A Collaboratively Designed Child Mental Health Service Model: Multiple Family Groups for Urban Children with Conduct Difficulties

This paper presents preliminary outcomes associated with an experimental, longitudinal study of a Multiple Family Group (MFG) service delivery approach set within thirteen urban outpatient clinics serving children and their families living in inner-city, primarily African American and Latino communities. Specifically, this paper focuses on parent reports of child oppositional behavior and parenting stress over time. MFG is a flexible, protocol-driven approach designed to address the most common reason for referral to outpatient child mental health clinics, childhood behavioral difficulties. The MFG also aims to enhance family-level engagement and retention in ongoing care. Further, the service delivery model was collaboratively developed with intensive input from parents rearing children with conduct difficulties, parent advocates, community-based child mental health providers and services research staff in order to ultimately expand the number of effective service models that can be situated within "real world," urban child mental health settings.     

Multiple family groups: an engaging intervention for child welfare-involved families

Differences between child welfare- and non-child welfare-involved families regarding barriers to child mental health care, attendance, program satisfaction, and relationship with facilitators are examined for a multiple family group service delivery model aimed at reducing childhood disruptive behaviors. Although child welfare-involved caregivers reported more treatment barriers and less program satisfaction than non-child-welfare-involved families, no significant differences exist between groups on average total sessions attended and attendance rates over time.     

Disentangling the Social and the Pedagogical in Infants' Learning about Tool‐Use

We investigated infants' response to pedagogy in the domain of tool use. In experiment 1, infants viewed a causally relevant tool‐use demonstration presented identically in either a social/pedagogical or social/non‐pedagogical context. Infants exposed to pedagogical cues displayed superior production of the tool‐use sequence. This was so despite infants displaying equivalent attention to the demonstration across conditions. In contrast, pedagogical cues had no systematic impact on infants' discrimination between causally possible vs. impossible tool‐use sequences in a looking‐time task. Interestingly, however, older infants across both conditions displayed a preference for looking toward the causally possible display. Experiment 2 documented that social cues of any sort (regardless of pedagogy) accompanying the demonstration triggered older infants to discriminate the causally possible vs. impossible events whereas a non‐social demonstration did not. Together, the two experiments implicate ‘social gating’ as well as a pedagogical stance in infants' processing and execution of causal action.     

Fine‐Grained Analysis of Motionese: Eye Gaze,Object Exchanges,and Action Units in Infant‐Versus Adult‐Directed Action

Mothers modify their actions when demonstrating objects to infants versus adults. Such modifications have been called infant‐directed action (IDA) or motionese (Brand, Baldwin, & Ashburn, 2002). We investigated the IDA features of interactiveness and simplification by quantifying eye gaze, object exchanges, and action units enacted between exchanges in 42 mothers' demonstrations of novel objects to infants (6–8 months or 11–13 months) or adults. We found more eye gaze, more object exchanges, and fewer action types per turn in demonstrations to infants relative to adults. Unlike prior research using global measurements, we detected differences in behavior directed at infants of different ages: Shorter, more frequent gazes and more exchanges characterized demonstrations to older versus younger infants. These findings indicate the fruitfulness of fine‐grained analysis of IDA, and further clarify how adults may support infants' processing of human motion.     

Intergenerational Coresidence Among Small Farmers in Brazilian Amazônia

This article examines intergenerational coresidence among rural farm families near Santarém, Pará, Brazil using survey data collected by the authors on 896 children whose parents live in 175 households on 150 farms. Married adult children, daughters, and the best educated are more likely to live off their parents’ rural property (vs. on the property). Results support arguments that coresidence results from the interests of children rather than the control that parents exert over children. These results have implications for our understanding of intergenerational relations in the developing world and for the future development of similar areas.     

Stillbirth and the Couple: A Gender-Based Exploration

ABSTRACT

The stillbirth of a baby occurs in about 1 in 110 families yearly. Yet, little is understood about the ways in which grieving mothers and fathers experience the baby's death. This study is intended to explore the ways in which bereaved parents perceive and cope with the death of their baby and how the baby's death affects them both individually and as a couple. Respondents answered open-ended questions about their experiences. Results suggest that mothers and fathers grieve individually and collectively, struggling to find meaning in their losses. Responses to a baby's death may depend, in part, on the parent's gender, as well as on the individual's locus of control, couple and family cohesion, the degree of attachment to the baby, and social support. The death of a baby may create conflict in a marital dyad, yet many couples also experience a greater sense of closeness. A therapeutic relationship that is nonhierarchical and egalitarian, focusing on “keeping the therapist close to the experience of each partner” (Vatcher &; Bogo, 2001 Vatcher , C. , &; Bogo , M. ( 2001 ). The feminist/emotionally focused therapy practice model: An integrated approach for couple therapy . Journal of Marital and Family Therapy , 27 ( 1 ), 69 – 83 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], p. 76) may offer a place where the marital relationship can flourish after such a tragic experience.     

Chinese Twin Children Reared Apart and Reunited: First Prospective Study of Co-Twin Reunions

China's one-child policy led to the abandonment of tens of thousands of infants. Included among these children were twins who were adopted and reared separately. Since 2006, 10 reunited twin sets participated in the first prospective study of twins reared apart. This exploratory study reports a qualitative analysis of the children's reactions to their first meeting with, and departure from, their co-twin. The majority of twins 18 months of age and older displayed strong attraction upon first meeting. Leave-taking included sadness, but responses varied across pairs. Theoretical interpretations of the findings and implications for parenting reared-apart adopted twins are provided.