The purpose of this study was to examine (1) the retrospective perception of parent-child relationships as measured by the Roe-Slegelman Parent-Child Relations Questionnaire (PCR) and (2) the individual's level of academic achievement.

A number of investigations of pupil progress in school have definitely shown that the percentage of failure in the first grade is much higher than in the other grades. In the light of these investigations, it is safe to assume that there must be a number of contributing factors to this failure in grade progress. The nature of these factors and what the school can do, if anything, to mitigate their influence on pupil progress in the first grade constitute a challenge to educational research. The present study undertakes an investigation along these lines. The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to investigate the need for a pre-school program; (2) to study the reported values of such a program; and (3) to survey a certain number of schools to determine the extent and nature of preschool programs if any.

No description available.

Research to date indicates that parental and cognitive variables play a role in stress responses and health outcomes. Although researchers are beginning to focus on developmental processes in stress/health outcomes, there is little research examining which parental behaviors are most predictive of stress/health and whether cognitive variables mediate this relationship. As a result, the current study examines the self-reports of 160 late adolescents regarding parental behaviors, cognitive variables, and stress/health outcomes. In addition, blood pressure reactivity to a stressful situation was collected as a physiological measure of stress. The results suggest that, among the parental behaviors that are examined, parental overprotection and poor monitoring are the most predictive variables of adolescents' stress/health. The results indicate that adolescents' cognitions also are significant predictors of their self-reported stress/health. Further, adolescents' cognitions fully mediate the relationship between paternal behaviors and stress/health outcomes and partially mediate the relationship between maternal behaviors and stress/health outcomes. Finally, measures of blood pressure reactivity are not significantly related to study variables or were related in unpredicted directions. Possible explanations for these results are discussed. Overall, future research should examine parental overprotection and poor monitoring as important distal variables in adolescents' stress/health but should examine adolescents' cognitions as a more salient and immediate predictor of adolescents' stress/health.

Fifty-one male and 57 female college undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology course responded to the Roe-Siegelman PCR Questionnaire, a modified form of Tharp's (1963b) Marital Role Expectation Form (MRE), and a Family Integration Scale as fulfillment of research participation requirements. Previous research had indicated that generally children who experienced love and warmth in their childhood home had marital role expectations of friendliness, spontaneity, adaptability, trust, responsibility, and leadership, while those who experienced rejecting and neglecting parental behaviors were more likely to have expectations of being seclusive, guilty, hostile, rigid, mistrustful, and irresponsible.

No description available.

Parent-child relationships serve as the foundation for social emotional competence in young children. To support the healthy social emotional development of their children, parents may need to acquire information, resources, and skills through interventions that are based upon assessment of parent competence. This manuscript presents results from a study of parents of toddlers and the practitioners who serve them in a suburban area of the Pacific Northwest. The purpose of the study was to conduct initial psychometric studies on a curriculum-based tool, the Social Emotional Assessment Measure (SEAM), focused on improving parent-child interactions for parents of toddlers. Convergent validity and utility were investigated for the SEAM Parent-Toddler Interval. Findings suggest that the SEAM Parent-Toddler Interval is an appropriate tool that can identify the strengths and needs of parents and assist in designing quality interventions that might alter developmental trajectories, leading to improved family and child outcomes.

In my thesis, I studied patterns of associations between the quality of parent-child relations and components of parent-child conflict in families with preadolescent children from European Canadian families, as well as recent immigrant families of Chinese and Eastern European backgrounds. A sample of 96 provided the data, which I organized in three parts. Part 1 examined associations between the quality of parent-child relations and confrontation in parent-child conflicts. 277 children and parents from 96 families participated (i.e., 96 children, 96 mothers, and 85 fathers). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to predict children's and parents' confrontation in conflicts at the parent-child dyadic level. In all models, the parent-child relationships variables (i.e., lower levels of egalitarian warmth and higher levels of power assertive parenting strategies) jointly predicted each family member's confrontation in conflicts over and above the contribution of the cultural differences. Few interactions were found. These results suggest that there are general principles governing the interface between family relationships and parent-child conflicts that transcend culturally specific socialization practices in these groups. Part 2 investigated associations between children's and parents' English knowledge, use and preference for the host or native language, and the quality of parent-child relationships and conflict negotiation in the Chinese and Eastern European immigrant families. 183 family members participated: 64 children, 64 mothers and 55 fathers. Participants independently filled out questionnaires on parent-child relationship and assessments of English knowledge and use. The results demonstrated that (1) children's English knowledge is related to warm and egalitarian relationships with their parents; (2) children's use and preference for using English at home is related to the quality of children’s relationship and conflict negotiation with mothers but not with fathers; and (3) contrary to expectations, parents' knowledge of English and the gap between parents’ and children’s English knowledge was not associated with the quality of parent-child relationships in the first years of families' adaptation to Canada. Part 3 examined associations between frequencies of conflict components with particular focus on actual and desired conflict outcomes within individually reported conflicts in parent-child dyads from the three cultural groups. Ninety two children and mothers and 75 fathers provided diary accounts of parent-child conflicts, reporting on types of conflicts, conflict outcomes, their individual satisfaction with conflict endings and any aspects of conflict that they would have changed in retrospect. Moreover, each respondent reported on their dyadic partner’s typical use of conflict strategies across daily disputes. The participants reported 1406 conflicts over a period of two weeks. Several interesting patterns of findings emerged: First, very few cultural differences emerged; rather, similar frequencies of reported conflict issues and outcomes were found across the three cultural groups. Second, preadolescent children and parents appear to have different views on which conflict components are associated with frequency of particular outcomes. Mothers' views of conflict endings are more frequently related to the nature of conflict issues than children's and fathers' views. Preadolescent children, being generally dependent on their parents, are less often likely to experience control over how conflicts should be resolved; however, they have clear views on how specific conflict issues should be resolved. More specifically, children often wished to submit when they often argued with their parents about obligations but expressed wishes to yield in retrospect less often when they argued over activities of their personal choice. In turn, mothers were less likely to compromise when they often argued over obligations and were more often likely to do so when they disagreed with their children over children's personal interests. Fathers, however, may expect to exert control regardless of the conflict issue that is being negotiated and appear satisfied when they often won. Third, conflicts over children's misbehavior appeared to be particularly salient for parents but not for their children. Parents reported more conflicts over children's misbehavior than their children did, such conflicts were related to frequencies of reported standoffs, parents were often dissatisfied and desired more often changes for constructive negotiation by both sides of parent-child dyads than their children did. Children, on the other hand, often chose not to report conflicts related to their misbehavior, which likely showed self-serving biases in disclosing their own transgressions. Fourth, children's and parents' desires for a change in reported conflicts in retrospect often did not challenge but re-affirmed patterns of actual conflict outcomes, which likely suggests that in preadolescence certain conflict sequences are relatively well established. Finally, the findings presented in Part 3 are among the first to provide evidence of links between frequencies of conflict issues, intensity of disagreements, actual and desired outcomes in parent-child dyads from three cultural groups. This multicultural study contributes to the existing literature (1) by substantiating the generality of interrelations between major qualities of parent-child relationships, (2) by providing evidence of the relations between children's and parents' English knowledge and the quality of their relationships and conflict negotiation in the earlier phases of acculturation, and (3) by providing a nuanced presentation of children's and parents' views on how they resolve conflicts on a daily basis. These evaluations provide an integrated picture of how preadolescents view and assess as well as are being viewed and assessed by their parents on important relationships matters.

In my thesis, I studied patterns of associations between the quality of parent-child relations and components of parent-child conflict in families with preadolescent children from European Canadian families, as well as recent immigrant families of Chinese and Eastern European backgrounds. A sample of 96 provided the data, which I organized in three parts. Part 1 examined associations between the quality of parent-child relations and confrontation in parent-child conflicts. 277 children and parents from 96 families participated (i.e., 96 children, 96 mothers, and 85 fathers). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to predict children's and parents' confrontation in conflicts at the parent-child dyadic level. In all models, the parent-child relationships variables (i.e., lower levels of egalitarian warmth and higher levels of power assertive parenting strategies) jointly predicted each family member's confrontation in conflicts over and above the contribution of the cultural differences. Few interactions were found. These results suggest that there are general principles governing the interface between family relationships and parent-child conflicts that transcend culturally specific socialization practices in these groups. Part 2 investigated associations between children's and parents' English knowledge, use and preference for the host or native language, and the quality of parent-child relationships and conflict negotiation in the Chinese and Eastern European immigrant families. 183 family members participated: 64 children, 64 mothers and 55 fathers. Participants independently filled out questionnaires on parent-child relationship and assessments of English knowledge and use. The results demonstrated that (1) children's English knowledge is related to warm and egalitarian relationships with their parents; (2) children's use and preference for using English at home is related to the quality of children’s relationship and conflict negotiation with mothers but not with fathers; and (3) contrary to expectations, parents' knowledge of English and the gap between parents’ and children’s English knowledge was not associated with the quality of parent-child relationships in the first years of families' adaptation to Canada. Part 3 examined associations between frequencies of conflict components with particular focus on actual and desired conflict outcomes within individually reported conflicts in parent-child dyads from the three cultural groups. Ninety two children and mothers and 75 fathers provided diary accounts of parent-child conflicts, reporting on types of conflicts, conflict outcomes, their individual satisfaction with conflict endings and any aspects of conflict that they would have changed in retrospect. Moreover, each respondent reported on their dyadic partner’s typical use of conflict strategies across daily disputes. The participants reported 1406 conflicts over a period of two weeks. Several interesting patterns of findings emerged: First, very few cultural differences emerged; rather, similar frequencies of reported conflict issues and outcomes were found across the three cultural groups. Second, preadolescent children and parents appear to have different views on which conflict components are associated with frequency of particular outcomes. Mothers' views of conflict endings are more frequently related to the nature of conflict issues than children's and fathers' views. Preadolescent children, being generally dependent on their parents, are less often likely to experience control over how conflicts should be resolved; however, they have clear views on how specific conflict issues should be resolved. More specifically, children often wished to submit when they often argued with their parents about obligations but expressed wishes to yield in retrospect less often when they argued over activities of their personal choice. In turn, mothers were less likely to compromise when they often argued over obligations and were more often likely to do so when they disagreed with their children over children's personal interests. Fathers, however, may expect to exert control regardless of the conflict issue that is being negotiated and appear satisfied when they often won. Third, conflicts over children's misbehavior appeared to be particularly salient for parents but not for their children. Parents reported more conflicts over children's misbehavior than their children did, such conflicts were related to frequencies of reported standoffs, parents were often dissatisfied and desired more often changes for constructive negotiation by both sides of parent-child dyads than their children did. Children, on the other hand, often chose not to report conflicts related to their misbehavior, which likely showed self-serving biases in disclosing their own transgressions. Fourth, children's and parents' desires for a change in reported conflicts in retrospect often did not challenge but re-affirmed patterns of actual conflict outcomes, which likely suggests that in preadolescence certain conflict sequences are relatively well established. Finally, the findings presented in Part 3 are among the first to provide evidence of links between frequencies of conflict issues, intensity of disagreements, actual and desired outcomes in parent-child dyads from three cultural groups. This multicultural study contributes to the existing literature (1) by substantiating the generality of interrelations between major qualities of parent-child relationships, (2) by providing evidence of the relations between children's and parents' English knowledge and the quality of their relationships and conflict negotiation in the earlier phases of acculturation, and (3) by providing a nuanced presentation of children's and parents' views on how they resolve conflicts on a daily basis. These evaluations provide an integrated picture of how preadolescents view and assess as well as are being viewed and assessed by their parents on important relationships matters.

Four decades of research demonstrates that infant-caregiver attachment has important implications for subsequent socio-emotional functioning, with attachment security predictive of a wide range of positive outcomes, and attachment insecurity—and the insecure-disorganized pattern in particular—predictive of later difficulties. This early risk can be ameliorated with early prevention, yet effective prevention depends on a more thorough understanding of the etiology of attachment disorganization. Because measures of caregiver behaviors shown to predict infant-caregiver attachment yield modest to moderate effect sizes, some researchers have suggested the field refocus on understanding the caregiver cognitive processes that underlie infant-caregiver attachment. In an effort to better understand these cognitive mechanisms underlying the development of infant-caregiver attachment disorganization, a previous study by the current author found that compared to women who go on to have a secure attachment relationship with their infant, those who go on to have a disorganized attachment relationship identified more infant faces as expressing anger and fewer as expressing sadness. The current study aimed to expand on this research linking specific patterns of caregiver recognition of negative infant affect with subsequent caregiver-infant attachment outcomes. More specifically, I expected the above findings would generalize to a postnatal (non-exclusively primiparous) sample. I also tested whether these hypothesized effects were unique or overlapping with two existing predictors of attachment—i.e. the Caregiving Helplessness Questionnaire (George and Solomon, 2011) and Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985). Counter to hypotheses, I did not find that maternal recognition of infant anger or sadness predicted infant-mother attachment. I did, however, find that maternal helplessness predicted attachment categorization, and that compared to the mothers who went on to have secure attachment relationships with their infants, those who went on to have disorganized attachment relationships labeled more ambiguous infant faces as surprised. The other two facets of caregiver helplessness (caregiver and child fright and child caregiving) and overall unresolved State of Mind scores did not significantly predict infant-caregiver attachment outcomes, nor did adding these predictors to a model including emotion recognition predictors change the pattern of results. Limitations that may explain these null results and future directions are discussed.