Parenting Style,Child Emotion Regulation and Behavioral Problems: The Moderating Role of Cultural Values in Australia and Indonesia

Abstract

Research has shown that the congruence of parenting styles with cultural values, rather than parenting styles alone, impacts child adjustment. This study examined if parents’ cultural values moderate the relationships between parenting styles and child outcomes across both an individualist culture (Australia) and a collectivist culture (Indonesia). Three hundred and eighty-seven parents of 2–10-year-old children from both countries reported their parenting styles, the importance of the collectivistic values (security, conformity, and tradition), and their child's emotion regulation and behavioral problems. In both countries, authoritative parenting was associated with higher child emotion regulation and lower levels of behavioral problems, and authoritarian parenting was associated with lower child emotion regulation and higher levels of behavioral problems. Although cultural values did not moderate the relationship between authoritarian parenting and child adjustment, in both countries greater importance placed on tradition attenuated the positive effect of authoritative parenting on child outcomes.     

Parenting Practices,Child Adjustment,and Family Diversity

The authors used data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) to test the generality of the links between parenting practices and child outcomes for children in two age groups: 5–11 and 12–18. Parents' reports of support, monitoring, and harsh punishment were associated in the expected direction with parents' reports of children's adjustment, school grades, and behavior problems in Wave 1 and with children's reports of self‐esteem, grades, and deviance in Wave 2. With a few exceptions, parenting practices did not interact with parents' race, ethnicity, family structure, education, income, or gender in predicting child outcomes. A core of common parenting practices appears to be linked with positive outcomes for children across diverse family contexts.     

Child Health and Family Emotional Climate in Early Childhood

This study tied together literature from the fields of family sociology, child development, and social work to investigate the impact of child health and developmental challenges on family emotional climate spanning the first 5 years following birth. To measure emotional climate, three family determinants (interparental discord, parenting concordance, and parenting challenges), which served as either the product or process for six empirical models of interest, were examined. Overall, children’s poor health and development could open up more opportunities for parental discord, undermine parental ability to compromise, and increase challenges in parenting. Practice implications aimed at strengthening family ties were also discussed.     

Reconstructing a Sense of Relational Agency in Family Therapy

The concept of agency is relevant in family therapy. As family therapists we approach each family member as a full agent, which means that what each person thinks and feels, makes sense, and that each person contributes in a significant way to the construction of a relationship. A person's sense of relational agency is constructed in relationships through processes of relational influence. Thus, agency is a relational construct and is dependent on bidirectional transactions in a relationship. A person's sense of relational agency refers to the belief a person has about being able to influence another person, that this influence is significant for the other, makes a difference for the other, and contributes to the construction of the relationship. Many family members who enter therapy have lost their sense of relational agency. In this paper we discuss ideas how to reconstruct family members’ sense of relational agency in therapeutic practice.     

Family‐Focused Child Therapy in Marital Separation

When marriages and long‐term relationships break down, parents may refer their children and adolescents to therapy for a variety of reasons. While the systemic therapist's preference may be to work with the family system/s, high conflict separation may prohibit such an approach. This article discusses family‐focused child therapy that prioritises the needs of children while seeking to preserve a systemic approach. At a practice level this may involve: (a) individual child therapy, (b) engaging with smaller subsystems including siblings, (c) joint therapeutic work involving child/ren plus parent/s, and (d) any of these combinations; all while continuing to maintain a systemic understanding of the work. The article discusses the challenges of working with children from separated families, where there is restricted or no possibility of engaging with the broader family system.     

Community Differences in the Association Between Parenting Practices and Child Conduct Problems

Various hypotheses were identified regarding the manner in which community context might influence the association between two dimensions of parenting—control and corporal punishment—on child conduct problems. The authors used hierarchical linear modeling with a sample of 841 African American families to test these hypotheses. Consistent with the evaporation hypothesis, the results indicated that the deterrent effect of caretaker control on conduct problems becomes smaller as deviant behavior becomes more widespread within a community. The findings for corporal punishment supported the normative parenting argument. Although there was a positive relationship between caretaker corporal punishment and child conduct problems in communities where physical discipline was rare, there was no association between the two variables in communities where physical discipline was widely prevalent. These results suggest that a particular parenting strategy may be more effective in some neighborhood environments than others. The theoretical implications of this view are discussed.     

Treating Serious Emotional and Behavioural Problems Using Multisystemic Therapy

Multisystemic therapy (MST) is a family‐ and community‐based treatment of serious emotional and behavioural problems presented by adolescents. The development of this model began in the late 1970s, and today MST is a leading evidence‐based treatment of serious antisocial behaviour in youths, with programs transported to more than 30 states in the United States and 12 nations, including Australia and New Zealand. This article rerviews the theoretical rationale that underlies MST and presents the central clinical features of the intervention model. In addition, the training and quality assurance protocols used to promote MST program fidelity and treatment adherence are described. Finally, findings from approximately 15 published randomised and two quasi‐experimental clinical trials with youths presenting serious clinical problems (e.g., violence, substance abuse, serious emotional disturbance, sexual offending, and chronic illness) are summarised.     

Family Structure Effects on Maternal and Paternal Parenting in Low‐Income Families

Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey, a birth cohort study, this study analyzes the effect of family structure on parenting for 3,402 mothers and 2,615 fathers. To address the problem of omitted variable bias, fixed effects methods are used to control for the presence of time‐invariant unobserved characteristics that may counfound estimates. Marriage by itself did not influence the parenting of mothers or fathers, and there was little effect of family structure on maternal parenting. The presence of a romantic partner was important, as fathers who repartner had lower engagement scores and mothers reported cohabiting stepfathers to be more involved in the family’s life as compared to married biological fathers.     

Family Support as a Gang Reduction Measure

Recent public concern about youth gangs in Britain has prompted a narrow, almost stereotypical, range of US‐derived policy responses. This paper argues that family support is an unexplored but potentially effective gang reduction tool, but in order to overcome persistent concerns regarding misidentification, stigmatic labelling and policy misdirection, programmes must not only be ‘good science’ but also be non‐punitive, acceptable to families and context‐sensitive. Beginning with a discussion of the grounds for intervention, the paper identifies likely barriers from the point of view of the parents of gang members, and from these, derives necessary standards for effective support. The paper describes some promising (‘public health oriented’) and unpromising (‘criminal justice oriented’) programmes, and argues for more ‘gang‐sensitive’ family support and a related research agenda.     

Children With Nonresident Parents: Living Arrangements,Visitation, and Child Support

One third of all children in the United States have a nonresident parent. On the basis of 13,085 children with a nonresident parent drawn from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families, this study examines nonresident mothers' and fathers' involvement (visitation and child support) with children who reside in different household types: single‐parent families, married and cohabiting stepfamilies, and families headed by grandparents, other relatives, or nonrelatives. The relationship between children's living arrangements and nonresident parent involvement is complex and depends on both the gender of the nonresident parent and the type of involvement. Because nonresident parent involvement is low regardless of household type, policies and programs designed to increase involvement should include children in a variety of family forms.     

Family Therapy for Child and Youth Mental Health: A Scoping Literature Review

Early intervention in childhood years is an important part of successful therapies for children and adolescents living with or at risk of mental illness. Family therapy acknowledges the role of family relationships, interactions, and family systems in child and youth mental health. To explore the effectiveness and delivery of family therapy in order to inform current family therapy practice in Australian public mental health services, a scoping literature review mapped key concepts of the past 11 years of family therapy research. Current gaps were noted within the following key concepts: family therapy settings and definitions, the influence of family factors on outcomes, transparency of intervention methods, and the training of family therapists. Further research could be undertaken to address current gaps in the literature, specifically: assessment and intervention processes; typical length of time for a series of family sessions; frequency of sessions; and theoretical foundations linked with most effective outcomes, as identified by clinicians, children, and their families. This research would provide a better understanding of best practice and evidence‐based family therapy practices that work for children and their families to inform family therapy practice in Australia and beyond. This scoping literature review identified that there is a noteworthy variation in the way brief family therapy is provided, both in terms of the duration and frequency of sessions, as well as the theoretical underpinnings employed. Further research is warranted to explore different service contexts and brief versions of family therapy delivery and the outcomes for the children and their families.     

Mothers' and Fathers' Well‐Being in Parenting Across the Arch of Child Development

Limited research on parental well‐being by child age suggests that parents are better off with very young children despite intense time demands of caring for them. This study uses the American Time Use Survey Well‐Being Module (N = 18,124) to assess how parents feel in activities with children of different ages. Results show that parents are worse off with adolescent children relative to young children. Parents report the lowest levels of happiness with adolescents relative to younger children, and mothers report more stress and less meaning with adolescents. Controlling for contextual features of parenting including activity type, solo parenting, and restorative time does not fully account for the adolescent disadvantage in fathers' happiness or mothers' stress. This study highlights adolescence as a particularly difficult stage for parental well‐being and shows that mothers shoulder stress that fathers do not, even after accounting for differences in the context of their parenting activities.     

Keeping Mum: Characteristics and Family Dynamics of Mothers Who Are Liable to Pay Child Support in Australia

In recent decades, changes in post‐separation parenting arrangements in Australia have led to an increase in the small but significant group of mothers liable to pay child support to fathers. The present study uses data from the Child Support Reform Study, a national random sample of separated parents in Australia registered with the Child Support Agency (CSA) in 2008. In total, 185 mothers with a child support liability were identified. Drawing on reports from separated mothers and fathers liable to pay child support in 2008, the study found that 43% of liable mothers had shared or more time. Few liable mothers reported spending no time with their child in the previous 12 months. Unlike liable fathers, mothers with a child support liability tended to be more ‘fearful’ of their former partner; have a resident child in their household; work fewer hours in paid employment; and have older children. Liable mothers were also more likely than other separated mothers to describe the relationship with their former partner as ‘fearful.’ Gendered expectations of parenting mean that liable mothers and liable fathers may adopt different behavioural responses to their roles. The implications of these findings for family therapists are briefly discussed.     

The Role of Parenting and Family Factors in the Developmental Catch-Up for Children Adopted Internationally

Internationally adopted children are at greater risk for cognitive difficulties. While age at adoption is an established significant predictor of cognitive outcomes, considerable variation persists. The present study focused on whether parenting and family factors explain additional variance in cognitive and linguistic catch-up in this group of children. In total, 46 children were examined at two time points, approximately 12 months apart. Cognitive and linguistic abilities were measured at both time points, with parenting and family factors examined at follow-up, using hierarchical linear regression. Age at adoption and baseline cognitive abilities were the best predictors of cognitive and linguistic catch-up; parenting and family factors generally did not account for a significant increase in explained variance.     

The Hungry‐for‐Attention Metaphor: Integrating Narrative and Behavioural Therapy for Families With Attention Seeking Children

Many families come to treatment with concerns about attention‐seeking children. This paper examines the dominant socio‐cultural and biological influences on individual parent and child narratives about attention‐seeking behaviour and explores the misalignment between the two. A case study illustrates the reconstruction of the dominant problem‐saturated story through the hungry‐for‐attention metaphor. Finally, the author proposes an integrative approach to combining narrative practices with behavioural interventions for families and professional caregivers.     

The Association of Maternal Depressive Symptoms with Child Externalizing Problems: The Role of Maternal Support Following Child Sexual Abuse

This study examines the role of abuse-specific maternal support in the association between parent depressive symptoms and child externalizing problems in a sample of children with a history of sexual abuse. In total, 106 mother–child dyads were studied. The association between maternal depressive symptoms and child delinquency behaviors was found to partially operate through abuse-specific maternal support, which was assessed via parent report. Implications of the findings for parenting programs are discussed, and future research directions are considered.     

Integrating a Trauma Lens into a Family Therapy Framework: Ten Principles for Family Therapists

This paper aims to show how a trauma lens can be incorporated into existing family therapy practices, changing how therapists perceive presenting problems and therefore the issues and sites of intervention. After reviewing the family therapy literature concerning trauma and defining different types of trauma, the paper discusses how traumatic memories differ from ordinary memories. Ten principles for practice are described to guide therapists in integrating the trauma lens into their family therapy practice. Three case studies are used to illustrate these principles.     

A Mixed Methods Exploration of Single Session Family Therapy in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in Tasmania,Australia

Single session therapy (SST) is grounded in the belief that clients and families can effect change after one therapeutic encounter, using their own resources, with brief support and assistance from therapists. SST has been found to be an effective intervention for children, young people, and their families presenting with a wide range of difficulties. Research in child and adolescent mental health has shown that over 50% of families find one SST encounter is enough with no need for further specialist input. This study aims to explore family member experiences of SST (undertaken as single session family therapy and termed hereafter SSFT) as an initial intervention in a regional child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS), specifically in terms of worry, confidence, and satisfaction outcomes. An exploratory, mixed methods convergent design was utilised using a combination of open questions and Thurstone scales. All eligible family members were invited to complete questionnaires before and after the SSFT, asking about level of worry, confidence, and overall satisfaction with SSFT. Quantitative and qualitative findings indicated most family members had a positive experience of SSFT, although differences were found between young people, parents, and siblings. Overall, family members’ level of worry decreased, while only parental confidence in managing the presenting issue(s) increased. Over half of the families did not require further contact with CAMHS following the SSFT. Our findings support previous research that SSFT is an effective, family-inclusive, and well received intervention for a variety of mental health issues facing children and young people. SSFT could be considered a beneficial and well received first response for the majority of CAMHS clients, which prioritises a family-inclusive approach. Future research could focus on attaining a more in-depth understanding of individual family member experiences with a view to improving SST delivery.     

“Swapping” Families: Serial Parenting and Economic Support for Children

The claim that fathers “swap” families when they form new ones—that is, they shift allegiances from nonresident children to new residential children (e.g., Furstenberg, 1995 )—has not been directly evaluated empirically. Drawing on data from the two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households, we test Furstenberg's argument in terms of child‐support transfers to nonresidential children, and we also test an elaboration of his approach that distinguishes between resident biological children and stepchildren. Using static‐score models, our findings indicate that fathers do swap families but only when the trade‐off is between new biological children living inside fathers' households and existing biological children living outside fathers' households. Even though our analytic sample is small, our findings have important implications for child well‐being, child‐support policy, and the meaning of fatherhood.