Family Process最新文献

Family over-involvement, defined as emotions, thoughts, and behaviors indicating an over-protection of family members and preoccupation with family legacy, is recognized as a unique yet underexplored mechanism in the intergenerational effects of trauma. The study examined the role of family over-involvement in predicting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among Holocaust descendants following the October 7 attack and during the Israel-Hamas War. Using a longitudinal prospective design, Israeli Jew descendants from two generations (second and third generation to those who were living during WWII) completed questionnaires via a web-based survey company a year before the October 7, 2023 attack (W1, 2022, N = 1071) and two and 9 months during the war (W3, December 2023, N = 582, and W4, July 2024, N = 405). Results showed significantly higher levels of family over-involvement (i.e., descendants' efforts to compensate for their ancestors' suffering, shield ancestors from further suffering, and care for family continuation) in Holocaust descendants relative to comparisons. Path analysis showed that family over-involvement mediated the effect of having a Holocaust background on PTSD symptoms in W3 and the effect of having a Holocaust background on PTSD symptoms in W4 via PTSD symptoms in W3. Moderated mediation analysis revealed that the mediation effect of the compensation subscale of family over-involvement was stronger among the second generation relative to the third generation. The findings have crucial implications by highlighting family over-involvement as a unique interpersonal mechanism behind the intergenerational effects of Holocaust trauma, which clinicians should integrate in multi-generational interventions with Holocaust families, particularly when descendants face adversity.

Validation from family members has been found to reduce emotion dysregulation among youth, yet no interventions teach the skill of validation exclusively. This convergent, mixed-methods pilot study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and utility of a single-session virtual validation intervention, as well as its impact on family members' knowledge of validation and perceptions of hope. Thirty-four family members on the waitlist for a Family Connections program in Canada participated in the 2-h intervention. Qualitative feedback supported the feasibility, acceptability and utility of the intervention. Family members highlighted practice exercises and self-validation content as particularly useful. Quantitative analyses indicated a significant increase in applied knowledge of validation and perceptions of hope (p < 0.05). This study offers preliminary evidence that learning validation as a standalone skill may be feasible and helpful for family members of youth experiencing emotion dysregulation and could be a timely way to support those awaiting comprehensive offerings. Further research is needed to explore the role of single-session interventions in family member engagement with long-term programs such as Family Connections.

This study examines the role of differentiation of self (DoS) in the forgiveness process within romantic relationships, focusing on its moderating function between perceived offense severity and post-offense distress. The sample included 591 Spanish participants aged between 18 and 86 years (M = 42.66, SD = 17.06), and data were collected using validated questionnaires. Findings showed that DoS significantly moderates the relationship between offense severity and negative affect, negative cognition, and avoidance/resentment, but not with the positive dimensions of forgiveness (positive affect, benevolence, or positive behavior). Individuals with low levels of DoS experienced higher emotional distress after an offense, whereas those with high levels showed greater emotional regulation and a more realistic perception of the severity of the situation. These results highlight the importance of DoS as a regulatory resource for managing negative emotional responses but not necessarily as a promoter of prosocial attitudes or reconciliation. Results suggest that strengthening DoS in couples may help reduce the emotional burden of interpersonal transgressions. Future research could contribute longitudinal designs and dyadic analyses to capture the dynamic nature of forgiveness in romantic relationships.

The How-to Parenting Program teaches parents how to provide autonomy support, structure, and affiliation, the three components of the parenting style shown to be beneficial for children's mental health. Using a waitlist RCT, we assessed its impact on school-aged children's externalizing and internalizing problems. We also tested whether family composition, participating parents' gender, child age, sex, and baseline mental health modified its effects. Parents (N = 293; 80.20% mothers) were randomly assigned to the French version of the 7-week program or a waitlist condition (i.e., immediate delivery vs. end of study). Parents rated child externalizing and internalizing problems before and after program delivery, as well as 6 and 12 months later. Controlling for unbalanced covariates and baseline levels of problems, multilevel multivariate analyses revealed that compared to the waitlist, the How-to Parenting Program led to greater decreases in children's externalizing problems immediately after program delivery and that this benefit was sustained over at least 6 months. However, decreases in children's internalizing problems were similar across both conditions. Considering this RCT's methodological strengths (e.g., intent-to-treat analyses) and limitations (e.g., intervention diffusion), along with the floor effects inherent to our universal prevention approach, the How-to Parenting Program's benefits, though small in size, indicate that it could prove an effective public mental health prevention strategy.

There is substantial research linking parenting stress to reduced parental self-efficacy; however, the mechanisms under which this process unfolds are less clear. In a longitudinal, dyadic study of 144 parents and their children spanning postpartum to preschool age, we investigated whether dyadic coparenting quality (i.e., how partners work as a team to parent their children) explains the link between parenting stress and a key domain of parental self-efficacy—perceptions of emotion regulation during parenting. The study utilized self-report measures while implementing structural equation modeling (SEM) and actor–partner interdependence modeling (APIM) frameworks. Higher levels of postpartum parenting stress predicted parental perceptions of impaired emotion regulation during parenting interactions with preschoolers through poorer quality coparenting during toddlerhood; however, results suggest that this pathway might be most salient for fathers, and that other unmodeled mechanisms might explain this link for mothers. A partner pathway also emerged such that postpartum parenting stress in one partner undermined parental confidence in regulating emotions during parenting in the other partner by reducing coparenting quality. These findings suggest that coparenting quality may be an essential mechanism driving parental self-efficacy in the domain of emotion regulation, while undermining the importance of understanding what promotes or hinders parental self-efficacy, and how this can be implemented into pre-existing parenting interventions.