Journal of Family Theory & Review最新文献

In the United States, the dominant contemporary understanding of childhood is one that is cultivated through children's role as dependents, served by adults who are their providers. This framework obscures how children contribute to society through their learning and practice. This paper proposes a reconsideration of children's learning to advance the theoretical conceptualization of emotional labor so that children's contributions can be recognized. To advance an expansion of how adults understand what children's contributions to society are, I frame their social–emotional learning as the practice of emotional labor, not as them simply obtaining the skills of emotional intelligence. In doing so, I advocate for seeing children as more than learners, but also as contributors and producers.

Nearly three decades since the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, federal cash assistance to families in poverty in the United States has entered political discourse once more with the Biden Administration's introduction of the American Families Plan. At the heart of this discussion are theories of change that derive from the family and developmental sciences. As a result, scientists in these fields have a duty to understand the history of the last reform and the consequences it has since had for children in poverty. In this paper, I review the history of perspectives toward government social assistance programs, as well as extant research demonstrating the mechanisms through which maternal employment and federal cash assistance impact child wellbeing. Lastly, I propose a conceptual framework for understanding the influence of family-based social assistance programs and parenting on child wellbeing to guide future research.

Romantic relationships can both attenuate and exacerbate suicide risk. Suicide prevention strategies in the United States have emphasized the importance of healthy connections with others; however, suicide prevention efforts overwhelmingly continue to focus on individual-level interventions. This presents a missed opportunity to prevent suicide through a focus on romantic relationship factors that are strongly associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. To identify underutilized or new avenues for improving suicide prevention, the current article aims to (a) provide an overview of the literature on romantic relationship functioning and suicide risk in adults to elucidate potential prevention targets, and (b) use a public health framework to highlight evidence-based and emerging avenues to prevent suicide by targeting relevant relationship factors.

Sexual and intimate partner violence (SIV) continues to be a public health crisis, particularly among girls and women. Traditional and critical qualitative methodologies are often used to study SIV. This paper offers another methodology not traditionally used in family science, testimonio, as a critical, qualitative option. Testimonio is a methodology rooted in Indigenous, Latinx, and Chicano/a feminista studies, deployed in various fields, that centers the stories of marginalized members of society as they are rooted in systemic inequalities, including racism, (cis)sexism, and heteronormativity. A scoping review of the use of testimonio in family science and violence research was conducted and yielded minimal research. Given the dearth of research found through the review, recommendations for using testimonio in family science SIV research are offered along with examples from the authors' research.

This paper addresses the growing recognition of occupational stressors impacting the mental health of public safety personnel (PSP) and their families. While numerous programs support PSP well-being, limited attention is given to family members, who navigate increased worry, social isolation, and the challenge of supporting a psychologically injured spouse. Drawing from the functional disconnection/functional reconnection (FD/FR) framework, this paper introduces FD/FR family—a proactive model tailored to PSP families. Rooted in Stoicism, this innovative adaptation extends the application of FD/FR concepts to benefit not only PSP members but also their families. FD/FR family advocates temporarily setting aside personal reactions and improving emotional processing to enhance communication, flexibility, and mitigate vicarious trauma and mental health deterioration. This paper offers PSP family-specific examples and urges future research to identify essential FD/FR components accepted by both PSP and their families.

This article summarizes and critiques existing literature on the factors that might influence romantic relationships and attitudes among Asian emerging adults (18–29 years old). Forty-one studies were identified. Findings were categorized into two groups based on outcome variables: romantic relationship qualities (e.g., satisfaction; N = 22) and attitudes toward dating and marriage (N = 19). Common predictors of relationship qualities include parenting factors (e.g., parental divorce), culture-specific factors (e.g., filial piety), and psychological factors (e.g., identity status). Furthermore, findings suggest that Asian emerging adults tend to hold more conservative dating attitudes, prioritize parental approval, but also share some similarities in dating attitudes with their Western counterparts. We proposed specific recommendations regarding sample diversity and areas for further investigation in future research. Clinical implications are also discussed that highlight the importance of relationship therapists showing empathy and building therapeutic alliance with Asian emerging adult clients.