A Multi-National Study of Interparental Conflict,Parenting, and Adolescent Functioning

Abstract

This study assessed the associations between interparental conflict (IPC), parenting, and individual functioning among data gathered from school-going adolescents in Bangladesh, China, India, Bosnia, Germany, Palestine, Colombia, United States and three ethnic groups within South Africa. Specifically, we tested the validity of the spillover dynamic found in much research in the U.S., whereby marital conflict spills over into parenting and into the psychological and social functioning of children and adolescents. Previous analyses of these same data showed complete invariance in the linkages between parenting and adolescent functioning. This study thus provided a meaningful extension to the substantive literature on family processes. We followed recommendations within cross-cultural psychology to “transport and test” models validated in one culture to other cultures as an initial step in systematic comparative research. The findings revealed substantial invariance across the samples in documenting significant direct and indirect associations. Similar to prior research in the U.S., IPC was associated with youth outcomes directly, and more often indirectly, via parenting.     

Adolescent Socialization in Rural Appalachia: The Perspectives of Teens,Parents, and Significant Adults

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the social networks of Appalachian adolescents to understand socialization strategies and goals. A total of 46 interviews were conducted with five families (mothers, fathers, and adolescents) and 11 socialization agents the families identified as exerting significant influence in the lives of the adolescents. Interviews were transcribed and then analyzed using principles of grounded theory. Five themes developed from the interviews: the importance of community to the socialization process, adult involvement and support, adolescent monitoring, teaching respect and responsibility, and adolescent autonomy. Results suggest the need for in-depth investigation of adolescent development within a variety of cultural and social contexts to more fully understand these processes.     

Work,parenting and gender: the care–work negotiations of three couple relationships in the UK

Changes globally mean that there are now record numbers of mothers in paid employment and a reported prevalence of involved fathering. This poses challenges to mothers and fathers as they negotiate care–work practices within their relationships. Focusing on interviews with three heterosexual couples (taken from a wider UK qualitative project on working parents), the paper considers care–work negotiations of three couples, against a backdrop of debates about intensive mothering and involved fathering. It aims to consider different configurations of work and care within three different couple relationships. We found that power within the relationships was negotiated along differential axis of gender and working status (full- or part-time paid work). We present qualitatively rich insights into these negotiations. Framed by a critical discursive psychological approach, we call on other researchers to think critically about dominant discourses and practices of working, caring and parenting, pointedly how couples situated around the world operationalise these discourses in talking about themselves as worker and carers.     

Parental Identity and Reflected‐Appraisals: Measurement and Gender Dynamics

A new theoretical model for parental identity, reflected‐appraisals, and behavior was proposed. Parental identity and behavior in married parents were then investigated as a function of partner's and perceived reflected‐appraisals, taking into account gender context effects. Sixty‐four married couples completed the Caregiving and Breadwinning Identity and Reflected‐Appraisal Inventory (CBIRAI), developed for this study to assess parental caregiving and breadwinning identity and reflected‐appraisals, as well as caregiving and breadwinning behavior measures. The model was confirmed for fathers and partially confirmed for mothers. Specifically, caregiving identity and behavior in fathers, and breadwinning identity in mothers were functions of perceived reflected‐appraisals. Limitations and implications are discussed.     

‘A Chance to Stand Back’: Parenting Programmes for Parents of Adolescents

Parenting interventions were an important feature of New Labour’s policies to combat social exclusion. This paper critically examines parenting programmes for families with adolescents, assessing national and local policy aims against the perspectives of women who took part in a parenting course, which was the subject of a local evaluation. The paper argues that, while there were important positive outcomes for the participants, the high levels of unmet need which women reported reflect important disparities between the aims of the intervention, the level of service provision, and the needs and concerns of mothers and grandmothers.     

Childbearing and Marriage: Investigating the Importance of Context for Meaning-Making of First-Time Marriage

Previous research reveals that the temporal ordering of childbearing and marriage can have an impact on the meaning of first-time marriage. This article aims to obtain a deeper understanding of meaning-making of first-time marriage in relation to childbearing. Narrative interviews with 16 brides and grooms in 8 couples in Sweden were conducted. The material was analyzed in relation to the temporal ordering of childbearing and marriage. The study reveals that the construction of meaning of marriage does not only relate to the temporal context. Social factors such as social class or family formation might also be relevant for how meaning is constructed. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of meaning-making as a relational process constructed within particular contexts.     

Analysis of Pre and Posttest Gender Differences in Family Satisfaction of Divorce Mediation Couples

To determine if divorcing spouses experience the family reorganization process through mediation differently, we tested divorcing couples before and after child custody/visitatior mediation, using the Family Satisfaction scale. The pretest family satisfaction scores of husbands as a group were significantly lower than those of the wives (p = .004), but significantly improved after mediation (p = .005). The family satisfaction of wives as a group did not change. Within-couple differences in family satisfaction did not change for either spousal group before and after mediation, an indication that an improvement in the family satisfaction of the husband is not necessarily at the expense of the wife.     

Children's Behavior Problems in Single-Parent and Married-Parent Families

Abstract

A model integrating prevailing perspectives on children's functioning following divorce was used to predict children's behavior problems. The data were collected from 30 custodial mothers, 30 custodial fathers, and 30 married parents with children 6 to 10 years of age, using face-to-face interviews and standardized questionnaires. Results using path analysis indicated that marital status and parental control had significant direct effects on children's behavior problems. Sex of parent, economic strain, co-parental conflict, coping with roles, and parenting indirectly influenced children's behavior through parental control. The findings suggest that the pressures inherent in raising a child alone, combined with too few resources for coping with role demands, are disruptive to both parenting and parental control, and that children in single-parent families appear to respond to these deficits with disruptive behaviors. Implications for family practice and policy are discussed.