The present research aims to obtain a more complete view of couple relationships. In particular, it investigated the manner in which attachment styles (and more specifically the combination of attachment styles to one’s partner and one’s primary caregiver, such as the mother) are related to conflict beliefs, conflict resolution styles, relationship satisfaction and communication accuracy. Two studies were conducted to explore these relationships. In Study 1 individuals in couples relationships (N = 83) were asked to participate in an online questionnaire regarding primary caregiver and partner attachment, conflict resolution, and conflict beliefs. Study 2 saw the recruitment of twenty-two couples from public advertisements. Couples were asked to participate in a ten minute videotaped discussion around a major disagreement. The discussion exercise and accompanying self-report questionnaires indicated each couple’s communication accuracy. Trained post-graduate raters also coded the observable conflict styles of the couples on a scale developed for the purpose of this research. These were compared with self-reported conflict resolution styles. Couples were also asked to complete questionnaires individually to identify their parent and partner attachment styles, relationship satisfaction, conflict resolution styles and conflict beliefs. Qualitative questions around attachment and conflict resolution provided a more in-depth perspective of more and less securely attached individuals’ relationships. Results from both studies indicated that there is some difference between ongoing influence from current models of primary caregiver attachment and the influence from current models of partner attachment on relationship variables. Relationship satisfaction and conflict beliefs were influenced by specific attachment to the partner. Conversely, conflict resolution styles, in particular positive problem solving, withdrawal and compliance, were heavily influenced by more general current conceptualizations of primary caregiver attachment. Additional results regarding quantitative and qualitative findings, including gender differences are discussed in the thesis. Finally, limitations regarding both studies are noted, and suggestions for future research are made.

A one-group pre-test post-test design (including 6- and 12-month follow-up), supplemented with benchmarking analyses, was employed to assess the effectiveness of Multisystemic Therapy (MST) for youth displaying antisocial behaviours in New Zealand. An additional aim of the current study was to assess for predictors and moderators of outcome. The predictor variables assessed included: Client satisfaction, therapeutic and supervisory alliance, therapist and supervisor adherence, therapist and supervisor allegiance, and therapist and supervisor accountability. Seventy-three youth and their families completed the MST program (M = 162 days) and the present study’s measures. Youth and their families experienced improvements in ultimate outcomes (offending frequency, offending seriousness, and days in out-of-home placements) and instrumental outcomes (youth positive and negative behaviour, parent well-being and psychopathology, parent ability, and family functioning) following MST treatment. With a few exceptions, these gains were largely maintained up to 12 months following treatment. Benchmarking analyses indicated that the completion rate and effect sizes were comparable with those from previous MST studies both in New Zealand and the United States. The predictor variables of service satisfaction, therapeutic alliance, and therapist adherence predicted higher levels of change in most instrumental outcomes as expected. However, of significant importance, higher supervisor adherence and supervisory alliances were associated with significantly lower therapist adherence, therapeutic alliance, and some client outcomes. Furthermore, the few significant interactions between predictor variables produced mixed findings, many of which contradicted widely held assumptions. As MST has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment for youth offenders in New Zealand, continuing dissemination and ongoing evaluation of MST in New Zealand is recommended. In particular, given the negative impact of supervision variables on therapist adherence, therapeutic alliance, and some client outcomes, this would include research aimed at assessing various quality control functions of supervision, including supervisor training, mechanisms of supervision related to therapist and client variables, and the potential value of more closely monitoring the process of supervision.

While traditional behavioural parent training programmes have assisted families with concerns of child behaviour problems, they have not kept abreast with recent conceptualisations of the development of problematic behaviours in the parent-child relationship. Research has indicated that understanding of this relationship needs to go beyond bidirectional explanations and that a dialectical framework better describes the complexity of this relationship, which, in turn, should be reflected in the parent training programmes offered. Therefore, this study provided a parent training programme focused on balance in the parent-child relationship, which encapsulated the complex, dialectical nature of this intimate relationship. A central implication when adopting this notion of balance was that all aspects of the programme were addressed at the parent and child level. In addition, multiple factors were addressed that included mindfulness and acceptance, dealing with emotions, understanding development, and addressing parental attributions. It was only within this overarching concept of balance and relationship factors that behavioural skills were introduced. Mechanisms of change were identified by investigating parental emotional schemas through their narratives about themselves, their child, and the programme. This research involved 23 parents with their 3-4 year-old children in a parent training programme where both the parent and child met weekly with a therapist in group parent training. The groups involved 2-hourly sessions for 5 weeks, modelled on a “coffee morning” where parents met and discussed issues and the children played alongside in the same room. A research assistant was available to play with and tend to basic needs of the children. Measures at pre-, post-treatment, and at follow-up targeted child behaviour problems, how much of a problem these were for the parents, parents’ sense of competence, parental attributions, and what was useful for parents in the programme. Results indicated that at post-treatment parents were able to address and maintain balance in their parent-child relationship and this reflected multiple dimensions of a dialectical understanding that had not been evident prior to the intervention. There was an increased mindfulness of both parent and child’s needs with a strong emphasis on an increased understanding of the child as an individual in their own right. Parents reported an increased recognition of the importance of dealing with emotions, with improved skills to be able to do this, an increased understanding of accommodating development, and an appreciation of needing to address parental attributions. In addition, there was a decrease in parent-reported intensity of child behaviour problems and how problematic these were for the parents, which were corroborated with parental verbal reports of improved child behaviour. Mechanisms of change that were identified included changes in parental attributions, parents being able to share with other parents, accessing “expert” knowledge from the programme facilitator, and gaining parental strategies. Implications for practice were discussed with suggestions for behavioural parent training programmes. In conclusion, limitations of the research and directions for future research were indicated.

Low-skilled, low socio-economic status, young, co-resident, working fathers: Their experience of fatherhood Using open-ended interview techniques, 23 low-skilled, low socio-economic status fathers aged 20-29 were interviewed about their experience of fatherhood. All participants were in unskilled jobs and all lived with and supported their partners and child/children. This population of fathers is generally overlooked by researchers. Because they take responsibility for some of society’s most vulnerable families and children, understanding how they conceive of their role as fathers can promote the welfare of those families and children. Participants were recruited by casual connections, snowballing and advertisement. The interviews explored the participants' experience of fatherhood and their reasons for being active and committed family members. Focus was given to how they made sense of fatherhood in terms of their life course. Participants had two interviews, the first generic and the second idiographic. Interviews were tape-recorded and later transcribed. A social constructionist approach was used: transcripts were analysed by identifying and examining the primary domains in which participants experienced fatherhood. Participants spoke of fatherhood as an affective activity, the primary object of good fatherhood being to maintain an emotional bond with one’s children. Being a good father was thought to involve eschewing deleterious family practices such as those which had marred their own childhoods. In this regard, participants saw themselves as repairing their family-of-origin's dysfunctional style. Providing was described as a core feature of fatherhood – subsidiary to, but corollary on, being an emotionally-engaged father. Good fathers were described as committed providers, albeit participants did not consider their own limited earning capacity to compromise their fatherhood. Obtaining a job and providing for one’s family was one of the ‘pro-socializing’ effects of fatherhood. Participants considered fatherhood to not only improve but to also redeem their lives, giving a purpose and focus they had lacked prior to their becoming parents. Being a good father also involved being a good partner. For many of the participants, this involved adopting non-gendered roles in the home. The sharing of housework and childcare improved home life by reducing the partner's workload. Those who failed to adopt the gender-neutral stance acknowledged this as a personal shortcoming that they planned to remedy. Fatherhood for these 23 interviewees was one of the few means by which they could obtain social value and status as adults. They lacked access to financial resources, education or supportive family connections, but fatherhood was a domain in which they could present themselves as significant members of society. It also provided a network of emotional relationships which promoted their sense of self-worth and their social and emotional wellbeing.

This research contributes new knowledge to those working in the areas of welfare, child and adolescent safety, and suicide prevention. The aim of this thesis was to succinctly provide clinicians, government and community agencies, researchers and policy advisors, with a snapshot profile of 2029 welfare seeking young people who were homeless and frequently discouraged by negative life events. The research aim was to identify risk and protective factors that impact life outcomes for those seeking the Independent Youth Benefit (IYB), and particularly, to scrutinize salient factors that led a vulnerable group of IYB applicants to die by suicide. It was further aimed that by documenting comments from 200 young adults from this population across a span of seven years, both gaps within the IYB process, as well as useful resources, could be identified in order to improve life outcomes for other homeless youth. For those who attempted suicide and survived, file records and interviews have indicated the triggers and life histories that potentially impacted their decision to try to end their pain of life, and factors that influenced survival and recovery. Four separate studies were included in this thesis. Study 1 profiled 2029 IYB applicants and determined the most potent risks that led to the granting of the IYB. Study 2 revealed the salient factors that related to the suicide of 6 IYB applicants. Study 3 investigated the outcomes for those who were granted or declined a benefit across the variables of education, employment, income, adverse life circumstances, wellbeing, and family relationships. Study 4 examined a psychological construct, termed cynical distrust, which appeared to be a characteristic trait in welfare seeking youth. Conclusions from this research provided indicators of youth who will usually be granted an IYB, they are, those who report bullying, abuse, parent psychopathology, single parent homes, a parent on a benefit and foster placement. Applicants who reported suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts and had contact with Police and Child Youth and Family Services also were more likely to be granted an Independent Youth Benefit (IYB). If the applicants were Maori and had previously seen a counsellor for a mental health problem, they also were more likely to receive the IYB. However, when applicants were referred to Family Reconciliation Counselling (FRC), there was a statistically significant association between benefit application and benefit declined. A unique finding from this population related to the association of 'unknown fathers' with suicide. Absent father literature is now extensive, however, little research has been conducted into the effects of 'unknown fathers', particularly for Maori youth who place much of their strength and wellbeing in their genealogy. Other salient factors leading to suicide for IYB applicants included, previous suicide attempt, co-morbid disorder, unresolved anger, no identified caring adult, foster placement and an impending legal or disciplinary event. Maori males with such factors posed the greatest risk for suicide. Counsellors, psychologists, families and policy analysts need to acknowledge that IYB applicants who attempted suicide, show cynical distrust, and were declined a benefit, had extremely poor life outcomes. The New Zealand youth welfare system could be functioning far more efficiently if documented recommendations become realities.

The shift to community care through the deinstitutionalisation movement in New Zealand has been criticised for producing fragmented and uncoordinated service provision for those with mental illness in the community. As a result, the police are coming into increased contact with the mentally ill, often in times of crisis, positioning police at the junction between mental health services and the criminal justice system. Barriers to access for integrative, comprehensive mental health care in the community have led to police understanding their position as the ‘ambulance at the bottom of the cliff’. While previous research has attended to police officer attitudes and points of interaction with those with mental illness in the community, little has been said regarding understandings of the collaborative relationships from the vantage point of those officers policing the mentally ill. The current research sought to address this gap in the literature by exploring how police make sense of their experiences with those with mental illness in the community using a Foucaultian form of discourse analysis. The discourses that co-articulated and produced understandings of the position(s) of police in community service provision for the mentally ill and the power relationships between the police, the mental health system and the mentally ill can be understood through ‘links in the chain’; ‘the (un) identifiable other’; ‘no-man’s land’; ‘underdogs’; and ‘the cure’. These systems of meaning making from the police vantage point reproduced and re-institutionalised constructions of the mentally ill as ‘criminal’ or ‘disordered’, necessitating mechanisms of power and control to address the ‘risk’ mental illness posed to the community. Through such understandings the police, as society’s institutional response to ‘threat’, necessarily occupy the position of the ‘ambulance at the bottom of the cliff’ at the institutional boundaries between disorder and criminality. And it is here that the institutional response to mental illness re-emerges as re-institutionalisation.

Mentoring has been found to be an effective psychosocial buffer to occupational stress (Chao & Walz, 1992; Noe, 1988; Siege1 & Reinstein, 2001). Mentoring provides support for personal confirmation, acceptance, friendship and role modelling (Kram 1985, 1986) The current study was part of an initiative within the New Zealand Police to introduce mentoring as part of a supported induction for new Police Constables into the organisation. The aim was to evaluate the use of mentoring as a psychosocial support in this induction process. Using a Solomon Four Group design the 254 subjects (180 protégé(e)s and 74 mentors) were randomly assigned to four groups. These groups were (i) those who had a pre-test, assigned a mentor and post test (ii) those who had a pre-test and post test (iii) those who had a mentor and a post test (iv) those who had a post test only. Testing included two questionnaires; a Combined Measures Questionnaire – which incorporated six psychometric tests including BDI, BHS, MHI, CMTS, HSCL-21 and ITQ; and a Mentor Relationship Questionnaire. The former was administered at pre- and post- test in accordance with the experimental design while the later [i.e. latter] was only administered at the end of the mentoring programme. There was no clinically significant effect noted in terms of change in psychological well-being or distress for either protégé(e)s or mentors (p > .05). There was a significant effect of mentoring in terms of an increase in intent to quit, F(1,10) = 7.43, p = .02 and a trend toward significance for decreased general distress levels F(1,10) = 4.80, p = .53 for the mentors at the end of the experimental period. These findings are tempered by a small control group (n=2). The main finding of this study was that positive outcomes were reported about the mentor relationship, on the Mentoring Relationship Questionnaire, from both protégé(e)s and mentors. These results were achieved in less than three sessions. From these findings it may be concluded that there is a place for a formal mentoring programme in the induction process of the New Zealand Police organisation.

In broad terms, parentification can be defined as a child taking on the role of parent to his or her own parents; though in reality the construct is more complex. Although related constructs (e.g. boundary transgressions, role reversal, ‘hurried child’) have been discussed in the literature for many years, the term ‘parentification’ per se is a relatively new one within the field of psychological research and empirical studies are still limited. When researching in the field of parentification, an issue that is apparent is the lack of adequate measures of parentification available for children and adolescents. The few measures of parentification that exist have been (a) retrospective (asking adults to recall levels of responsibility within their families of origin as adolescents) and/or (b) uni-dimensional (measuring parentification as a single score rather than taking into account different facets such as confidant to one’s own parents, mediator between conflicting parents, ‘pseudo-parents’ to siblings, or excessive household responsibilities). The first aim of the current research was to develop a reliable and valid multidimensional measure of parentification that was appropriate for completion by children and adolescents. The series of studies that follow utilise this newly developed parentification scale to examine parentification of adolescents aged 10-16 years from families undergoing parental divorce. A comparison group of children from two-parent continuously married (not remarried) families were included. A previously validated uni-dimensional measure of parentification, the Parentification Questionnaire – Youth (PQ-Y: Godsall & Jurkovic, 1995) was also used throughout the studies (although in the current sample, this measure was multidimensional, yielding two factors labelled Alienation and Tangible Tasks). Broad research goals of the studies are: 1. to examine parentification (and its association with family functioning and sibling relationship quality) from the perspective of multiple family members, 2. to explore parentification differences between families on variables of age, sex, birth order, family size and parental marital status, and 3. to assess the extent to which parentification affects adolescent psychological adjustment, and how burden of parentification may mediate the relationship between parentification and psychological adjustment. Parents and children aged 10-16 years from 304 families (127 divorcing; 177 married) were invited to participate in a 12-month study of parentification that included questions about demographics, family responsibilities, family functioning, adolescent adjustment, and sibling relationships. In addition, in divorcing families, both parents and one child (target child) were invited to be interviewed regarding their experiences surrounding the separation and divorce. The measure of parentification designed for the current research adapted the multidimensional, retrospective measure written by Mika, Bergner and Baum (1987). This new measure was labelled the Youth Parentification Scale (YPS), and findings suggest that it is a reliable measure of parentification in the current sample of married and divorcing families. Results revealed that children from divorcing families and girls reported higher levels of parentification (across various factors). Results on multiple perspectives within the family were mixed. In general, children were more likely than their parents to report higher levels of parentification within the family, although this effect differed slightly dependent upon parental marital status. Siblings who reported offering support to other members of the family also rated their relationship with their sibling as warmer: this result held true for both firstand second-born children. Additionally, both first- and second-born children agreed that parentification may affect the relative status/power between siblings. While few direct associations between parentification and adjustment existed, negative adjustment outcomes (higher anxiety, higher depression and lower self-esteem) were evident when the burden associated with increased responsibility was taken into account. Taking on the role of confidant to one’s parents, playing ‘pseudo-parent’ to one’s siblings, or feeling alienated within one’s family of origin was associated with higher levels of burden, which in turn led children to report higher depression and anxiety and lower self-esteem. Additionally, taking on a parentified role was associated with higher levels of burden, which in turn was associated with reports of lower levels of family functioning (i.e. lower intimacy, higher conflict, and a more controlling parenting style). The current research has implications for the development and refinement of future measures of parentification for use in empirical studies. The Youth Parentification Scale showed that different facets of parentification do seem to exist, and that offering comfort and support to mothers or fathers seems to have an association with various aspects of adjustment, sibling relationships and general family functioning. Alienation (a factor emerging from the PQ-Y), while not actually associated with increased responsibility or parentification per se, showed associations with parentification that indicate that this may be an important construct to include in future attempts at developing a comprehensive measure of parentification. Additionally, the current research unveiled findings that may have clinical importance. Findings revealed that while children from divorcing families did exhibit higher scores on various scales of parentification, outcomes were not necessarily worse for these children than for children within married families who were similarly parentified. Adolescence is a time of emotional growth when some age-appropriate adoption of adult responsibility is warranted; and in fact for children undergoing the transition of parental separation and divorce, adoption of extra responsibilities may be adaptive, perhaps even protective inasmuch as it may bring the child closer to parents during a time when anxiety about family dissolution is high. Further studies (preferably longitudinal) exploring the adaptive facets of parentification are warranted.

While the differences in health between cultures co-existing in the same country have been well researched, there has been insufficient attention paid to the definition of culture used in these studies. Typically the ethnicity of an individual has been determined along biological lines or by the country of origin. However, the culture with which an individual identifies may not be so clear: an individual may identify with a number of cultures, from the social group with whom they socialise, to the religion they follow. Measuring the degree to which an individual identifies with a particular culture (their cultural identity), would allow an assessment of how membership in that culture influences health outcomes. The present study investigated the relationship between the cultural identity (CI) of Māori and their health. The main hypothesis was that a higher CI would be positively correlated with better health. The relationships between demographic factors (e.g. age, gender, & socio-economic status (SES)), CI, and a number of health indicators (self rated health, smoking behaviour, alcohol consumption, & exercise/sporting behaviours) were also examined. The sample used in the present study (767 adult Māori) was a subset of the data collected the Te Hoe Nuku Roa Māori profiles project. The development of a CI measure incorporated seven cultural indicators: Whakapapa (ancestry), Marae Participation, Whanaū associations (extended family), Whenua Tipu (ancestral land), contact with Māori people, Use of te Reo (Māori language), and kai (food preferences). A series of hierarchical linear regressions found that CI was not directly related to health indicators in the present study. There were weak interactions between CI, age, and smoking behaviour; CI, home ownership, and involvement in sport; and age, Crowding and involvement in sport. Additional findings were that more Sporting Involvement/exercise was moderately correlated with improved health, and there was a weak relationship between CI and SES. It was speculated that the lack of significant findings may be due to a difference in the quality of participants’ CI: The CI measure did not distinguish between those who learn their culture and those who live their culture (each group tending to be in differing social and economic positions). Recommendations from the study were: Further validation of the CI measure, and assessment of the distribution of CI over urban/rural areas, SES and age; additional research into the relationship between young Māori smokers and their CI; assessing how the level of Sporting Involvement varies across the social and economic realities of Māori; and the development of appropriate measures utilising the whanaū/household as the unit of analysis.

'Closed stranger' adoption in Aotearoa / New Zealand from approximately 1940 to 1990 involved the practice of a complete break between the birth mother and her child and the legal transfer of the child to adoptive parents. In Aotearoa / New Zealand between 1940 and 1990, 108,899 adoptions took place, and most consisted of ‘closed stranger’ adoptions. These adoptions have caused much joy as well as some heartache for parties involved in the experience namely, birth mothers, adoptees and adoptive mothers and their whānau. This thesis reports original research which aims to investigate the unique experiences of Māori adoptive mothers in the 'closed stranger' adoption period and enable the impact of legal adoption on these Māori women who have not previously warranted research, to be valued. A qualitative methodology, Māori-centred research and unstructured kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face) interviews were utilized to gather data from six Māori adoptive mothers. The intention of Māori centred research as its name suggests, is to locate Māori people and Māori knowledge at the centre of the research action. A thematic analysis utilizing interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used. The unique experiences of Māori women legally adopting in the ‘closed stranger’ adoption system were about whānau business, and grouped under that superordinate theme were experiences of ‘not blood’, land succession, naming and caring for whānau. The stigma of adoption resonated throughout the women’s narratives. As well, most of these Māori adoptive mothers found that they experienced ‘closed stranger’ adoption as a ‘rollercoaster of emotions’.