Adolescence is a period of rapid development marked by significant neurological and behavioral change. Normative neurological shifts that take place during this stage of life occur in the areas of the brain most associated with response inhibition and emotion regulation which is understood in the context of the observed increases in impulsivity and emotional lability among many adolescents. These facets of development may present unique challenges for those adolescents who enter parenthood ruing this period of life as increasing evidence suggests that emotional and cognitive control are highly related to parenting behavior. Those parents who are better able to modulate their emotional responses are best able to cultivate sensitive and nurturing home environments for their children. Compounding the risk for themselves and their children, adolescent mothers also face a constellation of risk factors including poverty, low educational attainment, elevated levels of stress and high rates of early life trauma exposures. Those adolescent mothers who experience homelessness face additional risk, in part because social support and family involvement have been shown to benefit young parents and their children. A substantive body of literature suggests that these interrelated risk factors may stress the capacity to effectively parent, leading adolescent mothers to be less affectionate, less positive, more hostile and intrusive and less emotionally available when interacting with their children. Consequently, supporting adolescent mothers is of great public health concern as they, and their children, are at risk for a range of non-optimal outcomes. The aim of this dissertation was to contribute to the current body of literature linking maternal emotion regulation with positive parenting practices among a highly vulnerable sample of homeless adolescent mothers and their children. Specifically, this dissertation used archival data to extend the current understanding of these associations by exploring the ways in which early life exposure to psychological aggression influenced the regulatory capacities and parenting behaviors of a sample of homeless adolescent mothers. To date, few studies have utilized a computerized measure of response control and behavioral inhibition under emotionally salient conditions in conjunction with ecologically valid multiple observer coded video observations of parent-child interactions within this high-risk population. Participants (N=72) were adolescent mothers and their children living in nine Transitional Living Programs (TLPs) across a Northeastern state, aged 16-22 years old and predominantly Latinx and Black American. On average, participants had one child (M=1.3 years-old). Nearly half of the participants reported a history of foster care or group home involvement. Thirty-two percent of the sample self-reported clinically significant levels of depression and, on average, participants reported slightly elevated levels of anxiety. Consistent with the literature, the sample evidenced significant trauma exposures with participants reporting having experienced an average of three discrete traumatic events. For example, 37.3% reported having experienced physical violence in their home, 72% reported having experienced violence in their community, 45.3% reported having witnessed violence in their community, and 36.3% reported having experienced some form of sexual abuse. Data were collected from the baseline interview of a randomized control trial examining the effectiveness of an intervention designed to increase positive parenting among a sample of adolescent mothers living in TLPs. For this study, interpersonal trauma exposure was operationalized via the Psychological Aggression Scale of the Parent Child Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1999). Maternal sensitivity and hostility were operationalized using the Sensitivity and Non-Hostility scales of the Emotional Availability Scales, 4th edition (EA Scales; Biringen, 2008). Maternal emotion recognition and regulation were operationalized via the Emotion Go/NoGo (EGNG) paradigm. Maternal depression and anxiety were also examined. Consistent with the literature, this study found evidence for the complex associations between maternal exposure to psychological aggression, maternal emotion regulation and parenting behaviors. Specifically, there was a significant positive association between the accurate discrimination of sad from neutral facial expressions and maternal sensitivity. The accurate discrimination of fearful from neutral facial expressions, however, was associated with less sensitive parenting. Additionally, those mothers who were more impulsive when confronted with sad facial expressions during the EGNG sad emotion “go” task were less sensitive when interacting with their children. This study also found evidence for a significant interaction between maternal exposure to psychological aggression and impulsivity in the EGNG fearful emotion “go” task in the explanation of maternal sensitivity. Specifically, for those adolescent mothers who had experienced psychological aggression, impulsivity when confronted with fearful facial cues on a computerized task was associated with increased maternal sensitivity during dyadic interactions. For those mothers who had not experienced psychological aggression, however, increased impulsivity when confronted with fearful faces on the computerized task was associated with reduced maternal sensitivity. Maternal exposure to psychological aggression was consistently associated with increased hostility with those mothers who had been exposed to psychological aggression evidencing more hostility when interacting with their children. Finally, in optimal conditions on a computerized task (i.e., when confronted with happy faces during the EGNG paradigm) those mothers who were rated as more sensitive during dyadic interactions all responded within approximately the same amount of time to the computerized stimuli. No relationship between maternal sensitivity and mean response time was found in the negatively valenced EGNG conditions. There was not sufficient evidence to suggest that emotion regulation and behavioral impulsivity mediated the relationship between exposure to psychological aggression and parenting behavior. Consistent with the literature, these findings suggest a role for both maternal trauma exposure and regulatory capacities in the explanation of parenting behavior. These findings highlight the need for greater research on these complex and multidetermined relationships, particularly within the highly vulnerable adolescent parent population. Additionally, this study’s findings suggest possible avenues for interventions within this population, highlighting the need to consider the ways in which adolescent mothers’ regulatory capacities may influence their ability to intuit and respond to their children. Directions for future research and clinical implications are discussed.

Mothers and siblings of children with autism incur stressors that impact their well-being more adversely than mothers of children with ADHD or normally developing children. In Study 1, twenty-six mothers of children with autism (Group 1) were compared to 24 mothers of children with ADHD (Group 2) and 24 mothers with normally developing children (Group 3). All families included a normally developing child (ages 4 to 12). Measures to delineate levels of maternal functioning were administered. Results for Study 1 indicated that mothers of children with autism had higher levels of psychological symptomatology, higher parenting stress, poorer perceptions of their family environment and their ability to parent the siblings, and higher perceptions of internalized problems of the siblings than mothers with normally developing children. These findings support the literature stating that mothers of children with autism may experience increased levels of maternal stress. The reciprocal nature of the parent-child relationship suggests that parents should be involved in meeting the needs of siblings in these families. A subgroup of Group 1 mothers participated in a parent group that occurred simultaneously with a sibling group. Mothers were randomly assigned to participate in a parent/sibling group, a sibling only group, or a wait-list group. Intervention efficacy was assessed using Study 1 measures plus measures designed specifically for the intervention. Overall results of study 2 indicated that mothers in the deluxe intervention perceived their parenting of the siblings to have improved after the intervention when compared to the standard and wait-list groups. This suggested that concurrent mother/sibling intervention provided the mothers with beneficial information and contributed to their enhanced sense of competence about parenting the siblings. In addition, mothers in the deluxe intervention perceived their family environment and the behaviors of the sibling to get worse at post-intervention, but return to baseline over time. This suggests that the intervention may have initially brought some difficulties to the surface that were resolved over time. Results will be discussed with their implications for further research and clinical intervention.

Using a stress and coping framework, this study examines the role of religious coping in the divorce adjustment process. This study utilizes three waves of data from a longitudinal study of divorcing mothers with young children. The primary analyses examine the role of religiosity in the divorce appraisal process, as well as the influence of both positive and negative religious coping on divorce appraisal, depression, and changes in religiosity. The study also explores how changes in divorce appraisal and religiosity influence change in depression over time. The results indicate that higher rates of negative religious coping are linked to more negative divorce appraisal, higher levels of depression, and declines in religiosity. In contrast, positive religious coping is associated with increases in religiosity over time. Additionally, findings show that changes in divorce appraisal predict changes in depression, but this relationship is moderated by one’s level of religiosity. / text

Not available / text

La présente recherche porte sur les processus de filiation et de parentalité chez les couples demandeurs d'une aide médicale à la procréation nécessitant le recours à une mère porteuse.Pour aborder la spécificité et la complexité de ces situations, nous avons élaboré un modèle théorique paradigmatique qui propose un rapport dialogique entre les concepts de filiation et de parentalité. Cette modélisation se présente sous forme matricielle. Elle permet de connecter des savoirs issus de diverses disciplines et ouvre sur la possibilité de repenser nos schémas conceptuels de la filiation et la parentalité à l'ère des modifications des conditions de la reproduction, de la gestation et de la naissance. / Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

by Kwok Yung, Florence. / Includes questionaire in Chinese. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-60 (2nd gp.)). / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Predictors of Parent and/or Child Adjustment in Single-parent Families --- p.3 / The Parental Loss Hypothesis --- p.3 / The Interparental Conflict Hypothesis --- p.4 / The Economic Hardship Hypothesis --- p.5 / The Life Stress Hypothesis --- p.6 / The Length of Separation Hypothesis --- p.6 / The Social Support Hypothesis --- p.6 / The Family Functioning Hypothesis --- p.8 / Purpose of the Study --- p.11 / Chapter II. --- METHODS --- p.13 / Subjects --- p.13 / Measures --- p.14 / Procedure --- p.20 / Statistical Analyses --- p.21 / Chapter III. --- RESULTS --- p.22 / Demographic Data --- p.22 / Descriptive Statistics of Predictors and Dependent Variables --- p.25 / Correlation between Predictors and Dependent Variables --- p.31 / Multiple Regression Analyses --- p.37 / Chapter IV. --- DISCUSSION --- p.44 / Parent and Child Adjustment --- p.44 / Financial Stress --- p.45 / Interparental Conflict and Parental Loss --- p.46 / Length of Separation and Socioeconomic Status --- p.47 / Accumulation and Co-occurrence of Stress --- p.48 / Family Functioning and Social Support --- p.51 / Limitations of this Study --- p.52 / Conclusion --- p.53 / REFERENCES --- p.55 / APPENDIX --- p.61

Working mothers face various challenges today, one of which is to be a mother, wife,caretaker and employee all at the same time. Fulfilling these challenging and sometimes demanding roles can contribute to role overload and conflict, which can have a negative impact on organisational effectiveness, as well as the overall wellbeing of the working mother. This dissertation outlines the relationship between personality dimensions, sense of coherence and the coping styles of working mothers from a salutogenic perspective. The Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ), Orientations to Life Questionnaire (OLQ) and the Coping Orientations to the Problems Experienced (COPE) Questionnaire were used to measure the relationship between personality dimensions, sense of coherence and the coping styles of working mothers. The study was conducted with 102 working mothers representing different ethnic groups and occupational levels in different occupational fields and organisations. A theoretical relationship was established. The empirical investigation provided evidence of such a relationship and it seems that coping styles can be predicted from considering personality dimensions and sense of coherence. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)

Working mothers face various challenges today, one of which is to be a mother, wife,caretaker and employee all at the same time. Fulfilling these challenging and sometimes demanding roles can contribute to role overload and conflict, which can have a negative impact on organisational effectiveness, as well as the overall wellbeing of the working mother. This dissertation outlines the relationship between personality dimensions, sense of coherence and the coping styles of working mothers from a salutogenic perspective. The Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ), Orientations to Life Questionnaire (OLQ) and the Coping Orientations to the Problems Experienced (COPE) Questionnaire were used to measure the relationship between personality dimensions, sense of coherence and the coping styles of working mothers. The study was conducted with 102 working mothers representing different ethnic groups and occupational levels in different occupational fields and organisations. A theoretical relationship was established. The empirical investigation provided evidence of such a relationship and it seems that coping styles can be predicted from considering personality dimensions and sense of coherence. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)