This thesis explores the practice of family mediators when screening for domestic violence during mediation. Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings (MIAMs) and Joint Mediation Meetings (JMs) were recorded between April 2010 and January 2011, by four mediators who mediate for National Family Mediation (NFM) affiliated services in the South of England. These meetings were analysed from the mother’s perspective, using qualitative and quantitative analysis. The themes for analysis were taken from the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Programme (DDAIP). It was found that mediators did initially screen for domestic violence during the MIAM, using the guidelines published by NFM; that screening was focused on the clients perception of the abuse and not the mediators interpretation of the abuse. The published expectation for screening to be ongoing throughout mediation was explored during the analysis of the joint meetings. There was evidence that abusive behaviours were alleged or inferred during those meetings and there was also evidence that the abusive behaviours and the emotions expressed by the mothers were managed by the mediators. There was no clear evidence that the mediators were proactively screening for domestic violence during the joint meetings save for reacting to and managing the impact and effect of the negative behaviours. This study concludes that mediators do not routinely screen for domestic violence during joint meetings, therefore guidance and training for ongoing screening during joint mediation meetings is needed. The current guidance and policy for screening needs to be reviewed.

The majority of children in the UK live in households with two parents, yet most of the academic research on parenting focuses on the relationship between one parent and one child. More often than not, this one parent has been the mother. There is an expectation of father involvement in contemporary parenting, but the literature still tends to emphasise parenting as a one parent-one child interaction, measuring involvement of the father in terms of time spent with his child. The idea of collaboration, or collaborative parenting, drawing on research into coparenting in the US, considers the involvement of both parents with each other, with respect to the child, as an alternative way of conceptualising parental involvement. Collaboration is considered a useful concept, as it goes beyond the idea of parenting as being about time spent directly with the child. Unlike many factors which may predict child outcomes, a lack of collaboration could be addressed at the family level, through counselling or education. The aims of the research were to develop an understanding of the way in which parents work together, looking in particular at how this is affected by social support; whether there are associations between parental collaboration and the availability of time for family and leisure activities, and feelings about the balance between work and home life; whether parents who collaborate are more likely to adhere to expert advice on parenting matters; and whether there are associations with a child’s social, emotional and behavioural development. Emphasis was also placed on the methodology, as it entailed the development of a method for measuring the concept of collaboration, using data that was not designed for the purpose. The research was conducted through a combination of methods, comprising secondary analysis of data from the first four sweeps of the Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) study, and the conduct and analysis of 20 pairs of semi-structured interviews with parents who had previously taken part in this study. A condition of the funding received from the Scottish Government was to make use of the GUS data. The research found social support affected the process of collaboration in a number of ways: by enabling collaboration to take place; by removing the need for collaboration; by increasing the time available to collaborative couples; and by removing the need to plan ahead. Of particular note were the problems that were more likely to occur when couples neither collaborated, nor had support from outside the home. These are the couples who find that work impacts on their family the most. They are also the ones who are least likely to have time away from their children to do something for their own interest, and are the ones who are most likely to find it difficult to access advice. Collaborative couples tended to find more time available for activities with their children, as well as time for themselves. Positive associations were demonstrated between collaboration and a child’s social, emotional and behavioural development, but the strength of the association was not equal in all situations. When the mother was employed full-time, relatively strong associations were evident. When she was not in employment, and a number of other risk factors were present, relatively strong associations could again be seen. However, when the mother worked part-time, there did not appear to be any association between child behavioural development and collaboration. Associations were also demonstrated with the work-life balance of parents. Collaborative fathers professed less of an impact of the family on their work than non-collaborative ones. Similarly, collaborative fathers were less likely to say that long hours impacted on the time they had with their children than non-collaborative fathers, but there was no equivalent association for mothers. The impact of work on family was more likely to be lower for both parents when they acted collaboratively.

No description available.

This longitudinal study investigated how parent, child, and family characteristics influence each other during the transition to parenthood. Participants were 98 cohabiting couples who were expecting their first child. Couples participated in data collection during the third trimester of pregnancy and again when their children were one and two years old. This study aimed to understand how family dynamics and individual characteristics of parents and children influence child adjustment during the first years after the transition to parenthood, to explore the relationship between mothers’ and fathers’ parenting, and to clarify how mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of important family constructs are related during this important time. Key constructs are introduced including co-parenting alliance, parenting efficacy, temperament, ineffective parenting, and child adjustment. A review of literature aims to provide conceptual clarity among these interrelated constructs that are instrumental in early family life. Drawing from the literature review, a conceptual model grounded in family systems theory is introduced in which co-parenting, parenting competence, and child temperament predict parenting practices, which in turn interact with child temperament to predict child adjustment. Child adjustment was measured in terms of internalizing and externalizing behaviours as rated by parents. Ineffective parenting was measured in terms of self-reported lax and over-reactive parenting strategies. To investigate the relationships among mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of these variables, confirmatory factor analyses were used to test whether parents’ individual ratings on measures were indicators of a broader couple level construct. To explore the impact of parenting on child outcomes, models were tested looking at lax parenting, over-reactive parenting, and ‘see-saw parenting’, which occurs when parents use both lax and over-reactive strategies. Temperament was tested as a moderator of the effects of each of these parenting styles on child outcomes. Regarding significant findings, low parenting efficacy, difficult temperament, and over-reactive parenting were found to be the most important predictors of later behaviour problems for children, with some differences in predictors of internalizing and externalizing behaviours and some different risk factors for mothers and fathers. Ineffective parenting occurred more often for parents who perceived their infants to have difficult temperaments and for parents who felt less confident about their parenting skills. Some results were inconsistent with previous research findings. These discrepant findings are discussed. Additional exploratory analyses found that parenting efficacy mediated the relationship between difficult temperament and over-reactive parenting. Implications for research and clinical applications are discussed. / Graduate

The rationale for the choice of the topic is embedded in the researcher’s practical experience. It is a fact that divorce has a definite influence on all children; however it has become clear to the researcher that the degree to which parents are able to handle their divorce minimises these effects on the children. In this research the researcher explored whether children tend to adjust to divorce with less difficulty when they are able to maintain the family relations. The procedure of obtaining the information required for the research was done through utilising both the qualitative and quantitative approaches. The researcher has done an in-depth study of a family who succeeded in minimising the impact of changing from an intact family to a divorced family. The dominant approach was done in the form of a case study and the data was collected through unstructured interviews and observations. The interviews were recorded and the responses analysed in terms of themes and sub-themes. For the quantitative data standardised measuring instruments, namely the Hudson Scales for children’s attitude towards their parents, were used to explore the parent-child relationship after divorce. These responses were analysed according to the prescribed format by Perspective College. At the end of the study the researcher was able to draw conclusions and make recommendations to professionals involved in working with families that go through a divorce, on the aspects that can make the transition during parental divorce less traumatic. / Dissertation (MSD (Play Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Using two independent samples of parents with a shared minor child but not currently in a relationship, this study explores the development and validation of a new 12-item short form for the Multidimensional Co-Parenting Scale for Dissolved Relationships (MCS-DR12). Confirmatory factor analysis will be used to assess the four-factor structure of the MCS-DR12 and then internal reliability, construct validity, and criterion validity will be assessed. The development of this short form provides a 12-item assessment of four impactful areas of co-parenting which is invaluable, especially for those working with court-mandated parenting programs who are in need of brief instruments to assess program efficacy.

This study examined the Casey Foster Applicant Inventory-Applicant-Co-Parenting Scale (CFAI-CP), a new scale developed to measure foster parent applicants' co-parenting potential. Also, this study illustrates statistical methods used to analyze the psychometric properties of dyadic data. Factor structure and measurement invariance were tested with 111 approved foster couples. Mplus was used to accommodate ordinal-level data. Exploratory factor analysis supported a 10-item, unidimensional measure with excellent internal consistency reliability (.88 fathers,.89 mothers). Confirmatory factor analysis supported scalar measurement invariance but not structural invariance, as expected. Good construct validity was evident. Findings support the CFAI-CP as an empirically sound measure to assess foster parent co-parenting.

No description available.

This study was conducted in San Bernardino County, California. Participants completed a questionnaire regarding conflicts that arise between co-parents, levels of stress from conflicts, how parts negotiate, cooperate, collaborate and communicate and the types of coping skills that participants use when stressed. The purpose of this study was to examine conflicts between parents and caregivers who share the custody of their children with another parent or caregiver. This study also assessed coping skills and co-parenting resources that are available in San Bernardino County. Twenty-two participants completed the study, 19 were female and 3 were male. Most of the participants were Latino. Over 77% of participants reported having conflicts with the other parent or caregiver. Nearly 73% of participants reported high levels of stress when having conflicts with the other parent or caregiver. However, participants reported being able to negotiate, cooperate, collaborate and communicate appropriately with the other parent or caregiver. Participants reported that they used a variety of primitive, less primitive and mature coping mechanism when dealing with conflicts with the other parent or giver. The results also showed that few participants had engaged in co-parenting interventions that were provided in San Bernardino County.

A two-month longitudinal program evaluation was conducted of a four-hour mandated parent education program for divorcing parents of minor children. To expand on Brandon’s (2006) program evaluation of the same program, the present study sought to examine knowledge gain and behavior change in participants. Using a retrospective post-then-pre design, 139 participants reported their knowledge gain in two areas: (a) the impacts of divorce and of putting children in the middle of conflict, and (b) strategies to reduce conflict with one’s former spouse. Two-month follow-up interviews were used to assess behavior change in two areas: (a) using techniques to manage post-divorce conflict with one’s former spouse, and (b) implementing strategies to keep children out of the middle of conflict. The participants reported knowledge gain and behavior change in each of the four respective areas. It was found that knowledge gain in both areas and behavior change in using techniques to manage post-divorce conflict did not vary as a function of parent gender, race, or parenting stage. However, results indicated behavior change in implementing strategies to keep children out of the middle of conflict varied only as a function of parenting stage (F(1) = 8.45, p < .01). It was also found that knowledge gain in regards to the impact of divorce and putting children in the middle of conflict predicted behavior change in regards to implementing strategies to keep children out of the middle of conflict (p < .05). The results of this study are intended to suggest improvements for the program as well as to provide insights for other parenting education programs for divorcing parents.