The effects of family functioning and tangible support from family members are examined in an opiate addicted population. The study specifically assessed drug use, self-efficacy, and quality of life as treatment outcomes of interest. There have been mixed findings in the literature in regards to how families influence rehabilitation from substance use. Specially, previous research has shown that families can further patients’ recovery, while other findings have shown that families can impede patients’ recovery from substance use. The aim of this study was to analyze potentially contributing factors related to the family system, to gain a stronger understanding of how families influence recovery for patients receiving treatment for their opiate addiction. The study included 110 participants who were patients from a medically assisted recovery facility. The participants took survey measures regarding beliefs about their self-efficacy, quality of life, family functioning, and tangible support received from family members. The participant’s drug use information was verified through facility databases of current urine screens and prescription use. Survey results did not substantiate the hypotheses that tangible support influences treatment outcomes. However, hypotheses that family functioning would positively influence self-efficacy and quality of life were supported. The belief that family functioning would have a negative relationship with the participant’s drug usage was not corroborated by the data, as there was no relationship found between these variables. Finally, there was no moderating relationship observed between family functioning, tangible support, and treatment outcomes. This was contrary to expectations that a moderating relationship would be present. Implications of how the study’s findings can inform research and clinical interventions in an opiate addicted population are discussed.

Offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (BD) are at high risk for psychiatric disorders, but mechanisms conferring risk are not well understood. Identifying and understanding factors that increase offspring vulnerability may inform intervention efforts. Three studies examined the following risk factors: (1) obstetric complications (OCs); (2) family functioning; and (3) clinical characteristics of parental BD. Investigations included cross-sectional data from two Massachusetts General Hospital studies of 109 BD parents and 206 offspring. Study 1 examined associations between: (1) maternal lifetime comorbid anxiety and OCs in pregnancy/delivery; (2) OCs and development of offspring psychopathology. Associations emerged between maternal anxiety and OCs. OCs, particularly during delivery, also correlated with offspring anxiety disorders. Path analyses revealed that delivery complications mediated the relationship between maternal and offspring anxiety. Study 2 examined associations between family functioning (cohesion, expressiveness, conflict) and offspring psychopathology, and explored moderation by offspring age and sex. Higher conflict and lower cohesion correlated with offspring internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Lower cohesion correlated with offspring mood disorders. Moderation analyses indicated that the link between cohesion and internalizing symptoms was stronger for younger compared to older children. Also, conflict and mood disorder were associated in younger boys, but not in older boys or in girls. Study 3 classified parents according to BD course presentation using latent class analysis, and examined associations between parental class membership and offspring psychopathology. The best-fitting model yielded three parent groups that were based on 8 illness characteristics. Some notable patterns differentiated classes: Class 1 and 2 parents had earlier illness onset, whereas Class 3 parents had later onset; Class 2 consisted of parents with Bipolar-II Disorder, whereas Class 1 parents had Bipolar-I Disorder. Class differences emerged for offspring anxiety disorders, but only among females. Class 3 parents had girls with fewer anxiety disorders compared to the other classes, with girls of Class 2 parents at greatest risk. Altogether, these studies identify several specific environmental mechanisms that increase psychopathology risk in offspring of BD parents. Such findings have important implications for targeted prevention and intervention.

Magister Artium - MA (Psychology) / Families in South Africa are faced with manifold hardships that negatively impact the family as a unit. However, there are a variety of protective factors that have been identified as meaningful resources that facilitates healing and growth within a family unit. The study aims to investigate whether age, gender, employment status and level of education significantly predicts family resilience. The study utilised secondary data compromised of (N=656) participants from a low socio-economic rural community in South Africa. Family resilience views the family as a functional system of which provides positive adaption to family members who have experienced stressful events. Walsh's key processes in family resilience is outlined, highlighting a multi-level developmental systems orientation. The study utilised a multiple regression analysis consisting of four predictor variables namely, age, gender, employment status and level of education to assess whether these variables predict high levels of family resilience. The model found that amongst the four predictor variable, only employment status significantly predicted family resilience.

A Doença de Alzheimer (DA) é uma doença progressiva e irreversível, que causa perda de memória, comprometimento nas atividades motoras e consequentemente comprometimento da autonomia, levando a pessoa doente a necessitar de auxílio. A dinâmica de cuidado, do casamento e da família se modificam de acordo com a progressão da doença, verificando-se a necessidade de maior apoio aos cônjuges cuidadores. Este estudo objetivou analisar a conjugalidade e o funcionamento familiar na perspectiva de esposas cuidadoras brasileiras e portuguesas de idosos com DA. Participaram da pesquisa 12 mulheres, sendo a amostra obtida por conveniência. Foram utilizados um questionário com questões fechadas e entrevista com roteiro semiestruturado sendo os dados analisados pela técnica de análise de conteúdo de Bardin e análise estatística descritiva. Os resultados destacaram que apesar das diferenças culturais, alguns significados atribuídos ao conceito casamento e cuidado, no contexto da doença de Alzheimer, foram semelhantes para as esposas brasileiras e portuguesas. Verificou-se também, que com relação as mudanças conjugais relacionadas à demência, a maioria das esposas sentia- se bem executando seu papel de cuidadora, e que o impacto causado pela doença nem sempre é visto de forma negativa no casamento. E, por fim, os resultados também identificaram tipos de suporte diferentes recebidos pelas esposas brasileiras e portuguesas, podendo este dado ser ocasionado devido as diferenças culturais / Alzheimer\'s Disease (AD) is a progressive and irreversible disease, which causes memory loss, impaired motor activity and consequently impairs autonomy, causing the sick person to need help. The dynamics of care, marriage and family change according to the progression of the disease, and there is a need for greater support to the caregiver spouses. This study aimed to analyze conjugality and family functioning in the perspective of Brazilian and Portuguese caregivers of elderly people with AD. Twelve women participated in the study, and the sample was obtained for convenience. We used a questionnaire with closed questions and interview with a semi-structured script, the data analyzed by the Bardin content analysis technique and descriptive statistical analysis. The results pointed out that despite the cultural differences, some meanings attributed to the concept of marriage and care in the context of Alzheimer\'s disease were similar for Brazilian and Portuguese wives. It was also found that in relation to marital changes related to dementia, most wives felt well performing their role of caregiver, and that the impact caused by the disease is not always seen negatively in marriage. And, finally, the results also identified different types of support received by the Brazilian and Portuguese wives, which may be due to cultural differences

Eating disorders and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) are pervasive behaviors that typically begin in early to mid-adolescence. They commonly co-occur, resulting in increasingly negative psychological and physical outcomes than either behavior alone. Emotion reactivity and family functioning have been studied in relation to both eating disorders and NSSI. Both constructs have demonstrated strong relationships to these behaviors, but emotion reactivity appears to be more strongly associated with NSSI, while family functioning appears to be more strongly related to eating disorders. The current study sought to determine whether emotion reactivity and family functioning could differentiate between adolescents with only an eating disorder, only NSSI, or both behaviors. Data were collected from 229 adolescents in both inpatient and outpatient treatment programs who reported either a diagnosed eating disorder, past week NSSI, or both. Results indicated that increased emotion reactivity increased the likelihood that an individual was categorized in the NSSI only group compared to the eating disorder group and the comorbid group. There was no main effect for family functioning across all analyses. Based on these results, emotion reactivity may be an important variable to consider in distinguishing between adolescents with eating disorders who may or may not engage in NSSI, and may provide further insight when examined longitudinally

A família é um sistema dinâmico e complexo influenciado por aspectos históricos, econômicos, políticos, sociais e culturais. As relações familiares, em algum grau, podem interferir nos processos de saúde e doença de seus membros, assim como a interpretação da experiência de cada indivíduo da família diante desses eventos. Avaliar o sistema familiar, assim como avaliar como ocorre sua dinâmica favorece possíveis intervenções nesse campo, podendo prevenir enfermidades e/ou sofrimento dos sujeitos que fazem parte desse sistema. O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar a associação de variáveis sociodemográficas (sexo, situação ocupacional, religião e classe socioeconômica) e de caraterísticas familiares (tipo de família e presença/ausência de doença crônica) sobre a percepção de funcionamento familiar em universitários. Este estudo foi do tipo descritivo, exploratório, de corte transversal, apoiado na metodologia quantitativa e de referencial sistêmico. Os dados foram coletados em estudantes universitários de uma universidade pública do interior do Estado de São Paulo e os instrumentos utilizados foram o questionário sociodemográfico e familiar e a escala de avaliação da coesão e adaptabilidade familiar (FACES IV). A análise de dados foi realizada com o programa SPSS 25.0 e foram realizadas medidas de tendência central e de dispersão para variáveis numéricas e calculadas as porcentagens para variáveis categóricas. Para a comparação de variáveis de interesse foi utilizado um teste estatístico específico (t de Student), adotando-se nível de significância p=0,05. Participaram do presente estudo 295 estudantes universitários de cursos de graduação da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto da Universidade de São Paulo (Medicina, Ciências Biológicas/Modalidade Médica, Terapia Ocupacional, Fisioterapia, Nutrição e Metabolismo e Fonoaudiologia). A maioria dos participantes pertencia ao Estado de São Paulo (90,5%), eram do sexo feminino (82,0%), pertencente à faixa etária dos 18 a 22 anos (93,6%), com ensino superior incompleto (96,9%), sem companheiro residindo na mesma residência (99,0%), não trabalhava (61,7%), morava com a família (41,4%), tinha como principal provedor o pai consanguíneo (65,4%), pertencia à família nuclear (75,3%), não possuía membro familiar com doença crônica (73,9%), de religião católica (68%) e pertencia à classe socioeconômica A. Não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre o funcionamento familiar e as variáveis sociodemográficas elencadas, sugerindo que, na presente amostra, o sexo, a situação ocupacional, a religião e a classe socioeconômica possuem baixo poder explicativo sobre o modo como a família opera em termos de coesão, flexibilidade e comunicação. Com parcimônia, aventa-se que esses achados podem ser explicados em função da amostra homogênea e não exposta a vulnerabilidades sociais expressivas, com aspectos protetivos que envolvem, por exemplo, a alta escolarização, o pertencimento a uma universidade pública com rígida política seletiva de ingresso e também a vinculação a configurações familiares consideradas mais tradicionais, embora tais estruturas não devam ser tomadas como sinônimos de ajustamento psicossocial ou de funcionamento emocional adequado. Para estudos futuros, recomenda-se maior diversificação da amostra, bem como instrumentos de rastreio para saúde mental, abrangendo populações mais expostas a vulnerabilidades que possam estar associadas ao funcionamento familiar, ampliando as reflexões sobre os aspectos contextuais que podem repercutir no desenvolvimento do público universitário / The family is a dynamic and complex system influenced by historical, economic, political, social and cultural aspects. Family relationships, at some degree, may interfere with the health and illness processes of their members, as well as the interpretation of each individual\'s family\'s experience of these events. Evaluating the family system, as well as evaluating how its dynamics occurs, favors possible interventions in this field, and can prevent illnesses and/or suffering of the subjects that are part of this system. The objective of this study was to verify the association of sociodemographic variables (gender, occupational situation, religion and socioeconomic class) and family characteristics (family type and presence/absence of chronic disease) on the perception of family functioning in university students. This study was descriptive, exploratory, cross - sectional, supported by the quantitative methodology and the theoretical input used was the systemic approach. Data were collected from university students of a public university in the interior of São Paulo and the instruments used were the sociodemographic and family questionnaire and the scale of evaluation of family cohesion and adaptability (FACES IV). Data analysis was performed through the SPSS 25.0 program and measurements of central tendency and dispersion were performed for numerical variables and the percentages for categorical variables were calculated. For the comparison of variables of interest, a specific statistical test (Student\'s t) was used, adopting significance level p=0,05. A total of 295 undergraduate students from the Medical School of Ribeirão Preto of the University of São Paulo (Medicine, Biological Sciences/Medical Modality, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Nutrition and Metabolism and Speech Therapy) participated in this study. Most of the participants were from the State of São Paulo (90.5%), were females (82.0%), aged 18 to 22 years old (93.6%), with incomplete higher education (96 , 9%), had no partner living in the same household (99.0%), did not work (61.7%), lived with the family (41.4%), had as main provider the consanguineous father (65.4% ), belonged to the nuclear family (75.3%), did not have a family member with chronic disease (73.9%), the family religion was Catholic (68%) and belonged to socioeconomic class A. No significant differences were found between family functioning and sociodemographic variables, suggesting that in the present sample, gender, occupational situation, religion and socioeconomic class have low explanatory power on how the family operates in terms of cohesion, flexibility and communication. With parsimony, it is pointed out that these findings can be explained by the homogeneous sample and not exposed to expressive social vulnerabilities, with protective aspects that involve, for example, high schooling, belonging to a public university with a rigid selective admission policy and also the linkage to family configurations considered more traditional, although such structures should not be taken as synonyms of psychosocial adjustment or adequate emotional functioning. For future studies, a greater sample diversification is recommended, as well as screening tools for mental health, covering populations that are more exposed to vulnerabilities that may be associated with family functioning, broadening the reflections on the contextual aspects that may affect the development of the university public

This study examined the relationship between family functioning, as conceptualized by the FACES III instrument, and adolescents’ comfort and frequency communicating about sex, communicating and asserting personal boundaries, and sexual decision making. Quantitative data was collected from 154 Grade 9 students in the North Eastern Nova Scotia region. Gender, family structure, and sexual activity variables were explored. Findings showed that adolescents from balanced families scored higher on sexual decision making, were more comfortable communicating about sex, and communicated more frequently about sex to friends and parents. Females from more adaptive families scored higher on sexual decision making and sexually active adolescents were more comfortable talking about sex and their personal sexual boundaries but spent significantly less time thinking about the consequences of their choices, gathering information, and discussing it with others. Findings help understand adolescent sexual behaviour which is vital for promotion of positive sexual health across the life span. / Family Ecology and Practice

The goal of the study was to understand the nature of the relationship among self construal, family functioning and sibling number in terms of gender. Five hundred twenthy-nine high school students participated in the study. Participants were selected from seven general public high schools in Ankara. Data was gathered via Personal Information Questionnaire, Autonomous-Related Self in the Family Scale (Kagit&ccedil / ibagi, 2007a) and Family Assessment Device (Epstein, Balwin &amp / Bishop 1983). Results of the study indicated that, for both genders, relational selfconstruals had significant correlations with healthy family functioning. It was also evidenced that autonomous self-construal scores of males were significantly higher than females and related self construal scores of females were significantly higher than males. Furthermore the family functioning dimensions that families tend to be v healthy or unhealthy were displayed. All findings were dicussed in line with the relevant literature.

Objective: Past research indicates that comorbid anxiety and depression in youth is associated with greater functional impairment than anxiety alone. To elucidate those factors which may increase vulnerability to depressive disorders, the current study examined several clinical correlates (i.e., feelings ratings, parental psychopathology symptoms, and family functioning) of comorbid depressive symptoms in young anxious children. Method: Sixty-eight children, aged 6 to 10 years (M = 9.06, SD = 1.10), and caregivers completed measures assessing child depressive symptoms. Furthermore, children completed self reports of anxiety symptoms, feelings ratings, and family functioning, while caregivers completed self reports of psychopathology symptoms and family functioning. Predictors of child depressive symptoms were examined separately for girls and boys. Results: In females, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for anxiety, higher sadness and lower positive feelings accounted for 30% of variance in child-reported depressive symptoms. Further analyses indicated that child-reported overall family dysfunction moderated the relationship between positive feelings and depressive symptoms, such that high family dysfunction increased the risk of depressive symptoms in females with low positive emotions. In males, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for anxiety, higher negative/hostile feelings and child-reported overall family dysfunction accounted for 19% of variance in child-reported depressive symptoms. Further analyses of family functioning in males revealed that child-reported family cohesion and conflict were negatively and positively correlated, respectively, with depressive symptoms. Family dysfunction did not moderate the relationship between feelings ratings and depressive symptoms. The only significant predictor of caregiver-reported child depressive symptoms, for males only, was caregiver self-reported overall psychopathology symptoms. Further analyses indicated that, for males, caregiver depression and hostility symptoms correlated positively with caregiver-reported child depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Different patterns of emotion and family functioning predicted self-reported depressive symptoms in males and females. Self and caregiver reports of child depressive symptoms were not related, with only caregivers’ psychopathology symptoms predicting their reports of child depressive symptoms. Results suggest the importance of assessing child-reported feelings and family dysfunction, and parental symptomatology, of clinically anxious children. To prevent future depressive disorders in these children, different targets of intervention for males and females may be warranted.

<p>Caregivers of survivors of pediatric cancer face ongoing social, emotional and financial challenges that may result in enduring illness- and caregiving-related distress. After patients complete treatment there are challenges that persist. Indeed, emerging physical and cognitive "late effects," resulting from the disease and treatment, require families to adapt to a new normal state that may require significant long-term follow-up and care by the survivor and their primary caregiver. This study compares the psychological adjustment of caregivers of pediatric cancer survivors with caregivers of healthy children. In addition, this study evaluates individual factors, such as family functioning and coping style, which may be associated with poorer adjustment among caregivers of pediatric cancer survivors. Caregivers of pediatric cancer survivors (n = 64) and caregivers of healthy children (n = 64) were recruited during regularly scheduled clinic visits to complete questionnaires including a demographic and illness questionnaire and measures of psychosocial functioning. A series of multivariate analyses of covariance were conducted to assess for differences in caregiver distress by group. Caregivers of survivors reported significantly more child-specific parenting stress and somatization than caregivers of healthy children. Hierarchical regression modeling revealed that Escape-avoidance coping and Supportive family functioning predicted 25-40% of the variance in parenting-related psychological adjustment among caregivers of survivors. Caregivers of pediatric cancer survivors face unique challenges that contribute to ongoing distress, particularly related to the parenting role. This population may benefit from interventions aimed at reducing avoidance based coping and improving family functioning.</p> / Dissertation