Family Process最新文献

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has a strong impact not only on patients' lives but also on their families. The presence of an invalidating environment is one of the key factors in the etiology of BPD. This study evaluated the impact of the Family connections (FC) program on burden, grief, and other clinical variables in 202 caregivers and identified the profiles of participants who improved/deteriorated their levels of burden and grief. Findings from generalized linear mixed models showed significant reductions in burden, grief, depression, global psychological distress, and suppressed and expressed anger after FC intervention. Two classification trees were applied to test whether improvements in burden and grief were associated with age, gender and the improvements in other clinical variables. Caregivers reporting reduced depression were more likely to improve in both burden and grief. Moreover, younger participants showing increased depression had a 72.7% probability of being part of the improvement in burden and a 66.7% probability of being part of the improvement in grief. A decrease in depression and having a younger age were associated with positive gains for caregiving burden and grief. Longitudinally, ANOVAs showed positive changes in burden and grief as well as decreased depression, global psychological distress and suppressed anger were maintained at 4-month follow-up. Present findings improve our understanding of the utility of the FC program for caregivers of people with BPD. The impact of depressive symptoms' reduction and being younger on perceived burden and grief highlight the importance of exploring additional possible moderators of outcomes in FC intervention.

Trial Registration: NCT06076343; NCT06074289. Registered 10/10/2023

Although many parents worry that their child will be the target of racial profiling, there is a dearth of literature on how parental worries about children facing racism are linked to racial socialization (RS) practices and youth internalizing symptoms. Additionally, it is unclear how RS content relative to competency may uniquely influence whether and how parental worries influence youth internalizing outcomes. Using data from 203 Black parents (M_age = 44.099, 68% mothers) of adolescents, the current study examines the direct effects of parental worries on RS content (cultural socialization, preparation for bias, and promotion of mistrust) and competency (confidence, skills, general stress, and call to action stress) on youth internalizing outcomes, as well as whether RS content and competency indirectly links parental worries about racial profiling with youth internalizing symptoms. Parental worries were positively related to greater RS content across domains and child internalizing symptoms, but there were no indirect links. Parents' worries about racial profiling were positively associated with more call to action stress, general stress, and youth internalizing symptoms. RS confidence and general stress were associated with fewer and greater internalizing symptoms, but there were similarly no significant indirect effects. Findings speak to supporting and addressing parental stress in the context of family racial worries and child adjustment and have implications for policy efforts to dismantle racism and fund programs that support youth and caregivers in managing the ongoing consequences of this insidious stressor.

Becoming a parent is a highly anticipated milestone for many couples, yet previous research suggests that most couples experience a sharp decline in romantic satisfaction. However, there are few virtual, group-based couples prevention programs for first-time parents. The present study examined the feasibility and effectiveness of a newly developed prevention program for the journey to parenthood, the Partners Now Parents program. Sixty-six racially and socioeconomically diverse expecting parents (33 couples) participated in this small, pilot examination. Seventeen couples were assigned to receive five teletherapy prevention program sessions over the course of the perinatal period, and 16 couples were assigned to an active control group receiving psychoeducation via email. We found a less steep decline in romantic satisfaction for those in the prevention program as compared to the active control group. The findings suggest that the prevention program is feasible, effective, and favorably received by participants. Prevention programs for expecting parents offer entry into mental health support with reduced mental health stigma when couples may be most open to change as they prepare for parenthood.

Family caregivers of older adults are at risk of high care burden and reduced quality of life. Existing research and practices had primarily focused on the caregiving dyad. However, it is often observed that multiple family members are involved in caregiving for older adults. We applied family stress theory to understand family caregiving and examined how care demands, resources, and perceptions are associated with and predict caregiver well-being. Participants in this study were low-income family caregivers who received caregiver allowance and provided care for an older adult with care needs in the community in Hong Kong. Two waves of data, including baseline data from 358 caregivers and 2-year follow-up data from a subsample of 93 caregivers, were collected. We used hierarchical regression to predict care burden and quality of life at baseline and follow-up, respectively, by care demands, resources, and perceptions after controlling for the context of care. Results show that additional caregiving roles, quality of relationship with the older adult, and satisfaction with family support were associated with care burden and quality of life at baseline. Predictors of lower care burden at 2-year follow-up were discontinuation of additional caregiving roles, increase in size of caregiving family, and the use of domestic helper. Applying family stress theory to understand the caregiving process reveals the significance of additional caregiving roles, the involvement of multiple caregivers, and caregivers' perceptions about family support in enhancing caregiver well-being, underscoring the need to focus on these factors when designing and implementing caregiver support services.

Family therapy was introduced in South Korea in the 1970s and has been extensively applied in clinical and academic settings. However, despite the efficacy of using family therapy models from the United States for Korean families, existing models are unable to fully capture the nuances of the Korean family culture, limiting their full potential to help families in crises. Based on observations and counseling of over 1500 families in Korea, this paper presents a theoretical and clinical foundation, namely, the Korean Integrative Family Therapy Model. After briefly introducing the historical development of family therapy in Korea, this paper offers a conceptual background for the Korean Integrative Family Therapy Model and two examples of the treatment process of the Korean Integrative Family Therapy Model. Models of family therapy developed in one cultural context can provide a strong foundation to guide family therapists around the globe, however local knowledge and expertise can be utilized to ensure optimal relevance and effectiveness.

Parent–child relationship quality has critical implications for parental emotional well-being across the lifespan. The present study assessed how relationship quality is related to daily encounters between parents and children, how those encounters are linked with parents' mood, and how these associations vary by age. Participants (N = 129, ages 33–91) reported baseline relationship quality with a total of 337 children (ages 1–69). In ecological momentary assessments, participants reported encounters with their children and their mood every 3 h for 4 days (N = 2220). Analyses revealed that relationship quality was not associated with whether parents had contact with their children. More negative relationship quality was positively associated with unpleasant encounters and negatively associated with pleasant encounters with children. Pleasant encounters with a child were associated with a more positive mood regardless of relationship quality. Unpleasant encounters were associated with a more negative mood, particularly when parents had a more negative relationship with their children. These associations varied significantly by age. Parents were more likely to have contact with more irritating adolescent children than less irritating adolescents and were less likely to have unpleasant encounters with children in emerging adulthood compared to childhood. Older parents' moods were not as strongly associated with unpleasant encounters, though the likelihood of experiencing unpleasant encounters was more closely tied to relationship quality for older parents than younger parents. These findings have important implications for understanding the relationship between family conflict and emotional well-being across the life course.