Past research has indicated that controlling parenting practices may impede children’s learning motivation, while autonomy-supportive practices may facilitate learning outcomes (Grolnick, Ryan, & Deci, 1991). However, these findings may not be applicable to all cultures. Chinese mothers appear to be controlling (Chao & Tseng, 2002) but Chinese children outperform their Western counterparts in international comparisons (PISA, 2009). The present study addressed this paradox by investigating four postulations. First, given the greater emphasis of obedience and compliance in collectivistic culture as opposed to the uphold of independence and autonomy in individualistic culture (Markus & Kitayama, 1991), Chinese children were anticipated to perceive the same maternal controlling behavior as less manipulative than American children. Second, given the effect of mother-child relatedness on children’s motivation in empirical studies (e.g. Bao & Lam, 2008; Furrer & Skinner, 2003), regardless of culture, children high in relatedness with their mothers were anticipated to perceive the maternal behaviors as less manipulative than those low in relatedness. Third, in line with self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000), internalization was anticipated to mediate the association between relatedness and motivation in both cultures. Fourth, to investigate the limit of internalization, two levels of maternal controlling behaviors were presented. Chinese children were anticipated to perceive the low level of controlling behavior as less manipulative than American children. In contrast, both Chinese and American children were anticipated to perceive the high level of controlling behavior as manipulative since the behavior may be too controlling to be internalized by children. The participants were 120 Hong Kong Chinese 5th graders and 120 American 5th graders. They were asked to complete a questionnaire that included measures of children’s feelings towards low vs. high levels of maternal controlling behaviors, mother-child relatedness, children’s internalization and learning motivation. The results showed that the same maternal controlling behaviors elicited different feelings in children with different cultural backgrounds (Chinese vs. American) and different levels of mother-child relatedness (Low vs. High). Consistent with Hypothesis 1, Chinese children perceived the high level of maternal controlling behaviors as less manipulative than American children and in turn reported more motivated in learning. Consistent with Hypothesis 2, children in both cultures who reported high relatedness with mothers perceived the behaviors as less manipulative than those reported low relatedness. Consistent with Hypothesis 3, internalization was found to mediate the relation between mother-child relatedness and children’s learning motivation in both cultures. Contrary to Hypothesis 4, Chinese and American children perceived the low level of maternal controlling behavior similarly as not manipulative, whereas, American children perceived the high level of maternal controlling behavior as more manipulative than Chinese children. The limit of internalization could not be identified and further studies are needed. In short, the findings reveal cultural differences in children’s feelings towards the same maternal controlling behaviors. Chinese mothers’ behaviors that are manipulative in the eyes’ of the Westerner may not be perceived as such by the Chinese. Children’s perceptions, mother-child relatedness and the universal psychological mechanism internalization are important to understand Chinese Parenting Paradox. / published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

This two-year qualitative clinical study investigates the intea-psychic (within a person) and inter-relational (between people) effect of maternal ambivalence in female psychotherapy relationships. The participants are five, low-income single mothers, and I am the therapist researcher. Ambivalence describes the co-existence of loving and hating feelings. In traditional psychoanalytic theory, ambivalence originates in the developing infant's relationship to the mother and forms the basis of all adult relationships. A mother's experience of ambivalence is viewed as a regressive return to an earlier emotional experience with her mother. Maternal ambivalence is a feminist psychoanalytic concept developed by Parker (1995, 1997). Parker expands the Freudian and post-Freudian object relations concept of ambivalence using the perspective of the adult mother. In Parker's conceptualization of maternal ambivalence, a mother experiences feelings of ambivalence towards her infant and child that are not simply regressive, but are part of her normal adult development as a mother. Each mother's experiences and expressions of maternal ambivalence are affected by her social and cultural context of mothering. Each woman is consciously and unconsciously affected by her psychosocial constructions of maternal ambivalence and brings her beliefs and experiences into the clinical relationship. Through highlighting the narratives and interpreting the transference and counter-transference material, this study shows the impact of maternal ambivalence on the therapeutic alliance of women working with women in clinical social work. The therapeutic alliance refers to the quality of the relational bond between the therapist and client. This population of mothers was selected because they represent a significant group of clients seen in various clinical social work Dangerous Connections settings, such as youth protection, non-profit counseling agencies, and community centers. In this manuscript-based thesis, I present two of my participants' cases as an indepth exploration of my research process, its analysis, and the applicable theories I used. This research process indicates that in seeking to develop a more culturally and gender sensitive clinical practice and therapeutic connections, social workers may benefit from reflectively challenging their internalized psychosocial idealizations and denigrations of motherhood.

The association between psychogenic knee pain in adolescent girls and parent-child behavior that involves (1) a high degree of control on the part of parents and (2) a high degree of submission on the part of adolescent daughters was investigated. The subjects, between the ages of 13 and 16 years, were patients of five doctors whom they were consulting about chronic knee pain. The doctors categorized each patient as either having "organic evidence" associated with their pain complaint (n=18) or "no organic evidence" (n=12). Each patient completed the Intrex Questionnaire: Short Forms B and C (Benjamin, 1988) which provided a set of data that descibed the daughters' perceptions of .their mothers' and fathers' behavior in relation to them and also the daughters' own behavior in relation to both parents. Similarity of the groups in terms of age, socioeconomic status and severity of pain was confirmed. Between-groups comparisons of the Intrex data yielded two significant differences. Daughters in the psychogenic pain group perceived their mothers as being both more controlling toward and more submissive to their daughters than did daughters in the organic group. Hypothesized differences between the groups regarding fathers' controlling behavior and daughters' submissive behavior were not supported. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / This study was conducted to ascertain whether the mothers of children with psychoneurological learning disabilities were more depressed, helpless due to a particular attributional style, and had a lower self-concept, than the mothers of children with anxiety disorders. The Beck Depression Inventory, (Beck, Ward, Mendelson & Erbaugh, 1961), the Attributional Style Questionnaire (Abramson, Seligman &Teasdale, 1978), and the Tennessee Self Concept Scale (Fitts, 1965) were completed by the mothers of 20 boys with psychoneurological learning .disabilities and the mothers of 20 boys with anxiety disorders, aged 6-12 years. Significant results were obtained contrary to expectations, in that the mothers of children with anxiety disorders, were in fact more depressed, helpless and had a lower self-concept than the mothers of children with psycho- neurological disabilities. The conclusion was drawn that the nature of the psychopathology did not depend as much on one factor such as a specific learning disability or an anxiety disorder, but was rather a manifestation of the functioning of the family system. Further research seems indicated to investigate the strengths and vulnerabilities in the family system as a whole, in terms of the reciprocal influence of the learning disabled child and his family...

As no known research has been done on Satir brief therapy in a maternity setting, an exploratory design using the case study method was used to assess whether women in a maternity hospital experience this form of therapy as beneficial. Purposive sampling was used to obtain a sample of five patients for this study. Therapeutic sessions were held with these women during their stay in hospital, and follow up sessions with four of the five women were held once they had been discharged home to evaluate their experience of the therapy. The fifth woman could not be reached after her discharge from hospital. The results indicate that the use of Satir brief therapy supports the research question and that it can therefore be used to address the psychological and social issues which can affect the mother baby dyad, thus promoting healthy mother - baby bonding. / Social Work / M.A.(Social Science)

A sample of 203 grandparents, 103 of whom were surrogate parents for their grandchildren, were assessed to construct a model of their psychological functioning. Four measures of psychological functioning (i.e., well-being, satisfaction with grandparenting, meaning of grandparenthood, and perceived relationships with grandchildren) were evaluated. Path analysis of data suggested that the resumption of the parental role negatively impacted all measures except the meaning of grandparenthood. Data also suggested a sense of isolation among those raising grandchildren, as well as a sense of role confusion. These factors may have been exacerbated by behavior difficulties of many grandchildren as a result of family conflict preceding the loss of their parents, and by a lack of parenting skills of grandparents who assumed parental responsibilities. These results reinforce other work that found a preference for fulfilling voluntary, nonparental relationships with grandchildren among grandparents.

Orientador: Francisco Hashimoto / Banca: Rodrigo Sanches Peres / Banca: Catarina Satiko Tanaka / Banca: Walter José Martins Migliorini / Banca: Thassia Souza Emidio / Resumo: Este estudo toma por objeto principal de investigação as relações familiares estabelecidas entre a mãe e o bebê e o desencadeamento do distúrbio da desafetação. Joyce McDougall (1989), psicanalista de origem neo-zelandesa, radicada na França, cria o termo desafetação para fazer menção a um distúrbio da economia afetiva, que leva a um modo de funcionamento do aparelho psíquico que tende a fazer desaparecer do psiquismo, mediante a expulsão do plano consciente, os pensamentos, fantasias e representações associadas a afetos que podem suscitar algum tipo de sofrimento. O indivíduo tende a ejetar através de atos e não do trabalho mental os conteúdos dolorosos. É como se o indivíduo precisasse agir compulsivamente sobre o corpo para se livrar da dor psíquica. Estes conteúdos não possuem valor simbólico e equivaleriam a uma compensação pela impossibilidade de se pôr em marcha o processo de simbolização. Esse distúrbio seria o resultado de "falhas" na relação mãe-bebê num período precoce do desenvolvimento. Sendo assim, esta pesquisa focalizará os primórdios do desenvolvimento de um indivíduo, considerando ser através da mãe que a criança é inscrita no mundo da cultura e da civilização. Nesse período assentam-se as bases para a estabilidade emocional do ser humano e oferecem-se as condições necessárias para que a sua trajetória transcorra de maneira satisfatória. Dessa perspectiva, outras formulações atravessaram o trabalho: qual a dinâmica de funcionamento psíquico estabelecida nos primórdios do desenvolvimento infantil que diz respeito ao distúrbio da desafetação? Qual o papel que a família desempenha para esse padrão de funcionamento psíquico? Seria a desafetação uma patologia característica das famílias na atualidade? Esta pesquisa de caráter teórico-reflexivo tem como... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This study has as its main object the close exam of the familiar relationships established between the mother and the baby and the act of unleash the disaffection disturbance. Joyce MacDougall (1989), psychoanalyst from New Zealand, who lived in France, created the term disaffection to mention the disturbance of affective economy, that leads to an operation way of the psychic apparatus that is apt to disappear of the psychism, through the expulsion of the conscious plan, the thoughts, the fantasies and the representations related to the affections that can give rise to a kind of pain. The person is apt to eject through the acts and not through the mental work the painful subjects. It is as the person needed to act compulsively on the body to get rid of psychological pain. These subjects don't have a symbolical value and it would be equal to a compensation for the impossibility of applying the symbolization process. This disturbance would be the result of "absences" in the relationship between mother-baby in a precocious period of the development. Thus, this research will focus on the beginning of an individual development, considering that it is through the mother that the child is inserted in the culture and civilization world. In this period, the basis is established to the human being's emotional stability and it provides the necessary conditions to a satisfactory trajectory. From this perspective, other formulations permeated the work: what is the dynamic of the psychic functioning established in the beginning of the child development that concerns the disaffection disturbance? What is the role the family plays to this psychic functioning pattern? Would it be the disaffection a peculiar pathology of the families today? This theoretical reflexive research has its basis in the Psychoanalysis and the Psychosomatic and it aims to contribute to... (Complete abstract click electronic access below / Doutor

Paternal environmental experiences are significant predictors of developmental outcomes in offspring and can occur even in the absence of paternal care. Although there has been a recent focus on the role of environmentally induced changes in the male germline in producing these effects, the potential mediating role of mothers has not been investigated. A role for mothers in the transmission of paternal effects has been well acknowledged in behavioral ecology, which predicts that females will dynamically adjust their reproductive investment in response to the qualities of their mate. In the current thesis offspring development was examined in response two contrasting paternal experiences. Both chronic food restriction (FR) and social enrichment induce changes in mate maternal investment. Significantly, measures of anxiety in social enriched and isolated males are correlated with mate maternal behavior. In the case of paternal FR, increases in pre- and postnatal maternal investment were observed in mates, an effect that appeared to be driven by female discrimination of FR versus control-fed (CF) males. Further, the detrimental effects of paternal FR on offspring development were only observed when offspring were sired through embryo transfer (i.e., females mated with CF but received embryo from FR father), suggesting that females may adjust reproductive investment in response to life-histories of their mate. The studies presented within this thesis describe how paternal experience can influence mate maternal investment in laboratory studies and how these paternally-induced maternal effects can be experimentally dissociated from experience-dependent germline changes to reveal the unique contributions of each parent upon offspring development. The results are discussed within the context of epigenetic inheritance, the transmission of disease and their implications for Lamarckian inheritance.

Parental differential treatment (PDT), the within-family differences in parenting experienced by siblings (Rivers & Stoneman, 2008), has been linked to detrimental adjustment outcomes for children (e.g., Conger & Conger, 1994). The primary goal of this research was to more closely examine how differential treatment in two domains of parent-child relations-displays of warmth and hostility- were associated with child outcomes. A secondary data analysis was conducted on a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of a parent training intervention. Participants in this sample were high risk children and families, and they were randomly assigned to one of three groups: an intensive parent training program, the parent training program plus a sibling intervention, or the community control group. Data were collected by multiple methods and from multiple reporting agents. Using baseline data from children (both older and younger siblings), mothers, observers and teachers, this study examined PDT agreement across two or more informants and whether PDT agreement was linked to child outcomes and also explored the extent to which these PDT domains were associated with both older and younger sibling's antisocial behavior. Using data collected at baseline and conclusion of the intervention from multiple informants, the study investigated whether the parenting intervention moderated the effect of PDT and the extent to which PDT was malleable. Agreement across two or more reporting agents of high PDT, especially for PDT-Hostility, was associated with worse outcomes for those children compared to children in the more egalitarian group. This research replicated previous studies in demonstrating that PDT is associated with negative child outcomes in some circumstances even when controlling for other child factors. The results from exploratory analyses in this study do not provide support for the idea that PDT is altered after participation in a parenting intervention; however, the findings do provide some evidence that the intervention moderates PDT. Specifically, negative PDT directed at the older sibling was more likely to be associated with negative outcomes in the absence of the intervention. Potential explanations for these findings are presented, and implications for future research are discussed.

The two studies of this dissertation examined mothers' perspectives of nonresident fathers' involvement in low-income families. The overall goal of these studies was to gain a more comprehensive understanding of nonresident fathers' involvement and its effect on family well-being. In the first study I applied a relatively new methodology, zero-inflated negative binomial regression, to overcome the methodological shortcomings of previous studies. The models (N=1215) examined what factors predicted two aspects, presence and level, of father-child contact and paternal engagement. Different factors were found to influence presence of father-child contact and frequency of contact. Similarly, different factors predicted presence of paternal engagement and level of engagement. Thus, a nonresident father's decision to be involved in his child's life may be a fundamentally different decision than how much he is involved. In addition, parents' positive relationship--romantic relationship and higher quality of relationship--was found to be the major predictor influencing all outcome variables. It appears that a positive co-parental relationship is central to nonresident father involvement. In my second study, I qualitatively examined rural mothers' perceptions of nonresident fathers' involvement (N=83). Specifically, I investigated whether mothers are really "gatekeeping" the father involvement, as suggested by previous research. There was no simple yes/no answer to this question, rather, results suggested that whether a mother acts as a gatekeeper of her children depends on her unique circumstances. Mothers, by at large, wanted the nonresident fathers to be involved in their children's lives and to perform responsible fathering, but mothers' expectations of the fathers' roles may be narrowly defined and, therefore, easily violated. Some mothers did intentionally refuse or limit father-child contact in cases where they believed that father involvement would threaten the safety of their children. In these cases, "gatekeeping" behavior can be viewed as one survival strategy for the mothers. The two studies presented here collectively demonstrate the complexity of non-resident father's involvement and provide insight that will be useful for policy targeted to low-income families. / Graduation date: 2005