Browsing by Subject "Parent-child relationship"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Family violence exposure and Associated risk factors to child PTSD in a Mexican sample
    (2012-11) Erolin, Kara Sukja
    This dissertation study examines the interactional effects of trauma exposure on parent-child relationships with 87 mother-child dyads from a child maltreatment population in Monterrey, Mexico. The relational impact of trauma on youth is salient given the important role that the parent/caregiver plays in a child's life. Data from four standardized instruments of a larger study piloting an innovative multi-method assessment protocol was examined to gain a cultural and contextual understanding of trauma and family violence exposure and associated risk factors of child PTSD in this sample. Findings indicated high levels of exposure to any potentially traumatic stressor in children and mothers, particularly violence in the home and community. Socioeconomic and sociocultural cultural factors such as poverty, traditional gender role socialization, and excessive community violence were associated with greater PTSD symptomatology in children and mothers in this sample. Results from this study support the need for more family-based research to explore intra- and extrafamilial influences on parent-child relationship and the impact of larger cultural and community factors on the development of PTSD. Implications for families, practitioners, researchers, social institutions within the community and government, and the larger global community are discussed.
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    Parent-child communication in families with children conceived with assisted reproductive technology: associations with disclosure and parent-child relationship quality
    (2014-06) Yang, Yunxi
    Existing research on parental disclosure of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) use to the resultant child has largely neglected the family disclosure context when investigating the impact of disclosure. This study proposed that, in order to fully understand that impact, the disclosure context must be considered. Parent-child communication, as conceptualized in the Family Communication Pattern Theory, was the focus of this study. I examined the associations among parent-child communication, disclosure, and parent-child relationship using data from 51 ART families with children between 7 and 12 years old. Probit regression and path analysis showed that parental listener responsiveness was significantly associated with both disclosure and parent-child relationship quality, but disclosure did not mediate the association between this communication characteristic and parent-child relationship quality. Study finding suggests that ART disclosure may not be associated with parent-child relationship quality for children in this age group and general parent-child communication dynamics remain central to parent-child relationship quality in ART families.
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    Reflective Functioning in a High-Risk, Prospective, Longitudinal Sample: Early Antecedents and Associations with Adult Attachment Representations
    (2021-06) Foster, Rachel
    The construct of reflective functioning (RF)—the ability and propensity of an individual to understand interactions between mental states and behaviors in the self and others—emerged as an attempt to answer some of the gaps in the contemporary attachment theory framework. Despite a growing body of research supporting the role of RF as a mediator between one’s own childhood attachment experiences and observed parenting behaviors with their child, many questions remain. First, it is unclear what contributes to the development of adult RF. Second, it is unclear whether RF provides unique information compared to other operationalizations of adult attachment mental representations, including security. This dissertation project aimed to examine these questions within a prospective, longitudinal study of adults born into poverty. Results did not support the hypothesis that infant attachment security and observed maternal sensitivity would predict RF at age 26. Unexpectedly, results also indicated that RF was more closely associated with concurrent preoccupied and unresolved attachment states of mind than markers of security. A number of interpretations of these results are considered, including potential experimental error and the issue of construct validity. Overall, this dissertation project contributes to the existing literature on RF and highlights the need to continue to empirically test theoretical hypotheses related to RF and attachment theory using diverse, prospective datasets.