Given that more and more young people are living at home well into their twenties, and parents no longer see their children as adults until well into their mid to late twenties (Nelson, Walker, Carroll, Madsen, Barry, & Badger, 2006), parents may continue to "parent" for much longer than we have typically believed. Although parenting may still play an important role, little research has been done examining parenting in emerging adulthood, including its correlates and outcomes. As such, there is a need for a measure of parenting that is appropriate for use in emerging adulthood. The current study attempted to develop a measure that identifies and assesses behaviors that reflect various styles of parenting during emerging adulthood including authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting. Specifically, the purposes of this study were: 1) to examine whether or not authoritative, authoritarian and permissive parenting styles could be identified in parents of emerging adults and 2) to assess the validity and reliability of the parenting measure that emerges from the factor analysis for both parents' self reports and spouse reports. Based on the factor analyses of items in the parenting scale, it appears that authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting can be identified as distinct and separate parenting styles in parents of emerging adults. The results of the study further suggest that the parenting measure is a reliable and valid measure for use with parents of emerging adults.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether Western typologies of parenting (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and psychological control) and their dimensions (e.g., connection, regulation, physical punishment, verbal hostility) can be measured in the context of Japanese parenting. Based on the literature review, it was hypothesized that these parenting constructs are measurable in Japan. The participants were 214 Japanese mothers of preschool-age children (101 boys and 113 girls) from several preschools in Kushiro-city, Japan. A series of two-group (boys and girls) Confirmatory Factor Analysis was carried out with Mplus statistical software to test the measurement models of authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and psychological control constructs and to establish measurement invariance across child gender. In addition, latent intercorrelations and gender differences in the means of the latent constructs were computed. To a large extent, our hypotheses were confirmed. In line with expectations, authoritative and authoritarian parenting items formed a 23-item, five-factor model. For psychological control, a 9-item, two-factor model emerged, indicating that the constructs of shaming and directiveness are also measurable in Japan. However, an invariant measurement model for permissive parenting could not be identified. Based on latent intercorrelations, many parenting dimensions were highly correlated, but a series of chi-square difference tests showed that most dimensions were statistically distinguished within our measurement models. Interestingly, shaming and directiveness were associated with dimensions of both authoritative and authoritarian parenting. Latent mean comparisons identified no significant gender difference in Japanese mothers' parenting patterns for boys and girls. This study was one of the first quantitative, systematic studies of parenting styles in Japan using advanced statistical modeling and represents a starting point for cross-cultural research in Japanese parenting.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether an adolescent's experience with different types of leisure (achievement, social or time-out) would moderate the negative effects of dysfunctional family process on an adolescent's emotional health. A model was tested that hypothesized that leisure experienced as achievement or social by adolescents would buffer the negative effects of a dysfunctional family. A sample of 243 clinical and non-clinical adolescents completed the Global Severity Index, the Family Assessment Device, and the Leisure Questionnaire. Three regression analyses were run for the whole sample (n=243), the male sample (n=150), and the female sample (n=93). In each analysis, more family dysfunction predicted more psychological symptoms. Using the whole sample, it was found that both social and time-out leisure (solitary activities) had a negative moderating effect, that is, increasing psychological symptoms, while achievement leisure had no moderating effects on symptoms. When looking at the regression analysis results for each gender, the male sample showed a time-out leisure moderating effect and the female sample showed a social leisure moderating effect—both increasing psychological symptoms. These findings were contrary to the hypothesis that leisure experienced as achievement or social leisure would buffer the negative effects of dysfunctional family process on adolescent emotional health. In fact, results suggested that some types of leisure may be harmful to some adolescents and that clinicians need to be aware of the types of leisure their adolescent clients are participating in, i.e. males experiencing leisure as time-out and females experiencing leisure as social may be related to more rather than less severe psychological symptoms. In addition, these results suggest the key importance of family process in adolescent emotional health and how important family-of-origin issues are when working with adolescents in clinical settings. Limitations of the study and implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

Experiences of the bilingual client in therapy have received attention in the literature but accounts of the experience of the bilingual therapist are strikingly sparse. The purpose of this study was to focus on the bilingual therapist's perception of the impact of language on the therapeutic process. To achieve this goal, the researcher interviewed therapists who speak Spanish as a second language and work with native Spanish-speaking clients. Data analysis was completed using ethnographic research methods, which resulted in the emergence of three themes. The first theme included therapists' perceived obstacles to second-language therapy. Each of the participants in the study discussed things that made therapy in a second language more difficult for them than in their native English. The second theme that emerged included the compensatory coping strategies. Many of the therapists interviewed discussed certain strategies they employed to prepare themselves to offer competent services to the Spanish-speaking community. These coping skills compensated for the obstacles that were unavoidable in their second-language work. The third and final theme included the facilitative beliefs about Spanish-language work experience. Each of the therapists interviewed for this study expressed certain beliefs that enabled them to continue offering services in Spanish in the face of some intense difficulties. These beliefs gave therapists a positive spin on their experiences, and enhanced their beliefs that doing therapy in Spanish was worth the added effort it took to do therapy in a second language. Implications for clinicians as well as future research are presented.

Researchers have recognized that social withdrawal in early childhood is a complex and multifaceted construct which includes three main observed subtypes: reticence, solitary-passive withdrawal, and solitary-active withdrawal. Each is differentially associated with children's behavioral outcomes in Western societies (e.g., United States, Canada). Furthermore, potential gender differences may exist regarding the distinct associations between non-social behavior and indices of maladjustment across boys and girls due to differential societal and cultural gender-role expectations. Previous studies suggest that subtypes of observed social withdrawal can be identified in Chinese preschoolers. It is important to examine the behavioral correlates of observed withdrawn subtypes in the Chinese cultural context due to the social-cultural variations in what is considered as socially acceptable/adaptable behaviors between North America and China. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the various behavioral correlates of different forms of nonsocial play among Chinese preschoolers and potential gender differences in the linkages. Teachers of 506 preschoolers from two cities in mainland China completed a battery of questionnaires that assessed various aspects of child behavioral outcomes in early childhood, including social withdrawal, assertiveness-prosociability, aggression, impulsive/disruptive behaviors, and anxiousness. Measurement models estimated with two-group confirmatory factor analyses yielded invariant factor structures for boys and girls for each of the behavioral measures. Distinct patterns of associations were found among behavioral correlates of subtypes of observed social withdrawal across boys and girls. Solitary-passive play was negatively associated with prosocial behaviors for girls and boys, positively related to impulsive behaviors for girls and boys, and negatively associated with victimization and anxious behavior for girls, but not boys. Solitary-active play was found to be negatively related to prosocial behaviors, positively associated with physical aggression, victimization, impulsive, and anxious behavior for girls and boys. Reticence was associated with less prosocial behavior for boys and girls. It was also positively associated with victimization, impulsiveness, and anxious behaviors for girls (but not boys). These gender difference findings and their implications for child adjustment in the Chinese cultural context are discussed.

Unfulfilled attachment related needs and wants are viewed by many therapists as the heart of couple distress (Johnson & Whiffen, 2003; Johnson, 2004). As a result, efforts to discover and utilize therapeutic processes that encourage couples to identify and appropriately respond to their partner's core attachment needs and wants continue to increase. This study served as a pilot study for a planned, larger-scale investigation examining enactments as a potential best-practice change mechanism to strengthen secure attachment in marital therapy. Twelve couples were randomly assigned to one of two possible experimental groups. Group 1 experienced three therapist-centered therapy sessions, followed by three enactment-centered sessions. Group 2 experienced three enactment-centered sessions followed by three therapist-centered sessions. Before each experimental session, both spouses independently completed a measure assessing their attachment security to their spouse over the past week. After each experimental session, both spouses independently completed a measure assessing how their attachment security to their spouse changed during the session. Each participant's scores were averaged and analyzed descriptively to explore possible trends and trajectories regarding the relationship between an enactment-focused clinical process and secure attachment and how it compared to a therapist-centered clinical process. The results of this pilot study provide preliminary support of enactments as an effective treatment protocol for therapists to help couples strengthen their secure attachment. Findings revealed trends suggesting that enactment-focused therapy sessions tended to increase overall couple secure attachment, perhaps superior to that of a solely therapist-centered approach.

Recent studies indicate that financial independence is important to the transition to adulthood. This study, grounded in a marital horizon theory of emerging adulthood, examines the role of emerging adult and parent financial patterns on emerging adults' marital horizons. Correlations, stepwise-regressions and a MANOVA were conducted using a sample of 403 emerging adults and 326 parents that were recruited from five college sites across the United States. Results demonstrated that significant differences existed between finances and emerging adults' marital horizons. Specifically, emerging adults with higher financial criteria and who received more parental financial assistance were more likely to report not being ready for marriage. These findings support the notion that finances significantly influence an emerging adult's marital horizon.

Data for this study comes from the Single Mom Initiative conducted by BYU Self-reliance Center. This study uses the Life Course perspective to examine how getting at least a bachelor's degree before or after becoming a single mother affects income levels. There was no significant difference in getting a degree before or after becoming a single mother on income levels. The study also shows how families, institutions, and governments can help single mothers. The results indicate that the number of children, employment status, and government educational assistance positively affect single mother's current enrollment in college, while receiving food stamps negatively affects their current enrollment.

A community sample of adult women (N = 581) were surveyed to determine whether internalized shame mediated the relationship between severity of childhood sexual abuse and adult perceptions of intimacy in couple relationships. Characteristics of abuse, duration of abuse, frequency of abuse, age when the abuse began, and physical force used during the abuse were used to determine severity of abuse. It was predicted that 1) women sexually abused as children (N = 318) and non-abused women (N = 263) would significantly differ in their levels of internalized shame and their perceptions of intimacy; 2) severity of abuse would be inversely related to perceptions of intimacy; 3) severity of abuse would be positively related to internalized shame; and 4) internalized shame would significantly mediate the relationship between severity of abuse and perceptions of intimacy. Through a MANOVA and structural equation modeling using AMOS, the results indicated a statically significant difference between levels of shame and perceptions of intimacy in abused and non-abused women. Results also indicated as severity of abuse increases, perceptions of intimacy decrease and as severity of abuse increase, internalized shame increases. Shame was found to be a complete mediator of the relationship between severity of abuse and perceptions of intimacy. Clinical implications, study strengths and limitations, and direction for future research are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to determine how hostility from either partner in a marital interaction affected marital partners' perceived general physical health, while investigating for indirect effects of partners' depression. A total of 296 married couples who participated in Waves 1 and 2 of the Flourishing Families Project were videotaped while completing a marital discussion task. Their interaction was coded for hostile behaviors using the Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales, IFIRS. Structural equation modeling was used to examine how hostility in marital interactions at Wave 1 was related to partners' self-reports of physical health as measured by the RAND Health Survey 1.0 and depression as measured by the CES-D at Wave 1. Health of partners was controlled for at Wave 1. Findings from structural equation modeling showed that the husband's hostility directly affected his own general physical health and indirectly affected it through his depression. His hostility indirectly affected his wife's general physical health through her depression. The wife's hostility indirectly affected her physical health through her depression.