Preadolescence is a time of emotional, physical, social, and relational changes, which can lead to mental health concerns. Parents of preadolescents also experience changes within their roles as parents, and both parents and preadolescents experienced a wide range of changes and challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. A mental health intervention focused on enhancing the parent-child relationship among parents of preadolescents is important for overall family functioning. This phenomenological study explored the experiences of parents of preadolescents after participating in a virtual child-parent relationship therapy (CPRT) intervention. Participants were seven parents ages 35 to 56 years-old with preadolescent children between the ages of 9 to 12 years-old. Semi-structured interviews were conducted following the CPRT intervention and analyzed. Six themes were found, including impact of group on learning, child's engagement with parent, child qualities, parent's understanding of self, importance of parent-child relationship, and integration of CPRT skills. The emerging themes indicated that the seven participants experienced changes in themselves, in their child, and in their parent-child relationships. Participants discussed their experiences with the virtual format and their integration of CPRT skills. The participants also reported feeling closeness and support from other group members, even with the virtual format. Findings from this study highlight several clinical implications for working with parents of preadolescents virtually using CPRT. Recommendations for future research are discussed.

For the past 40 years, one southwestern US university counseling program has sponsored two mental health training clinics in which master's and doctoral level students have learned to provide child parent relationship therapy (CPRT) services to community parents. In their training, students learn about the positive effects of CPRT, particularly on parental stress. To date, however, no program evaluation has been conducted at these clinics focusing specifically on parental stress outcomes after the completion of CPRT or to determine the demographics and characteristics of parents who pursue CPRT. The purpose of this study was to conduct such an evaluation of archival data spanning 7 years. Participants were 129 parents (70% female, 30% male; 80% Caucasian, 35% Hispanic/ Latino, 6% African American, and 4% Asian; 62% married, 9% separated, 16% divorced). Results from a t-test indicated a statistically significant decrease in self-reported parental stress, with a moderate effect size. Multiple regression revealed that women and those who attended with a co-parent reported greater stress reduction. This study confirmed the benefit of CPRT, provided by counselors-in-training, on reducing parental stress and indicated clientele for which and conditions in which those benefits might be optimized.

abstract: The current study examined effects of representations of relationships with parents on young adults’ representations of romantic relationships and self-esteem, with particular attention paid to the role of fathers, instability of representations, and bidirectional effects. Data were obtained from two waves (Waves 4 and 5) of a five-wave study. At wave 4, 287 young adults (mean age = 20) participated, and at Wave 5, 276 young adults (mean age = 22) participated. One-time interviews (Behavioral Systems Questionnaires; BSQ) were conducted to measure the level of representations of relationships with parents. Nightly diary checklists (7 nights at Wave 4, and 5 nights at Wave 5) were used to measure the level and instability of representations of romantic relationships (BSQ) and self-esteem (Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale). Two styles of representations, including secure versus dismissing (e.g., relying on parents or romantic partners when distressed versus not relying on them) and preoccupied (e.g., worrying about rejection and excessive dependency) were measured for relationships with parents and romantic partners. The results showed evidence for unique roles of fathers, instability of representations, and bidirectional effects. Relationships with fathers affected young adults’ self-esteem. More nightly fluctuations in security with romantic partners predicted higher levels of security with romantic partners, but only in the context of more secure relationships. More nightly fluctuations in self-esteem predicted more dismissive representations of fathers. Bidirectional effects involved young adults’ representations of both romantic relationships and self-esteem, and their representations of relationships with parents. The relation between instability of representations of romantic relationships and later security in romantic relationships might represent learning about romantic relationships. The relation between instability of self-esteem and later dismissive styles with fathers (e.g., not relying on fathers when distressed) at this age might be an indication of learning to become autonomous from fathers. Finally, I also hypothesize that during emerging adulthood, fathers tend to encourage children to solve their stress or problems by themselves, while mothers tend to still provide help when children are distressed. These suggested hypotheses should be examined in future research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Psychology 2016

Children’s mental health is a topic of concern, not only in the escalating number of children who meet diagnostic criteria for disorders, but also for the practitioners desiring to treat them effectively. Parental involvement in treatment results in more favorable outcomes with longer treatment gains observed, thus reducing mental health issues. An additional factor in children’s mental health is the effect of levels of parental acceptance toward the child. Parental acceptance is a positive outcome that has been observed in previous studies conducted with Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT). There are many reported barriers to seeking treatment for mental health issues, including time, cost, distance, and access. Online therapies have been found to reduce or eliminate most barriers to treatment, and is a preferred format for certain populations. To date, however, there have been no studies conducted on whether CPRT is effective in increasing levels of parental acceptance in an online format. Eight participants from around the world completed the ten-week CPRT training in an online format. Levels of parental acceptance were measured by the Porter Parental Acceptance Scale (Porter, 1954; PPAS) in self-reported pre- and post-treatment assessments. A perception survey was also conducted to assess participants’ perception of the process of an online parent training format, including benefits and challenges. This mixed-methods study found that an online version of CPRT does significantly increase parental acceptance levels. Participants also reported positive perceptions of the online training format. Positive themes reported in the survey responses related to convenience, community, access, and user experience.

This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of child-parent relationship therapy (CPRT) with low income first generation immigrant Hispanic parents. Forty-eight parents were randomly assigned by school site to the experimental group (n=24) and to the no treatment control group (n=24). A two factor (Time x Group) repeated measures analysis of variance was performed to examine the effects of group membership (experimental, control) and time (pretest, posttest) on each of the six hypotheses. Dependent variables for the Spanish version of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) included Externalizing Problems, Internalizing Problems, and Total Problems. Dependent variables for the Spanish version of the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) included Child Domain, Parent Domain, and Total Stress. Results indicated that from pre-test to post-test, parents who participated in the CPRT treatment group reported a statistically significant improvement on their children's behaviors at the alpha .025 level (Internalizing Problems p< .001; Externalizing Problems p< .001; Total Problems p<.001) when compared to children whose parents did not participate in CPRT. Partial eta squared (ηp2) further indicated that the effects of CPRT treatment on the experimental group compared to the control group from pre-test to post-test was large (ηp2 = .56; ηp2 = .59; and ηp2 = .68, respectively). Similarly, results indicated that from pre-test to post-test, parents who participated in the CPRT treatment group reported a statistically significant improvement on parent-child relationship stress at the alpha .025 level (Child Domain p< .001; Parent Domain p< .001; Total Stress p< .001) when compared to parents who did not participate in CPRT. Partial eta squared (ηp2) further indicated that the effects of CPRT treatment on the experimental group compared to the control group from pre-test to post-test was large (ηp2 = .39; ηp2 = .51; and ηp2 = .42, respectively).

This randomized controlled study is a preliminary investigation on the effects of Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) with 61 adoptive parents. The participants in this study identified themselves as the following: 54 European American, 3 Black American, 3 Hispanic/Latino, and 1 individual who chose not to indicate ethnicity. The study included 23 couples and 15 individual mothers. The CPRT is a structured, time limited approach that trains caregivers to be an active participant as a therapeutic change agent in their child's life. Results from a two (group) by two (measures) split plot ANOVA indicated that adoptive parents who participated in 10 weeks of CPRT reported statistically significant decreases in child behavior problems and parent child-relationship stress. Statistically significant increases in parent empathy were also reported by raters blinded to the study. CPRT demonstrated a medium to large treatment effect on reducing children's behavior problems and parent-child relationship stress. In addition, CPRT demonstrated a large treatment effect on increasing parental empathy. The results of the study provide preliminary support for CPRT as a responsive intervention for adoptive parents and their children.

Adoptive parents often struggle to understand and meet the social-emotional behavioral needs of their adopted child, particularly when the child's pre-adoption experience lacked a secure relationship with an attuned and responsive caregiver. This randomized controlled study, a replication of Carnes-Holt and Bratton's 2014 research, investigated the effects of child parent relationship therapy (CPRT) for adoptive families who reported attached-related concerns such as difficulties establishing a mutually satisfying parent-child relationship as well as concerns about the adopted child's behavior and parental stress. Participants were 49 adoptive parents (61% female; 7% couples; 86% European American, 6% Latino, 6% Asian, and 2% Black American) with adoptees between the ages of 2.5 to 9 (50% female; 35% European American, 22% Asian, 12% Latino, 10% Black American, and 21% Biracial or other). Eighty-four percent of children were adopted internationally or from the foster care system. Parents were randomly assigned to CPRT or treatment as usual (TAU). Results from 2 (group) by 2 (time) repeated measures ANOVAs indicated that compared to the TAU control group, parents who participated in CPRT reported statistically significant improvement in child behavior problems, parent-child relationship stress, and parental empathy, with a large treatment effects on all measures. Findings confirmed results from Carnes-Holt and Bratton's study and provided strong support for CPRT as a responsive intervention for adoptive parents and their children.

Socioeconomic positions of individuals are clearly associated with the chances of living a healthy long life. In four empirical studies based on Swedish population registers, two topics are examined in this thesis: The relationships between different indicators of social position and mortality, and the importance of family members’ socioeconomic resources for the survival of the individual. The overall conclusion from the separate studies is that no single individual socioeconomic factor gives a complete picture of mortality inequalities. Further, the socioeconomic resources of partners and adult children are important in addition to the individual ones. The specific results from each study include that: I education, social class, social status and income are, to various extent, independently associated with mortality risk. Education and social status are related to women’s mortality, and education, social class, and income to men’s mortality. II one partner’s social position is related to the other partner’s survival, also when individual socioeconomic factors are statistically controlled for. In particular, men’s mortality is linked to their wives’ education and women’s mortality to their husbands’ social class. III adult children’s education is related to their parents’ risk of dying, also when both parents’ socioeconomic resources are taken into consideration. Further, the association between the offspring’s level of education and parental mortality cannot be explained by charac­teristics that parents share with their siblings. IV children’s social class and income are related to parental mortality, but not as strongly as the education of the children. There is no relationship between a mother’s own education and breast cancer mortality, while mothers seem to have better chances of surviving breast cancer if they have well-educated children. / <p>At the time of doctoral defence the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript</p>

The purpose of this study was to conduct a survey to identify the beliefs and practices of conservative Protestant parents, which assisted in clarifying the assertions in the current literature regarding conservative Protestant parenting. Additionally, this researcher sought to determine the applicability of child parent relationship therapy (CPRT), a filial therapy model based upon the principles of child centered play therapy, for conservative Protestant parents by ascertaining the need for cultural modifications. Beliefs and practices of conservative Protestants were measured using the Protestant Parenting Inventory (PPI), an original instrument developed through a series of focus groups and pilot testings. The population comprised 148 mothers and fathers from 4 Southern Baptist churches in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to the data in order to increase internal consistency estimates and percent of explained variance. Criterion coding of demographic data allowed a multiple regression analysis to determine which demographic variables were significant predictors of participant responses on the PPI. Descriptive statistics allowed the researcher to investigate the compatibility of conservative Protestants and CPRT. Results of this study both confirm and refute past findings regarding conservative Protestants. Results also revealed the need for some cultural modifications to CPRT in order to make it an acceptable parenting resource for conservative Protestant parents.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:30:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5777.pdf: 2633134 bytes, checksum: a8fd748751cf0d16a942c6e743026f07 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-04 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / Recent demographic changes such as decreasing fertility rates and increasing life expectancy have favored intergenerational families. In this social context we use concepts from Social Skills Psychology, which focuses on the study of social interactions and interpersonal relationships. Social Skills (SS) are social behaviors that enable Social Compentence. There are different classes of SS: Assertiveness, Conversation and social resourcefulness, Emotional expressiveness, Empathy, Self-control. Interpersonal relationships have also been studied under the theoretical model of Intergenerational Solidarity (IS), which includes six dimensions: (1) Affectual (feelings and evaluations), (2) Associative (frequency and type of contact), (3) Consensual (agreement in opinions and values), (4) Functional (support), (5) Normative (expectations about obligations and norms) and (6) Structural (opportunity for interaction, due to geographical proximity) , and usually studied in association with conflict. Given that these two theoretical fields involve the interpersonal context of human development, it is possible to assume an interface between them. More specifically, social skills may be an antecedent condition favoring intergenerational solidarity. Thus, the aim of this thesis was to evaluate a possible interface between SS and IS, as well as relationship quality (RQ) among older parents and their adult children. The sample was composed of 69 parent-children dyads, ages 60 to 85 years for parents and between 25 to 50 years for the adult children. The dyads were separated according to the gender of the participants, yielding four types of dyads: Mothers and daughters (n = 17), Mothers and sons (n = 18), Fathers and daughters (n = 17), Fathers and sons (n = 18). Instruments were: IHSI - Del - Prette, IHS-Del-Prette, Scale of Intergenerational Solidarity, WHOQOL-OLD and Criterion Brazil. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed. Initially, an analysis was performed by judges: experts evaluated the possible semantic relations between items of the IS and SS. Subsequently, correlational analyses were performed for SS, IS, sociodemographic variables and Relationship Quality. In these analyses we found evidence of association among these variables. From this evidence, models were developed through structural equation models for dyadic analysis using the Actor -Partner Interdependence Model with two predictors (at a significance level of p < 0.05, with effect size - D Cohen equal to 0.15 and the statistical power of 0.80). SS classes were found to be predictors of dimensions of IS and Conflict in intra and intergenerational analyses. We discuss the implications of these findings for research, evaluation, intervention, training of health professionals, public policies and social programs. / As mudanças demográficas das últimas décadas (aumento na expectativa de vida, ingresso de mulheres no mercado de trabalho, casamentos tardios, divórcios) estão favorecendo a convivência entre diferentes gerações de uma mesma família. Nesse contexto situa-se a Solidariedade Intergeracional (SI), conceito oriundo da Sociologia. Este constructo foi elaborado a partir de evidências empíricas de estudos longitudinais e é composto por seis dimensões: (1) afetiva (sentimentos e avaliações), (2) conflituosa (percepções sobre tensão e divergências), (3) consensual, (concordância em opiniões e valores), (4) funcional (apoio), (5) normativa (expectativas sobre obrigações e normas) e (6) estrutural, (oportunidade de interação, refletindo a proximidade geográfica). Paralelamente, a Psicologia das Habilidades Sociais estuda as interações sociais sob a perspectiva das Habilidades Sociais (HS) e, mais especificamente, de suas diferentes classes como por exemplo, Assertividade, Conversação e desenvoltura social, Expressividade emocional. Considerando que esses dois campos teóricos estejam inseridos no contexto interpessoal do desenvolvimento humano, é possível supor uma interface entre eles em que as Habilidades Sociais poderiam ser condições antecedentes e favorecedoras da relacionamentos interpessoais mais positivos e, num sentido mais amplo, de Solidariedade Intergeracional. Adicionalmente, embora estudado em diversos países, o constructo da Solidariedade Intergeracional ainda foi pouco explorado no contexto brasileiro. Deste modo, o objetivo desta Tese foi avaliar uma possível interface entre HS e SI, bem como a qualidade do relacionamento (QR) entre idosos e adultos. Participaram deste estudo 69 díades de pais idosos e de filhos adultos, com idades entre 60 e 85 anos e entre 25 e50 anos, respectivamente. As díades foram organizadas de acordo com o sexo dos participantes, havendo, portanto quatro tipos de díades: Mães e filhas (n = 17), Mães e filhos (n = 18), Pais e filhas (n = 17), Pais e filhos (n = 18). Os intrumentos utilizados foram: IHSI-Del- Prette, IHS-Del-Prette, Escala de Solidariedade Intergeracional, WHOQOL-OLD, Critério Brasil. Foram realizadas análises descritivas e inferenciais. Inicialmente, foram realizadas análises de correlação para variáveis sociodemográficas, HS, SI, QR. Foram encontradas evidências de associação entre estas variáveis em níveis intra e intergeracionais. A partir destas evidências, foram desenvolvidos modelos de modelos de equação estrutural para análises díadicas por meio do Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, com dois preditores (ao nível de significância de p < 0,05, com tamanho de efeito - D de Cohen - igual a 0,15 e poder estatístico de 0,80). As Habilidades de Expressividade emocional parecem influenciar a SI Afetiva, enquanto as HS de Enfrentamento parecem influenciar o Conflito, e as HS de Conversação e Desenvoltura Social parecem influenciar as dimensões de SI Normativa. São discutidas as implicações destes resultados para pesquisa, avaliação, intervenção, formação de profissionais de saúde, formulação de políticas públicas e programas sociais.