Parenting styles that are ……..and ……….promote positive adjustment
flexible and developmentally sensitive
Vygotsky:
Parent sensitivity to child’s signals, emotions, and needs
Vygotsky:
- Scaffolding (idea that parenting support should be targeted right at the level at which the child needs support. Not enough support followed by anger at the child is bad, too much support and not letting the child do anything also bad. Need just the right amount that is non-intrusive.)
- Internalisation (using language talking to the child about what they are doing, the child will internalise an inner voice for self-talk.) (We Internalise advice form teacher etc)
Need to be sensitive and adaptable to the child’s needs.
Boundary dissolution Minuchin (1974)
Clear boundaries in the family are crucial to healthy
psychological development
Children and siblings have their role in the family, parents as a couple, and parent child subsystem (mostly parents responsible for this system working)
A family needs to be adaptive so will seek support from broader social circle like school system. Needs to be permeable to let peers of kids, grandparents, formal supports in.
Boundary problems in the parent-child relationship include:
- Enmeshment (some blurred boundaries exist. Conversly, a disengaged family would be dysfunctional, different to enmeshed. Enmeshed appears from the outside as a close family, at the cost of each individual having independence.) Enmenshed families might be thrown into chaos if an outside variable comes in or if a young adult wanted to leave home etc.)
- Intrusiveness (overly controlling nature to the parental style. Coercive, induce guilt in the kids if they want independence etc)
- Role-reversal (parentification) (Child might take on a caring role for the parent or younger siblings. Taking on those roles when the child is not ready can impede normative development.)
- Spousification (The child is involved in adult conversations and gives parent advice on child caring etc or child going into sexual relationship with a parent. Or spillover from tension from the couple relationship and one of the parents putting hostility onto the child as well. i.e. dad saying to daughter, ugh you’re just like your mother)
Not discreet categories, wouldn’t label a family as enmeshed. Many of these occur at the same time.
Interparental conflict and divorce
Risk factors
- Exposure to conflict (conflicting parents is bad. Of course families who stay together can have insidious conflict, family violence and divoirce can relieve conflict.)
Triangulation
- Bringing the children into the adult conversation where the adults only should be consulted. Child caught in the middle of conflict, child asked to relay messages to the other parent etc.
Parent-child coalition is where there is a child alliance with one parent, alienated from the other parent.
Life stressors (other losses, enter poverty) - young children, adolescents and even adults can lose contact with the other parent's extended family and other family friends. Might need to move house and neighborhoods, schools etc.
- Parent stress, disrupted parenting, disrupted Parent Child relationship
Protective factors
- Coparenting after separation
- Child “resilience” factors (easy temperament, good coping skills)
Single-parent families
- more often mother headed
- more likely to be in poverty or homeless
Doesn’t apply to all single parent families, there is huge variation.
Grandparent headed homes
Sever mental health or drug and alcohol difficulties might mean grandparents take the children.
Parenting for a grandparent taking on that role suddenly might be beneficial but might lead to ongoing conflict with their own child not being able to parent.
The grandchild might also display challenging behaviours or emotional disturbances because of the parents having drug and alcohol issues etc.
Maltreatment and family violence
Home environments that are violent, abusive or neglectful fall outside the “average expectable environment” needed for positive development
Maltreatment implicated in many psychopathologies
Children do not need to be direct victims of abuse in order to be affected, witnessing violence is enough.
Development of Psychopathology:
Family processes
- Overly harsh or lax parenting
- Parental insensitivity
- Inappropriate parent-child boundaries
- Interparental conflict and family dissolution
- Victimisation or exposure to violence in the home
Development in the Social Context peer relations and extra-familial adults.
Peer relations
- Infancy to preschool: play, social skills, empathy
- Middle childhood: social problem solving, acceptance, competence
- Adolescence: identity, independence, there is an increase in the peer influence, child-parent relationship stays positive though. Not a separation.
Extra-familial adults
- Teachers
- Neighbors, family friends
- Sports leaders, etc
Development of Psychopathology:
Social processes
Peer rejection Poor social skills Social problem-solving deficits Negative peer influences Weak or negative attachments to school and extra-familial adults
Development in the Cultural Context Poverty and social class
Ethnic diversity
- Ethnic minority status
- Relationship between ethnicity/culture and poverty/social class
- Acculturation
- Racism and prejudice
- Strengths (e.g., familism)
Cross-cultural norms and Expectations
Australians living in poverty:
“As long as 2.5 million Australians live below the
poverty line, and one out of every four are children…We cannot say the fair go belongs to all”
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, Australia Day, 2016
Indigenous Australians (2011 data; ABS, 2014):
- Homelessness rates for Indigenous Australians 14 ti
mes as high compared to non-Indigenous Australians
- Unemployment rates 17% for Indigenous Australians compared to 5% for non-Indigenous Australians
- Inequality, discrimination, lack of cultural understanding
- Impact of colonisation and government policies
e. g., displacement, separation of families
Correlates of poverty
Environmental
- Violence, models of antisocial and D&A behaviour in neighbourhood
- Crowded, noisy, unsafe, poorly maintained homes
- Reduced access to activities (which reduces access to extra-familial adults such as coaches.)
Parent distress impacting parenting, and parent-child relationship
Development of Psychopathology:
Ethnic processes
- Challenges with acculturation (It is adaptive to keep culture of origin but also to blend in with the new culture.)
- Increased risk of poverty for minority class (
- Racism and prejudice (significant risk factor for children’s mental health). Children that are able to understand racism, and not associate with it, that can be protective).
Familism
In some cultural groups there are extended family networks, which is a protective factor. They can provide support to children and parents.
Cross cultural norms and expectations
Castillo 1997,
Culture-based subjective experience (of health etc)
Culture-based idioms of psychological distress (physical illness when experiencing distress)
Culture-based diagnosis (symptoms all occur)
Culture-based treatments (who are potential healers who can intervene? Where is the disorder, what needs fixing?)
Culture-based outcome (if we don’t pay attention to culture based treatment norms like involving the family, they won’t respond)
Developmental Integration
Contributing factors interact across time to contribute to
developmental pathways
