This investigation explored relationships between parenting stress, dyadic adjustment, and social support in families with normal healthy infants of 18 months of age. It was expected that parenting stress would be high when social support was absent and that this would be related to poor marital relationships. Participants were 34 families…

The project, Extending Family Resources, was designed to assess the impact on 14 families of raising children with handicapping conditions and to implement a model program to reduce obstacles facing those families. The model emphasized incorporating under-involved relatives, friends, and neighbors into the family's support network. Performance…

The study compared the self-concepts of siblings of handicapped children with norms and examined mediators for this personality variable. Thirty-four siblings of handicapped children (2-15 years old) from the United States and Canada completed a children's self-concept scale while their parents filled out two questionnaires: one on parental…

The experience of consultants in a pediatric hospital indicates that infant failure to thrive is almost always associated with strain in the relationships of the infant's caregivers. Consequently, a nontraditional, long-term, home-based, and family-centered model of evaluation and treatment of failure to thrive has been developed which involves…

This study was designed to enhance understanding of individuals' and couples' emotional regulation processes, and the psychological mechanisms that connect work and family spheres for men and women. Forty-three couples and their eldest child participated in this study. On three consecutive days the parents completed several measures of work stress…

To examine the effects of hearing impairment on the family, questionnaires were completed by 358 mothers and 184 fathers of hearing impaired children enrolled in special education. Questionnaires measured three areas: (1) family stress; (2) communication with the hearing-impaired child; and (3) relationships with professionals and others outside…

Researchers have pointed out that the effects of generic stressors such as poverty may be mediated through other stressors in the microsystem of parent-child relationships or personal characteristics of family members. Specific, potential mediating stressors were sought in this study involving 191 low income Moslem families who had immigrated from…

This study examined the underlying common origins of pediatric social illnesses (i.e., child abuse and neglect, failure to thrive, accidents, and poisonings) in children under age 4. Subjects were 560 children admitted to the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston. Children admitted with pediatric social diagnoses were matched on the basis…

Effects of children's diagnosis, setting of intervention, and involvement in parent education groups on families of 85 parents of handicapped children were investigated. Significant results were found regarding reported parent-child interaction, early intervention program suggestions, family stress, and both formal and informal family support…

This paper summarizes data and experience with child abuse pertinent to child health practice. It goal is to foster sound and rational medical management. Because of the complex origins of child abuse, however, and of the institutional and social changes which shall have to accompany excellent practice if child abuse is effectively to be treated…

This study examines changes in parents' marriages following older-child adoption, using in-depth interviews with seven couples prior to and following placement. The interviews indicated that parents' experiences followed similar patterns. Children's acting-out behavior and their ability to exploit parents' vulnerabilities placed stress on the…

The paper examines culturally specific values among low socioeconomic blacks which influence their response to a disabled or high risk child within the family. First is the extended family and the dependence on family rather than on social agencies for assistance in child care and support. The second cultural characteristic, the overall openness…

Recent developments in family stress and coping research and a review of data and observations of families in a war-induced crisis situation led to an investigation of the relationship between a stressor and family outcomes. The study, based on the Double ABCX Model in which A (the stressor event) interacts with B (the family's crisis-meeting…

The paper looks at the effect of a handicapped child on the family; the effectiveness of providing supportive assistance to such families; and strategies, techniques, or models for providing aid. The complexity of a parent's reactions to the birth of a handicapped child is pointed out, and family characteristics (such as poor health of the mother)…

This paper presents a problem-solving process for stress management, which is based on the premise that the ability to manage stress is a survival skill necessary for parents if they are to provide a home environment conducive to children's social, emotional, and mental growth. The materials delineate a four-stage model for the: (1) identification…