Family Process (FAM PROCESS)

Publications in this journal

• Article: The anchoring function: Parental authority and the parent-child bond.

  Omer, Steinmetz, Carthy, Schlippe
  Family Process 01/2013;
• Source

  Available from: familyprocess.org

  Article: Toward a better understanding of psychological well-being in dementia caregivers: the link between marital communication and depression.

  Melanie Braun, Katharina Mura, Melanie Peter-Wight, Rainer Hornung, Urte Scholz
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  ABSTRACT: Dementia research has frequently documented high rates of caregiver depression and distress in spouses providing care for a partner suffering from dementia. However, the role of marital communication in understanding caregiver distress has not been examined sufficiently. Studies with healthy couples demonstrated an association between marital communication and the partners' psychological well-being, depressiveness, respectively (e.g., Heene, Buysee, & Van Oost, 2005). The current study investigates the relationship between caregiver depression and communication in 37 couples in which the wives care for their partners with dementia. Nonsequential and sequential analyses revealed significant correlations between caregiver depression and marital communication quality. Caregivers whose husbands used more positive communication reported less depression and distress. Additionally, caregiver depression was negatively correlated with rates of positive reciprocal communication indicating dependence between the couples' interaction patterns. This study is one of the first to illustrate the relevance of spousal communication in understanding caregiver distress and depression.
  Family Process 06/2010; 49(2):185-203.
• Article: Caring in multiple relational contexts of adversity: implications for family therapy.

  Evan Imber-Black
  Family Process 06/2010; 49(2):139-41.
• Article: Beyond the "birds and the bees": gender differences in sex-related communication among urban African-American adolescents.

  Chisina Tsvakayi Kapungu, Donna Baptiste, Grayson Holmbeck, Cami McBride, Melissa Robinson-Brown, Allyse Sturdivant, Laurel Crown, Roberta Paikoff
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  ABSTRACT: The current study examined gender differences in communication about sex-related topics in a community sample of urban, African-American mothers and adolescents living in impoverished neighborhoods with high HIV rates. One hundred and sixty-two mother-adolescent dyads completed self-report measures of sex-related communication. Youth also reported on their sexual risk. We identified the range of sexual-based topics that adolescents discussed with their mothers, fathers, friends, and at school. The relationship between the frequency of sexual communication and sexual risk was examined. We also investigated congruency between adolescent and mother report about whether sexual-based discussions occurred. Consistent with prior research, girls talked to their mothers, fathers, friends, and at school about sex-related topics more than boys. Findings indicated that mothers not only communicated more frequently about sexual issues with their daughters than sons but that parental messages for girls were more protective. Greater sexual communication with mother was significantly associated with decreased HIV risk in the past 90 days and increased protection from HIV. Inconsistencies between mother and adolescent reports about sexual communication were marginally associated with decreased protection from HIV. Findings reveal the protective effect of sexual communication and the general lack of congruence between mother and adolescent reports of sexual communication.
  Family Process 06/2010; 49(2):251-64.
• Article: Structural Ecosystems Therapy for HIV+ African-American women and drug abuse relapse.

  Daniel J Feaster, Myron J Burns, Ahnalee M Brincks, Guillermo Prado, Victoria B Mitrani, Megaly H Mauer, Jose Szapocznik
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  ABSTRACT: This report examines the effect of Structural Ecosystems Therapy (SET) for (n=143) HIV+ African-American women on rate of relapse to substance use relative to both a person-centered approach (PCA) to therapy and a community control (CC) group. A prior report has shown SET to decrease psychological distress and family hassles relative to these 2 comparison groups. In new analyses, SET and CC had a significant protective effect against relapse as compared with PCA. There is evidence that SET's protective effect on relapse was related to reductions in family hassles, whereas there was not a direct impact of change in psychological distress on rates of relapse. Lower retention in PCA, perhaps caused by the lack of a directive component to PCA, may have put these women at greater risk for relapse. Whereas SET did not specifically address substance abuse, SET indirectly protected at-risk women from relapse through reductions in family hassles.
  Family Process 06/2010; 49(2):204-19.
• Source

  Available from: familyprocess.org

  Article: Maternal distress and parenting in the context of cumulative disadvantage.

  Joyce Arditti, Linda Burton, Sara Neeves-Botelho
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  ABSTRACT: This article presents an emergent conceptual model of the features and links between cumulative disadvantage, maternal distress, and parenting practices in low-income families in which parental incarceration has occurred. The model emerged from the integration of extant conceptual and empirical research with grounded theory analysis of longitudinal ethnographic data from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study. Fourteen exemplar family cases were used in the analysis. Results indicated that mothers in these families experienced life in the context of cumulative disadvantage, reporting a cascade of difficulties characterized by neighborhood worries, provider concerns, bureaucratic difficulties, violent intimate relationships, and the inability to meet children's needs. Mothers, however, also had an intense desire to protect their children, and to make up for past mistakes. Although, in response to high levels of maternal distress and disadvantage, most mothers exhibited harsh discipline of their children, some mothers transformed their distress by advocating for their children under difficult circumstances. Women's use of harsh discipline and advocacy was not necessarily an "either/or" phenomenon as half of the mothers included in our analysis exhibited both harsh discipline and care/advocacy behaviors. Maternal distress characterized by substance use, while connected to harsh disciplinary behavior, did not preclude mothers engaging in positive parenting behaviors.
  Family Process 06/2010; 49(2):142-64.
• Article: Family microtransitions: observing the process of change in families with adolescent children.

  Luisa Molinari, Marina Everri, Laura Fruggeri
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  ABSTRACT: The aim of the study is to explore the process of microtransitions in families with adolescent children. Original methodological procedures were designed in order to have families as the objects of study and to analyze data with particular attention to the family process of change. A family interview focused on the adolescent and family change was conducted with 12 families having an adolescent child. As indicators of change, we used coordination and oscillation. Our results highlight different patterns of family interactions, illustrating various ways through which families deal with change. Conclusive remarks focus on the theoretical relevance of the study, the method and the implications for family practice and policy.
  Family Process 06/2010; 49(2):236-50.
• Article: A dyadic analysis of the between- and within-system alliances on distress.

  Shayne R Anderson, Lee N Johnson
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  ABSTRACT: This study examines the relationship between the therapeutic alliance and distress using the couple rather than the individual as the unit of analysis. One hundred and seventy-three couples receiving treatment for relational distress at two university clinics participated in this study. The actor-partner interdependence model was used to analyze the relationship of each partner's between- and within-system alliance scores and distress at session four. Results provide support for actor effects on relational distress for both male and female partners and for actor effects on psychological distress for female partners. Limited support was found for partner effects on distress. Furthermore, results indicate that the alliance between partners is a stronger predictor of improvement in early sessions in comparison with the alliance between the individual and the therapist.
  Family Process 06/2010; 49(2):220-35.
• Article: Mother-grandmother coparenting relationships in families with incarcerated mothers: a pilot investigation.

  Jason Baker, James McHale, Anne Strozier, Dawn Cecil
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  ABSTRACT: Using new methods designed to assess coparenting between incarcerated mothers of preschool-aged children and the maternal grandmothers caring for the children during their absence, we examined relationships between coparenting quality during the mother's jail stay and both concurrent child behavior problems and later coparenting interactions following mothers' release and community reentry. Forty mother-grandmother dyads participated in joint coparenting discussions during the incarceration, with a smaller subset completing a parallel activity at home 1 month postrelease. Both women also participated in individual coparenting interviews during the incarceration, and reported on child behavior problems. Mother-grandmother coparenting interactions exhibited an overall structure similar to that documented in nuclear families, with population-specific dynamics also evident. The observational system demonstrated good interrater and internal reliability, and showed associations with maternal (but not grandmother) reports and descriptions of the coparenting relationship via interview. Greater coparenting relationship quality during incarceration was associated with fewer concurrent child externalizing behavior problems, and predicted more positive coparenting interactions postrelease. Findings suggest that the coparenting assessments were useful for understanding mother-grandmother coparenting relationships in these families and that importantly, these relationships were tied to children's functioning. Avenues for future research and considerations for intervention efforts are discussed.
  Family Process 06/2010; 49(2):165-84.
• Article: Parental separation and children's behavioral/emotional problems: the impact of parental representations and family conflict.

  Stephanie Stadelmann, Sonja Perren, Maureen Groeben, Kai von Klitzing
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  ABSTRACT: In this longitudinal study, we examine whether the effect of parental separation on kindergarten children's behavioral/emotional problems varies according to the level of family conflict, and children's parental representations. One hundred and eighty seven children were assessed at ages 5 and 6. Family conflict was assessed using parents' ratings. Children's parental representations were assessed using a story-stem task. A multiinformant approach (parent, teacher, child) was employed to assess children's behavioral/emotional problems. Bivariate results showed that separation, family conflict, and negative parental representations were associated with children's behavioral/emotional problems. However, in multivariate analyses, when controlling for gender and symptoms at age 5, we found that children of separated parents who showed negative parental representations had a significantly greater increase in conduct problems between 5 and 6 than all other children. In terms of emotional symptoms and hyperactivity, symptoms at 5 and (for hyperactivity only) gender were the only predictors for symptoms 1 year later. Our results suggest that kindergarten children's representations of parent-child relationships moderate the impact of parental separation on the development of conduct problems, and underline play and narration as a possible route to access the thoughts and feelings of young children faced with parental separation.
  Family Process 03/2010; 49(1):92-108.
• Source

  Available from: familyprocess.org

  Article: Reasonable hope: construct, clinical applications, and supports.

  Kaethe Weingarten
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  ABSTRACT: Hope may be the most laden shorthand term of all time. Everyone wants it; few know how to articulate what it is. Although family therapists frequently work to restore hope with hopeless families, they have contributed little to the abundant literature on hope. I present a new conceptualization of hope-reasonable hope-that reflects how family therapists think and practice. By subscribing to reasonable hope, clinicians enhance their ability to offer accompaniment and bear witness to clients. I describe clinical practices that, informed by reasonable hope, also facilitate its cocreation. Finally, I suggest supports for clinicians who practice reasonable hope.
  Family Process 03/2010; 49(1):5-25.
• Article: Preschoolers with asthma: narratives of family functioning predict behavior problems.

  Mary Spagnola, Barbara Fiese
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  ABSTRACT: This study tested a model predicting behavior symptoms in preschoolers with asthma. Specifically, it examined the role that asthma severity and children's representations of family functioning may play in the development of child behavior problems in a sample of 53 low-income preschoolers. The study included parent report of asthma severity and a narrative story-stem method to assess children's representations of both general and disease-specific family processes. A regression model tested the inclusion of both types of family processes in predicting child internalizing and externalizing behavior. Disease severity and children's family narratives independently predicted children's behavior over and above the combined effects of demographic variables including child age, socioeconomic status, and family structure. Although children's narratives about general family functioning predicted children's behavior, narratives about family response to asthma symptoms did not. Findings support that both disease severity and family functioning are important considerations in understanding children's behavior problems in the context of asthma. Clinical applications of findings may include: (1) Informing family based-assessments to incorporate children's narratives, and (2) A focus on reducing asthma symptoms and strengthening family functioning to prevent or address child behavior problems.
  Family Process 03/2010; 49(1):74-91.
• Article: Reading outside the page.

  Evan Imber-Black
  Family Process 03/2010; 49(1):1-3.
• Source

  Available from: backintyme.com

  Article: Building kinship and community: relational processes of bicultural identity among adult multiracial adoptees.

  Gina Miranda Samuels
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  ABSTRACT: This study uses the case of transracially adopted multiracial adults to highlight an alternative family context and thus process of African American enculturation. Interpretive analyses of interviews with 25 adult multiracial adoptees produced 4 patterns in their bicultural identity formation: (1) claiming whiteness culturally but not racially, (2) learning to "be Black"-peers as agents of enculturation, (3) biological pathways to authentic Black kinship, and (4) bicultural kinship beyond Black and White. Conceptualizing race as an ascribed extended kinship network and using notions of "groundedness" from bicultural identity literature, the relational aspects of participants' identity development are highlighted. Culturally relevant concepts of bicultural identity are proposed for practice with multiracial adoptees who have multiple cultures of origin and for whom White mainstream culture is transmitted intrafamilially as a first culture.
  Family Process 03/2010; 49(1):26-42.
• Source

  Available from: cifa-net.org

  Article: Capturing children's response to parental conflict and making use of it.

  Wai-Yung Lee, Man-Lun Ng, Ben K L Cheung, Joyce Wa Yung
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  ABSTRACT: To read this article's abstract in both Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, please visit the article's full-text page on Wiley InterScience (http://interscience.wiley.com/journal/famp). The aim of our study is to examine the interface between children's physiological changes and the specificities of parental conflict, and to develop a procedure in which such information can be shared with the family for therapeutic change. Children from 20 families were exposed to parental conflict discussion (CD) while their arousals were measured through skin conductance and heart rate sensors. It was found that regardless of the subject of the argument, 80% of the time they were complaining about each other. Likewise, 80% of the time the children were responding to the parents' own interpersonal tension, including moments of silence. The protocol established for the study, consisting of CD and debriefing, was found to be a powerful tool in moving parents toward conflict resolution.
  Family Process 03/2010; 49(1):43-58.
• Article: Male emotional intimacy: how therapeutic men's groups can enhance couples therapy.

  Robert Garfield
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  ABSTRACT: Men's difficulty with emotional intimacy is a problem that therapists regularly encounter in working with heterosexual couples in therapy. The first part of this article describes historical and cultural factors that contribute to this dilemma in men's marriages and same-sex friendships. Therapeutic men's groups can provide a corrective experience for men, helping them to develop emotional intimacy skills while augmenting their work in couples therapy. A model for such groups is presented, including guidelines for referral, screening, and collaboration with other therapists. Our therapeutic approach encourages relationship-based learning through direct emotional expression and supportive feedback. We emphasize the development of friendship skills, core attributes of friendship (connection, communication, commitment, and cooperation) that contribute to emotional intimacy in men's relationships. Case examples are included to illustrate how this model works in clinical practice, as well as specific suggestions for further study that could lead to a more evidence-based practice.
  Family Process 03/2010; 49(1):109-22.
• Source

  Available from: skynet.be

  Article: Avoiding colonizer positions in the therapy room: some ideas about the challenges of dealing with the dialectic of misery and resources in families.

  Peter Rober, Michael Seltzer
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  ABSTRACT: Some authors have argued that certain acts of family therapists-despite their best intentions-may represent a form of colonizing the family. When acting as a colonizer, a therapist is understood as becoming overly responsible for the family and focusing too strongly on change. In so doing, the therapist disrespects the family's pace, and neglects their own resources for change. This paper aims to highlight the need for therapists to be hypersensitive both to the resources of families entering therapy as well as to the impact of prevailing ideologies on their own positioning in the session. The kind of sensitivity advocated here is dialectical in the sense that every family is understood as having potentials promoting dynamism, happiness, and well-being as well as potentials contributing to stagnation, unhappiness, and misery. In this article, using illustrations from clinical practice, we present some ideas for resisting the tendency by the therapist to assume a colonizing position as a professional solver of problems for families. Our main aim here is to redirect the therapist toward connecting with the family's suffering, as well as with the resource repertoire it has developed for navigating and negotiating its way through life.
  Family Process 03/2010; 49(1):123-37.
• Article: Snuggles, my cotherapist, and other animal tales in life and therapy.

  Evan Imber-Black
  Family Process 12/2009; 48(4):459-61.