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Assessment of Family Stress across Low-, Medium-, and High-Risk Samples Using the Family Events Checklist
Abstract
This study examines family stress across normative, moderate risk, and high-risk samples. A 3-factor model of family stress--including interpersonal tension, financial problems, and child-related difficulties--was developed using confirmatory factor analysis. Factor scores were computed across four samples considered to be at varying degrees of risk for family stress. Analyses of these scores revealed consistent differences across samples in levels of family stress, with higher stress in higher-risk samples. Results are discussed and implications for intervention and prevention are considered.
... The Family Events Checklist (FEC; Fisher & Fagot, 1998) consists of 49 event-related items that are rated on a 4-point scale in terms of severity of effect (1 = did not occur, 2 = occurred, but no negative effect on you, 3 = occurred, slightly negative effect on you, 4 = occurred, very negative effect on you). This measure has been utilized extensively in longitudinal research conducted at OSLC with low-risk (normative samples), medium-risk (sample of divorced families), and high-risk (sample of clinically referred families) families (Fisher & Fagot, 1998). ...
... The Family Events Checklist (FEC; Fisher & Fagot, 1998) consists of 49 event-related items that are rated on a 4-point scale in terms of severity of effect (1 = did not occur, 2 = occurred, but no negative effect on you, 3 = occurred, slightly negative effect on you, 4 = occurred, very negative effect on you). This measure has been utilized extensively in longitudinal research conducted at OSLC with low-risk (normative samples), medium-risk (sample of divorced families), and high-risk (sample of clinically referred families) families (Fisher & Fagot, 1998). Mothers and fathers in the present study completed the FEC. ...
... The use of factor loadings in computing summary scores provides an opportunity to account for the fact that not all indicators make an equal contribution to the underlying factor (Shavelson, Webb, & Rowley, 1989). This procedure that has been successfully utilized in the past with constructs similar to the ones addressed in the present study (Fisher & Fagot, 1998). ...
Contributions of symptoms of parental depression, marital/family adjustment, parents' coercive (physical restraint, criticism, directives) and instructional behaviors (cognitive guidance, i.e., explanations of goals/strategies, suggestions regarding strategies for completing tasks), and children's effortful control to preschool children's externalizing behavior problems were investigated. It was hypothesized that children's higher levels of effortful control serve a protective function, leading to lower levels of child conduct difficulties despite parental/familial risk factors. Higher levels of depressive symptoms, coercion, and cognitive guidance, along with lower levels of child effortful control, were associated with higher levels of child externalizing behaviors. Differences in hierarchical regression models were observed for data obtained from mothers and fathers, with maternal coercive behavior and cognitive guidance serving as statistically significant predictors of children's externalizing behavior and reports of marital/family adjustment predicting child externalizing problems described by fathers. These parental/family factors, along with child effortful control, should be considered in understanding the development of behavior problems in early childhood, and could be addressed within school or community-based interventions.
... Crisis model (Amato and Booth 1991) helps us to understand the role of remarriage in determining level of psychological distress as it implies that women may perceive post-divorce period as crisis phase and experience less psychological distress if women get remarried within 2 years of divorce. Remarriage has been claimed to be an important remedy in combating the potential negative influence of stressors following divorce like financial hardships (Fisher et al. 1998;Mirowsky and Ross 1995), social network disruption (Amato and Hohmann-Marriott 2007;Cohen and Finzi-Dottan 2012), and psychological distress (Esmaeili et al. 2015). The current study intended to investigate the difference in psychological distress among women who got remarried within 2 years after divorce and the women who got remarried after 2 years of divorce. ...
... Researchers reported that income appeared to be significant predictors of psychological distress among divorced people (Amato and Booth 1991;Cohen and Finzi-Dottan 2012). Moreover, economic hardships leave the women in continuous psychological problems and mental health issues at least for 5 years following divorce as divorced women reported more financial problems then divorced men (Fisher et al. 1998). Moreover, length of time between divorce and remarriage may contribute in decline of psychological distress as researchers reported that women may face psychological distress for years after divorce (Amato 2000). ...
The current study assumed that perceived ex-partner rejection is likely to associate with increased symptoms of psychological distress among remarried women who had been previously divorced. Additionally, emotional intelligence may act as moderator between ex-partner rejection and psychological distress, and length of time between divorce and remarriage may play a role in the amount of psychological distress, a woman experiences. In this regard, 99 remarried women, who have been previously divorced, were recruited using purposive sampling technique. Separate hierarchical regressions revealed that perceived ex-spousal rejection significantly and positively predicted psychological distress, however, EI did not moderate between ex-partner rejection and psychological distress. Results further demonstrated no significant difference in level of psychological distress between group of women who remarried within 2 years of divorce, and those who remarried after 2 years of divorce. Implications for relationship researchers and mental health professionals are discussed.
... Family Events Checklist-The Family Events Checklist (FEC; Fisher et al. 1998) measures family stress through a 46-item questionnaire. Each item is answered on a 4-point scale. ...
... Sample items include "There was not enough money to buy something important needed for the family, such as food or clothing" and "There was a conflict or tension between you and any family member(s)". FEC's reliability and validity have been shown by Fisher et al. (1998): Cronbach's alpha was .78 and total scores differed significantly across four comparison samples that demonstrated various degrees of risk, with higher risk being associated with higher scores on all three subscales. ...
Parental emotion coaching involves acknowledging and validating children’s feelings, as well as guiding them on how to manage intense or negative feelings. Although parental emotion coaching has been identified as a potentially important factor for children’s emotional development, research into this topic is scant. The present study examined whether maternal emotion coaching can play a mediational role between family risk (i.e. economic disadvantage, family stress, and maltreatment) and emotion regulation in preschoolers. Seventy-four preschoolers, aged 46–58 months, and their maternal caregivers participated in an observational laboratory study, including a narrative task in which mothers and children reminisced about a mildly upsetting event. We coded these conversations for maternal emotion coaching behaviors with the Family Emotional Communication Scoring System. A family risk score was obtained via the Family Events Checklist and demographic data. We measured children’s emotion regulation with the Emotion Regulation Checklist. Increased family risk was associated with both reduced child emotion regulation and reduced maternal emotion coaching. Maternal emotion coaching partially mediated the relation between family risk and child emotion regulation, in particular child emotional lability. The findings support further research into the possibilities of training mothers in high risk families in emotion coaching skills in order to foster their children’s emotional development.
... However, study results may not generalize to samples who have committed more serious criminal behavior or to community samples. Notably, there may be a greater range of betweenindividual differences in parental monitoring that is not captured in the current sample due to the overall greater level of family dysfunction in high-risk samples (Fisher et al., 1998). Without properly accounting for between-individual variation in parental monitoring, it is difficult to conclude how parental monitoring may function over time in a wide variety of samples. ...
Introduction
Poor parental monitoring has been theorized as a key risk factor for an adolescent's association with deviant peers. However, measurements of parental monitoring often only measure parental knowledge rather than parental monitoring actions, leaving the true longitudinal associations between parental monitoring and peer delinquency unclear.
Methods
The current sample consisted of 1095 male justice‐involved adolescents (13–17 years old at baseline collected between 2011 and 2013) from across the United States who provided survey data every 6 months for 3 years. Longitudinal associations between parental monitoring constructs (i.e., parental solicitation and monitoring rules) and peer delinquency were tested using random intercept cross‐lagged panel models to investigate both between‐individual associations and within‐individual bidirectional effects.
Results
Although parental monitoring and peer delinquency were negatively related at a between‐individual level, very few within‐individual directional effects were found. The few within‐individual effects present indicated that parental solicitation predicted greater peer delinquency and peer delinquency predicted fewer parental monitoring rules over time.
Conclusions
Current findings indicate that, while greater overall parental monitoring is associated with less peer delinquency, there is little evidence that changes in parental monitoring lead to reductions in peer delinquency over time. Results support previous findings suggesting parental monitoring should not be the sole target of intervention for reducing peer delinquency.
... One of the most notable conclusions drawn from research on single-parent families is that two parents (in a low-conflict relationship) gen erally provide more material and emotional resources to children than one parent ( e.g., Amato, 2005;McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994). For parents, divorce is associated with more difficul ties in raising children (Fisher, Fagor, & Leve, 1998), less authoritative parenting (Simons & Associates, 1996), less trust in the former part ner's parenting abilities (Maccoby & Mnookin, 1992;Schrodt et al., 2006), and greater parental role strain among both noncustodial and custo dial parents (Rogers & White, 1998). ...
... Tanto es así que diversos estudios tanto internacionales como nacionales señalan que un gran porcentaje de los padres y las madres de estas familias experimentan un estrés parental clínico (Lanier, Khol, Benz, Swinger y Drake, 2014;Marcynyszyn, Maher y Corwin, 2011;Pérez-Padilla, Ayala-Nunes, Hidalgo, Nunes, Menéndez y Lemos, en prensa). El estrés parental puede funcionar como un factor de riesgo que influye tanto en el desarrollo de la familia como de sus miembros (De Panfilis y Dubowitz, 2005;Fisher, Fagot y Leve, 1998). Concretamente, puede influir en las interacciones familiares de tal manera que, tal como señalan algunos trabajos, conforme aumenta la tensión asociada al rol parental se observa una menor presencia de cohesión e implicación familiar, una mayor inestabilidad, un aumento del conflicto entre los miembros que la componen, así como una mayor disfuncionalidad en el subsistema materno-filial (Anderson, 2008;Dumas et al., 2005;Moore, Probst, Tompkins, Cuffe y Martin, 2007;Sidor, Fischer, Eickhorst y Cierpka, 2013). ...
The aims of this study were to explore parenting stress in mothers of at-risk families as a predictor of psychological symptoms and to examine moderating effects with variables which are related to parenting stress. To accomplish these objectives 109 mothers receiving family preservation intervention were interviewed. Their average age was 35.55 years (DT= 7.25), they had at least one children and their level of risk was medium. Psychological symptoms (GHQ-28), parenting experience (PSI-SF, PSOC, PLOC) and coping strategies were assessed (COPE). Analyses showed that most of the mothers exceeded the clinical limit indicated by the GHQ-28 y PSI-SF. Significant relations were observed between psychological symptoms and poverty, stressful life events, parental locus of control and avoidance. Parenting stress was a relevant predictor of psychological symptoms, especially the parental distress scale. Parental satisfaction, problemfocused coping and avoidance moderate this relationship. © 2016, Fundacion para el Avance de la Psicologia Clinica Conductual. All rights reserved.
... Najveći broj takvih prikaza se javlja tokom 80-ih i 90-ih godina prošlog veka, nakon čega dolazi do naglog pada interesovanja istraživača (npr. Brand & Johnson, 1982;Fisher, Fagot, & Leve, 1998). Problematičnost vezana za retka objavljivanja ček listi, leži u tome što one moraju biti prilagođene uzrastu ispitanika i kulturnim specifičnostima populacije (Masuda & Holmes, 1978;Rabkin & Struening, 1976). ...
The main goal of the present research was to examine the predictive and convergent validity of the newly developed Serbian Life Events Check-list - Student Form (SLEF-SF; Gavrilov-Jerković, Žuljević, Jovanović i Brdarić, 2012). The SLEC-SF consists of 54 life events, experienced over a 6-month period. Participants rate the valence (positive or negative) and intensity of each event. Data from four waves of an 18-month longitudinal study were used in the present research (the sample size ranges from 787 to 1061 undergraduate students). The average number of total life events reported by participants over a 6-month period was in a range between 3.91 and 4.78, with negative life events being more frequent (range between 2.89 and 3.61). The relationship between the total number of negative life events and subjective well-being indicators was stronger when measured at the same point in time, as compared with the prospective relationships. In addition, the relationship between dependent stressful life events and subjective well-being was stronger than the relationship between independent stressful life events and subjective well-being when measured cross-sectionally, but not when measured prospectively. The advantages and limitations of the scale, as well as the recommendations for future research were discussed in the paper.
... In such neighbourhoods, social problems are a part of life and do not have a single consequence or a simple or single explanation (Fraser, Richman, and galinsky 1999). Scarcity of resources, meagre income adversely affecting their psychological well-being and increased risk for emotional distress in turn lead to violence, family conflict and ill-treatment for children (Fisher, Fagotand Leve 1998). ...
Slums have long been recognized as a dirty, unhygienic group of makeshift shanties with long queues of people for water, bawling babies literally left on streets to fend for themselves and endless cries of help. Unlike the general impression, slums in major Indian cities not only represent complex social and political issues, but also generate a lot of economic activities. Looking at the other side of slum life unfolds the unparalleled capacity of slum dwellers to adapt to the existing environment and use available resources with a strong sense of place and identity. Close examination of slum dwellers in light of space utilization reveals their concerns and attachment to the place and landscape they have. The world created by them within available tiny spaces, in response to the reality of their life as the urban poor who live in a different world altogether, but which they still find comfortable, meaningful and enjoyable, are spheres where we can learn the meanings of designing to sustain the environment. Lifestyle can be defined as the conscious guidance of daily living within the given mode of life through attitudes that are freely chosen.. In perception of a space the concept of " large " and " small " become a matter of everyday experience. Slum dwellers have a tiny space to live at their disposal which they use in the best possible way. It is interesting to observe how every inch of available space is put to great use. They design their living environment to satisfy their physical requirement for living. Room for their aspirations as a human being is internal to each person's mind, but this hope flourishes none-the-less. For them living in a slum, where living conditions are squalid but opportunities to jobs are greater than when they were residing in remote villages, is the best way to improve their lives. Most of the research on the dwellings of the underprivileged class has been done by anthropologists in the form of descriptive ethnographies, which does not address all the attributes with reference to their well-being as the members of their communities. Diener suggests that certain communities and cultures, although poor, enjoy a relatively high level of quality of life, including subjective well-being (Diener and Diener 1995.
... In a Canadian study of 20 high-risk mothers and 29 nonabusive mothers, high parenting stress scores were found to be linked with a greater risk of physical abuse (Maclnnis, 1984), and in a sample of 79 at-risk families and 56 control families, significant differences emerged with greater stress in at-risk families in parent-domain stress areas of mood, competence, and attachment (Telleen, Herzog, & Kilbane, 1989). Similarly, in a study of family stress with over 400 normative, moderate-risk, and high-risk adults, increased stress was notable in higherrisk families; especially with mothers, interpersonal tension, divorce, and financial issues contributed significantly to high stress levels (Fisher, Fagot, & Leve, 1998). ...
... As Hetherington and Camara (1984) see it, families must often cope with the reduction of family resources, alterations in residence, assumptions of new roles and responsibilities, establishment of new patterns of family interaction, reorganization of routines, and possibly the introduction of new relationships(that is stepparent/child and stepsibling relationships) into the existing family. Again, divorce is connected to more difficulties in rearing children (Fisher, Fagor, & Leve, 1998;Hetherington & Clingempeel, 1992), less authoritative parenting (Ellwood & Stolberg, 1993;Simons & Associates, 1996), and a greater toil in parental role among noncustodial as well as custodial parents (Rogers & White, 1998). All these challenges, coupled with its associated stress are likely to prevent parents from being effective, efficient, and responsible parents. ...
... The experience of being divorced leaves many individuals, especially mothers, in chronic difficult economic circumstances, and these circumstances have adverse effects on psychological distress. In addition, studies found that divorced women, compared with married women and divorced men, report more chronic financial problems, such as being unable to pay bills or purchase necessary goods (Fisher, Fagor, & Leve, 1998;Mirowsky & Ross, 1995;Shapiro, 1996;Simons & Chao, 1996). Divorced women, especially if they have custody of children, continue to be economically disadvantaged. ...
Previous research has consistently found that divorce is associated with psychological distress. This study expands existing research by considering age, education, employment, income, length of divorce, number of children, and economic hardship as predictors of postdivorce psychological distress among divorced women in Iran. This study examines 800 divorced women in Iran 30 to 48 years old who had been divorced for no more than 2 years. Results demonstrated that education, number of children, and economic hardship together predict 63.6% of the variance in psychological distress among divorced women. Economic hardship was found to be the strongest contributor. Recommendations for researchers and implications for clinicians are discussed.
... This can have strong negative consequences for children including a higher likelihood of dropping out of high school, having children out-of-wedlock, and living in poverty as adult (McLanahan and Bumpass 1988). In addition to economic consequences, divorced parents report higher stress and more difficulty than married parents in raising children (e.g., Thomson et al. 1992; Umberson and Williams 1993;Fisher et al. 1998). Cherlin (1991) suggests that remarriage can help alleviate some, but not all, of the problems associated with divorce. ...
... Although these events negatively impact the individual and family system, most families experience such changes on a low-frequency basis, and some families may not experience the extreme of such major events (Crnic & Greenberg, 1987). In addition, these life events carry a long-term impact, but may not be experienced in the same way from one day to the next (Fisher, Fagot, & Leve, 1998). Instead of approaching stress as a result of a major life transition, Kanner, Coyne, Schaefer and Lazarus (1981) suggested that the cumulative effect of relatively minor daily stresses may have a more significant impact on family adaptation and functioning. ...
Using family stress theory, the influences of parenting daily hassles, family coping, sibling warmth, parenting stress, and sense of coherence were examined for their predictive qualities in determining quality of life for mothers of children who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). A predictive model was developed using the ABC-X model of family stress. A survey design was used with a sample of 103 mothers. The analysis was conducted using path analysis. For the participants in this study, sense of coherence had the greatest total effect on quality of life, followed by family coping, and parenting stress. Sibling warmth was not found to have a direct relationship with quality of life, but did have an overall effect when mediated by sense of coherence and parenting stress. Overall, this model fit well with the observed data and thus supported the research question for this study; specifically, parenting daily hassles, family coping, sibling warmth, parenting stress, and sense of coherence can be integrated to predict quality of life for mothers of children who have ADHD. This model explained 19% of the variance in quality of life. Pertinent related findings were also discussed relevant to commonly used coping strategies, most frequent and intense parenting daily hassles, and top factors in the sibling relationship. Mothers in the study used passive coping strategies most often in dealing with stressors, and employed more internal coping methods than external coping methods. Mothers were most concerned with and wanted the most help in dealing with arguments, anger, and hostility in the sibling relationship. An exploration of the qualitative parental responses revealed difficulties in accessing support systems. Parents expressed a lack of understanding of ADHD by schools and communities. Suggestions for future research and professional practice were also provided.
... Poverty plays out in the family's ability to provide shelter, food, and medical care to its members as well as affecting family functioning (Conger, Ge, Elder, Lorenz, & Simons, 1994;Freisthler, Bruce, & Needell, 2007;Juby & Rycraft, 2004). Previous studies reveal a relationship between the detrimental effects of low-income and economic pressure on family functioning at many levels, in particular psychological well-being of the parents and the disciplinary practices they employ (Fisher, Fagot, & Leve, 1998;Peterson & Hawley, 1998;Wilson & Horner, 2005). ...
This research examines the impact of the Poverty Simulation Project, an experiential learning modality, on students' understanding of life in poverty. A total of 101 students representing 5 undergraduate majors in the College of Health and Human Services completed measures of critical thinking, understanding of others, and the active learning scales. Results indicate that although students did not change their thinking about the causes of poverty, they changed their perceptions about the difficulties of the daily lives of the poor, increased their ability to analyze life situations, and stimulated their further thinking about poverty. Results demonstrate that social work majors did not differ from other majors in their gains from this experience. Implications for teaching about poverty and the poor, especially as it relates to experiential learning, are discussed.
... As noted above, higher rates of wife abuse are associated with the stresses and strains of lower socioeconomic status. The cumulative effect of multiple stressors can affect parental perceptions of newborns, family environment and attitudes towards parenting (Fisher, Fagot & Leve, 1998). A variety of studies have found more life stress among physical child abusers (Chan, 1994; Conger, Burgess, & Barrett, 1979). ...
... Economic hardship increases the risks for emotional distress, which in turn destabilizes marital relationships and can lead to family confiict, violence, and family dissolution (Conger, Rueter, & Elder, 1999). Experiencing economic hardship affects the psychological well being of parents and may result in harsh discipline of children (Fisher, Fagot, & Leve, 1998 ). Further, economic hardship is associated with an increased incidence of child neglect and abuse (Lee & George, 1999). ...
The purpose of this research study was to increase our understanding of how families living in poverty successfully meet life challenges. Family resiliency provided the theoretical framework for examining family coping and adaptation. This study used a purposive sample of women (N = 128) in families with children attending Head Start. All families lived below or at poverty level, most with 11th grade education or high-school/GED diploma. Content analysis methods were used for data analysis. Results of this study identify the characteristics that promote competence, including how individual, family, and environmental factors are potential stressors that also may serve to promote family resilience. The data indicate that family love and mutual support, as well as faith, help stressed families cope and maintain meaning in spite of lack of control over life circumstances resulting from economic poverty.
... Environmental stress-Environmental stress was measured via caregiver responses on the Family Events Checklist (Oregon Social Learning Center, 1984), a 46-item, self-report measure of stressful life events (Fisher, Fagot, & Leve, 1998). This measure provides a picture of the daily level of chaos in the home based on a 5-point scale. ...
Young foster children have invariably faced a variety of risks that are strongly linked to long-term deficits in functioning across multiple developmental domains. Despite these risks, however, some children demonstrate more favorable outcomes and exhibit adaptation and the development of assets. In the present study, the relationship of early childhood factors (e.g., maltreatment history, placement history, parenting practices, environmental stress, developmental status, and attachment behavior) to the development of favorable outcomes in middle childhood was examined in a sample of foster children who had been in foster care in preschool (NÂ =Â 35). Favorable outcomes were defined as demonstrations of emotion regulation and school adjustment during middle childhood. Developmental status (particularly attention and executive functioning) and a lack of environmental stress during early childhood foster care experiences had a significant positive relationship with the development of emotion regulation and school adjustment in middle childhood.
... Poverty and economic need have been repeatedly linked to decreased levels of functioning for family systems (Fisher, Fagot, & Leve, 1998;Gomel, Tinsley, Parke, & Clark, 1998;Peterson & Hawley, 1998). Economic difficulties have been linked to negative family processes, such as increased family conflict in the marital dyad (Brooks-Gunn, Leventhal, & Duncan, 2000;Conger et al., 1994) and between parents and children (Conger, Ge, & Lorenz, 1994). ...
To describe interaction patterns of low-income mothers and infants and to compare the study sample to a larger, diverse sample from a national database.
Data from 156 mothers with infants under 12 months of age were identified from the first wave of a longitudinal evaluation of an early childhood intervention program. Trained data collectors using the NCAST Teaching Scale conducted observations in the home. Differences among the study sample on selected demographic characteristics were calculated. Comparisons between the study sample and a sample of similar mothers from the NCAST database were performed.
The study sample as a whole was most like a low-education adolescent comparison group, and least like a high-education adult comparison group. They scored significantly lower on most scales of the NCAST Teaching Scale than a NCAST database sample of educated adults. About 40% of the dyads had scores below the NCAST 10th percentile cutoff, with a higher percent of mothers having lower scores than infants.
Nurses should routinely assess parent-child interaction in all high-risk, disadvantaged families with very young children. Nurses can help mothers understand and capitalize on their infants' capacity to interact, particularly in early months of life. Future research should include changes in interaction patterns over time and exploration of factors that may have an impact on parent-child interactions.
... This is also consistent with the domestic violence literature finding that youth is a consistent risk factor for victimization . In addition, the cumulative effect of multiple stressors can affect parental perceptions of newborns, family environment, and attitudes toward parenting (Fisher, Fagot, & Leve, 1998) and levels of marital discord. A variety of studies have found more life stress among physical child abusers (Chan, 1994; Conger, Burgess, & Barrett, 1979 ), an association predicted by most models of family violence. ...
Pregnancy-related violence is a serious public health issue. Although there is a growing body of research on this subject, there are still many unanswered questions regarding the prevalence of this type of victimization, the risk factors, and the consequences. The purpose of this literature review is to organize and synthesize the interdisciplinary empirical research on pregnancy-related violence and to provide direction for both researchers and practitioners for future work in this area.
Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether instruction in mindfulness practices would results in improved self-reported mindfulness and reduced depression, anxiety, and family stress in parents of young children living in a low socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhood. Methods: The study utilized a pretest-posttest group design to evaluate the effectiveness of the Mindfulness Ambassador Council-Interactive curriculum with attendees in a parent support program. Participants (n=15) were recruited from families with young children who received support from a community-based organization in one low-SES neighborhood in Atlanta. Mental health assessments, measures of family stress and parenting competency, and a demographic questionnaire with non-identifying questions were administered to all participants during the first and last session of the 8-week mindfulness program. Results: Participants reported increased mindfulness and decreased levels of anxiety and depression. Parent reports of family stressors were relatively stable across the two time points, while self-reported parenting competence decreased. Discussion: Based on the parents’ reports of program acceptability and the impact on their well-being, mindfulness training appears to be a promising strategy for addressing the stressors experienced by parents of young children. Keywords: Parenting, young children, mindfulness, stress, depression, anxiety
Parenting practice is often become a source of stress for parents, especially for family who still has young children. The aim of this research was to analyze the influence of family characteristic, source of stress, allocation of parenting time, family expenses for children, social support, and home appliances on mother’s stress. The design of the research was cross sectional study and involved 120 mothers who had first children under two years old (60 working mothers and 60 nonworking mothers). The sample selected by purposive sampling; the study
sites were Ratujaya and Bojong Pondok Terong Village, Depok City, West Java Province. The analysis data use correlation and multiple linear regresion tests. The study revealed that mother’s parenting stress had negative significant correlation with father’s education, mother’s education, and family expenses for children; but had positive significant correlation with source of stress. The multiple linear regression found that mother’s stress was influenced by father’s education, source of stress, and family expenses for children. Source of stress that was caused by the presence of children influenced significantly increasing of mother’s stress. On the contrary, increasing of father’s education and increasing of family expenses for children caused significantly decreasing of stress among mothers in family with first children under two years old.
The purpose of this paper was to examine the relationships of homosexual male students at the senior high school level and their loneliness using parental bonding attitude as a moderating factor. An amount of 127 homosexual male senior high school students in Taiwan is studied. The Pearson correlation analysis and the hierarchical regression analysis are adapted to examine two proposed hypotheses. Based on the results, homosexual male senior high school students in both hyper-masculine and feminine gender roles are found to feel loneliness, but levels of loneliness of those who possess hyper-masculine gender role are relatively lower than those in a feminine role. In addition, the levels of loneliness of homosexual male senior high school students could be negatively affected by parental bonding attitudes (Care). Recommendations and suggestions for parents as well as teachers of homosexual senior high school male students and future studies are underscored at the end of this article.
The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that help parents to cope with stress and to determine the overall impact that parenting stresses have on satisfaction with child care and overall life satisfaction. The current study utilized a family stress model to determine the overall impact that parenting stresses have on the two dependent variables with influences of parenting stresses, parenting daily hassles, level of family coping, perceived teacher support, and sense of coherence. Two hundred and one parents from one of five selected counties in Florida completed an online survey. The data were analyzed using SPSS 15.0 and AMOS 6.0 and the models fit well with the observed data. The results revealed that the variable with the greatest total effect on satisfaction with child care was sense of coherence followed by parenting stress and perceived teacher support and the reported R2 explained 10.0 percent of the variance. Similar results were found for satisfaction with life. The variable with the greatest total effect on satisfaction with life was sense of coherence, followed by parenting stress and perceived teacher support and the reported R2 explained 33.0 percent of the variance. Parents reported being most stressed with worrying about “doing enough” for their children, with difficulty in balancing different responsibilities because of their children, and by financial burden.
This study of Head Start fathers and father figures examined the relationship between men's daily hassles and their involvement with children. Fathers completed a shortened version of a daily hassles scale and a father involvement measure on two weekdays and one weekend day. The father involvement instrument used a modified time-diary strategy to assess amount of involvement with all children in the family. The findings indicated a significant but negative relationship between daily hassles and amount of accessibility and play interaction with children after statistically controlling for child- and father-related variables.
Stress, whether in the form of daily hassles, chronic life stressors, or stressful life events, has consistently been shown to impact the quality of the parent–child relationship. Coping has been defined as any strategy meant to manage stressful situations or events. To the extent that daily hassles and life events evoke strategies for coping with stress, the efficacy of such strategies could impact the quality of family relationships. The focus of the current study was to examine the relationship between stress and parent–child interactions, with direct interest in the mediating role of family coping on this family process. Participants were 105 low-income mother–infant pairs who were enrolled in the national evaluation of Early Head Start. Study findings revealed that mothers are more likely to demonstrate positive interactions with their infants when perceptions of life stressors are low. Furthermore, although mothers who report fewer stressors utilize more support from friends and family, results did not support a mediating effects of coping on mother–infant interactions. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.
This study formally examines the relationship between marital dissolution and the short-term financial performance of small closely held family businesses. Fifty-two cases of divorce where a small family business was involved were examined. Organizational and situational variables, such as the involvement of other partners in the business, whether the business was a franchise, whether formal legal proceedings were necessary, and gender differences also were examined. The results indicate that marital dissolution does impact short-term financial performance and that several organizational and situational variables significantly influence this relationship.
I use a divorce-stress-adjustment perspective to summarize and organize the empirical literature on the consequences of divorce for adults and children. My review draws on research in the 1990s to answer five questions: How do individuals from married and divorced families differ in well-being? Are these differences due to divorce or to selection? Do these differences reflect a temporary crisis to which most people gradually adapt or stable life strains that persist more or less indefinitely? What factors mediate the effects of divorce on individual adjustment? And finally, what are the moderators (protective factors) that account for individual variability in adjustment to divorce? In general, the accumulated research suggests that marital dissolution has the potential to create considerable turmoil in people's lives. But people vary greatly in their reactions. Divorce benefits some individuals, leads others to experience temporary decrements in well-being, and forces others on a downward trajectory from which they might never recover fully. Understanding the contingencies under which divorce leads to these diverse outcomes is a priority for future research.
Research using primarily hospital-based samples has suggested that pregnancy may put women at increased risk for wife assault, however, this research is largely limited by the lack of a comparison group of women who are not pregnant, and the failure to consider racial or ethnic differences in risk for violent victimization. The present study uses data from the 1992 National Alcohol and Family Violence Survey, a national probability sample of 1,970 individuals, to examine the prevalence, severity, and onset of wife assaults associated with pregnancy among Anglo and Hispanic families. The results indicated that pregnancy was associated with minor assaults among Hispanic women and severe assaults among Anglo women. Multivariate analyses revealed that among both Anglo and Hispanic families, there was no direct effect of pregnancy on risk for violent victimization after controlling for socioeconomic status, stressful life events, and age.
This article critiques theChild Developmentspecial issue on poverty. First, we argue that the special issue has understated the variation observed within social class groups. Second, we believe that a confounding of genetic and environmental effects in biological families weakens the case for environmental effects as presented in the special issue. Our conclusion is that behavior genetic research designs are required for studies of poverty.
In view of the increased interest in a developmental approach to psychopathology, and mounting evidence of the importance of parent-child interactions in the etiology of early antisocial behavior, the following questions were posed for this review. What theories of parent-child relationships and family management techniques are available? How developmental are they, how specific and transactional are they relative to parent and child behaviors involved? And how well do they cover the period in which antisocial behavior develops? Six theories have some developmental features but the attachment theories (by L. A. Sroufe, B. Egeland, and M. T. Greenberg) and two social learning theories (by G. R. Patterson and J. Martin) are most clearly developmental. They postulate reciprocal interactions of parent and child, and transformations in the form of normative changes in the child or changes in family processes. The social learning theories of Patterson and Martin are most specific, microanalytic in fact, as to the interaction processes involved, and the attachment theories at least specify kinds of behavior involved and also do not rely on traits or types of influence as their units of analysis. Conceptualization is most weak and overly general between late infancy and the preschool years. This gap makes it difficult to link attachment and social learning theories, both of which have driven a large number of studies. A bridging theory is offered to link the two sets of theories in the critical period involved.
Research investigating the relations among poverty, home environment, and child outcomes within biologically related families has the potential to confound genetic and environmental influences, but conventional behavioral genetic methods have serious limitations for understanding environmental influences. Careful and thorough measurement of the environment, recognition of the complex interactions of genotypes with environments, and specification of the populations of individuals and environments sampled are critical for such studies. Multiple methods, including carefully controlled multivariate longitudinal studies and random assignment experiments, provide strong evidence that poverty and related experiences influence children's development through environmental processes that go well beyond genetically transmitted attributes. Parents' poverty or affluence is due in part to individual abilities and personality characteristics, but is also a function of economic and social structural conditions as well as opportunity structures available to them as a consequence of their race, ethnic group, and gender.
IN PREVIOUS studies [l] it has been established that a cluster of social events requiring change in ongoing life adjustment is significantly associated with the time of illness onset. Similarly, the relationship of what has been called ‘life stress,’ ‘emotional stress,’ ‘object loss,’ etc. and illness onset has been demonstrated by other investigations [2-131. It has been adduced from these studies that this clustering of social or life events achieves etiologic significance as a necessary but not sufficient cause of illness and accounts in part for the time of onset of disease. Methodologically, the interview or questionnaire technique used in these studies has yielded only the number and types of events making up the cluster. Some estimate of the magnitude of these events is now required to bring greater precision to this area of research and to provide a quantitative basis for new epidemiological studies of diseases. This report defines a method which achieves this requisite. METHOD
The paper describes the development of scales to assess the perceived social-environmental quality of work and family settings. The use of these scales in comparing and contrasting work and family settings and in examining their role as contexts for adaptation and growth is illustrated. Some tentative conclusions about social-environmental influences on individual and family adaptation are drawn and practical applications for planning ecologically oriented interventions are discussed.