Family Dynamics and Individual Characteristics of Adult Children of Alcoholics

This study investigates differences in family dynamics and individual characteristics among: (a) adult children of alcoholics receiving professional and self-help recovery services; (b) adult children of alcoholics not receiving such recovery services; and (c) adults from families where there was an absence of substance abuse, domestic violence, incest, and chronic psychiatric or physical problems. Using discriminant analysis, two family variables (family competence and family cohesion) and three individual variables (individuation from parents, control issues expressed through feelings and problems with self-esteem) were identified as best discriminating between the three groups. Classification analysis revealed that although the identitied variables predicted a relatively high percentage of correct classification of the overall sample (69.05%), the most accurate prediction of group membership was at the extreme levels of family and individual functioning (either high or low). Implications for practice with alcoholic families and future research are discussed.     

Parenting Stress and Perceived Family Functioning of Chinese Parents in Hong Kong: Implications for Social Work Practice

This article reports the results of a telephone survey (n = 1002) conducted in November 2008, which aimed to identify parenting stress and perceived family functioning of Chinese parents in Hong Kong; to explore the effects of the parents’ socio‐demographic characteristics (gender, family income, education and family structure) on the aforementioned stress and functioning variables; and to examine the interrelationship among these characteristics and the two variables in question. Results showed that the reported parenting stress was at average level, while the perceived family functioning was slightly below average. The results also indicated that the parenting stress of mothers, single parents, the low‐income and the less‐educated was higher than that of fathers, parents of nuclear and extended families, the high‐income and the better‐educated. Socio‐demographic characteristics except the parent’s gender had similar effects on perceived family functioning. Higher parenting stress was associated with lower family functioning, and explained a larger variance in the perceived family functioning than the socio‐demographic characteristics taken alone. The results of the study have provided empirical support regarding the interrelationships among the vulnerable groups in society, parenting stress and perceived family functioning. Implications of the study for social work practice are discussed.     

Family Transitions,Conduct Problems,and Self-Esteem in Elementary School in Kuwait: A Quasi-Experimental Design

ABSTRACT

This study investigated whether family transitions (disruptions due to parents’ divorce, separation, marriage, or death) were related to problems in the conduct and self-esteem of 331 boys aged 8 to 10 years old in elementary school in Kuwait. The boys were divided into two groups: one whose families had undergone a transition within the past 3 years and one whose families had not undergone such a transition. The two groups were compared on conduct and self-esteem as measured by the Child Behavior Checklist 6–18 and on the Self-Esteem Index. A two-tailed t test was used. The study revealed statistically significant relationships between the two groups. Transitions in the families of young Kuwaiti boys seem to be precursors to problems with conduct but not with self-esteem. Kuwaiti tribal culture may help explain why self-esteem does not suffer after a family transition. The findings suggest a greater need for social services to work with schools to gather information from families to track students and offer services to these families. Future research could study the broader factors surrounding conflict in families undergoing transitions to determine the later impact on children.     

Growing Up a Little Faster: The Experience of Growing Up in a Single-Parent Household

On the basis of interviews with single parents, and with adolescent children living with single parents, a theory of the structure and functioning of single-parent households is proposed. The premise of this theory is that the two-parent household maintains a hierarchy—an echelon structure—that the one-parent household can forgo. The absence of hierarchy permits the single parent who works full time to share managerial responsibility for the household with the children. The consequences for the children may be a fostering of an early maturity.     

Motivations and Family Functioning of Foster Families in Italy

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper was to investigate foster family care to better understand this unique care-giving context. The research objective was to understand motivation, family functioning, and individual attachment styles in foster families. Participants were 33 foster parents who completed a questionnaire that included the motivations for choosing foster care, the relationship with the birth family and with social service workers, a measure of family functioning and adult attachment. The motivations for becoming a foster family were very different between families with a birth child and families without a birth child. The results showed that for the foster mother, the relationship with the birth family constituted a very critical element of the fostering experience. The same trend emerged in the relationship with the minor. The results showed that foster families were cohesive and expressive. With respect to attachment style, foster parents had lower scores than a normative sample on the discomfort with closeness, the tendency to consider relationships as secondary and the need for approval subscales. These results have implications for the practices of social work for foster family support and developing a shared commitment to the needs of the foster family in terms of both resources and weaknesses.     

Paternal involvement in fragile,African American families: Implications for clinical social work practice

Abstract

Changes in family formation and structure mandate reassessment and realignment of traditional parenting roles and arrangements. Adaptation to these changes has been truncated along racial and socioeconomic status lines. Poor African American families and especially fathers in fragile families are most vulnerable and are in need of individual and structural assistance to achieve expected personal and societal role development. The “person‐in‐environment” perspective of clinical social work offers an organizing framework for interventions designed to improve paternal role and family functioning.     

An Analysis of Changes in the Chinese Family Structure between Urban and Rural Areas： On the Basis of the 2010 National Census Data

2000年以来中国家庭结构变动表现为：核心家庭比例明显下降,单人户显著上升,直系家庭没有降低反而略有增加。城乡家庭结构变动有别：城市核心家庭构成缩小,单人户明显增加,直系家庭稍有降低;农村核心家庭构成降幅较大,单人户提高,直系家庭上升。城乡二级家庭结构变动也不尽相同。人口流动、子女数量、人口老龄化、婚姻和住房情况对家庭结构及其变动有显著影响。在家庭结构小型化为主导的时代,政府及社会组织应加强以家庭为目标的公共服务建设;改进户籍制度,减少劳动者与其家庭成员的地域分割;为增进和改善家庭代际关系创造条件。。     

Family Relations and the Adjustment of Young Children of Mexican Descent: Do Family Cultural Values Moderate These Associations?

This study examined the role of family cultural values as moderators of the association between family relations and the adjustment of young children. Fifty‐five families of Mexican descent with young children enrolled in Head Start programs in the Southwest participated. Mothers provided information about closeness of the mother–child relationship, warmth in the sibling relationship, child behavior problems, and familism and simpatía, or two cultural values associated with families of Mexican origin. The children's preschool teachers provided information about child emotional adjustment and social functioning with peers six months later. Familism was found to act as a moderator, whereby warmth and closeness in family relationships coupled with the endorsement of a family cultural value that complements these relationship characteristics was associated with more optimal functioning in preschool classrooms. Results demonstrate the need to evaluate family cultural values or beliefs systems in conjunction with qualities of family relationships as determinants of children's developmental outcomes. Specifically, familism emerged as a family characteristic capable of promoting young children's adjustment within and beyond the family context.     

Family functioning and emotion socialization in Chinese two-parent households: A person-centered approach

The current study adopted cluster analysis as a person-centered approach to identify patterns of Chinese families’ functioning and parents’ emotion socialization responses and investigate their associations with children's emotion regulation and behavioral outcomes. Both parents residing in the same family were included to explore joint contributions of mothers and fathers within the family system. Participants were 204 Chinese two-parent (mother and father) households of 5- to 10-year-old children (M_age = 7.43 years, SD = .81; 98 girls). Both parents filled out online questionnaires about their perceptions of family functioning (cohesion, adaptability) and endorsement of responses to children's negative emotions (supportive, nonsupportive). Mothers also reported children's lability/negativity, emotion regulation, problematic behaviors (internalizing, externalizing) and prosocial behaviors. Five clusters were identified: poor-functioning/dismissing, well-functioning/coaching, engaged fathers, engaged mothers, and balanced/diffuse. Overall, poor-functioning/dismissing families had children with the lowest functioning and well-functioning/coaching families had children with the most optimal outcomes. The other three clusters were moderate in terms of child functioning with children of engaged fathers having less optimal outcomes than the other two. The nuanced variations among clusters and meaning of results are discussed in relation to Chinese cultural contexts. Findings support the utility of a person-centered approach for illuminating how parents’ socialization practices interconnect holistically within dynamic family systems.     

Intensive family preservation services: an examination of critical service components

A treatment programme for child victims of sexual abuse within the family has been evaluated in terms of psychological and behavioural outcomes for the young people two years after beginning therapy. The Canadian programme was based on principles established by Giarretto in his Child Sexual Abuse Treatment Program (CSATP). Screening by child protection workers selected potential candidates. However, because of limited resources, referral of less than half of the originally screened families was made, even though they were judged suitable for participation. This made available an untreated comparison group ( n  = 30), similar in many ways to the treated families ( n  = 27). After two years the treated adolescents had largely recovered levels of self-esteem obtained in normative samples, and depressive affect had diminished markedly, as had problem behaviours. By contrast, the untreated adolescents had retained low levels of self-esteem, and high levels of depression. Negative behaviours (delinquency, running away from home, acts of deliberate self-harm) had deteriorated after two years. This was linked both to further within-family abuse (in a fifth), followed by a drift in some into street life. Despite its apparent success, the CSATP could not be continued because of lack of funding, and problems in maintaining a community development model for supporting a humanistic programme.     

Children of Divorced Parents in Demographic Perspective

The rise in the number of children with divorced parents has been associated with many other demographic changes. Among the changes discussed are the increasing proportion of children under 18 who are of school age; who live with a stepparent; who spend some time in a one-parent family; whose divorced parent has a college education; and who live with an unmarried couple. A projected one-third of the children 18 years of age in 1990 will have lived with a divorced parent. It is assumed that the rate of divorce will increase more slowly in the next decade than in the last decade.     

A programme evaluation of the Family Crisis Intervention Program (FCIP): relating programme characteristics to change

This study evaluated the Family Crisis Intervention Program (FCIP), focusing on crisis, child safety, family functioning and child behaviour problems. Questionnaires were completed by 183 families in crisis and their FCIP worker. After FCIP, the crisis had decreased and child safety had increased. Although problematic family functioning persisted after intervention, improvements were found in parent–child interaction, parenting stress, parental competence and child behaviour problems. Crisis change, safety change and improved family functioning were associated with programme characteristics, especially the therapeutic relationship, analysis of the crisis situation, duration of the intervention and the solution‐focused approach. The discussion addressed implications of this study with regard to outcome measures in the evaluation of family crisis intervention and the importance of particular programme characteristics.     

Coronary Heart Disease and Family Functioning

Forty families of patients 60 years old and younger who had suffered from their first heart attack, drawn from five hospitals in a metropolitan area, were studied during the hospitalization, a month after discharge from hospital, and two months later. This paper explores the impact of heart disease on family functioning and examines the process of family adjustment to the crisis over a period of about four months. The impacts varied in different areas of family functioning as well as at different points in time. Family social integration was found to be the most useful resource for coping, cohesion to be of some help, and adaptability to be of little relevance. The study highlights the need for identifying, strengthening and mobilizing family social networks as part of the intervention in such crises.     

Effects of case characteristics on teamwork in family meetings

Little empirical research has examined the effects of case characteristics on high‐quality teamwork within family meetings in child welfare. We attempted to fill this gap using 497 child welfare cases in a Midwestern state in the United States. We found that overall teamwork was negatively associated with domestic violence, frequent placement moves, and a permanency plan of adoption, whereas teamwork was positively associated with the length of involvement in the child welfare system. We also examined the relationships between the case characteristics and two components of teamwork. The results showed that domestic violence and the length of the involvement were equally significant factors for both team formation and functioning. The permanency plan of adoption was a significant factor for team formation, but not for team functioning. Finally, family voices and frequent team meetings appeared to be stronger factors for improving both team formation and functioning. The results suggest that families in the child welfare system have different experiences in forming and functioning high‐quality family team meetings. Therefore, it is necessary to customize specific processes and strategies to promote teamwork depending on the child and family's characteristics and situations.     

Empathic Action and Family Resilience: A Narrative Examination of the Benefits of Helping Others

ABSTRACT

Empathy is identified as a protective factor that has been helpful for children considered at high risk for poor mental health and social functioning due to experiencing stressful circumstances such as family violence, substance abuse of a parent, or poverty. Yet, little is known about its relevance to a family's ability to overcome adversity. This study examined the narratives of 20 resilient families who maintained family functioning despite experiencing a multitude of risk factors including poverty, death of a child, significant health problems, or substance abuse problems. Narrative analysis was used to identify the ways families situated empathic actions within their stories of resilience. Findings suggest families developed increased compassion for others as a result of their own experiences with loss, trauma, or stress and discussed how helping others increased their ability to cope with the challenges they faced. Future research and practice implications are outlined and support the usefulness of strengths-based concepts and interventions.     

Relationships with Grandparents and the Emotional Well-Being of Late Adolescent and Young Adult Grandchildren

We investigated whether and under what family conditions young adult grandchildren psychologically benefit from having close and supportive grandparent relations. Relying on parental absence and family systems perspectives, we hypothesized that grandparents will be most effective in reducing depressive symptoms and increasing self-esteem of grandchildren who were raised in single-parent and step-parent families, as well as those with poorer quality relations with their parents. We analyzed data from a sample of grandchildren aged 18–23 years who were surveyed in the 1992–1994 wave of the National Survey of Families and Households (n = 925). Hierarchical multiple regressions with interaction terms found that greater cohesion with grandparents decreased depressive symptoms, particularly among grandchildren raised in single-parent families. However, cohesive grandparent relations reduced depressive symptoms more in the presence of stronger ties to parents. The model partially supports the long reach of grandparents as compensatory resources for mature grandchildren whose families of origin were absent a parent. Implications for future research on the role of grandparents in family systems are discussed.     

Monitoring Interventions with Young Israeli Families

Correspondence to Dr Rami Benbenishty, School of Social Work, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel 91905. Summary This paper describes a study monitoring interventions with familiestreated by a welfare agency in Jerusalem, Israel. The treatmentapproach is eclectic and is based mainly on a view of the familyas a system and on task-centred and problem solving orientationsto family treatment. Sixty families were studied. The clients'median age was about 30 years old and the median number of childrenwas two per family. The clients approached the welfare agencyfor four main reasons: financial difficulties (especially heavydebts), severe health problems and disabilities, marital difficulties,and problems in raising children. The practitioners identifiedin two thirds of the families dangerous situations that neededimmediate attention. A repeated measures design utilizing several outcome measureswas used. According to the workers' assessments, based on theCRS (Epstein et al., 1982), functioning improved and progresstoward goal attainment was observed in most families. The magnitudeof changes in functioning, however, was small. The workers'and clients' assessments of change and of goal attainment weremore positive. There were indications of deterioration at followup. The treatment outcomes are discussed in light of the clientand treatment characteristics. Changes in client selection,length of treatment, and an active follow up strategy are suggested.     

The HOPE Family Project: A Family-Based Group Intervention to Reduce the Impact of Homelessness on HIV/STI and Drug Risk Behaviors

The HOPE Family Project (HIV Prevention for Parents and Early Adolescents) is an eight- session, family-based group intervention modeled on three evidence-based curricula targeting HIV/AIDS and alcohol and drug abuse prevention. The design and implementation of the HOPE Family Project was carried out by an established community collaborative board. The project aims to educate and provide tailored support to families and their youth (ages 11–14), residing in homeless shelters, regarding HIV and alcohol abuse prevention. The group model proved successful in offering an informal social support network for families living in homeless shelters and improving family functioning and youth mental health outcomes.     

Between Tradition and Transition: Workers With Family Responsibilities

This paper briefly summarizes the demographic and social changes in Australian families that have focused attention on the interconnections between work and family life. The impacts that employment has on family functioning and the pressures of family life that impinge on the work environment will be discussed. The main theme of the paper explores the apparent confusion and lack of consensus on the part of government and the community at large toward the appropriate roles of men and women in the family and the boundaries that should exist between work and family life. Finally, policy implications of the ambivalence about work and family roles as reflected in government and corporate responses to workers with family responsibilities is addressed.     

Sex Differences in Perceived Family Functioning and Family Resources in Hong Kong Families: Implications for Social Work Practice

Although enhancing family functioning has become a rising concern of social workers in Chinese contexts such as Hong Kong, little has been known on perceived family functioning and family resources. To fill in this knowledge gap, this article reports part of the results of a telephone survey conducted in Hong Kong, aiming to identify the sex differences in these two areas. The results of the study have shown that Chinese women perceived better affective involvement, one of the crucial indicators of family functioning, than Chinese men. However, among the different family resources, men rated better physical and mental well-being whereas women's social connection was stronger than men's. Further analysis have shown that the linkage of three family resources (namely stress coping efficacy, time spent with family and income) to perceived family functioning was statistically significant irrespective of genders. Implications of this study for social work practice are discussed at the end of the article.