Journal of Family Theory & Review最新文献

Working parents often report difficulties in establishing optimal work–family balance, and such difficulties tend to yield poorer parent well-being, parenting quality, and child well-being. Despite advances in understanding of the long-lasting and multifaceted benefits of purpose in life, up to this point, scant attention has been given to the concept of purpose as a practical means for promoting better parent well-being and parenting quality, which also has far-reaching impacts on child well-being and trajectories. The goal of this paper is to discuss purpose as a potential catalyst and anchor for work–family balance and its associated outcomes of parenting well-being, parenting quality, and child well-being. Drawing from ecological systems, family systems, life course, and family resilience theories, this paper presents a conceptual model that depicts these relationships. Recommendations for advancing future research that supports theory building from this work as well as practice are provided.

The detrimental effects of pathological narcissism on individual development and intimate relationships have been widely studied. Although the exact origins of this phenomenon are still debated, the important role that family dynamics play in its emergence is increasingly being recognized. Previous researchers have pointed out that insecure attachment is associated with pathological narcissism; however, empirical findings are inconsistent. Hence, this study conducted a three-level random-effects meta-analysis based on 183 effect sizes from 29 articles (N = 8247 participants). Our findings have demonstrated the significant and positive link between insecure attachment and pathological narcissism (r = .18; 95% CI: 0.14, 0.22; p < .001). In addition, a moderator analysis was carried out to explore factors that may weaken or strengthen the primary association of interest. In total, there are five significant moderators, including insecure attachment style (F_(3,176) = 13.72; p < .001), measurement tool of attachment insecurity (F_(8,171) = 4.59; p < .001), measurement tool of pathological narcissism (F_(6,173) = 5.21; p < .001), percentage of participants identifying as male (F_(1,174) = 4.04; p = .046), and age (F_(1,178) = 19.94; p < .001). This research highlights the positive correlation between attachment insecurity and pathological narcissism, providing family theorists with insights into how early family experiences influence personality formation and guiding family therapists in interventions for narcissistic pathology.

Parents lie to their children, for example, to influence children's behavior and emotions (parenting by lying). The aim of this systematic review was to describe the current scientific literature on parental lying, including its prevalence, correlates, conceptualizations, and operationalizations. Through an extensive literature search using PRISMA guidelines, 23 eligible peer-reviewed empirical papers on parental lying have been found. Many parents are found to lie to their children. However, existing research is characterized by a heterogeneous and narrow conceptualization and operationalization of parental lying, and a focus on problems. Following this, the current empirical evidence points mostly toward associations with maladaptive development. Following a critical analysis of the studies, future research should implement broader conceptualizations and operationalizations of parental lying in non-retrospective, experimental, or prospective longitudinal research designs on maladaptive and adaptive correlates, to determine the significance of parental lying for children.

Long focused on maternal roles in infancy, research is now exploring fathers' contributions to child development. Current public policy emphasizes early prevention and intervention for child and parent well-being, especially for at-risk infants such as those born prematurely. A literature review was conducted following the approach of a narrative review, to examine fatherhood in the context of preterm birth, highlighting the stress and emotional vulnerability experienced by fathers of preterm infants. Promoting early paternal presence and involvement in infant care helps fathers cope with this emotionally challenging experience. Despite limited data on premature fatherhood, fathers are active partners in dyadic interactions and play a significant role in their infant's neonatal intensive care unit journey and family dynamics. The discussion underscores the importance of father-focused interventions and the paternal contribution to child development, framed within the authors' proposed integrative and developmental model of the family triad.

Grandparents often serve important childrearing roles. The present study is a systematic review of research that examined the association between intergenerational coparenting and children's development. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, 220 records were identified, and 16 studies were included in the final review. The review provided a detailed analysis of the methodological characteristics of research in this area. Findings indicated that better intergenerational coparenting was associated with higher levels of children's social competence, executive functioning, and attachment security. Evidence also suggests parenting mediates the relation between intergenerational coparenting and child development. Several directions for future research emerged from the review including the need (a) for measurement strategies that reflect the multidimensional nature of intergenerational coparenting, (b) to consider the various parent-grandparent dyads, and (c) to incorporate other family factors and processes (e.g., quality of parent-grandparent relationships) into studies that focus on intergenerational coparenting.

Through the lens of evolutional psychology, mate preferences are posited into a three “G” framework (good genes, good resources, and good persons/parents/partners) that captures genetic quality, resource acquisition, and personality and caregiving qualities. Previous research acknowledged that adult children had different mate preferences from their parents, but had no consensus on how such differences existed in certain mate characteristics. This meta-analysis aimed to examine the discrepancies of characteristics in mate preferences between parent and adult child, and how the moderators of culture, gender, measurement scoring type, and study quality could influence such discrepancies. We summarized 25 eligible articles (N = 21,008) on parent–child discrepancies in mate preferences, which covered 1473 effect sizes. A three-level random-effects meta-analysis result showed that adult children's mate preferences had significant differences from parents’ preferences on in-laws in good genes (Cohen's d = 0.42, 95% CI [0.237, 0.595]), indicating that adult children emphasized more on traits associated with genetic quality. No significant group differences were found on the related traits about good resources (Cohen's d = −0.11) and good persons/parents/partners (Cohen's d = 0.08), indicating that parents and children have similar preferences on provisioning-related mate traits and personality. Our results also revealed that the parent–child discrepancies in mate preferences differ across culture, gender, measurement scoring type, and study quality. Our results offer insights into revisiting evolutionary perspectives of mate preference and highlighting the existing parent–child discrepancies in mate preferences that can be explained through social structural theories and family systems theory. We also discussed practical implications for research on mate preferences and highlighted new avenues for future studies.

This article introduces a new conceptual model for examining classism among adolescents and families. Classism refers to the discrimination that individuals experience because of their social class. For adolescents, social class refers to their family's social class and includes income, education, occupation, and position in society. Despite extensive research that has shown how social class is associated with adolescent development, there remains a gap in the knowledge about how classism might explain this association. To advance scholarship about classism among adolescents and families, I present a new model. This model integrates theories on (a) classism among adults, (b) discrimination among adolescents, (c) family science, (d) social class, and (e) intersectionality. I include hypotheses about the associations between classism and adolescent developmental outcomes and conclude with directions for future research.

In adoption, it is common to consider the adopted child, the adoptive parents, and the birth mother as part of the adoption galaxy. Yet, birth fathers are often missing elements in adoption-focused research. This article aims to comprehensively understand the current knowledge regarding birth fathers' experiences in adoption. Adapting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses approach, this review identified 100 peer-reviewed articles published from 2000 to 2022 on birth fathers in adoption. This article used a mixed-methods approach to analyze the landscape of the current research. Quantitative analysis confirmed that birth fathers in adoption are under-researched worldwide. In the qualitative analysis, the following themes emerged regarding birth fathers: a lack of openness, negative stereotypes, gatekeeping, and emotional impacts. The findings demonstrate the importance of considering the wishes and support needs of birth fathers when their child is being placed for adoption.

Many Americans believe that a breakdown in the “traditional” two-married-parent family and the rise in single-parent families are responsible for persistent family inequality. The general argument is that children do best when they are raised by both biological parents. Evidence increasingly calls into question conventional wisdom about the universal benefits of the two-parent family, yet mainstream approaches to studying family structure continue to reinforce oversimplistic interpretations of the impact of family structure on well-being. In this article, we reconsider long-standing assumptions about the superiority of the heteropatriarchal two-married-parent family using historical and contemporary evidence to offset the stagnant theorizing in the study of family structure. We argue that, in pursuit of better science, family researchers must commit to theoretical approaches that move us beyond conventional perspectives of families toward critical perspectives that guide more nuanced, holistic, and contextualized analyses of how family structure actually operates in people's lives.