen the body of knowledge on resiliency by demonstrating that the 7 Cs model may be an effective strategy to incorporate into leadership development programs seeking to build knowledge of resiliency among military youth. Study limitations, lessons learned, and recommendations for further research are delineated.     

Examining the Impact of Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) on Family Functioning

Research supports that child parent relationship therapy (CPRT), a filial therapy approach, has strong effects on participating parents and children. Some speculate that filial therapy improves the family system; however, minimal research exists to support this claim. Using a single‐case design, researchers examined CPRT's impact on the functioning of 8 families. Results revealed that 6 families experienced statistically significant improvements in targeted areas of family functioning. Results from self‐reported measures indicated that 7 families improved in family satisfaction, 4 in cohesion, 3 in communication, and 1 in flexibility. Observational measures also revealed improvements: 5 families in flexibility, 4 families in cohesion, and 4 families in communication. The results support that the benefits of CPRT may extend to the family system.     

The Single‐Parent Family and the Family Therapist: About Invitations and Positioning

Single parent families sometimes represent specific challenges to family therapists. In this article a dialogical frame with important concepts such as voice and positioning is proposed to reflect on family therapy practice. This frame is used to reflect on a common invitation in family therapy with single‐parent families: the invitation to take the place of the absent parent. A case of family therapy with a single‐parent family is presented in order to illustrate the importance of flexibility in the therapist's positioning and the way the therapist's experiencing can be used as an empathic bridge to create a dialogical space in which the important issues at stake can be addressed.     

Does Family Matter to HIV‐Positive Men Who Have Sex With Men?

Most studies have indicated that friends or families of choice provide more support to HIV‐positive men who have sex with men (MSM) than members of the family of origin. The creation of families of choice by MSM has been viewed as a means of creating a support system in the absence of traditional family. The purpose of this study is to explore if HIV‐positive MSM believe family of origin is important. Data were drawn from a qualitative study of HIV disclosure to family. Responses to the question, “How important is family to you?” are explored. Results suggest that for many HIV‐positive MSM, relationships with family of origin are very important. While not definitive, data to be presented are provocative and challenge notions of the significance of family of origin to marginalized populations.     

‘Riding the Wave’: Working Systemically with Traumatised Families

This paper draws on the authors’ clinical experience as family therapists, working predominantly with families who have experienced trauma such as sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect, to demonstrate that taking a systemic trauma‐informed approach is a powerful therapeutic modality that can facilitate positive outcomes for all family members. The paper discusses the impact of trauma on relationships, and then outlines a rationale for a trauma‐informed, systemic approach with those traumatised families who are, at times, challenged by excessively heightened behaviour and emotional dysregulation. Drawing from parenting research, it includes a discussion of the place of parent work and how this can be integrated with systemic family work. Key constraints and considerations are highlighted followed by a discussion of key interventions the authors have found useful in building a clinical framework for this work, including what is critical for the therapeutic process. While working with traumatised families is complex and challenging, offering a safe place for families to be in the presence of each other's pain and ‘ride the wave’ of emotions can be a powerful path to recovery.     

Marriage Promotion Policy and Family Inequality

In 1996, Congress overhauled welfare policy to promote marriage and work as ways to lift American families out of poverty. Almost all of the funding for governmental marriage promotion has been devoted to relationship skills programs intended to help couples strengthen their relationships, encourage them to marry, and thereby prevent poverty. Marriage promotion policy has sparked intense debate, especially over the connection between marriage and family inequality. While advocates of the policy argue the government should promote marriage because it fosters social and economic well‐being, critics challenge the assumption that marriage itself causes these benefits or will help lift poor families out of poverty. Recent sociological research on why poor and low‐income couples marry less finds that they tend not to marry if they cannot meet a specific economic threshold. This suggests that rather than promoting the view that relationship skills en route to marriage can help prevent poverty, marriage promotion policy could likely better serve disadvantaged families by acknowledging and addressing the socioeconomic roots of family inequality.     

Courses in Family Therapy for General Practitioners: Identifying Learning Objectives

This paper describes two courses which train general practitioners (GPs) in generic family therapy skills applicable to consultations with individuals, couples or families in the general practice setting, and to patients with physical or psychological problems. Based on feedback from previous participants, eight topics were identified and described as useful. These are stressors, genograms, problem clarification, options, involvement of patients, reflection on interventions, recognition of an interactive cycle and review of treatment. General practitioners' skills in these areas can be assessed by asking them to respond in writing to two case vignettes, featuring respectively an individual, and a mother‐child dyad. These vignettes have been piloted in previous family therapy courses for GPs and are written as typical presentations to a GP. We give examples of pre and post‐course responses of GPs undertaking a short or long course, present and discuss quantitative assessment of learning objectives using structured criteria scored from 0–10, and include excerpts from a six month follow up.     

An examination of the views of young people in the Romanian residential care system regarding their relationship with biological family members and the option of reintegration

This paper reports findings from research conducted in six Romanian residential care homes. The aim of the paper is to examine the views held by young people, currently living in residential care, about the importance of their biological families and the option and challenge of reintegration. The data reflect the ideas and perspectives of 44 young people captured through a narrative interview approach using social mapping activities. The results indicate that most children and young people know at least one birth parent and maintain contact on their own initiative; most do not place a high level of importance on such relationships which are generally characterised by lack of confidence, low security and a presumed limited capacity on the part of the biological family to meet their needs. Family reintegration is considered to be a viable option for a small number of young people; others do not see it as realistic because of the impact of long-term separation and the likelihood of experiencing poorer living conditions.     

Racial Discrimination as a Moderator of the Links Among Stress,Maternal Psychological Functioning,and Family Relationships

This study focuses on the links between social contexts and normative family patterns to identify factors at the societal, community, family, and individual levels that enhance African Americans' ability to overcome stressful life events and foster positive family relationships. The Mundane Extreme Environmental Stress Model was used to explore these links. From urban and rural areas in Iowa and Georgia, 383 families with 10‐ or 11‐year‐old children were recruited. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Maternal psychological distress was linked with parent‐child relationship quality both directly and indirectly through its association with intimate partnership quality. When racial discrimination was greater, stronger links emerged between stressor pileup and psychological distress, as well as between psychological distress and the quality of both intimate partnerships and parent‐child relationships. Future research on African American family processes should include the effects of racial discrimination.     

Families Created by Donor Insemination: Father–Child Relationships at Age 7

This study examined the psychological well‐being of fathers and father–child relationships in families with a 7‐year‐old child conceived by donor insemination. Twenty‐four donor insemination families and comparison groups of 25 egg donation and 32 unassisted‐conception families were assessed using a standardized interview and questionnaires administered to the father, and father–child dyads participated in an observational assessment of father–child interaction. On the basis of perspectives from Parental Investment Theory and stress‐related models, it was expected that donor insemination fathers would show raised levels of psychological problems and a poorer quality of parenting and have more conflictual relationships with their children than genetically related fathers in egg donation and unassisted‐conception families. These hypotheses were not supported by the findings. Instead, it seems that commitment to parenthood may be more important than genetic relatedness for positive father–child relationships.     

How Does the Gender of Parents Matter?

Claims that children need both a mother and father presume that women and men parent differently in ways crucial to development but generally rely on studies that conflate gender with other family structure variables. We analyze findings from studies with designs that mitigate these problems by comparing 2‐parent families with same or different sex coparents and single‐mother with single‐father families. Strengths typically associated with married mother‐father families appear to the same extent in families with 2 mothers and potentially in those with 2 fathers. Average differences favor women over men, but parenting skills are not dichotomous or exclusive. The gender of parents correlates in novel ways with parent‐child relationships but has minor significance for children's psychological adjustment and social success.     

Growing up at centrepoint: retrospective accounts of childhood spent at an intentional community

A qualitative analysis of the accounts of 29 adults who grew up in a controversial New Zealand community identified positive and negative experiences and their psychological implications. In addition to highly publicized child sexual abuse that occurred at Centrepoint, children also experienced parental neglect, psychological manipulation, illegal drug use and stigma from the broader society. These factors created an adverse matrix that facilitated sexual abuse. Positive experiences included support for vulnerable families and children, recreational activities, and the opportunity to develop communication skills. While there may be positive experiences for children living in intentional communities such as this one, it is important to be aware of the potential for psychological harm to children in communities with powerful, shared systems of belief, skepticism about the broader society, and strong dynamics of dependence. These findings may have implications for other similar communities operating elsewhere in the world.     

Growing Up at Centrepoint: Retrospective Accounts of Childhood Spent at an Intentional Community

A qualitative analysis of the accounts of 29 adults who grew up in a controversial New Zealand community identified positive and negative experiences and their psychological implications. In addition to highly publicized child sexual abuse that occurred at Centrepoint, children also experienced parental neglect, psychological manipulation, illegal drug use and stigma from the broader society. These factors created an adverse matrix that facilitated sexual abuse. Positive experiences included support for vulnerable families and children, recreational activities, and the opportunity to develop communication skills. While there may be positive experiences for children living in intentional communities such as this one, it is important to be aware of the potential for psychological harm to children in communities with powerful, shared systems of belief, skepticism about the broader society, and strong dynamics of dependence. These findings may have implications for other similar communities operating elsewhere in the world.     

Working systemically following abuse: exploring safe uncertainty

This paper explores systemic practice and ‘safe uncertainty’ in work with parents who do not accept responsibility following child abuse. The prevailing view has been that little positive work can be carried out with families where responsibility is denied. Our work is offered to add to the small yet growing number of publications which challenge the dominant discourse relating to child protection work. A case study is illustrated within which the issue of assessment versus therapy emerges. The Legal Department of the Local Authority Social Services requested an assessment from child and family psychiatry. Concern developed regarding the point at which assessment ended and therapy began. The authors offer a systemic model in exploring the importance of a safe multi‐disciplinary framework within which uncertainty can be tolerated and therapy/change work can be affected. A framework within which parents can be supported in developing skills to meet the needs of children is presented. These issues are central to the professional and legal systems relating to child protection in the UK. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Father as an Idea: A Challenge to Kinship Boundaries by Single Mothers

In separating parenthood from partnership, women have created new family forms in which men may be involved but not as traditional fathers. Through in‐depth interviews with single middle‐class women, I compare families created with anonymous donors to those created with known donors. In the former cases, mothers craft imagined fathers as their children become “looking glasses” into the men they will probably never meet. These children must rely on the mothers’ imagination to create a sense of the fathers’ view of them. While known donors are not “dads” either, the mothers help these children imagine positive fathers, often through more concrete, personal knowledge, and these fathers often know the children from a distance. In an interesting manner, although children may be created without men as physically present “dads,” women contextualize the donors that allowed them to become mothers through acknowledging the social ways that blood kinship creates families. They ultimately reaffirm certain kinds of kinship rather than challenge them.     

Worker skill and client outcome in child protection

The research in child protection and in work with other involuntary clients suggests that the use of certain skills by child protection workers is likely to be related to positive client outcomes. In particular, effective practice involves: helping clients and client families to understand the role of the child protection worker; working through a problem‐solving process which focuses on the client's rather than the worker's definitions of problems; reinforcing the client's pro‐social expression and actions; making appropriate use of confrontation; and using these skills within a collaborative client/worker relationship. This study attempts to identify the extent to which child protection workers make use of these skills and how these skills relate to client outcomes. Data were sought through 50 interviews with child protection workers and 282 interviews with family members. The child protection workers provided information about 247 client families. It was clear that when workers used the skills, their clients had better outcomes—the workers believed their clients showed better progress, the clients were more satisfied with the outcomes and the cases were more likely to have been closed 16 months later. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Financial Strain,Neighborhood Stress,Parenting Behaviors,and Adolescent Adjustment in Urban African American Families

Using latent variable structural equation modeling, we tested a theoretical model linking financial strain, neighborhood stress, parenting behavior, and adolescent adjustment. The sample consisted of 305 African American families living in inner city neighborhoods. Of the families, 40% were living at or below the U.S. poverty threshold. The primary caregiver and a focal adolescent (mean age 13.5 years) were interviewed separately in each family. The results indicated that the income‐to‐need ratio was significantly related to financial strain and neighborhood stress, both of which were positively associated with psychological distress in parents. Parent psychological distress was positively related to more negative and less positive parent–adolescent relations, which predicted a lower positive and higher negative adjustment in adolescents. The results extend previous findings by demonstrating that neighborhood characteristics are an important mediator between economic hardship and parent and adolescent behaviors.     

Family problem solving: A case study

Abstract

Working with the families of young offenders may often be the best method of helping those young offenders to change. Sometimes, however, social workers and others who work with young offenders are reluctant to work with family groups because they may feel that they lack skills in family counselling. This article presents a case study which illustrates a family counselling intervention. The case study uses Family Problem Solving, a method which involves the adaptation of mainstream social work skills to work with families. It is anticipated that the article might be of interest to social workers who work with families but who feel apprehensive about counselling family groups.