Social Support Networks for LGBT Young Adults: Low Cost Strategies for Positive Adjustment
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth and young adults are known to have compromised physical and mental health, and family rejection has been found to be an important risk factor. Yet few studies have examined the positive role that support from parents, friends, and the community have for LGBT young adults. In a cross‐sectional study of 245 LGBT non‐Latino White and Latino young adults (ages 21–25) in the United States, sexuality‐related social support was examined in association with measures of adjustment in young adulthood. Family, friend, and community support were strong predictors of positiv...
Source: Family Relations - June 5, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Shannon D. Snapp, Ryan J. Watson, Stephen T. Russell, Rafael M. Diaz, Caitlin Ryan Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Dedication and Sliding in Emerging Adult Cyclical and Non‐Cyclical Romantic Relationships
This study investigates the association between dedication commitment and sliding (moving through relationship transitions without considering the consequences) over 14 weeks for emerging adults in cyclical (partners who have broken up and renewed) and non‐cyclical relationships. An autoregressive cross‐lagged panel and bivariate latent growth curve analysis were conducted using three waves of data from 220 emerging adults in exclusive dating relationships. Results indicated that dedication and sliding may be relatively stable constructs with a negative bidirectional association although their rates of change may not b...
Source: Family Relations - June 5, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Amber Vennum, Nathan Hardy, D. Scott Sibley, Frank D. Fincham Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Family Contexts of Informal Sex Education: Young Men's Perceptions of First Sexual Images
Guided by a feminist perspective, the authors examined young men's recollection of their reactions to and the familial and social contexts in which they realized that they were seeing an explicit sexual image for the first time. The sample consisted of 199 young men enrolled in a human sexuality class who responded to questions regarding the what, when, where, with whom, and how they felt about and reacted to seeing a sexualized image. On average, participants were in elementary school and without adult supervision when they found their first image in a form of media that was readily available in the home. Implications for...
Source: Family Relations - June 5, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Katherine R. Allen, Erin S. Lavender‐Stott Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Impact of Coping Resources on the Well‐Being of Custodial Grandmothers and Grandchildren
Abstract
The authors blended elements from the Stress Process Model and the Family Stress Model to investigate the direct and indirect effects of custodial grandmothers' (CGMs') coping resources (i.e., active strategies, passive strategies, and social support) on their psychological distress, their parenting practices, and their grandchild's internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Participants included African American and White CGMs (N = 733, Mage = 56) who provided full‐time care to a grandchild (Mage = 9.8). Structural equation modeling revealed that social support and active coping were related to lower...
Source: Family Relations - June 5, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Gregory C. Smith, Kelly E. Cichy, Julian Montoro‐Rodriguez Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Influences of Cumulative Risk and Protective Factors on the Adjustment of Adolescents in Military Families
The accumulation of stressors is adversely related to adolescent well‐being. Using the contextual model of family stress and the theory of community action and change, the authors explored normative and context‐specific risks factors among adolescents from military families (N = 1,036) and the role of relationships (family, informal networks, formal systems) as protective factors. Youth who reported higher levels of cumulative risk experienced more depressive symptoms, lower academic performance, and lower persistence. When accounting for family support and presence of informal networks, depressive symptoms were lo...
Source: Family Relations - June 5, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Mallory Lucier‐Greer, Amy Laura Arnold, Jay A. Mancini, James L. Ford, Chalandra M. Bryant Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Parental Behaviors and Beliefs, Child Temperament, and Attachment Disorganization
This research examined alternative mechanisms in the etiology of attachment disorganization. The authors hypothesized that negative intrusive parenting would significantly predict children's attachment disorganization at age 12 months within a diverse community sample. Of more substantial interest, the authors tested moderational mechanisms in the association between negative intrusive parenting, parental strong belief in discipline and control, child difficult temperament, and children's attachment disorganization. Using a multiple regression analytic approach, this research found that negative intrusive parenting signifi...
Source: Family Relations - March 5, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Feihong Wang, Martha J. Cox, Roger Mills‐Koonce, Patricia Snyder Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Forgivingness, Forgivability, and Relationship‐Specific Effects in Responses to Transgressions in Indian Families
To advance understanding of conflict in families, responses to interpersonal transgressions were obtained from the perspective of the victim (transgression‐related interpersonal motivations [TRIMs]) and transgressor (perceived transgression‐related interpersonal motivations [PTRIMs]) in a sample of Indian families (N = 101). Mother, father, and a 12‐ to 14‐year‐old daughter indicated how he or she typically responds to transgressions by each of the other two family members, and how the two other family members perceived motivations toward the respondent following interpersonal transgressions. Social relations...
Source: Family Relations - March 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Ross W. May, Shanmukh V. Kamble, Frank D. Fincham Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
The Role of Close Relationships in the Mental and Physical Health of Latino Americans
The biobehavioral family model (BBFM) is a model that explains the connections between family relationships and mental and physical health. This model may be especially useful for modeling the connections between family relationships and health for Latinos. Using data from the National Latino and Asian American Study, this study tested two models of the BBFM: one using family emotional climate as the predictor variable (N = 2,554) and a second investigating the effects of romantic partner emotional climate as the predictor variable (n = 1,559). The moderating effects of nativity were also tested. Results indicated ...
Source: Family Relations - March 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jacob B. Priest, Sarah B. Woods Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
The Perceived Relationship Knowledge Scale: An Initial Validation
The rationale, development, and initial validation of the Perceived Relationship Knowledge Scale (PRKS), a brief six‐item instrument designed to measure central aspects of perceptions of relationship knowledge, are described in this article. To test the instrument's psychometric properties, two studies were conducted: an exploratory study with a small clinical sample (n = 54; Study 1), and the second with a sample of participants in a statewide relationship education initiative (n = 2,183; Study 2). In both studies, exploratory factor analyses yielded a single‐factor structure. Maximum‐likelihood confirmatory...
Source: Family Relations - March 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Kay Bradford, J. Wade Stewart, Brian J. Higginbotham, Linda Skogrand Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Addressing Child Support in Fatherhood Programs: Perspectives of Fathers and Service Providers
This qualitative study explores the views that low‐income fathers and fatherhood service providers have of the child support system and how these perceptions shape the provision of and men's engagement in fatherhood services. Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with 36 fathers, and telephone interviews with 19 fatherhood service providers. Four themes emerged about perceptions of the child support system: imposing unrealistic financial demands, criminalizing low‐income men, discounting paternal viewpoints, and evidencing responsible parenting. A further four themes were concerned with the relationship...
Source: Family Relations - March 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jennifer M. Threlfall, Patricia L. Kohl Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
African American Fathers' Racial Socialization Patterns: Associations with Racial Identity Beliefs and Discrimination Experiences
Existing parenting frameworks have suggested that fathers' developmental histories and social experiences are important determinants of their parenting practices. Few studies, however, have examined how the larger racial context is related to the parenting and socialization practices of African American fathers. Using a profile‐oriented approach, this investigation examines how fathers' racial identity beliefs (racial centrality and regard) and discrimination experiences are associated with race‐related socialization patterns identified by Cooper, Smalls, Neblett, and Banks (2014). Participants were 166 African America...
Source: Family Relations - March 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Shauna M. Cooper, Ciara Smalls‐Glover, Isha Metzger, Charity Griffin Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Reminders of Heteronormativity: Gay Adoptive Fathers Navigating Uninvited Social Interactions
This article illustrates the use of a social constructionist lens to understand the emotional burdens gay adoptive fathers carry navigating these interactions in public settings. By narrowing the focus on such encounters, this article attunes practitioners and educators to gay fathers' emotional worlds while deepening their understanding of the social fabric of heteronormativity. (Source: Family Relations)
Source: Family Relations - March 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Mohan Vinjamuri Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Parent–Adolescent Relationship Quality as an Intervening Variable on Adolescent Outcomes among Families at Risk: Dyadic Analyses
The purpose of this study was to examine mother and adolescent reports of relationship quality over time and to test whether mother–adolescent relationship quality intervened with the known association between maternal depressive symptoms and higher levels of adolescent externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors using actor‐partner interdependence modeling. Data were from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect and included a sample of 278 mother–adolescent dyads at risk for child maltreatment. Results revealed that mothers and adolescents reported high‐quality relationships at ages 12 and 14. M...
Source: Family Relations - March 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Lenore M. McWey, Amy M. Claridge, Armeda Stevenson Wojciak, Cassandra G. Lettenberger‐Klein Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
An Extension and Moderational Analysis of the Family Stress Model Focusing on African American Adolescents
This study focuses on 422 African American families with two caregivers as children transition into adolescence. The family stress model was tested longitudinally using structural equation modeling. Results showed that economic stress was associated with economic pressure and depressive symptoms among caregivers, which in turn was related to caregiver conflict. Higher levels of conflict had a negative influence on parenting quality at Wave 2, and this was linked to adolescent functioning. The depressive symptomology of secondary caregivers (SCs) exerted a greater indirect effect in the models than that of primary caregiver...
Source: Family Relations - March 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Melissa A. Landers‐Potts, K. A. S. Wickrama, Leslie Gordon Simons, Carolyn Cutrona, Frederick X. Gibbons, Ronald L. Simons, Rand Conger Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Links between Adolescents' Closeness to Adoptive Parents and Attachment Style in Young Adulthood
This study examined whether adolescents' closeness to adoptive parents (APs) predicted attachment styles in close relationships outside their family during young adulthood. In a longitudinal study of domestic infant adoptions, closeness to adoptive mother and adoptive father was assessed in 156 adolescents (M = 15.7 years). Approximately 9 years later (M = 25.0 years), closeness to parents was assessed again as well as attachment style in their close relationships. Multilevel modeling was used to predict attachment style in young adulthood from the average and discrepancy of closeness to adolescents' adoptive m...
Source: Family Relations - March 4, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Holly A. Grant‐Marsney, Harold D. Grotevant, Aline G. Sayer Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
