The current project examines the parenting practices of African-American parents through a culturally relevant intervention framework and proposes a model of empowerment that can serve as a point of reference for counselors, educators and social workers, when engaging these parents about their parenting practices, school involvement and patterns of self-care. The present research is a pilot evaluation of a culturally specific parent empowerment intervention for parents of African-American children - The Black Lemonade Project (BL). This sample is comprised of parents and primary caregivers of school aged children in the Cleveland and Canton, Ohio Public School District who consented to participate in a two part Black Lemonade Empowerment Intervention. A total of 69 parents attended an 8 week (Phase I and Phase II) Black Lemonade Empowerment Intervention. Parents completed an Informed Consent to Participate, The Participant Questionnaire and the Parent Empowerment Inventory (PEI) and the Family Activities of Daily Living Questionnaire (FADL) at pre and post assessment points. During the Phase I conference, parents also completed the Parent Stress Index (PSI). The research questions asked about the perceived concerns, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that parents who volunteer to attend a culturally specific parenting program hold. Results indicated a discrepancy across parents concerns, beliefs and behaviors. Implications for future research are discussed. / Counseling Psychology

Cette recherche porte sur la problématique du développement psychosocial des enfants doués. Bien qu’il existe des travaux qui indiquent que les enfants doués souffrent plus souvent de problèmes d’adaptation que les autres, comme l’isolement social, la dépression, l’anxiété et une faible estime de soi, la littérature de recherche considère peu l’environnement familial des enfants doués comme étant un facteur qui puisse contribuer au niveau d’adaptation de l’enfant. La présente recherche a eu donc pour objectif de déterminer si les styles parentaux, tels que définis par Baumrind, sont associés à l’adaptation des enfants doués. Les styles parentaux des parents ont été mesurés à l'aide d'un questionnaire auto-rapporté. Le niveau d’adaptation d’un groupe d’enfants doués, âgés de 7 à 11 ans, a été évalué à l’aide de mesures de comportement et de concept de soi. La douance a été mesurée avec un test d’intelligence standardisé. Quarante-huit enfants doués et 52 enfants du groupe contrôle ont participé à l'étude. Les résultats ont démontré que les parents des enfants doués utilisent majoritairement un style parental démocratique. Les mères ont rapporté être significativement plus démocratiques que les pères. Les parents ont identifié un sous-groupe d'enfants doués ayant des problèmes sociaux avec leurs pairs, tandis que ces enfants doués et leurs enseignants n’en n’ont pas indiqué. Aucune association n’a été mise en évidence entre l'utilisation d'un style parental particulier et les problèmes sociaux chez les enfants doués. Cependant, l’utilisation du style parental autoritaire des mères a été associée à des problèmes de comportement moins élevés ainsi qu’un concept de soi intellectuel plus élevé chez les enfants doués. Inversement, le style parental démocratique des mères a été associé à des problèmes de comportements plus élevés chez les enfants doués. Le style parental permissif des mères a été associé à des niveaux de concept de soi moins élevés chez les enfants doués. Pour les pères, les styles parentaux autoritaires et permissifs ont été associés à des niveaux d’adaptation et de concept de soi moins élevés chez les enfants doués. Enfin, le niveau d’adaptation ainsi que les styles parentaux ont été comparés entre les deux groupes d’enfants. Les deux groupes ont présenté des niveaux d’adaptation dans la gamme de la normalité. De plus, les parents des deux groupes d’enfants ont rapporté des styles parentaux similaires. Pour les pères des enfants du groupe de contrôle, le style parental démocratique a été associé à des niveaux d’adaptation plus élevés. Le style parental autoritaire des mères et le style parental permissif des pères ont été associés à des niveaux de concept de soi moins élevés chez les enfants du groupe de contrôle. En somme, les conclusions de cette thèse permettent une meilleure compréhension de la complexité des liens entre les styles parentaux et l’adaptation des enfants doués. / The present study examines the psychosocial development of gifted children. Although much evidence exists that gifted children experience problems of adjustment, such as social isolation, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem, few studies have investigated the family environment of gifted children and its possible links to child psychosocial adjustment. The goal of this study, therefore, was to address these questions by examining the parenting styles, as defined by Baumrind, of parents of gifted children and their potential associations with the adjustment levels of their children. Parenting styles were measured using a self-report questionnaire. The level of adjustment for gifted children, aged 7 to 11 years old, was measured using behavioural and self-concept measures. Giftedness was determined using a standardized intelligence test. Forty-eight gifted children and 52 nongifted children participated in the study. Parents of gifted children reported using a predominantly authoritative parenting style. Mothers, however, reported significantly higher authoritative scores than fathers. Parents reported several gifted children to experience problems with peers, but their teachers did not report this nor did the children themselves. No associations were found between a particular parenting style and the reported presence of peer social problems in gifted children. Mothers’ authoritarian parenting style was significantly associated with lower conduct problem levels, and higher intellectual self-concept levels in gifted children. As for mothers’ authoritative parenting style, a significant relationship was found with higher conduct problem levels in gifted children. Mothers’ permissive parenting style was found to be associated with lower self-concept levels in gifted children. As for the fathers, authoritarian and permissive parenting styles were found to be linked to lower adjustment and self-concept levels in gifted children. Adjustment levels and parenting styles were also compared between gifted and nongifted children. For both groups of children, adjustment levels were in the normal range and the parents reported similar use of the three parenting styles. As for the relationships between parenting styles and adjustment in nongifted children, fathers’ authoritative parenting style was found to be associated with higher child adjustment levels. Mothers’ authoritarian and fathers’ permissive parenting styles were found to be associated with lower self-concept levels in nongifted children. The conclusions of this thesis permit a better understanding of the complexity of the links between parenting styles and the psychosocial adjustment of gifted children.

This study reports and evaluates child outcome measures at a non-profit autism treatment program providing applied behavior analysis (ABA) based services to children age 3 to 8. To accomplish this, a review was conducted of available outcome data for a 1 year period. Several categories of outcome measures have been reported in the autism treatment literature (post-intervention educational placement, cognitive status, developmental and achievement status and/or progress, autism symptom reduction, and diagnostic reclassification). This study found that the program relied on 2 sources of data to evaluate child outcome: Hawaii Early Learning Profile® and program goal mastery. Children are making progress as indicated by these measures. The findings are discussed in relation to broader outcome recommendations.

This study is part of a larger research project examining family attachment processes. The current study tests a family process model that postulates the mediating role of parent-child attachment and sibling relationship quality in the associations of parent psychopathology or marital adjustment to children's psychological dysfunction. A community sample of 86 families with at least one school-aged (8-12 years) child was recruited from area schools and organizations. Families came to the UNT Family Attachment Lab, where they participated in research tasks, including interviews, self-report instruments, and videotaped interaction tasks. Specific questionnaires used in this study included the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire, the Security Scale, the Behavior Assessment System for Children, the Symptom Assessment-45 Questionnaire, and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Using a single indicator for each variable, path analyses tested three paternal models, three maternal models, and three systemic models using different informants' (i.e., father, mother, child) reports of child functioning as the outcome variable. Results of this study highlight the positive relationship between parent marital adjustment and parent-child attachment security, as well as the inverse relationship between maternal psychopathology and mother-child attachment security. In addition, the inverse relationship between parent-child attachment security and child psychological dysfunction was significant across nearly all paternal and maternal models. Particularly noteworthy was the consistent mediating influence of attachment security in the association between marital adjustment and child psychological dysfunction across paternal and maternal models.

No description available.

At the end of the 20th century we saw great changes in family dynamics with rates ofseparation and re-partnerning increasing across Europe. Previous research has primarilyfocused on adults but less is known about how these family demographic changes haveaffected children's family structure. From previous studies we know that there areregional differences in children's propensity to experience parental separation, repartneringas well as being born to a lone mother. A link between maternal educationand children's risk of experiencing certain family transitions have also been found, butthe evidence are mixed and the educational gradients are not always clear. In this thesis,I use data from the Harmonized Histories dataset on 16 European countries to findwhich family structures are the most common for European children and how they varyacross regions and by maternal educational level. I use sequence and cluster analysis toidentify the set of family structures which best captures the family life course ofchildren up to age 15. I partly find similar results as previous studies with regard to theregional differences and educational gradient in family structure. New findings showthat there is a North/South divide in the propensity of children to remain with theiroriginal parents throughout childhood as well as experiencing parental separation andstepfamily formation. Further, I corroborate previous findings on the relationshipbetween maternal education and childhood family structure as well as provide newresults. One important finding is that children of highly educated mothers whoexperience parental separation are more likely than children of less educated mothers toremain with a single mother rather than to enter into a new stepfamily. This holds formost European regions. In sum, this research contributes to the field of familydemography by analyzing children’s longitudinal family structure and by incorporatingboth country of residence and socioeconomic background. It highlights the need forincorporating the entire life course of children, as well as the geographical andsocioeconomic context for a more complete understanding of how family demographicchanges have played out for European children.

Effective parent-child relationships contribute to the development of well-adjusted children. Taxing personal and situational factors encumber a caregiver’s capacity for responsivity with his or her child. The purpose of the present study was to identify interpersonal factors that impact child outcomes in low socioeconomic status family populations. Data was collected in northeast Florida Head Start centers from 219 low income, at-risk caregivers and their children ages one and a half through almost five. Parents completed questionnaires on parent perceived stress, child temperament, and child developmental outcomes. Hierarchical regression was used to assess the influence of child temperament and parent perceived stress independently and interactively on child developmental outcomes. Although parent stress and negative child temperament significantly influenced child developmental outcomes, there was no significant interaction effect. Policies aimed at ameliorating negative child temperaments or subjective parent stress may serve families and improve child developmental outcomes. Researchers should investigate the potential moderating influence of parent sensitive responding on the relationship between parent stress and child developmental outcomes.