Child abuse involves more than the use of corporal punishment with a child. Investigators have measured parents' emotional reactivity and attributions in relation to aversive child behavior. A "video recall" procedure has been used for assessing affective responding of adults engaged in marital conflict and has been valid for obtaining…

An investigation was undertaken in an effort to further understand the role of young, traditional dual-parent families. A total of 249 parents were asked to complete the Iowa Parent Behavior Inventory. Responses were categorized into parent involvement, limit setting, responsivity, reasoned guidance, free expression (mothers only), and intimacy.…

This study compared parent stress, family functioning, and social support in 55 families with a developmentally handicapped child (ages 0-7) and 55 families with a nonhandicapped child. Findings indicated that a young handicapped child did induce greater stress in his parents than did a nonhandicapped child. Parents of handicapped children…

Children's responses toward strangers, qualities of mother-child interaction, and maternal stresses were examined in 38 mother-child pairs, with children from single and two-parent families. Responses to female and male strangers were observed in a modified Strange Situation. Mother-child interaction was assessed with a modified version of…

Studies have traced a possible link between patterns of family interaction, faulty socialization, child abuse, and delinquent behavior. Counselors can respond to the needs of society to reduce violence by their access to the research on human development and in their work with families and children. Some types of discipline and parental attitudes…

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…

This paper briefly reviews the two assumptions involved in the use of a stress management approach with parents of the developmentally disabled, i.e., that many parents are subject to high stress and that stress interferes with the person's functioning. A discussion of possible stressors and possible effects of stress are outlined, e.g., health…

This paper presents a clinical-developmental discussion of eight parents with a history of having abused a child and outlines a larger developmental analysis of parental conceptions about children and child rearing which was validated on a broad cross-section of 55 parents. From logical analysis and empirical interview data, four developmental…

The rates of depression among a sample of 75 adolescent mothers were studied in order to investigate the relationship of environmental stress and support to depressive symptomatology and to investigate the relationship between depression and adolescents' interactions with their children. The Stress, Support, and Family Functioning Interview,…

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…

Representing the accumulated expertise of the Spanish Speaking/Surnamed (SS/S) multi-disciplined service provider network, this position paper is designed to focus national, state, and local attention to the Latino/Chicano child abuse and neglect (ca/n) problems and on the bilingual/bicultural resources needed to improve the degree and type of…

The transition to parenthood has been described as both stressful and rewarding. To further clarify attitudes toward parenthood and suggest strategies for enhancing the satisfaction and reducing stress, 819 families responded to a 14-item questionnaire about parents' attitudes. Percent of agreement or disagreement was calculated for each item for…

This paper summarizes the findings of a series of studies on the effects of "ecological variables" on mother-father-sibling-infant interactions. Under consideration were: (1) the effects of stress on the parental preferences of young infants; (2) the effects of the presence of one parent on the interactions within the other parent-infant dyad; (3)…

Educational psychology departments should offer to interested students throughout the university a parent education course stressing child development and the educational process. As a result of declining enrollments in schools of education, professors of educational psychology need to develop new courses applicable to new student populations.…

Language adequacy was coded for 403 toddlers 24 months of age who had received medical and psychological examinations in a Bilan de Sante clinic in Paris, France. The children were from three cultures: native French middle class, immigrant North African Moslem, and immigrant Black African. Demographic, socioeconomic, medical, biological,…