Family Matters: Research on Family Ties and Health, 2010 to 2020

Family ties have wide-ranging consequences for health, for better and for worse. This decade review uses a life course perspective to frame significant advances in research on the effects of family structure and transitions (e.g., marital status) and family dynamics and quality (e.g., emotional support from family members) on health across the life course. Significant advances include the linking of childhood family experiences to health at older ages, identification of biosocial processes that explain how family ties influence health throughout life, research on social contagion showing how family members influence one another's health, and attention to diversity in family and health dynamics, including gender, sexuality, socioeconomic, and racial diversity. Significant innovations in methods include dyadic and family-level analysis and causal inference strategies. The review concludes by identifying directions for future research on families and health, advocating for a “family biography” framework to guide future research, and calling for more research specifically designed to assess policies that affect families and their health from childhood into later life.     

“They tippy toe around the race issue”: The impact of a Title IV‐E program on culturally informed practice for child welfare students

This study examines changes in MSW students' perceived cultural competence across 11 child welfare practice skills before and after participation in a University's Title IV‐E program and explores students' perceptions of cultural competency and cultural humility. The findings indicate modest gains across all 11 practice skills; however, focus group interviews revealed that students do not necessarily feel prepared to conduct culturally competent practice with children and families. A culturally informed practice in public child welfare is discussed and includes training implications for Title IV‐E programs.     

Nucleic acid amplification testing in suspected child sexual abuse

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that site-specific cultures be obtained, when indicated, for sexually victimized children. Nucleic acid amplification testing is a highly sensitive and specific methodology for identifying sexually transmitted infections. Nucleic acid amplification tests are also less invasive than culture, and this may provide an efficacious alternative for children suspected of being sexually abused.     

A longitudinal study of newcomer role adjustment in US organizations

Abstract

This paper examines the socialization and adjustment experiences of newcomers to organizations from a role stress perspective. A longitudinal field study is reported which tested a three-stage socialization model using physiological and psychological distress symptoms, general satisfaction, and intention to leave the organization as indicators of newcomer adjustment. Data were collected from newcomers (the focal role) (N = 91) at three times during me study and also from their supervisors (the role senders) (N = 41). While the data confirmed the general utility of the model, it also suggested some revisions by way of new and altered pathways between some of the variables.     

Psychiatric Symptomatology in a Deaf College Population Affecting Diagnosis and Treatment

Abstract

As the mental health needs of the deaf receive increased recognition, issues of diagnosis and treatment become vital. Several characteristic behavioral patterns are frequently encountered which often confuse diagnosis, particularly in clinicians inexperienced with hearing-impaired individuals. These behavioral characteristics of suspiciousness, the use of odd or idiosyncratic language, difficulties in expression of affects, and acting out behaviors may create a tendency to overdiagnose serious mental illness. In addition, an understanding of the impact of deafness on an individual's personality development is crucial to an intelligent choice of treatment approach. These difficult issues of differential diagnosis and treatment are discussed in the context of the psychotherapeutic experiences of a hearing and nonsigning clinician working with deaf college students.     

Work Satisfaction and Intention to Leave Among Direct Care Workers in Community and Residential Aged Care in Australia

Turnover in the Australian aged-care workforce is lower than in the United States but is still of concern. This research examined the effects of worker satisfaction, worker characteristics, work conditions, and workplace environment on intention to leave, using data from a 2007 national census of the aged-care workforce. A probit model was used to estimate the probability of care workers leaving their jobs in the next 12 months. While workers were satisfied, overall, with their work, improving some components of satisfaction and converting casual contracts to permanent work would reduce intention to leave. To these ends, a shift in focus is required away from worker characteristics and the nature of care work to job conditions and organizational matters amenable to management and policy action.     

Family Divorce and Romantic Relationships in Early Adolescence

Prior research has indicated that family experiences, including parental divorce, family conflict, and parental monitoring, play an important role in adolescent relationships (e.g., Mahl, 2001 Mahl, D. 2001. The influence of parental divorce on the romantic relationship beliefs of young adults. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 34: 89–118. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Research on how these family experiences affect romantic relationships during early adolescence is lacking. Because pubertal maturation has been linked with earlier dating, it is also important to consider its role when studying adolescent relationships. This study compared 1,765 young adolescents (grades 5–8) from intact (n = 1,315) and divorced (n = 379) families on their dating patterns, susceptibility to romantic influence, and romantic relationship quality. The findings show that adolescents from divorced families, compared to adolescents from intact families, report more dating, report more susceptibility to romantic influence, and do not differ in their romantic relationship quality. In line with the hypotheses, both family conflict and puberty mediated the relationship between family structure and dating stage, as well as family structure and susceptibility to romantic influence. Parental monitoring, however, did not mediate between family structure and the romantic relationship variables. Finally, differences, regardless of family structure, were found between males and females, where males indicated being at a higher dating stage than females.