Parental Conflict and College Student Functioning: Impact of Child Involvement in Conflict

Parental conflict is associated with negative effects on children, and child feelings of involvement in conflict might exacerbate negative outcomes. Research has yet to explore the long-term impact of both parental conflict and caught feelings. In a sample of college students, linear regressions (N = 800) indicated that regardless of parent marital status, children’s feelings of involvement in parental conflict were important predictors of academic and psychological functioning, and in some cases mediated the relationship between conflict and adult child outcomes. Given that parental conflict is common, it appears important to minimize children’s involvement in conflict, as it can have lasting impacts.     

Livelihoods in Conflict: The Pursuit of Livelihoods by Refugees and the Impact on the Human Security of Host Communities

This paper explores how long–term refugees pursue livelihoods, the impact this pursuit has on the human security of conflict–affected communities, and the ways in which international assistance can help. Refugees' pursuit of livelihoods can increase human security because economic activities help to recreate social and economic interdependence within and between communities, and can restore social networks based on the exchange of labour, assets and food. When refugees are allowed to gain access to resources and freedom of movement, and can work alongside their hosts to pursue productive lives, they would be less dependent on aid and better able to overcome the sources of tension and conflict in their host communities.
The paper identifies how humanitarian programmes working with national governments can increase economic security and shore up the respective rights of both refugees and their host communities. Today, relief interventions are no longer expected solely to save lives in the short term, but also to lay the foundation for future development and to promote conflict resolution.     

Factors Related to Domestic Violence in Asia: The Conflict between Culture and Patriarchy

While most research on domestic violence (DV) has focused on the West, there is an increasing interest in DV in Asian countries. This article explores the extent of DV against women in areas where most of the research has been conducted, including South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. The factors associated with DV in the Asian region is explored through the Heise model that considers four levels of analysis, including personal factors, the microsystem, the exosystem, and the macrosystem. The analysis points to the importance of the patriarchal culture that is inextricably linked to culture that is resistant to change and must be addressed at a range of levels.     

The Abused and Neglected Foster Child: Determinants of Emotional Conflict and Oppositional Behavior

Behavioral and emotional problems have been observed in emotionally vulnerable children in foster care under certain circumstances. A common pattern involves the unpredictable appearance of a previously absent or unavailable natural parent. Such an occurrence precipitates the reawakening of the child’s ambivalent feelings toward both natural and foster parents as well as their fears of abandonment. This frequently leads to behavior that is oppositional and difficult to manage. If the foster parents find the child’s behavior unmanageable, and if they are not provided with appropriate professional support during this difficult period, a crisis often follows that precipitates the child’s removal from the foster home. Individual, familial, and systemic contributions to this dilemma are discussed" This article emphasizes the origins and nature of the intrapsychic dilemma faced by these children. Particular emphasis is placed on the manifestations of a conflict of loyalty, in the child, and its relationship to the oppositional behavior of these children in foster care. Additional considerations include the impact of inconsistent parenting, abuse and neglect by the natural parents, the assumption of a parental role by the child and a concomitant renunciation of the child’s dependency needs, as well as an examination of the role of the foster parent’s fantasy of what it will be like to parent a traumatized child.     

安全与人权:价值困境下的儿童兵难民地位

作为未成年人,儿童兵受到特别保护,但其难民地位仍然可因犯有严重的罪行而被认定为不适格.《关于难民地位的公约》《儿童权利公约》及其相关议定书基本建立了可适用于界定儿童兵难民地位的国际法框架.联合国难民署在这一基础上向国际社会提供了实践模板,试图通过弹性解释平衡人权保护和安全利益两方面的需求,但这种妥协有其局限性.中国应在充分借鉴国际实践的基础上,结合本国需要制定具体的儿童兵难民政策,建构中国话语.     

Interpreting Child Sexual Abuse: The Impact of Victim Response

There is little empirical knowledge about whether the interpretation process of child sex offenders is offense-supportive in nature and contributes to the offending process. Vignettes were developed to compare child sex offenders’ and nonoffenders’ interpretations of child molestation incidents after ambiguous and nonambiguous victim responses. Results showed that child sex offenders’ (N = 60) interpretations did not differ from nonoffenders’ (N = 40) interpretations. Overall, the more ambiguous the child responses, the more child complicity and child benefit was seen. Our results indicate that offense-supportive interpretations are not unique to child sex offenders. The mechanisms that are responsible for whether or not to commit a sexual offense should be unraveled and treated, to prevent deviant processes to be activated.     

The UN Global Compact for Safe,Orderly and Regular Migration: Its Impact on Asia

This article focuses on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), a landmark international document that builds on the momentum of a decade of initiatives at the international level on migration governance, and its impact on Asia from the perspective of South Asia, Southeast Asia, China, and South Korea. While none of these countries voted against the adoption of the GCM, there are significant differences in how individual countries approached the commitments made in the GCM. These perspectives were articulated in a webinar hosted by Metropolis Asia on 20 June 2018 and in governmental statements made at the UN international conference when the GCM was adopted. This article also discusses the challenges confronting the implementation of the GCM. While the Compact resulted from inclusive and intensive negotiations and many compromises, the road towards realizing its goals will be at least as challenging as the road that led to its adoption. In spite of these challenges, the GCM is a ground‐breaking representation of the first multilateral framework for migration governance. Its success rests upon the recognition that addressing the challenges and maximizing the benefits of migration require true international cooperation, renewed commitment and meaningful action on the commitments agreed to.     

Dawisha,K., Parrott,B. (eds.): Conflict,Cleavage, and Change in Central Asia and the Caucasus

RJB Review of Journals and Books

Dawisha, K., Parrott, B. (eds.): Conflict, Cleavage, and Change in Central Asia and the Caucasus     

The Impact of Housing Instability on Child Maltreatment: A Causal Investigation

More than a half million children are confirmed as victims of maltreatment by the child welfare system each year. Children from unstably housed families are over-represented in child maltreatment reports, and a growing body of evidence links housing problems to maltreatment and Child Protective Services (CPS) investigation. The present study applies two propensity score analysis approaches—greedy matching and propensity score weighting—to data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study to move toward a causal explanation of child maltreatment behaviors among mothers in low-income households. Utilizing two separate methods to correct for overt selection bias, the present study finds that housing instability leads to a small increase in maltreatment behaviors, yet this small positive net impact on child maltreatment does not fully explain the over-representation of unstably housed families in the child welfare system. Families experiencing housing problems likely have a range of needs that require earlier, targeted intervention to mitigate consequences of poverty, domestic violence, and maternal depression. Child welfare services should invest resources in housing assistance programs in-house as well as through partnerships with local public housing authorities to stabilize families, reduce housing-related strain on caregivers, and promote family preservation.     

A Review of Child Sexual Abuse: Impact,Risk, and Resilience in the Context of Culture

Child sexual abuse is a problem with both a national and worldwide prevalence. In this review, the authors note that while empirical research has clearly shown the negative impact of child sexual abuse on social, psychological, and sexual functioning later in life, it has also been reported that some individuals remain asymptomatic despite a history of experiencing child sexual abuse. This implies that negative outcomes later in life are not inevitable and illustrates the critical need to elucidate how resilience may moderate the negative impacts of child sexual abuse. In addition to emphasising the role of resilience, this review also underscores the important role that cultural context plays in understanding child sexual abuse, as there are known risk factors and protective factors specific to different cultures. Similarly, one’s culture may also influence whether abuse is reported and addressed, and the topic is given special attention in this paper because it is not widely discussed within the existing literature. The impact of child sexual abuse on mental health, sexual health, and social functioning is also discussed.     

Mother–Child Conflict and Sibling Relatedness: A Test of Hypotheses From Parent–Offspring Conflict Theory

Parent–offspring conflict theory (POCT) has been underutilized in studies of human family dynamics. An implication of POCT is that the presence of siblings will increase conflict in biological parent–child dyads, and that half siblings will increase that conflict more than full siblings. Evidence consistent with this prediction was found in a longitudinal study of 236 early adolescent children and their mothers. Following parental disruption, the entry of younger maternal half siblings into the home was uniquely associated with elevated conflict between mothers and their biological children, independent of the effects of family size, socioeconomic status, and maternal depression. As predicted by the model, the effect of parental disruption on mother–child conflict was partially mediated by the entry of half siblings (but not stepfathers) into the home.     

Families Experiencing Divorce: Age at Onset of Overnight Stays,Conflict, and Emotional Availability as Predictors of Child Attachment

This study examined the qualities that contribute to postdivorce child attachment in a sample of 24 divorcing mothers and their children, ages 12 to 73 months, in the context of shared parenting time arrangements. Child attachment was assessed using Waters's Attachment Q-Set (AQS). Qualities such as age at onset of overnight stays, interparental conflict and communication, and emotional availability were examined for their importance in attachment security and dependency. Study hypotheses were partially supported. Although the study variables collectively did not predict attachment security and dependency outcomes, as hypothesized, the predictor variable of emotional availability (EA) child involvement proved significantly related with AQS security. Children who involved their mothers more in interaction were more secure with them. Further, EA child involvement contributed to attachment outcomes above and beyond age of onset of overnight stays and parent and partner contributions to interparental conflict.     

The Impact of Parent,Child, and Therapist Mental Representations on Attachment-Based Intervention with Prepubertal Children

Although attachment-based interventions with mothers and infants are beginning to flourish, guidelines for developing attachment-based intervention with prepubertal children are lacking. This article remedies this lack by discussing the potential intervention points of entry with prepubertal children based on attachment theory. In contrast to attachment-based early intervention, in which parental characteristics are targeted, attachment-based intervention with prepubertal children must include the child as well as the parents. Therapists attempting such an intervention must take into account the quality of the child’s mental representation as well as their own quality of mental representation to provide an effective clinical experience.     

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.