Child abuse potential and parenting stress within maltreating families

This study examined the relationship between child abuse potential and parenting stress in mothers and fathers receiving services for child maltreatment. Significant differences were found between perpetrating and nonperpetrating parents. Nonperpetrating parents reported more problems with family, greater total parenting stress and child-related stress, and greater stress from child demandingness, adaptability, acceptability, and distractibility. No significant gender differences in child abuse potential and parenting stress were found. Aspects of parent related stress moderated the relationship between child related stress and abuse potential. Perceived stress from parenting sense of competence was isolated as a variable that significantly increased abuse potential at medium and high levels of child-related stress.     

Intergenerational offending in Liverpool and the north-west of England, 1850–1914

Using contemporary sources from the north-west of England in the Victorian period, the authors examine the putative connections made by contemporaries which linked together ‘bad’ parenting and the transmission of criminal traits. Poor parenting practices were a prevalent explanation for juvenile (leading onto sustained) delinquency, especially in the mid to late nineteenth century. Popular narratives by Charles Dickens and media opinion-formers were very influential in depicting neglectful mothers who did not socialise their children into law-abiding, useful members of society, and criminal fathers who inducted their children into their own criminal affairs and organisations. This article examines the reality of intergenerational offending (using prison- and court-generated data) to show that there is very little convincing research that proves direct intergenerational transmission of offending practices (i.e. parent-to-child-offending transmission). The authors then examine other possible routes of intergenerational offending using case studies and archival research, and the article concludes that environmental/socio-economic conditions and wider familial/neighbourhood relationships were, in fact, the main trigger for onset of offending, and the maintenance of criminal careers, rather than direct familial transmission. The article is therefore an important marker in understanding the processes which inhibit/generate criminality in a significant number of juvenile offenders in this period.     

Parent-adolescent conflict and stress as a parent: Are there differences between being a mother or a father?

Parent-adolescent conflict is viewed as a common dimension of the family during the teenage years. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether mothers and fathers of young adolescents differ in their report of conflict with their adolescent, level of stress, and parenting competence. Furthermore, the role of age and gender of the young adolescents was examined. One hundred and twenty-two adolescents and their parents participated in the study. All families were intact. The families were divided into groups according to the adolescent's age and gender. Analyses of variance with three factors (adolescent's age, adolescent's gender, mothers versus fathers) were performed. Mothers and fathers did not differ on personal (depression) or marital adjustment and on perceived parenting competency. In contrast, in terms of parent-adolescent conflict, mothers reported a less positive relationship, a greater number of conflicts, and more intense discussions of conflicts with their adolescents. Gender and age of the adolescent were not important contributors to the analyses. The results suggest that, in terms of the variables examined in this study, conflict in the parent-adolescent relationship is the primary difference between mothers and fathers.     

Examining the Relationship Between Parenting,Risk-Taking,and Delinquency in Japan: Context and Empirical Applicability

In criminology, the relationship between risk-taking and delinquency is well established. Although research on the relationship between risk-taking and delinquency is extensive, it is primarily limited to Western contexts. Particularly for Japan, little is known about the relationship between risk-taking and delinquency, as existing empirical studies in English are scarce. The present study examines the relationship between risk-taking and delinquency in the Japanese context. In briefly reviewing the literature on risk-taking in Japan, parenting was an important influence on levels of youths' risk-taking and delinquency. The findings primarily support the mediating role of high risk-taking between parenting and delinquency. Although high risk-taking explained why low maternal attachment and monitoring was related to delinquency, it was unable to explain the relationship completely.     

Parenting Styles and Children’s Delinquency Reconsidered: An Empirical Assessment

For decades, criminological theories have emphasized the importance of strong parent-child relationships in preventing children’s delinquent behaviors (e.g., Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990). In particular, Thornberry’s (1996) interactional theory has catalyzed studies of the critical importance of reciprocal relationships between parents and children. However, though previous studies have examined reciprocal relationships, they typically do not assess changes in those relationships over time (Wiloughby & Hamza, 2011). The purpose of this study is to evaluate how reciprocal relationships vary among parenting styles and how this variance accounts for children’s delinquency. In particular, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort study, the present study examines how the authoritative parenting style and different parent’s and child’s sexes affect the reciprocal parent-child relationship. It discovers a significant correlation between authoritative parenting styles and a reduction in child delinquency and observes how a parent’s sex influences this dynamic.     

A history of the use of the concept of parental alienation in the Australian family law system: contradictions,collisions and their consequences

ABSTRACT

This paper presents insights into the history and current deployment of the concept of parental alienation in the Australian family law system. It begins in 1989, when an article on parental alienation syndrome was first published in an Australian law journal. It then traces aspects of the socio-legal and social science research, gender politics, law reform and jurisprudence of the following 30 years, paying attention to moments of significant change. The impacts of major amendments that emphasise the desirability of post-separation shared parenting outcomes in 1996 and 2006 are specifically considered. More recently, in 2012, reforms intended to improve the family law system’s response to domestic and family violence were introduced. The history reveals an irreconcilable tension between the ‘benefit’ of ‘meaningful’ post-separation parent-child relationships and the protection of children from harm. When mothers’ allegations of violence in the family are disbelieved, minimised or dismissed, they are transformed from victims of abuse into perpetrators of abuse – alienators of children from their fathers. Their actions and attitudes collide with the shared parenting philosophy. This is arguably an inescapable consequence of a family law system that struggles to deal effectively with family violence in the context of a strong shared parenting regime.     

Impact of Chinese Parenting on Adolescents’ Social Bonding,Affiliation with Delinquent Peers,and Delinquent Behavior

Using data collected from 615 middle- and high-school students in rural and urban areas in China, this study examines how different parenting styles such as warmth, coercion, monitoring, and permissiveness affect children’s delinquent behavior, both directly and indirectly through bonds with conventional others (i.e., parents, school, and peers) and affiliation with delinquent peers. The results show that only parental coercion has a direct effect on delinquency. All parenting styles, except for parental monitoring, affect delinquency indirectly through mediating processes of social control and social learning in predicted directions. Despite different pathways to delinquency, variables of social control and social learning play an important role in mediating the relationship between parenting and delinquency. The implications of the results are discussed.     

The Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Mothers’ Parenting Practices for Urban, Low-Income Adolescents

This study examined whether depression and social support mediated the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and parenting practices. Participants were 1,057 female primary caregiver-young adolescent pairs. (Sample included greater than 90?% biological mothers; hereafter, female primary caregivers are referred to as mother.) Findings indicated that IPV was associated positively with mothers’ use of physical punishment and negatively with mothers’ involvement in their children’s education. Although depression and social support were not found to mediate the relationship between IPV and parenting practices, study findings suggest that IPV directly and negatively impacted mothers’ parenting practices. In sum, findings point to the important role that IPV may play in explaining parenting practices for mothers living in high-risk urban environments.     

African American Child Discipline: Differences Between Mothers and Fathers

Child rearing methods used in African American homes have been the subject of much commentary among social scientists, child welfare, and legal personnel. Much of the deliberation has centered on firm disciplinary techniques used by African American mothers. However, few studies have included the perspectives of African American fathers. This study investigated the differences between African American mothers' and fathers' responses in relation to child misbehavior. Several significant differences were found with mothers utilizing more intense disciplinary methods than African American fathers. Results of this investigation underscored the importance of obtaining the viewpoints of African American fathers as well as mothers in understanding parenting in African American homes.     

‘It’s an invisible wound’: the disenfranchised grief of post-separation mothers who lose care time

This paper enriches understandings of the implications of contemporary custody law for mothers and their children. It does so through a discussion of mothers’ grief and emotional pain over involuntarily losing care time with children. Mothers involuntarily lose care time by becoming non-resident parents against their will or by having a shared care parenting order imposed on them. Both experiences of losing maternal care time are becoming more commonplace as a result of the gender neutrality of custody laws across the Anglo-West and the increased emphasis given to shared care parenting as a viable post-separation parenting arrangement. Yet investigations into the emotions engendered by mothers’ loss of care time are sparse. Exploratory qualitative research with twelve mothers who involuntarily lost care time reveals the intensity and durability of their grief, its entanglement with emotions like fear, and its significance, as a relational welfare approach emphasises, to children’s best interests.     

Incarcerated youths with high or low callous–unemotional traits: a comparison controlling for age of crime onset

The aim of this study was to analyze the relevance of callous–unemotional (CU) traits in incarcerated juvenile delinquents. A sample of 160 incarcerated male youths was used. Results showed that youths with high CU traits had an earlier age of crime onset and of trouble with the law, and also had higher levels of conduct disorder. When controlling for age of crime onset, youths with high CU traits showed higher levels of general psychopathic traits and of psychopathy taxon membership as well as lower levels of prosocial behavior, but no differences were found for self-reported delinquency, crime seriousness, impulsivity-conduct problems, and general conduct problems. Also, no significant associations of CU traits with self-reported delinquency and crime seriousness were found when controlling for age of crime onset. Future studies of CU traits should take into account the specific importance of age of onset.     

The Relationship of Reflective Functioning to Parent Child Interactions in a Sample of Fathers with Concurrent Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration and Substance Abuse Problems

This study is the first to examine reflective functioning (RF) and direct parent–child interactions of fathers with concurrent intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and substance abuse (SA) problems. Twenty-four fathers, with children between the age of one and seven, completed a structured interview to assess RF, self-report measures of hostile-aggressive parenting behaviors, IPV perpetration severity, SA severity, and a coded play session with their children. Results of three simultaneous multiple regressions revealed that RF in fathers was not associated significantly with observed parenting behaviors. However, fathers’ SA severity emerged as a significant predictor for child avoidant behavior and dyadic tension, and fathers’ IPV perpetration severity contributed unique variance to child avoidant behavior and dyadic constriction. These results suggest that fathers’ SA severity and IPV perpetration behaviors may be more salient factors in predicting their father-child interactions than paternal RF.     

Similarities and Differences in the Experiences of Non-Resident Mothers and Non-Resident Fathers

This article reviews the available literature to give an overviewof what is currently known about the situations and experiencesof mothers who become the non-resident parent post-separation/divorce.Comparisons are made with non-resident father literature wherepossible in order to explore the similarities and differencesin women and men’s experience of parenthood across households.The principal question explored is: to what extent do the experiencesof non-resident parents relate primarily to gender, or to theirstatus (as non-resident parent), or a combination of the two?Findings indicate that there are many similarities in womenand men’s experience regarding the difficulties they eachencounter when parenting at a distance. However, dominant culturalnorms, which indicate that mothers should be co-resident withchildren, make the experience of non-resident motherhood a differentpsychosocial phenomenon from non-resident fatherhood. It isargued that more information is needed regarding the distinctexperiences of both mothers and fathers if there is to be amore comprehensive understanding of non-residential parenting.Also, the steady rise in the number of non-resident motherssuggests a need for further investigation of parental role-reversalpost-divorce parenting arrangements. Specifically how this typeof arrangement impacts upon child welfare and whether this typeof post-divorce parenting arrangement is acceptable to men andwomen as individuals and also to society in general.     

Sociological measurement confusion,paradigmatic imperfection,and etiological nirvana: Striking a pragmatic balance in pursuing science

Extant gang research supports an enhancement effect of membership on delinquency; that is, while delinquent youths may be attracted to gangs, it is also true that gang membership increases delinquency among youths and that while delinquency levels decrease after gang membership, they do not decrease to nongang levels. In this paper, we build on this research, examining the relationship between youth gang membership and violent victimization in a general sample of adolescents. We find that gang member victimization rates are higher than nongang member rates, not only during membership, but before and after as well. Thus an enhancement model of gang membership appears to best fit both offending and victimization rates. This effect of gang affiliation on victimization goes beyond gang members' involvement in violent offending; violence and gang status equate with cumulative disadvantage in terms of violent victimization. Additionally, contrary to gang youths' perceptions, gangs appear to offer no protective value to gang members; we find no differences in violent victimization between youths who joined gangs for protection and those who joined for other reasons, either before or after joining.     

THE CAUSES OF GIRLS’ DELINQUENCY AND THEIR PROGRAM IMPLICATIONS

This article summarizes some of the literature reviewed by the Girls Study Group, which is a federally funded project aimed at assessing the causes of girls’ delinquency as well as evaluating programs to address it. The literature reveals that a number of factors such as family dysfunction, involvement with antisocial peers, and living in disadvantaged neighborhoods are correlated with delinquency for both boys and girls. Some factors, however, are gender sensitive, meaning that either girls are more exposed to a given risk factor than boys or react somewhat differently to a given risk factor. Girls have higher rates of exposure to sexual assault, which is associated with delinquency and, although more research is needed, they are more affected by the impacts of early puberty, when it is coupled with harsh parenting and disadvantaged neighborhoods. This article discusses some implications of the research on correlates of delinquency for programming for girls and makes recommendations for program selection.     

System management and compensatory parenting: Educational involvement after maternal incarceration

Research has demonstrated that paternal incarceration is associated with lower levels of educational involvement among fathers and primary caregivers, but little is known regarding caregiver educational involvement when mothers have been incarcerated. In this study, we present the first analysis of variation in school- and home-based educational involvement by maternal incarceration history, pairing survey and interview data to connect macro-level group differences with micro-level narratives of mothers’ involvement in their children's education. Our survey data demonstrate that children of ever-incarcerated mothers experience increased school-based educational involvement by their primary caregivers, regardless of whether the caregiver is the mother herself. Our interview data point to compensatory parenting as a key motivating factor in educational involvement, wherein a caregiver endeavors to “make up for” the child's history of maternal incarceration. Findings add to the literature demonstrating maternal incarceration as a distinct experience from both paternal incarceration and material disadvantage alone, and they suggest the need to explore the role of schools as potential points of productive institutional involvement for mothers with an incarceration history.     

Predictors of Child Abuse Potential Among Military Parents: Comparing Mothers and Fathers

The present study examines the predictors of child abuse potential for at-risk fathers and mothers serving as active duty Army members and their spouses. Although fathers are perpetrators of child physical abuse and neglect in a substantial portion of reported cases, what is known about factors associated with child maltreatment comes almost exclusively from studies of perpetrating mothers. Thus, the inclusion of a large sample of fathers in the present study makes a significant contribution to the extant literature. Participants were 175 fathers (93% active-duty) and 590 mothers (16% active duty) of young children enrolled in an Army-sponsored home visitation program. Regression analyses indicated that there were both common and unique predictors of child abuse potential for mothers and fathers. Common predictors included depression, parental distress, and family conflict. Low family expressiveness was predictive only for fathers, whereas marital dissatisfaction, low social support, and low family cohesion were predictive only for mothers. Possible reasons for these gender differences and the implications of these results for child maltreatment interventions are discussed.     

The Influence of Dating Relationships on Friendship Networks,Identity Development,and Delinquency

Prior research has documented general associations between dating and delinquency, but little is known about the specific ways in which heterosexual experiences influence levels of delinquency involvement and substance use. In the current study, we hypothesize that an adolescent's level of effort and involvement in heterosexual relationships play a significant role in forming the types of friendship networks and views of self that influence the likelihood of delinquency involvement and substance use. Analyses based on a longitudinal sample of adolescent youth (n = 1,090) show that high levels of dating effort and involvement with multiple partners significantly increases unstructured and delinquent peer contacts, and influences self‐views as troublemaker. These broader peer contexts and related self‐views, in turn, mediate the path between dating relationships, self‐reported delinquency, and substance use. Findings also document moderation effects: among those youths who have developed a troublemaker identity and who associate with delinquent peers, dating heightens the risk for delinquent involvement. In contrast, among those individuals who have largely rejected the troublemaker identity and who do not associate with delinquent friends, dating relationships may confer a neutral or even protective benefit. The analyses further explore the role of gender and the delinquency of the romantic partner.     

Parental alienation (syndrome) in child custody cases: survivors’ experiences and the logic of psychosocial and legal services in Italy

ABSTRACT

Parental alienation (syndrome) is a controversial issue, criticized by experts in different fields. However, this concept is often used by professionals and is frequently cited in courtrooms. This qualitative study focuses on parental alienation and explores women’s experiences as well as legal and social services’ practices in child custody cases. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with separated mothers who were victims of intimate partner violence, and with social workers and psychologists/psychiatrists designated by courts to evaluate parenting skills. Expert reports, psychological assessments and legal documents were also analysed. Results show that professionals endorsed parental alienation and considered it a ‘feminine problem’. Women were often blamed and labeled as ‘engaging in parental alienation’ when they were trying to ensure their children’s safety. Children’s accounts were interpreted as being a result of their mothers’ manipulation. In contrast, fathers were treated as victims of vindictive women who want to keep children to themselves. Men’s violent behaviours were not considered, and their role as fathers was seen as ‘inviolable’. These practices seem to reflect the ‘good-enough father’ approach, according to which the presence of the father is essential for children’s development, regardless of his violent behaviours.     

Harsh Discipline and Child Problem Behaviors: The Roles of Positive Parenting and Gender

This study examined harsh verbal and physical discipline and child problem behaviors in a community sample of 2,582 parents and their fifth and sixth grade children. Participants were recruited from pediatric practices, and both parents and children completed questionnaire packets. The findings indicated that boys received more harsh verbal and physical discipline than girls, with fathers utilizing more harsh physical discipline with boys than did mothers. Both types of harsh discipline were associated with child behavior problems uniquely after positive parenting was taken into account. Child gender did not moderate the findings, but one dimension of positive parenting (i.e., parental warmth) served to buffer children from the detrimental influences of harsh physical discipline. The implications of the findings for intervention programs are discussed. This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.