Journal of Family Psychology最新文献

Physical and psychological health (e.g., healthful eating behavior, physical activity, body image) are dimensions of successful young adult development. Families are an important developmental context, yet little is known about how parents contribute to their young adult children's eating behavior, body image, or weight-related health. The purpose of this study was to shed light on parents' perceived roles, practices, and concerns regarding their young adult children's eating, body image, and weight-related health. Data were drawn from 558 parents who participated in Project Eating and Activity over Time, a population-based study of eating, activity, and weight-related health, and responded to an open-ended question about parenting their young adult children regarding eating habits and weight. Thematic analysis revealed heterogeneity in parents' perceptions of their roles in their young adult children's eating and weight-related health; we identified subthemes of autonomy, loss of control, and lack of responsibility. Parents reported using an array of parenting practices and strategies (e.g., modeling) to promote healthy eating, body image, and weight-related health in their young adult children. Parents also reported numerous factors that challenged or influenced their parenting, including child characteristics, contextual influences, and lack of knowledge. Although parents' perceived roles change with their child's development, many parents are still invested and involved in their young adult children's eating, body image, and weight-related health. Our findings have implications for theory and suggest that parents may benefit from guidance about navigating their child's transition to young adulthood in ways that support their eating, body image, and weight-related health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Coercion theory has profoundly impacted our understanding of aggressive behavior in relationships; coercive processes are linked with numerous negative psychological and physical health outcomes. Coercion theory's influence on the aggression and violence literature is remarkable given that standard measurement requires painstaking, moment-by-moment coding of direct observation of dyadic interactions-an expensive, time-consuming endeavor. Thus, we sought to develop less costly and less cumbersome ways to measure coercive conflict. To assess the preliminary psychometrics of our resulting measurement system, we examined concurrent and convergent validity of (a) globally coded observer ratings of coercion and (b) participant-reported coercion in parent-child (n = 79) and intimate partner (n = 71) dyads. Overall, our new measures show mixed but encouraging signs of convergent and concurrent validity. Future low-cost measures may allow for the assessment of coercive conflict in mental and physical health care and expand research on this important dyadic process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Black Americans have long conceptualized joy as the difference between surviving and thriving. And yet, few studies have focused on the protective process of joy within Black families, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic which disproportionately impacted Black youth and families due to systemic racism in the United States. In analyzing two phases of data collected with Black maternal caregivers living in the Midwest, we explored Black maternal caregivers' descriptions of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their families and the importance of joy during this time. Using consensual qualitative analysis, we identified six main themes of how their lives were shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) experiencing loss of income, (2) experiencing isolation, (3) experiencing a death in the family, (4) experiencing greater closeness with their children, (5) navigating virtual learning, and (6) experiencing the birth of a new baby or a new family member joining the household. Additionally, they described joy as a family during the pandemic as togetherness and safety. In the interviews, we identified three main themes that represented key aspects of what joy meant to Black maternal caregivers and their families: (1) "It helped me cope with life": Joy as a Way to Cope Amid Difficult Life Experiences; (2) "What if [joy] starts with what's around her": Joy as a Way to Engender Resistance Among Black Children; and (3) "Just joy in doing the small things": Joy as It Occurs Through Everyday Activities. This study provides one of the first detailed empirical accounts of Black familial joy, illustrating its role as a protective process rooted in the strengths of Black families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Internalized stigma may increase the risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) among sexual minority couples. However, open questions remain about how identity-specific risk factors like internalized stigma connect with general IPV risk factors such as negative emotions during communication, which could become particularly heightened when partners discuss identity-based stigma. We examined how one's own and one's partner's internalized stigma and negative affect after lab-based stressor discussions were associated with physical, psychological, and identity-specific IPV perpetration. We conducted an online study with 84 sexual minority couples in which at least one partner had experienced past 6-month discrimination. Couples completed self-report measures and engaged in two, 8-min stressor discussions related to (a) sexual orientation-based discrimination and (b) life stress not related to sexual orientation. Current negative affect was measured after each discussion. Data were analyzed with Bayesian actor-partner interdependence mediation models. Results showed that internalized stigma was not directly or indirectly associated with physical IPV perpetration. Internalized stigma was both directly and indirectly (via negative affect reported after life stressor discussions) associated with psychological IPV perpetration, but not when accounting for coping displayed during discussions. Further, internalized stigma was directly and indirectly (via negative affect reported after discrimination stressor discussions) associated with identity-specific IPV perpetration via partner effects. Results highlight the importance of addressing internalized stigma and emotional reactivity to reduce psychological and identity-specific IPV perpetration among couples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The study aims to investigate the prevalence and risk factors associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization among Arab women in Israel. This study used social-ecological theory and attachment theory as frameworks to predict the likelihood of women's IPV victimization. In addition, the study examined several sociodemographic factors, adult romantic attachment, and two forms of childhood maltreatment (i.e., experiencing parental violence and witnessing interparental violence) as possible predictors of women's IPV victimization. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a community sample of 303 married Arab women (M_age = 31.8, SD = 6.1) using a self-administered questionnaire. During their marriage, approximately 75% of women reported experiencing some form of IPV victimization, while 65.7% indicated such experiences in the year leading up to the study. The findings from the multivariate logistic regression analyses indicate that women's higher level of education was associated with a lower risk of IPV victimization. The results also revealed a lower risk for psychological IPV victimization among women with employed husbands. Furthermore, low household income was significantly associated with women's physical IPV but not psychological IPV victimization. Conversely, women's attachment insecurities and experiences of childhood maltreatment increased the risk of IPV victimization. These findings emphasize the need to proactively address IPV victimization and its associated risk factors among Arab women across various cultural contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Parental burnout arises from persistent and severe parenting stress and is mainly characterized by profound exhaustion in the parental role. Whereas much of the research on this condition relies on questionnaires, developmental studies advocate for the use of spontaneous speech samples to capture naturalistic parenting experiences. The coded "expressed emotion" (EE) within these speech samples has proven to be a valid indicator of the emotional climate of the parent-child relationship and meaningfully maps onto measures of parental well-being. This study used EE as a lens to examine parental burnout by first comparing EE between parents applying for parental burnout treatment and a control group and, second, by exploring associations between parents' EE and their parental burnout scores. A total of 106 Belgian parents (94.3% mothers, mostly aged 30-39 years), including 55 parents applying for parental burnout treatment and 51 parents in a control group, completed the Parental Burnout Assessment and were prompted to talk for 5 min about how they feel as a parent. These speech samples were coded based on EE, with coders being blind to participants' parental burnout scores and group memberships. Most parents applying for treatment (90.9%) showed high EE and demonstrated more criticism, higher emotional overinvolvement, and lower warmth compared to the control group, with substantial effect sizes. Criticism showed the strongest association with parents' parental burnout scores. This study highlights the promising benefits of listening to naturally provided cues in parents' spontaneous speech about parenthood, thereby pointing toward crucial pathways for the detection of parental burnout. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Research suggests that parents are effective transmitters of altruistic values to their children, and this transmission can flow through the route of religion. However, trends of weakening religious identification and strengthening prosocial values in contemporary emerging adults suggest a decoupling of religion from prosociality in the contemporary family context. This study examines the ways parents' religiosity influences their children's altruistic values, explicitly focusing on the religious pathways by which these values are transmitted in mother-child and father-child relationships. This study addressed the role of religion in the intergenerational transmission of altruistic values using data from 123 mothers, 76 fathers, and 233 adolescent/young adult children in 149 families who participated in the 2021-2022 wave of the Longitudinal Study of Generations. Results revealed a significant influence of mothers' and fathers' religiosity on the altruistic values of children but each through a different pathway. Mothers' religiosity influenced children's altruistic values by promoting their children's religiosity, while fathers' religiosity influenced their children's altruistic values by transmitting their own religiously formed altruistic values. Findings support that mothers inculcate altruistic values in their children through religious means, while fathers' religious influence on the altruistic values of children is potentially hidden from them. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

While research on parental burnout has expanded dramatically in recent years, a critical gap remains in understanding the interplay between this condition and child-related variables. This study aimed to investigate the bidirectional and transactional dynamics between parental burnout and the child's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. A longitudinal design with three data collection waves, spaced 4 months apart, was employed. The sample comprised 1,458 parents (French and English speaking) who completed online surveys, including a measure of the child's behavior, assessed by both parents and another informant. Structural equation modeling was utilized to analyze bidirectional and recursive relationships. The cross-lagged panel model results, further informed by path comparison analyses, identified significant bidirectional and transactional effects equally driven by parent and child, suggesting a cyclical relationship between parental burnout and child behavior. These findings highlight the reciprocal nature of these dynamics, challenging the traditional view of unilateral influence. This study provides valuable insights into the dynamic interplay between parental burnout and child behavior, thereby making an important contribution to developmental psychopathology. Implications for clinical practice and research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This study develops a new measure for capturing dialectics of parenting that serve as sources of intergenerational ambivalence (IGA) in the parents of adult-aged children called the Dialectics of Parenting Adult Children Scale (DPACS). The current approach was informed by previous recommendations based on the strengths and weaknesses of existing methods for capturing IGA. The DPACS asks parents about beliefs and behaviors that are in logical contradiction with each other rather than conflicting emotional experiences. Scale items were inspired by a qualitative study that explored common themes of contradiction, referred to as dialectics, for parents of adult children (Levitzki, 2009). These five dialectics were separation and connection, narcissistic extension and individuation, familial connection and generation gap, parent needs and child needs, and hierarchy and equality. Participants were parents of adult children (N = 358) in the United States recruited using Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Data were collected through online survey using Qualtrics. Confirmatory factor analysis informed item retention and removal and ambivalence scores were calculated using the retained items. The DPACS was validated against an established measure of parent-adult-child relationship quality. Patterns of participant responses were examined and suggestions for interpreting DPACS ambivalence scores are provided. Findings indicate parental experiences of IGA were common for all dialectics. The DPACS could be useful in clinical settings for identifying specific sources of parental IGA. Although this new measure requires further development, the DPACS and the dialectical approach are a valuable addition to the conceptualization and measurement of IGA. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Father-Toddler Interaction Multiaxial Assessment (FTI-MAXA), designed to evaluate and rate the quality of father-toddler interaction. Two trained raters assessed 105 children aged 13-40 months (27.28 ± 6.7) and their fathers using a Likert-type scale (1 = very poor, 5 = very good) across 10 items: physical involvement, affective expressiveness, pleasure, responsiveness, reciprocity, joint attention, nonintrusiveness, adaptive flexibility, support, and acceptance. Each father and child pair was rated on three dimensions: involvement, reciprocity, and flexibility-acceptance. In addition, Brief Infant/Toddler Social Emotional Assessment Scale (BITSEA), Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC), Parent-Infant Relationship Global Assessment Scale, Brief Symptom Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, and Child Attachment Pattern were applied to the fathers. The internal consistency of FTI-MAXA total scores-of both scorers-was found to be excellent (Cronbach's α was .92, .96 for fathers and .98, .98 for children). Interpersonal reliability of FTI-MAXA scores was excellent for fathers and children (p < .001). FTI-MAXA-father subscores were negatively correlated with the child's ABC-total scores and positively correlated with BITSEA-competence scores. FTI-MAXA-child subscores showed positive correlation with BITSEA-competence scores and negative correlation with ABC scores. These findings underscore the validity and reliability of the FTI-MAXA, which offers dependable global ratings of father-toddler interactions in a laboratory setting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).