Mothers, Fathers, Families, and Circumstances: Factors Affecting Children's Adjustment

Fathers Matter Too: Investigating Their Role with the P-CRS

BACKGROUND

The development of children is shaped by a complex interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors, yet the role of fathers remains underrepresented in research. This study contributes to addressing this gap by examining paternal involvement through the Parent-Child Relationship Scale (P-CRS), an observational tool previously validated for mother-child interactions.

METHODS

The sample included 204 father-child dyads, with children aged 6 months to 5 years (mean age: 43.3 months), encompassing both clinical and non-clinical groups. Experienced clinicians conducted in vivo observations across 4-5 sessions, scoring interactions along three dimensions: parent, child, and interaction.

RESULTS

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) validated the P-CRS's applicability to father-child relationships, confirming its psychometric robustness and alignment with the factors observed in mother-child dyads.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight the unique and complementary role of fathers in shaping developmental trajectories and underscore the importance of incorporating fathers in parenting interventions and assessments. Additionally, they demonstrate the P-CRS's effectiveness in capturing the nuanced dynamics of early parent-child relationships. Future research should investigate longitudinal differences in parental roles and expand the P-CRS's application to diverse family structures.

Family Structure, Family Transitions, and Child Overweight and Obesity: Comparing Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States

Growing rates of childhood obesity globally create concern for individuals' health outcomes and demands on health systems. While many policy approaches focus on macro-level interventions, we examine how the type of stability of a family structure might provide opportunities for policy interventions at the micro level. We examine the association between family structure trajectories and childhood overweight and obesity across three Anglophone countries using an expanded set of eight family structure categories that capture biological relationships and instability, along with potential explanatory variables that might vary across family trajectories and provide opportunities for intervention, including access to resources, family stressors, family structure selectivity factors, and obesogenic correlates. We use three datasets that are representative of children born around the year 2000 and aged 11 years old in Australia (n = 3329), the United Kingdom (n = 11,542), and the United States (n = 8837) and nested multivariate multinomial logistic regression models. Our analyses find stronger relationships between child overweight and obesity and family structure trajectories than between child obesity and obesogenic factors. Children in all three countries are sensitive to living with cohabiting parents, although in Australia, this is limited to children whose parents have been cohabiting since before their birth. In the UK and US, parents starting their cohabitation after the child's birth are more likely to have children who experience obesity. Despite a few differences across cross-cultural contexts, most of the relationship between family structures and child overweight or obesity is connected to differences in families' access to resources and by the types of parents who enter into these family structures. These findings suggest policy interventions at the family level that focus on potential parents' education and career prospects and on income support rather than interventions like marriage incentives.

Parental psychological control and children's self-esteem: A longitudinal investigation in children with and without oppositional defiant problems

Oppositional defiant problems are among the most prevalent psychological problems among children and adolescents from China and across the world. Still little is understood about how self-esteem, in conjunction with parenting experiences, develops in children with oppositional defiant problems. We addressed this gap of knowledge in a two-year longitudinal study. Specifically, we explored how parental psychological control predicts children's self-esteem levels over time, and in turn, how children's self-esteem levels predict parental psychological control. We collected data in Chinese children (ages 8 to 13 at T1) with (N = 224) and without (N = 217) oppositional defiant problems, and tested three-wave cross-lagged panel models. Multigroup analyses showed that the associations between parental psychological control and children's self-esteem were the same for children with and without oppositional defiant problems. Results for the total sample revealed bi-directional associations between maternal psychological control and children's self-esteem. Children who perceived more psychological control from their mothers were likely to exhibit lower self-esteem over time, and vice versa, children with lower self-esteem were likely to perceive more maternal psychological control over time. Conversely, a unidirectional paternal effect was observed in father-child dyads. Our findings help understand the parent-child dynamics that shape the psychological development of children with oppositional defiant problems.

Exploring the intersection of gender identity and homoparental family structure: Implications for educational, family and personal well-being in Spanish students

This study explores the relationship among self-perceived gender, family type (heteroparental or homoparental) and socioeconomic factors concerning various educational, family and personal well-being domains. The data are derived from a large sample of 69,088 students from 465 schools (65% public; 35% private or semi-private) in Spain. Five separate multi-level generalized mixed (logistic or linear) regression models were calculated. Key findings include that non-binary students from homoparental families reported lower evaluations in multiple dimensions, suggesting the need for additional support. Likewise, students from homoparental families exhibited lower personal well-being and family relationship assessments, possibly due to perceived social stigmatization and peer bullying. This study sheds light on the complexities of gender identity and family type in educational settings, emphasizing the importance of addressing these issues for students' well-being and academic success.

Parental positive affect and negative affect in same- and different-sex parent families: no associations with parental gender and caregiving role

Positive and negative parental affect influence developing parent-child attachment relationships, especially during infancy as well as children's social-emotional, academic, and behavioral functioning later in life. Increasingly, because both mothers and fathers can play central caregiving roles, the parenting qualities of both parents demand consideration. Therefore, this study investigated whether parental gender and caregiving role were associated with mothers' and fathers' positive affect and negative affect during interactions with their 4-month-old firstborn infant, while determining whether parenting stress, infant temperament, having a singleton/twin, and living in the Netherlands, France, or the United Kingdom were related to parental positive affect and negative affect. In all, 135 different-sex, same-sex male, and same-sex female couples (113 fathers and 157 mothers, comprising 147 primary, and 123 secondary caregivers) who conceived through artificial reproductive techniques were studied. The couples were videorecorded at home while in feeding, cleaning, and playing contexts to assess the levels of positive and negative parental affect. In addition, the couples completed questionnaires about their caregiving role, parenting stress, and the infants' temperament. Mixed linear models indicated that the levels of positive and negative parental affect toward the infant in all contexts were not related to parental gender, caregiving role, the interaction between parental gender and caregiving role, parenting stress, infant temperament, or singleton/twin status. However, the target parental behaviors were related to the country of origin, suggesting differences among Dutch, French, and British parents. Overall, we found no evidence that gender or caregiving roles were associated with the levels of positive and negative affect shown by the parents.

Prospective within-family bidirectional effects between parental emotion socialization practices and Chinese adolescents' psychosocial adjustment

Previous research indicates that parental emotion socialization (ES) practices play important roles in adolescents' social and emotional development. However, longitudinal studies testing bidirectional effects are relatively scarce. Additionally, most studies have focused on people from Western societies. In the current 3-year, multi-informant, longitudinal study of Chinese adolescents and their parents, we investigated prospective bidirectional effects between parental positive ES practices and adolescents' psychosocial adjustment (i.e., self-esteem and depressive symptoms). Adolescents (N = 710 at T1, 50% boys, Mage = 12.41, SD = 0.59) reported on parental positive ES practices and their own depressive symptoms and self-esteem when they were in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. Mothers and fathers reported on their own use of positive ES practices at all three time points. We utilized a random intercept cross-lagged panel model to examine between- and within-family effects. Overall results showed robust effects of adolescent depressive symptoms on parental positive ES practices and bidirectional effects between parental ES and adolescent self-esteem. Effects differed by informants whether using adolescent-perceived data, or mother- or father-reported data. However, these child effects and bidirectional effects did not differ by adolescent sex. Our findings add to the understanding of parental ES and adolescent psychosocial adjustment.

Parental control and adolescent internet addiction: the moderating effect of parent-child relationships

Introduction

The present study investigated how maternal and paternal controls, including behavioral and psychological controls, predict adolescent Internet addiction, as well as the potential moderating effects of adolescent gender and parent-child relationships on the predictions.

Methods

Data were collected from 1,974 Chinese adolescents (age range = 14-22; mean = 16.47; SD = 0.87; 1,099 girls) in Guizhou Province, mainland China in November 2021. Internet addiction was measured using the ten-item Internet Addiction Test developed by Kimberly Young, and Parental control and parent-child relationships were measured by the respective subscales derived from the validated Chinese Parent-Child Subsystem Quality Scale.

Results

Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that after the covariates were statistically controlled, both parents' behavioral controls showed significant negative predictions on adolescent Internet addiction, while their psychological control tended to positively predict Internet addiction among adolescents, although the effect was only marginal. In addition, the impacts of maternal and paternal controls were equal, and such impacts did not vary between sons and daughters. While adolescent gender was not a significant moderator, the parent-child relationship quality significantly moderated the effects of paternal behavioral control, paternal psychological control, and maternal psychological control on adolescents' Internet addiction. Specifically, the prediction of paternal behavioral control was stronger while the effect of paternal and maternal psychological control was weaker among adolescents with a positive father-child relationship than those with a moderate or poor father-child relationship.

Discussion

These findings indicate the protective function of parents' behavioral control and the negative impact of psychological control on the development of adolescent Internet addiction. Further, a positive relationship between the father and the adolescent can strengthen the positive effect of paternal behavioral control and mitigate the negative effects of both parents' psychological controls.

Editorial: Health and Well-Being Related to New Family Forms: Perspectives of Adults, Couples, Children, and Professionals

The aim of this Special Issue is to advance our understanding of the factors that shape the experience, well-being, and mental health of individuals on their path to creating new family forms, including adults and children, and to inform the development of policies and practices designed to promote the thriving of these families. This Special Issue contains a collection of 13 papers that shed light on a range of micro- and macro-level factors contributing to the experience and outcomes of members of new family forms from various countries, such as the UK, Israel, Italy, China, Portugal, the Netherlands, the US, and Russia. The papers extend the current knowledge on the subject from a variety of perspectives, including medical, psychological, social, and digital communications. Their findings can aid professionals supporting members of new family forms to recognize the similarities and challenges they share with their counterparts in traditional heterosexual two-parent families, as well as their unique needs and strengths. They may also encourage policymakers to promote laws and policies designed to address the cultural, legal, and institutional constraints facing these families. Based on the overall picture that emerges from this Special Issue, we suggest valuable avenues for future research.

Long-Term Effects of Family Resilience on the Subjective Well-Being of Offspring in the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study

The current study used a family resilience approach to investigate why some offspring of sexual minority parents thrive despite homophobic stigmatization while others do not. Specifically, the study explored the role of two specific family functioning mechanisms (i.e., during adolescence, disclosure of offspring's personal life to their parents, and family compatibility) in the association between experienced homophobic stigmatization at age 17 and subjective well-being at age 25, among 71 offspring (37 females and 34 males, all cisgender) of the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS). The results showed that, overall, the offspring reported healthy subjective well-being as emerging adults. However, among NLLFS offspring with less family compatibility as adolescents, homophobic stigmatization was related to higher scores on negative affect when they were emerging adults. Psychological counseling that supports adolescent-parent communication may help prevent the negative effect of homophobic stigmatization on the subjective well-being of offspring with sexual minority parents.

Family outcome disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual families: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The number of children in sexual minority parent families has increased. This systematic review aims to synthesise the evidence of disparities in family outcomes between sexual minority and heterosexual families and to identify specific social risk factors of poor family outcomes.

METHODS

We systematically searched PubMed, the Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Library and APA PsycNet for original studies that compared family outcomes between sexual minority and heterosexual families. Two reviewers independently selected studies and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Narrative synthesis and meta-analysis were conducted to synthesise evidence.

RESULTS

Thirty-four articles were included. The narrative synthesis results revealed several significant findings for children's gender role behaviour and gender identity/sexual orientation outcomes. Overall, 16 of 34 studies were included in the meta-analyses. The quantitative synthesis results suggested that sexual minority families may perform better in children's psychological adjustment and parent-child relationship than heterosexual families (standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.13, 95% CI -0.20 to -0.05; SMD 0.13, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.20), but not couple relationship satisfaction (SMD 0.26, 95% CI -0.13 to 0.64), parental mental health (SMD 0.00, 95% CI -0.16 to 0.16), parenting stress (SMD 0.01, 95% CI -0.20 to 0.22) or family functioning (SMD 0.18, 95% CI -0.11 to 0.46).

CONCLUSION

Most of the family outcomes are similar between sexual minority and heterosexual families, and sexual minority families have even better outcomes in some domains. Relevant social risk factors of poor family outcomes included stigma and discrimination, poor social support and marital status, etc. The next step is to integrate multiple aspects of support and multilevel interventions to reduce the adverse effects on family outcomes with a long-term goal of influencing policy and law making for better services to individuals, families, communities and schools.

Family Structure and Child Behavior Problems in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States

A large body of literature suggests that children living with two married, biological parents on average have fewer behavior problems than those who do not. What is less clear is why this occurs. Competing theories suggest that resource deficiencies and parental selectivity play a part. We suggest that examining different contexts can help adjudicate among different theoretical explanations as to how family structure relates to child behavior problems. In this paper, we use data from the Growing Up in Australia: Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), and the US Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K) to examine the relationship between family structure and child behavior problems. Specifically, we look at how living in several configurations of biological and social parents may relate to child behavior problems. Findings suggest both similarities and differences across the three settings, with explanations in the UK results favoring selectivity theories, US patterns suggesting that there is a unique quality to family structure that can explain outcomes, and the Australian results favoring resource theories.

What Decides the Well-Being of the Relationship between Parents and Adolescents

The literature indicates a variety of factors that contribute to adolescent well-being: among these, the parent-adolescent relationship has a key role. The present article offered an overview of studies on parent-adolescent relationships across diverse family forms, not limited to the traditional family but also including "non-traditional" and "modern" families. To do so, this article described the evolution of the concept of family over the last fifty years and traced the significant family variables that guarantee adolescent well-being. Additionally, this article discussed the changes that occurred in family research, shifting from studies that considered only the family structure to more recent studies that investigated family processes and contextual factors. Overall, the reviewed studies indicated that the quality of parent-adolescent relationship, the interparental conflict and the consequent spillover effect on the child subsystem, and the changes in the economic situation following parental separation/divorce override the effect of the family structure. Finally, this article pointed out the need to examine, in the future research, adolescent well-being across diverse families by adopting more fine-grained methodologies, collecting data from the entire family system, and using a multi-method assessment to obtain a more ecological view of family complexity.

A Systematic Review on Foster Parents' Psychological Adjustment and Parenting Style-An Evaluation of Foster Parents and Foster Children Variables

The current systematic review aimed to evaluate the variables influencing foster parents’ parenting stress, distress and parenting style, thereby supporting their adjustment and well-being as well as that of foster children. A PRISMA-guided search was conducted in three databases. Observational studies examining parenting stress, parenting distress (subsuming anxiety, depression and stress symptoms) and parenting style—all assessed through validated tools—were considered. A total of 16 studies were included, comprising N = 1794 non-relative foster parents (age range = 30–67 years). Results showed heightened parenting stress over time, both overall and compared to parents at large. Neither foster parents’ nor foster children’s socio-demographic characteristics significantly contributed to the increase in parenting stress; yet child-related stress and children’s externalizing problems were its main predictors. Foster parents’ couple cooperation was associated with reduced parenting stress. Moreover, the authoritative parenting style was associated with parental warmth, while the authoritarian style was associated with foster parents’ greater perceived burden, greater criticism and rejection toward the foster child. Evidence supports the mutual influence between foster parents and children. Foster care services should support foster parents’ needs within a concentric modular system, to ultimately provide better care for both foster parents and children.

Different Placement Practices for Different Families? Children's Adjustment in LGH Adoptive Families

Objective

The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of children placed with lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adopters, and to examine children’s problem behaviors and positive psychosocial adjustment across the three family types.

Background

There is evidence that children with hard-to-place profiles may be more likely to be matched with lesbian and gay parents. In addition, children adopted from care face greater developmental difficulties than children raised by their birth families, although adoptive parents may buffer the negative effects of early adversity on their children’s psychosocial adjustment.

Method

A final sample of 149 adoptive families from across the United Kingdom was recruited: 71 heterosexual parented, 39 lesbian parented, and 39 gay parented.

Results

The results showed that gay and lesbian parents were more likely than heterosexual parents to be matched with hard-to-place children, partially because they were more open to being matched with children with hard-to-place profiles. However, no differences among the three family types on children’s psychosocial adjustment were found, when controlling for children’s early adversity.

Conclusion

Adopted children displayed similar levels of problem behaviors and positive adjustment in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parented families. Early adversity and having a physical problem/disability accounted for much of the variance in problem behaviors whereas parenting did not. In contrast, it was suggested that parenting processes, namely, parental closeness, may help to explain children’s positive adjustment.

Maternal and paternal psychological control and adolescents' negative adjustment: A dyadic longitudinal study in three countries

Psychological Control (PC) interferes with autonomy-related processes in adolescence and has a negative impact on adolescents’ development related to internalizing and externalizing problems. Several scholars suggested that PC can be used differently by mothers and fathers. However, these differences are still understudied and mainly grounded on maternal and/or adolescents’ perspectives, leading to potentially incomplete inferences on the effects of PC. The present study extends previous research on PC in two directions. First, we tested the dyadic and cumulative effects of maternal and paternal PC on adolescents’ antisocial behaviors and anxious-depressive symptoms. Secondly, we explored the cross-cultural generalizability of these associations in three countries: Italy, Colombia, and USA. Participants included 376 families with data from three consecutive years (T1, adolescents’ age = 13.70). Mothers’ and fathers’ reports of PC and youth’s reports of antisocial and internalizing behaviors were assessed. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) we found that maternal PC predicted adolescents’ reported antisocial behaviors whereas paternal PC predicted lower anxious-depressed symptoms. Comparisons across countries evidenced the cross-cultural invariance of the longitudinal APIM across Italy, Colombia, and USA. The practical implications of these results are discussed.

Academic Achievement of Children in Same- and Different-Sex-Parented Families: A Population-Level Analysis of Linked Administrative Data From the Netherlands

Although numerous studies have examined how children raised in same-sex-parented families fare relative to children in different-sex-parented families, this body of work suffers from major methodological shortcomings. By leveraging linked administrative data from several population registers from the Netherlands covering the 2006-2018 period (n = 1,454,577), we overcome most methodological limitations affecting earlier research. The unique features of the data include complete population coverage, reliable identification of same-sex-parented families, a large number of children in same-sex-parented families (n = 3,006), multiple objective and verifiable educational outcomes, and detailed measures of family dynamics over children's entire life courses. The results indicate that children in same-sex-parented families outperform children in different-sex-parented families on multiple indicators of academic performance, including standardized tests scores, high school graduation rates, and college enrollment. Such advantages extend to both male and female children, and are more pronounced among children in female than male same-sex-parented families. These findings challenge deficit models of same-sex parenting.

Single mothers by choice: Parenting and child adjustment in middle childhood

Findings are presented of the second phase of a longitudinal study of families created by single mothers by choice. Forty-four single heterosexual mothers were compared with 37 partnered heterosexual mothers, all with a donor-conceived child aged around 8-10 years. Standardized interview, observational, and questionnaire measures of maternal wellbeing, mother-child relationships and child adjustment were administered to mothers, children, and teachers. There were no differences in maternal mental health, the quality of mother-child relationships or children's emotional and behavioral problems between family types. However, higher levels of parenting stress and higher levels of children's prior adjustment difficulties were each associated with children's adjustment difficulties in middle childhood irrespective of family type. The findings suggest that the presence of two parents-or of a male parent-is not essential for children to flourish, and add to the growing body of evidence that family structure is less influential in children's adjustment than the quality of family relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Adoptive Gay Father Families: A Longitudinal Study of Children's Adjustment at Early Adolescence

Findings are presented from the second phase of a UK longitudinal study of 33 gay father, 35 lesbian mother, and 43 heterosexual parent families when their adopted children reached early adolescence. Participants predominantly lived in urban/suburban areas and were mostly white and well-educated. Standardized interviews, observations, and questionnaires of parental mental health, parent-child relationships, and adolescent adjustment were administered to parents, children, and teachers between 2016 and 2018. There were few differences between family types. However, adjustment problems had increased in all family types, with better parenting quality and parental mental health associated with fewer adjustment problems. The findings contribute to adoption policy and practice, and to theoretical understanding of the role of parental gender in child development.

Children with Trans Parents: Parent-Child Relationship Quality and Psychological Well-being

Objective. Families with trans parents are an increasingly visible family form, yet little is known about parenting and child outcomes in these families. This exploratory study offers the first quantitative assessment of parent-child relationship quality and child socio-emotional and behavioral adjustment in families with a self-identified trans parent with school-aged children. Design. A sample of 35 families (37 trans parents, 13 partners, and 25 children aged 8-18 years) was recruited primarily through social media. Parents, children, and teachers were administered a range of standardized interview and questionnaire assessments of parent-child relationship quality, quality of parenting, psychological adjustment, and gender-related minority stress. Results. Parents and children had good quality relationships, as assessed by both parents and children, and children showed good psychological adjustment. Child age at the time the parent communicated their gender identity to the child was unrelated to child outcomes. Conclusions. Parents and children in trans parent families had good quality relationships and children showed good psychological adjustment. The findings of this exploratory study challenge commonly held concerns about the potentially negative effects on children of growing up with a trans parent.

Stigma Experiences, Mental Health, Perceived Parenting Competence, and Parent-Child Relationships Among Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive Parents in the United States

Adoptive parents often face stigma related to "non-traditional" family structures. Lesbian and gay (LG) adoptive parents often face additional stigmatization based on sexual identity, which in turn may negatively affect parents' mental health. Despite controversy about LG parenting, research demonstrates that family processes are more strongly associated with individual outcomes than family structure. Thus, family systems and minority stress theories provided our conceptual foundation in examining how adoptive LG parents' stigma experiences were associated with mental health, parenting competence, and parent-child relationships. Participating families (N = 106; n = 56 LG parent families) were originally recruited from five US domestic private infant adoption agencies and completed two waves of data collection (W1, W2; 91% retention) when children were preschool-age (M age = 3.01 years) and school-age (M age = 8.36 years), respectively. Data for the current study are largely drawn from W2. Via Qualtrics, parents completed assessments of mental health symptoms, adoption stigma, and perceived childcare competence. LG parents also reported on their experiences of homonegative microaggressions, and children responded to a measure about their relationships with parents. No significant differences emerged as a function of parental sexual orientation and gender except that lesbian mothers, heterosexual mothers, and gay fathers all reported higher parenting competence than heterosexual fathers. Although parents' mental health did not significantly predict parent-child relationship quality, parents' perceived competence and LG parents' current homonegative microaggression experiences did (e.g., greater competence, greater closeness; more microaggressions, lower closeness). Consistent with our conceptual framework, our results-derived from parent and child reports-demonstrate that although adoptive and LG parent families experience stigma, family processes (rather than structure) are most associated with individual outcomes. Researchers, policy makers, and practitioners should work together to employ identity-affirming practices to reduce stigma and support adoptive family functioning and well-being.

The role of family structure and parenting in first year university adjustment

The first year of university creates new experiences and challenges for first years and lays the foundation for the subsequent years of study. This first year has implications for academic development, mental health, and well-being of students and subsequently student retention. The majority of South African university students stay within their familial home unlike their international counterparts. The family may therefore play a contributory role in adjustment to university but this role is somewhat unclear. The current study therefore aimed to establish the associations between university adjustments of first year students, family structure, and parenting. The study employed a cross-sectional design, with a sample of 556 first year undergraduate students at a South African university. The data were collected using an electronic self-administered questionnaire on a secure online platform using the Perceived Parental Autonomy Support Scale and the College Adaptation Questionnaire. Data analysis included hierarchical regression analyses and one-way analyses of variance to determine and compare the relationships between the variables. The results suggest that students from two-parent families were more adjusted than those from one-parent families. Autonomy-supportive parenting predicted positive university adjustment for the total sample, but only maternal autonomy-supportive parenting predicted good adjustment for students in two-parent families. This study highlights the potential role parents and families may play in the adjustment of first year students to university. This is particularly relevant in South Africa where many students are first-generation students, are challenged in transitioning to university, and this may have subsequent mental health–related challenges.

Same-Sex and Different-Sex Parent Families in Italy: Is Parents' Sexual Orientation Associated with Child Health Outcomes and Parental Dimensions?

OBJECTIVE

Seventy gay fathers through surrogacy, 125 lesbian mothers through donor insemination, and 195 heterosexual parents through spontaneous conception, all with children aged 3 to 11 years and living in Italy, were compared on children's psychological adjustment and prosocial behavior, as well as parental self-efficacy, dyadic adjustment, family cohesion, and flexibility. Associations among family structures, family processes, and child health outcomes were also tested.

METHODS

Participants were matched for child characteristics. Self-report questionnaires were administered through an online survey to the parent who identified as most involved with the child on a day-to-day basis. Multivariate analyses of variance and multiple linear regressions were conducted.

RESULTS

Children of gay fathers and lesbian mothers were reported as showing fewer psychological problems than children of heterosexual parents. Irrespective of the family type, girls were reported as more prosocial than boys. With respect to parental dimensions, gay fathers described themselves as more competent and satisfied with their couple relationship than did heterosexual parents; they also reported higher levels of family cohesion and flexibility than did lesbian mothers and heterosexual parents. The effect of the family type was not predictive of child health outcomes once family process variables were taken into account.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggested that children with same-sex parents fare well both in terms of psychological adjustment and prosocial behavior. The present study warns policy makers against making assumptions on the basis of sexual orientation about people who are more suited than others to be parents or about people who should or should not be denied access to fertility treatments.

Socio-demographic Correlates of Fathers' and Mothers' Parenting Behaviors

In the present study, we investigated whether fathers' and mothers' parenting behavior is differentially related to parental factors (such as age and employment), child factors (age and gender) as well as social support. Parents reported on their use of a broad range of parenting behaviors, including affection, responsivity, explaining, autonomy, support, rewarding, and punishing. We used survey data from the Netherlands for 1197 mothers and 903 fathers of children aged 2 to 17. Seemingly unrelated regression analyses were conducted to combine the regression results on the separate subsamples (fathers and mothers) and to test for differences in the coefficients between those subsamples. Our expectation that the parenting behavior of fathers is more dependent on parents' characteristics, children's characteristics, and social support than that of mothers was only partly confirmed by the results of our analysis. In general, our results suggest that fathers' parenting behaviors seem to be associated with parental and child characteristics and contextual factors in ways that are similar to how these factors are associated with mothers' parenting behaviors. Results are discussed in relation to the roles and expectations associated with motherhood and fatherhood.

"I am Your Mother and Your Father!" In Vitro Derived Gametes and the Ethics of Solo Reproduction

In this paper, we will discuss the prospect of human reproduction achieved with gametes originating from only one person. According to statements by a minority of scientists working on the generation of gametes in vitro, it may become possible to create eggs from men's non-reproductive cells and sperm from women's. This would enable, at least in principle, the creation of an embryo from cells obtained from only one individual: 'solo reproduction'. We will consider what might motivate people to reproduce in this way, and the implications that solo reproduction might have for ethics and policy. We suggest that such an innovation is unlikely to revolutionise reproduction and parenting. Indeed, in some respects it is less revolutionary than in vitro fertilisation as a whole. Furthermore, we show that solo reproduction with in vitro created gametes is not necessarily any more ethically problematic than gamete donation-and probably less so. Where appropriate, we draw parallels with the debate surrounding reproductive cloning. We note that solo reproduction may serve to perpetuate reductive geneticised accounts of reproduction, and that this may indeed be ethically questionable. However, in this it is not unique among other technologies of assisted reproduction, many of which focus on genetic transmission. It is for this reason that a ban on solo reproduction might be inconsistent with continuing to permit other kinds of reproduction that also bear the potential to strengthen attachment to a geneticised account of reproduction. Our claim is that there are at least as good reasons to pursue research towards enabling solo reproduction, and eventually to introduce solo reproduction as an option for fertility treatment, as there are to do so for other infertility related purposes.

Interação e linguagem dirigida a crianças de quinze meses

Resumo Neste estudo são comparadas a interação e a linguagem dirigida aos filhos(as) pelos pais e mães, para analisar as diferenças e semelhanças entre as díades. Para o efeito, foram videogravadas durante uma situação de brincadeira livre 80 díades - 40 crianças (25 meninas e 15 meninos) de 15 meses em interação com os respetivos pai e mãe. Os resultados revelam que não há diferenças significativas na forma de os pais e as mães interagirem com seus filhos e filhas. Contudo, observam-se diferenças na linguagem dirigida às crianças por pais e mães, em particular em comportamentos de nomeação e avaliação positiva. Para além das diferenças são de sublinhar correlação positiva quer na interação, quer na comunicação de pais que coabitam.

Family Structure and Child Health: Does the Sex Composition of Parents Matter?

The children of different-sex married couples appear to be advantaged on a range of outcomes relative to the children of different-sex cohabiting couples. Despite the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States, whether and how this general pattern extends to the children of same-sex married and cohabiting couples is unknown. This study examines this question with nationally representative data from the 2004-2013 pooled National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Results reveal that children in cohabiting households have poorer health outcomes than children in married households regardless of the sex composition of their parents. Children in same-sex and different-sex married households are relatively similar to each other on health outcomes, as are children in same-sex and different-sex cohabiting households. These patterns are not fully explained by socioeconomic differences among the four different types of families. This evidence can inform general debates about family structure and child health as well as policy interventions aiming to reduce child health disparities.

Parenting and Adolescents' Depressive Symptoms: The Mediating Role of Future Time Perspective

This study investigated the relations between maternal and paternal rearing practices and adolescents' depressive symptoms, and whether time perspective in adolescence explains these links. The sample included 306 students (158 girls), aged between 10.83 and 14.42 years. Adolescents completed questionnaires assessing their perceptions of maternal and paternal acceptance and psychological control, and of their future time perspective and depressive symptoms. Adolescents who rated their mothers as more accepting and those who rated their fathers as less psychologically controlling also reported lower levels of depressive symptoms and greater future time perspective. Further, adolescents who had greater future time perspective reported lower levels of depressive symptoms. Finally, time perspective partially mediated the relations of maternal and paternal acceptance, and paternal control with depressive symptoms in adolescence. The findings highlight the unique relations of maternal acceptance and paternal psychological control with adolescents' depressive symptoms, and that future time perspective is one mechanism that might explain why parenting strategies are linked with depressive symptoms in adolescence.

The relationships between father involvement and parental acceptance on the psychological adjustment of children and adolescents: The moderating effects of clinical status

This study analyzes how a child's clinical condition modifies the relationship of father involvement, parental (fathers and mothers) acceptance and the child´s psychological adjustment, including the internalizing and externalizing problems. The cohort studied was composed of 226 subjects (61.94% males) with a mean age of 14.08 years, of which 113 children were from an incidental clinical sample and 113 from the general population. Both groups were matched by sex, age and family status, and the data show that the same structure of parent-child relationships that predict the child´s psychological adjustment can be accepted for both the clinical and non-clinical groups of children. However, the intensity of the relationships between the variables father involvement, parental acceptance and the child´s outcomes differed in function of the child's clinical status. Specifically, in the clinically-referred sample compared to non-clinical sample father involvement had a stronger effect on the children´s internalizing (but not the externalizing) problems and on their global psychological adjustment via their perceived maternal acceptance. The role of father involvement in the family relationships of clinical children is discussed. This study provides important evidence to support the need for enhanced paternal participation in the intervention programs for families.

Theory in Highly Cited Studies of Sexual Minority Parent Families: Variations and Implications

This article includes a systematic review and citation analysis of the literature regarding sexual minority parent families, particularly attending to what theories have been used, and how. We consider the importance of theoretical frameworks for future research and implications for policy, practice, and law related to sexual minority parent families. Our review targets 30 highly cited studies located through Google Scholar (as an interdisciplinary search engine) and published within a specific timeframe (2005-2010). We highlight the dominant theoretical models employed across disciplines studying sexual minority parent families. Although the majority of studies reviewed referred to theoretical models or perspectives, explicit theoretical grounding was frequently lacking. Instead, the empirical work reviewed appeared to have a predominantly applied focus in addressing public debates on sexual minority parent families. We provide recommendations for how theory might be more fully integrated into the social science literature on sexual minority parents and their children.

A Review and Critique of Research on Same-Sex Parenting and Adoption

Are the outcomes for children of gay, lesbian, or bisexual parents in general the same as those for heterosexual parents? That controversial question is discussed here in a detailed review of the social science literature in three parts: (1) stability of same-sex parental relationships, (2) child outcomes, and (3) child outcomes in same-sex adoption. Relationship instability appears to be higher among gay and lesbian parent couples and may be a key mediating factor influencing outcomes for children. With respect to part 2, while parental self-reports usually present few significant differences, social desirability or self-presentation bias may be a confounding factor. While some researchers have tended to conclude that there are no differences whatsoever in terms of child outcomes as a function of parental sexual orientation, such conclusions appear premature in the light of more recent data in which some different outcomes have been observed in a few studies. Studies conducted within the past 10 years that compared child outcomes for children of same-sex and heterosexual adoptive parents were reviewed. Numerous methodological limitations were identified that make it very difficult to make an accurate assessment of the effect of parental sexual orientation across adoptive families. Because of sampling limitations, we still know very little about family functioning among same-sex adoptive families with low or moderate incomes, those with several children, or those with older children, including adolescents or how family functioning may change over time. There remains a need for high-quality research on same-sex families, especially families with gay fathers and with lower income.

The association between characteristics of fathering in infancy and depressive symptoms in adolescence: A UK birth cohort study

Evidence suggests that the quality of fathers' parenting has an impact on psychological outcomes during adolescence, but less is known about which aspects of fathering have the strongest effects. This study, using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), considers which paternal attitudes towards and experiences of child care in infancy are most strongly associated with depressive symptoms in adolescence, and whether father effects are independent of maternal influence and other risk factors. Primary exposures were fathers' attitudes to and experiences of child care at 8 weeks, 8 months and 21 months coded as continuous scores; the primary outcome was self-reported depressive symptoms at 16 years (Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire score ≥11). Multivariable logistic regression models showed reasonably strong evidence that parental reports indicating potential paternal abuse when children were toddlers were associated with a 22% increased odds of depressive symptoms at age 16 (odds ratio [OR] 1.22 [95% CI 1.11, 1.34] per SD). There was some evidence for an interaction with social class (p=0.04): for children living in higher social class households (professional, managerial and technical classes), an increase in the potential abuse scale increased the odds of depressive symptoms by 31% (OR 1.31 [1.13, 1.53] per SD), whereas there was no effect in the lower social class categories. The potential paternal abuse measure needs to be validated and research is needed on what circumstances predict anger and frustration with child care. Effective interventions are needed to help fathers cope better with parenting stress.

The impact of contextual family risks on prisoners' children's behavioural outcomes and the potential protective role of family functioning moderators

Research suggests that children of prisoners have an increased risk for behavioural and emotional problems. However, in a resilience approach, one should expect heterogeneous outcomes and thus apply a contextualized perspective. As this is rarely acknowledged in empirical research, the present study sought to fill this gap using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study on 801 children of imprisoned fathers. We explored the extent to which cumulative family risks measured during the first year of life (e.g., poverty and mental health problems) predicted behavioural outcomes at age 9 and whether potentially protective aspects of family functioning moderated the impact of these risk factors. Cumulative risk significantly predicted behavioural outcomes, but the associations were weak. No strong evidence of moderation was found. At low risk, mother-child closeness moderated behavioural outcomes. There was also some evidence of moderation by accumulated protective factors. Potential implications for policy and practice and challenges for further research are discussed.

Parents' Prenatal Mental Health and Emotional, Behavioral and Social Development in Their Children

This study examines the association between expectant parents' psychological distress and children's development at 36 months old. This is a prospective population study based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study, N = 31,663. Logistic regression models were used to assess whether high scores (cutoff ≥ 2.00) on the symptom checklist-5 in parents predicted higher levels (cutoff ≥ 90 percentile) of developmental problems in their children. The risk of emotional and behavioral problems were significantly increased in children when both parents were affected by psychological distress during pregnancy, fully adjusted OR 2.35 (95% CI 1.36, 4.07) and OR 2.65 (96% CI 1.564.48), respectively. The risk was higher when mothers reported high level of psychological distress than when only the fathers did, but the risk of emotional difficulties in children was highest when both parents presented high levels of psychological distress, indicating an additive effect of parental psychological distress.

Sarantakos's Research on Same-Sex Parenting in Australia and New Zealand: Importance, Substance, and Corroboration with Research from the United States

Sarantakos (1996a) compared teacher ratings and other outcomes for the children of heterosexual married, heterosexual cohabiting, and homosexual parents and reported numerous significant, substantial differences. Few scholars have taken the effect sizes of his results into account or have considered his larger program of research. Sarantakos's research yielded many interesting findings with respect to children's academic performance, sexual orientation, use of alcohol and drugs, sexual deviance, and gender identity with respect to parents' parenting values, relationship stability, conflict, monogamy, and religiosity or moral values, many of which have been corroborated by U.S. or British research. In addition, the methodological quality of his research appears to be at least above average, especially for research done 20 or more years ago. He appears to have been unbiased with respect to same-sex families. His results disseminated via multiple publications should be taken into account in literature reviews concerning same-sex parenting.

Does paternal mental health in pregnancy predict physically aggressive behavior in children?

The aim was to study the association between paternal mental health and physically aggressive behavior in children. This study is based on 19,580 father-child dyads from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Fathers' mental health was assessed by self-report (Symptom Checklist-5, SCL-5) in week 17 or 18 of gestation. Children's behavior (hitting others) was obtained by mothers' reports. A multinomial logistic regression model was performed. Expectant fathers' high level of psychological distress was found to be a significant risk factor only for girls hitting, adjusted OR = 1.46 (1.01-2.12), p = 0.043, but not for boys. High levels of mental distress in fathers predict their daughters' hitting at 5 years of age.

Family context assessment in a public health study

OBJECTIVES

To analyze the factorial structure of a new instrument to assess the quality of the family context (Etxadi-Gangoiti Scale) in a sample from the Gipuzkoa cohort of the Environment and Childhood (Infancia y Medio Ambiente [INMA]) study.

METHODS

Families in a sample of 433 two-year-old children were assessed in a home visit with subsequent analysis of the factorial structure and psychometric properties of the data.

RESULTS

An exploratory factorial analysis (principal axis factoring and varimax rotation) and a confirmatory factorial analysis were carried out; partial confirmation of the original factorial structure of the instrument was obtained, which revealed the following factorial structures. Subscale (1): promotion of cognitive and linguistic development, social skills, psychomotor skills, and pretend play and imitation; subscale (2): promotion of independence and self-esteem, provision of optimal frustration, social and emotional quality of the relationship, and absence of physical punishment; subscale (3): paternal involvement, low exposure to family conflict, low frequency of family conflict, relationship with the extended family, social support, diversity of experiences, low frequency of stressful events, and low parental perception of stress.

DISCUSSION

The structure of the original instrument structure was partially confirmed, which was attributed to the characteristics of the sample. We stress the importance of the variability obtained in the evaluation of the families, as well as of adequate indicators of reliability in such evaluation. The new instrument could be used in public health to identify deficient family contexts and to design preventive interventions focused on parenting skills.

Adoptive gay father families: parent-child relationships and children's psychological adjustment

Findings are presented on a U.K. study of 41 gay father families, 40 lesbian mother families, and 49 heterosexual parent families with an adopted child aged 3-9 years. Standardized interview and observational and questionnaire measures of parental well-being, quality of parent-child relationships, child adjustment, and child sex-typed behavior were administered to parents, children, and teachers. The findings indicated more positive parental well-being and parenting in gay father families compared to heterosexual parent families. Child externalizing problems were greater among children in heterosexual families. Family process variables, particularly parenting stress, rather than family type were found to be predictive of child externalizing problems. The findings contribute to theoretical understanding of the role of parental gender and parental sexual orientation in child development.