Attitudes Toward Divorce and Their Relationship With Psychosocial Factors Among Social Work Students

This study aimed to explore attitudes toward divorce and their relationship with general satisfaction with life, spiritual beliefs, parental bonding, and depressive symptomatology among a sample of 210 social work students from two different universities in Florida. Results indicated that the majority of students had favorable attitudes toward divorce overall, perceiving divorce as a solution to unhappy marriage. Participants also reported strong feelings regarding marital obligation and the effect of divorce on children and society. Attitudes toward divorce were associated with spiritual beliefs and parental bonding.     

A Meta-analysis of Parental Satisfaction,Adjustment, and Conflict in Joint Custody and Sole Custody Following Divorce

The literature on parental satisfaction, adjustment, and relitigation in joint custody (JC) versus sole custody (SC) following divorce is reviewed. Findings are summarized for custody differences in parental demographics; time spent with father; the father–child relationship; parental satisfaction with custody; parental adjustment, including self-esteem and parenting stress or burden; conflict between ex-spouses; and relitigation. JC was associated with equivalent or better outcomes than SC in the father–child relationship, parenting stress, parental conflict and relitigation, and overall adjustment. Satisfaction with custody is greatest for both mothers and fathers when they have SC, less in JC, and least for noncustodial parents. Future researchers need larger, more representative samples followed over time.     

PARENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR ADOLESCENT CHILDREN,PARENTAL RESOURCES,AND PARENTS' SATISFACTION WITH THE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP

Building on Belsky's process model of the determinants of parenting and using a nationally representative dataset of U.S. adolescents, this article examines the relationship between parental satisfaction and parents' perceptions of their adolescents and their own personal and social resources. As such, it provides a coherent framework for understanding parental well-being during a critical stage of the family life course. The results suggest that parental satisfaction is negatively related to parents' perceptions that their adolescents are involved in problem behaviors or experiencing challenges in other domains of their lives; however, the relationship between parental satisfaction and adolescents' problem behaviors is mediated by parents' perceptions of their adolescents' characters, including whether or not they have a bad temper and their levels of trustworthiness. With respect to personal and social resources, parents' educational achievement and marital status are positively related to parental satisfaction, and the level of conflict in the spousal relationship is negatively related to parental satisfaction.     

The Parental Divorce Transition:

The Double ABC-X Model of family stress was used to develop a theoretical model of the parental divorce transition. Interview data from 125 former spouses with children were analyzed to investigate the relationship between divorce-related stressors and post divorce well-being. Divorce-related stressors included economic, housing, legal, parent-child, and former spouse components. Well-being included self-esteem, parenting satisfaction, and economic well-being. Using multivariate regression the results indicated that parents' divorce transition was characterized by major role shifts. For custodial mothers, economic well-being correlated negatively with legal stressors. Other significant independent variables were income during marriage, employment, education, number of children, and her remarriage. For noncustodial fathers, parenting satisfaction was correlated negatively with legal and parent-child stressors.     

Parenting as a moderator of minority, adolescent victimization and violent behavior in high-risk neighborhoods

Adolescent male youth in high-crime neighborhoods are at the greatest risk for personal victimization and violent behavior. The temporal relationship between victimization and violent behavior for minority youth in high-crime neighborhoods was examined to determine whether victimization is a risk factor for or by-product of violent behavior. Whether parenting and other control factors moderated the relationship between victimization and violent behavior was also examined. Interviews with 349 urban Hispanic and African American youth revealed that victimization was strongly associated with violent behavior and violent behavior was found to precede direct victimization. Race was found to moderate the relationship between parental attachment and violent behavior. African American youth with the highest levels of parental attachment also had the highest levels of violent behavior, while higher parental attachment for Latino youth was associated with lower violent behavior.     

The Co-Evolution of Marriage and Parental Rights of Gays and Lesbians

ABSTRACT

Historically, federal and state legislation placed different conditions on same- and opposite-sex couples' ability to marry, adopt, or exercise their parental rights. Given the historical intertwining of marriage and parenting, legal issues remain hinged on differing conceptions of marriage and what constitutes a legal family in the United States, especially for same-sex partners compared to their different-sexed couple counterparts. This article provides a historical review of decisions that serve as the foundation for queer parenting rights in the United States. A key focus is on the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) marriage decision on queer parenting and its relevance to researchers and practitioners whose work involves queer families. State discrepancies continue to exist for the treatment of parental rights in spite of the legalization of same-sex marriage. Finally, suggestions are provided for future directions for the field.     

Opioid Use Disorder,Attachment, and Parenting: Key Concerns for Practitioners

In the United States, the current epidemic of opioid use disorders impacts many parents and their children. Historically, interventions for parents with substance use disorders have focused on two separate areas, achieving and maintaining abstinence and learning parenting skills. These interventions do not address the parent/child relationship, and the impact of parental opioid use disorder on attachment. Insecure attachment, particularly disorganized attachment, negatively affects the child’s development and safety. Attachment should always be considered when doing a safety assessment or planning an intervention for parents with opioid use disorders. This conceptual paper describes the impact of parental opioid use on attachment across the developmental span of childhood, highlighting research about opioid use disorder, parenting, and attachment which is relevant for practitioners working with parents with opioid use disorders, as child protection workers, substance abuse counselors, or therapists. Identification, attachment assessment tools, and empirical research on attachment-based interventions are discussed.     

Social Work,Marriage, and Ethnicity: Policy and Practice

This article provides a discussion about marriage with regard to social work policy and practice with cultural groups that experience life differently from predominantly White America. Marriage is influenced by culture, tradition, and economic reality supporting or hindering the success of marriages. Often, parenting is influenced by marriage, as roles are shared and meted through the resources provided by marriage. As an introduction, this article explains the unique contribution of each article in the special issue, showing the need for social work to respond more critically, urgently, and in threefold systemic fashion to create change in the lives of historically vulnerable populations in U.S. society.     

Familism, Interparental Conflict, and Parenting in Mexican-Origin Families: A Cultural-Contextual Framework

The present investigation examined the relations between the cultural belief of familism and various aspects of family functioning and child adjustment, including interparental conflict, parenting, and children's attachment to school, in a sample of 549 two-parent Mexican-origin families. The results indicated that parents' familistic values were negatively associated with interparental conflict for both mothers and fathers. Parents' familistic values were also indirectly associated with parenting through the marital relationship. Interparental conflict was negatively associated with nurturant-involved parenting for both parents, but particularly for fathers. Interparental conflict had an indirect negative effect on children's attachment to school via mothers' and fathers' nurturant-involved parenting. Both paternal and maternal nurturant-involved parenting behaviors were positively associated with children's attachment to school across two time points. Child gender differences are also discussed.     

Relationship satisfaction,attachment, and nonverbal accuracy in early marriage

This study explored the relations between nonverbal accuracy, relationship satisfaction, and adult attachment in early marriage. Thirty-three couples were assessed at three points in time across the first two years of marriage. On all three occasions, they engaged in an encoding and decoding task using the standard content paradigm (Kahn, 1970) and completed the Quality Marriage Index (Norton, 1983). At Times 2 and 3 subjects also completed a measure of adult attachment which provided scores on Comfort with closeness and Anxiety over abandonment. Nonverbal accuracy increased over time for all message types and husbands were more accurate than wives at decoding positive messages. Accuracy did not predict later relationship satisfaction, but satisfaction predicted later accuracy, mainly for. husbands. Attachment dimensions also predicted later accuracy, with Anxiety over abandonment being more related to accuracy for husbands, and Comfort with closeness being more related to accuracy for wives. There was evidence of increased communication awareness over time for encoders, particularly in terms of the accuracy with which they predicted their spouses' decoding. In addition, husbands and those high in relationship satisfaction were more likely to expect their partners to decode their communications correctly. With regard to communication awareness for decoders, the main finding was that all groups except wives in unhappy marriages were more confident on correct than incorrect messages.     

A Description of Attachment in Adoptive Parents and Adoptees in Romania During Early Adolescence

This study is an assessment of different components of attachment for a sample of Romanian adoptees and their parents, both who participated in the project (n = 63). Results suggest that various aspects of the parent–child relationship in early adolescence is quite positive from both the adoptee and adoptive parent perspective. However, almost half (46 %) of the adoptees were assessed as having insecure attachment. There are differences between all components of parental attachment and adoptee attachment security. Also, insecure attachment is more likely to occur with less optimal parenting style. Implications for social work practice and research are discussed.     

Parenting During Childhood Predicts Relationship Satisfaction in Young Adulthood: A Prospective Longitudinal Perspective

Using three waves of data drawn from the National Survey of Families and Households (n = 438 young adult children) we examined the process by which parental warmth and harsh parenting during childhood influences children's romantic relationship satisfaction in young adulthood. Harsh parenting was directly associated with children's relationship satisfaction, independently and in conjunction with parental warmth, whereas parental warmth was indirectly associated with relationship satisfaction through family cohesion during adolescence. Results were consistent across male and female young adults involved in married, dating, and cohabiting relationships. Findings from this prospective, longitudinal study coincide with previous research using adult children's retrospective reports of parenting behavior and highlight the importance of family of origin influences on romantic relationships in young adulthood.     

Parental Factors,Psychological Well-Being,and Sibling Dynamics: A Mediational Model in Emerging Adulthood

The purposes of the current study were to assess the impact of parental divorce on psychological well-being in general and on sibling dynamics in particular. Driven by recent advances in systems orientation, the study assesses the interconnection between divorce, perceived parental marital satisfaction, psychological well-being, and sibling dynamics and evaluates the interconnection between sibling relationship quality, perceived parental marital satisfaction, and psychological well-being outcomes in emerging adulthood. Three hundred and ninety-two college students completed indices of parental marital status and satisfaction, sibling relationship quality, and psychological well-being. Positive associations between perceived parental marital satisfaction and sibling closeness and communication were found. Perceived parental marital satisfaction was also found to be positively associated with self-esteem and life-satisfaction. Sibling closeness and warmth was positively correlated with satisfaction with life. Perceived parental marital satisfaction was found to mediate the relationship between parental divorce and sibling closeness as well as the relationship between parental divorce and sibling communication. Furthermore, perceived parental marital satisfaction was found to mediate the relationship between sibling closeness and life-satisfaction. The current study contributes to a growing body of literature assessing parental variables, sibling relationships, and well-being in emerging adults. The results highlight the importance of examining the mechanisms through which separation/divorce impact outcomes.     

Acculturation Gap,Intergenerational Conflict,Parenting Style,and Youth Distress in Immigrant Chinese American Families

This study examined mother–child acculturation gaps in relationship to youth distress and the possible mediating role of parent–child conflict and parenting style in a sample of 81 Chinese American families. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses provided partial support for a relationship between acculturation gaps and youth distress. No mediators of this relationship were found; however, post-hoc analyses indicated that intergenerational conflict and parenting style were associated with youth distress above and beyond acculturation gaps. These results suggest that interventions developed to reduce parent–child conflict and increase parental bonding (increase parental warmth and decrease parental overprotection) may be valuable for Chinese American adolescents, regardless of acculturation gap status.     

Perceived Parental Role Satisfaction and Daughter's Sex Role Attitudes and Aspirations

Abstract

The effects of measures of perceived parental role satisfaction on daughter's personal aspirations and sex role orientation, controlling for parents' status characteristics, are examined using data from a random sample of college women. Perceived parental role reactions are found to have a moderate independent effect on daughter's educational, occupational, marital and parenting plans, and sex role orientation. Perceived dissatisfaction by the mother with the roles of mother and housewife and by the father with his job contribute to the development of feminist sex role attitudes. Perceived dissatisfaction with role of mother and father's job contribute to aspiring to a lifestyle that includes advanced education, an atypical professional occupation, uncertainty about marriage and few or no children. Perceived responses to the housewife role and mother's job are related to occupational and marital aspirations, mother's working to marriage, and parenting plans. Mother's employment affects the impact of perception variables on personal aspirations.     

Parenting challenges and parents’ intimate relationships

ABSTRACT

Parenthood is a rewarding as well as a potentially stressful event for many couples as it brings many changes to their lives. Having young children at home can result in decreased relationship satisfaction and a low-quality sexual relationship. Same-sex couples may, however, report different parenting experiences, and their parenthood may not significantly affect their level of relationship satisfaction. The quality of marital relationship is an important determinant of the parenting stress and the quality of the parent-child relationship. Mothers and fathers who report dissatisfaction with their marriage and relationship experience more parenting difficulties and stress than those who are satisfied with their relationships. Although research into transition to parenthood is very significant, the association between parenting challenges and parents’ intimate relationships remains an understudied topic. Research needs not only to highlight the importance of parents and family well-being and its direct impacts on the child’s well-being, but also to emphasize the bidirectional association between parent-child interactions and couples’ intimate relationship satisfaction.     

Timing of Parental Separation and Attachment to Parents in Adolescence: Results of a Prospective Study from Birth to Age 16

Using prospective longitudinal data from the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS), this paper examines the effects of parental separation on the quality of adolescents' attachment to parents and their perceptions of parental care and overprotection during childhood. Exposure to parental separation was significantly associated with lower attachment to parents in adolescence and more negative perceptions of maternal and paternal care and protection during childhood. When examined in relation to the developmental timing of first separation, a linear relationship between the age at first separation and later parental attachment and perceived parent–child relations was found. The younger the age of the child at the time of separation, the lower their subsequent parental attachment and the more likely they were to perceive both their mother and father as less caring and more overprotective. No gender differences were found in children's responses to parental separation. These findings persisted after control for the confounding effects of family social background, marital conflict, parenting, child behavior, and remarriage. Results supported the importance of the early childhood years for the development of a secure and enduring attachment relationship between children and their parents.     

Is There a Primary Mom? Parental Perceptions of Attachment Bond Hierarchies Within Lesbian Adoptive Families

Basic tenets of attachment theory were evaluated in a qualitative study of 15 lesbian couples with internationally adopted children, focusing on parental perceptions of a primary mother-child attachment within the families. Interviews with 30 mothers examined variables affecting the hierarchy of parenting bonds, including division of labor, time with the child, and parental legal status. All children developed attachments to both mothers, but 12 of the 15 had primary bonds to one mother despite shared parenting and division of labor between the partners. Quality of maternal caretaking was a salient contributing factor; no significant relationship existed between primary parenting and parental legal status.     

Latino adolescent substance use: A mediating model of inter-parental conflict,deviant peer associations,and parenting

Substance use among Latino adolescents continues to be a growing concern for researchers and clinicians. This paper reviews relevant literature regarding the impact of inter-parental conflict (IPC), deviant peer associations (DPA) and parenting behaviors, namely as parental support, psychological control, and parental monitoring knowledge on substance use among Latino adolescents. Although mediating models of IPC and similar parenting behaviors on adolescent externalizing behaviors have been represented in empirical studies, none have included the influence of peer associations or have analyzed these factors with substance use among Latino adolescents in the U.S. This study investigated direct relationships of IPC and DPA with adolescent substance use, and tested parental support, psychological control and parental monitoring knowledge as mediators between those relationships in Latino adolescents. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze direct and indirect relationships of the variables mentioned among 744 Latino adolescents. Results indicated that DPA was positively associated with substance use, parental monitoring knowledge was negatively associated with substance use and that parental monitoring knowledge partially mediated the relationship between DPA and substance use. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of areas of focus for interventions.     

The Family and Juvenile Delinquency*

This paper examines the effect of various “family variables” on the etiology of juvenile delinquency. These self-report data are unique in that they are from reports by parents of their child's behavior, the nature of the child's life at home, and parental perceptions of their relationship with the child. How the family and delinquency literature fit into control theory's conceptualization of the importance of a child's attachment to the family as a determinant of delinquency is evaluated. Variables measuring (1) family structure, (2) poor parental characteristics, (3) household characteristics, and (4) parent-child relationships are examined. The attachment variable was found to be the strongest predictor of delinquency and helps to “interpret” the effects of other variables that are significantly related to delinquency. The variables that predict male delinquency were found to be different from those that predict female delinquency. Characteristics of the parents' marriage play an important role for boys, while misbehavior of girls is more strongly predicted by variables measuring parent-child interaction and parental control.