Doctor of Philosophy / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Melinda Markham / The following three studies examine school-based sexuality education and parent-child sexual communication. Using findings from qualitative data, the studies address what information is missing and/or needed in sexuality education delivered by parents and the school system, and to determine the best methods to deliver the information. Study 1 identifies the need for a change in sexuality education discourse, especially for women. Study 2 identifies the important need for parents to keep in mind the environment, the methods, and the timing of their parent-child sexual communication. Finally, study 3 assesses novel and discussion question use in mother-daughter sexual communication. Implications are provided for Family Life Educators, Sexuality Educators, and Policymakers.

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Alcohol abuse in youth is an ever growing problem in South Africa. The phenomenon leads to a variety of other problems, including the relationships that these youth have with their parents. The aim of the study was to explore the parent-child relationship in youth abusing alcohol. The first objective of the study was to explore and describe alcohol abuse in youth and the parent-child relationship from the youth’s perspective. The second objective was to explore and describe alcohol abuse in youth and the parent-child relationship from the parents’ perspective. A qualitative research approach has been used. Non probability purposive sampling has also been employed. The sample comprised of youth between the ages of 18-25 from a township area in the Western Cape, as well as a number of parents. The data collection process took place in the form of one-to-one interviews. The data analysis was done by means of coding and identification of themes. The findings revealed that factors such as family boundaries, relationships, economic factors, and problem and risk behaviour negatively influenced parent-child relationships in youth abusing alcohol. The recommendations had a strong emphasis on social work intervention that focus on strengthening family relationships. Youth were also advised to join programmes as a direct intervention for their alcohol abuse.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Early childhood development has been recognised to be the most important contributor to long-term social and emotional development. Whatever occurs in a child‘s life in the early years may be an indicator of the child‘s developmental trajectory and life-course. Therefore positive parenting is paramount to foster quality parent-child interaction. However, previous research shows that for parents to adopt a positive parenting style, some degree of parental knowledge is required. The aim of this study was to compare the relationship between knowledge of child development and parenting styles in low and high socio-economic groups of parents in early childhood development centres. The study used a mixed methods approach with a two-phased sequential exploratory design. A systematic review was conducted in phase 1 followed by a quantitative study for phase 2. The sample consisted of N = 140 parents with children between 2-5 years old from low and high socio-economic groups. The participants completed the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory (KIDI-P) and Parenting Styles Dimension Questionnaire (PSDQ). Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation were used to analyze the data. Findings of the study show that the authoritative parenting style is the prevalent parenting style in both low and high socio-economic groups. Furthermore the results indicate that parents are fairly knowledgeable across all subscales for both the low and high socio-economic group with a significant difference in degree of knowledge with the high socio-economic group being more knowledgeable than the low socio-economic group. The findings also show that there in no correlation between knowledge of child development and authoritative parenting styles. However correlations do exist between the other variables.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / The importance of the role of fathers in the lives of their children and families has received much attention in recent years. This new focus on responsible fatherhood has led to an increase of programme interventions for responsible fathers. The aim of this study was to explore how families experienced an intervention programme for fathers, and how the intervention contributed to child and family well-being. The study made use of a qualitative research methodology. The research sample included fathers, who participated in the intervention programme, as well as their life partners and children. The sample for the study included 10 fathers, 10 spouses, as well as 10 children of the fathers, who participated in an intervention programme for fathers. The final sample of participants in this study was 30 participants. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect the data in face-to-face interviews. The data analysis was conducted by means of a thematic analysis. All ethical considerations were adhered to by ensuring the confidentiality and anonymity of participants. The following themes were found in the study: Understanding of family well-being, Conceptualization of fatherhood and father involvement, Communication about the programme, Parent-child relationships, Parental involvement and personal matters, Discipline and conflict management, Experience of programme intervention the father attended. The results of the study showed that (1) the intervention contributed to the well-being of children and their families; (2) the involvement of fathers in the lives of their children increased post-intervention; (3) fathers' communication skills improved; (4) fathers were more involved in unpaid care; (5) spousal relationships improved with less conflict in their relationships.

Over the past two decades, interest in the psychological development of children has steadily increased (Beg, Casey, & Saunders, 2007), presumably because statistics describing childhood psychological illness are alarming. Certain parent interaction styles or behaviors are known to influence child adjustment. According to attachment theory, the reason for these findings is that interaction with a caregiver informs an individual’s construction of an internal working model (IWM) of the self in relation to others in the environment. The purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the factors contributing to child adjustment by examining the influence of parents’ emotional functioning and parent responsiveness to children’s bids for interaction. This dissertation tested a multivariate model of attachment-related processes and outcomes with an ethnically diverse sample. Results partially supported the model, in that parent emotional intelligence predicted some aspects of child adjustment. Overall, the study adds to knowledge about how parent characteristics influence child adjustment and provides support for conceptualizing emotional intelligence as a concrete and observable manifestation of the nonconscious attachment IWM.

Since the advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART), few studies have examined how mother-child relationships relate to physical and mental health in HIV+ and demographically-similar uninfected mothers. The present three studies investigated the relationships of mother-child relationship quality (MCRQ: measured qualitatively with autobiographical narratives) with HIV status, domestic violence, substance use, childcare burden, self-silencing, and mental and physical health outcomes. Health outcomes were measured at two time points, concurrent with the autobiographical narratives (T1) and 11 months later (T2). Participants were recruited from the Chicago Women’s Interagency HIV Study and included 87 HIV+ mothers and 38 demographically matched HIV‒ mothers (M age=43.8, SD=9.4) who were primarily African American (89.6%) and low income. Study 1 used analyses of covariance to examine relationships between MCRQ and concurrent HIV status, self-reported self-silencing, substance use, domestic violence, caregiving (i.e., number of children and time spent caregiving) and childcare burden (i.e., mother’s opinion of parenting, perceived difficulty of parenting, help received from children). Relative to HIV‒ mothers, HIV+ mothers spent fewer hours caregiving and cared for fewer children. Negative mother-child relationships related to higher substance use and self-silencing, and positive mother-child relationships related to more time caregiving and more children cared for. In Study 2, multiple and logistic regressions were used to examine MCRQ as predicting T1 and T2 self-reported depression symptoms and health-related quality of life among HIV+ and HIV‒ mothers, and self-reported ART adherence and viral load and CD4+ counts assessed through blood specimens in HIV+ mothers. Negative MCRQ predicted higher depression symptoms at T1, as well as lower health-related quality of life at T1 and T2. Positive MCRQ predicted lower viral load at T1. Study 3 examined the potential moderation of MCRQ on the relationship between time spent caregiving and health indicators in HIV+ and HIV‒ mothers. At higher levels of positive and negative MCRQ, more hours caring for children related to better odds of being 95% adherent to ART medications at T1. Together these studies suggest that mother-child relationships are integrally related to the health of HIV+ and HIV− mothers and may be important areas to consider in treating this population. / 2020-12-11T00:00:00Z

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Autism is one of the fastest growing childhood disorders in the world, and the families that have children with autism experience frustration and stress due to many practical problems. with the increase in the prevalence of autism, it is urgent to raise awareness of autism and to provide services and support for children with autism and their parents to improve the parent-child relationship and moderate the parental stress. with regard to families with children diagnosed as autistic, the purposes of this study are to: (a) examine the group differences in parental stress and parent-child relationship between Taiwan and the United States based on racial and cultural differences; (b) identify factors, if any, that influence the parental stress and parent-children relationship; (c) investigate if there are differences in the results of child development when children are diagnosed with autism in these two countries; (d) establish the Battelle Development Inventory-II in Mandarin Chinese version for use of evaluation with development delays in Taiwan. Findings revealed that: (a) the Battelle Developmental Inventory, Second Edition (BDI-II), is highly reliable with a great value of internal consistency in the use with parents and children with autism in Taiwan; (b) there is no significant difference in child development and parent-child relationship based on geographic region (Taiwan and the United States); (c) parents of children with autism in the United States overall have a more positive parent-child relationship and parenting attitude than parents of children with autism in Taiwan; (d) Children with autism who have a positive relationship with their parents have a higher pass rate on the evaluation of child development; (e) fathers reported higher pass rate on BDI-II than mothers in one of the standard deviations of over BDI-II performance; (f) parent-child relationships are positively correlated with parental stress; (g) parents who received services and support from a government agency or school in Taiwan have significantly lower scores on the parent-child relationship inventory; (h) fathers of children with autism have higher stress level than mothers; (i) parents who received services and support from parent groups (such as PTA or parent association) and from a government agency or school feel less stress than parents that did not receive those supports in Taiwan.

Parents’ new dating relationships after divorce are stressful to both parents and children, particularly when this relationship transition is quickly followed by divorce before family members adjust to new changes. Although parents’ new relationships and dating information are considered to occur at some point, relatively little is known about how divorced parents decide when, how much, and what to share with children. Guided by communication privacy management theory (CPM; Petronio, 2010), we explored if divorced parents’ perceived benefits and risks are associated with the timing of dating disclosures and introduction of new dating partners. Findings suggest that the timing of disclosures and introduction of parents’ dating partners are likely to be affected by parents’ evaluation of possible outcomes. Implications will be discussed. Objectives - To examine the association of divorced parents’ perceived benefits and risks of dating with the timing of dating disclosures. - To examine the association of divorced parents/ perceived benefits and risks of dating and the timing of when new dating partners are introduced to children. - To explore divorced parents’ perceived benefits and risks of dating.

Several researchers have begun to investigate early intervention and prevention programs, seeking to alter the trajectory of early-onset behavior problems. While it appears that multi-modal programs are the most promising approach, researchers have only recently begun to evaluate programs that use a similar treatment approach across settings and there is currently little information about classroom-based treatments for disruptive behaviors among preschoolers. The purpose of this study was to develop a classroom-based intervention based on the Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) model developed by Eyberg. In addition, this study provides an initial investigation of the efficacy of this program with an emphasis on evaluating changes in teacher behavior and treatment acceptability. The intervention was provided to a group of 26 teachers from 13 Head Start classrooms. Results indicated minimal changes in observed teaching behavior and no significant changes in teachers' self-efficacy. Although the intervention was rated as being acceptable by teachers overall, ratings were somewhat lower for sessions dealing with child-directed activities; teacher comments indicated that this component was difficult to implement in the classroom. Observations of child behavior indicated reductions in both prosocial and disruptive behaviors. Teacher-completed rating scales indicated statistically significant reductions in disruptive child behaviors and child behavior problems, although the magnitude of these changes was generally small. The implications of these findings will be discussed and modifications will be proposed for increasing the effectiveness and acceptability of this intervention.