EDITORIAL
Toward an integration of family systems and developmental psychopathology approaches
- PATRICK T. DAVIES, DANTE CICCHETTI
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 477-481
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Developmental psychopathology and family systems theory are distinct approaches that have flourished in relative isolation from each other. Contributing to their distinctiveness, important differences exist between the approaches in the primary unit of analysis. Whereas developmental psychopathology commonly focuses on individual development as the main unit of analysis, the whole family unit is the central object of study in family systems approaches. Accordingly, the primary objective of developmental psychopathology is to understand the nature, origins, and sequelae of individual patterns of adaptation and maladaptation over time (Cicchetti, 1993; Sroufe & Rutter, 1984). In contrast, the principal goal in the family systems approach is to achieve a rich characterization of the interplay among relationships and individuals in the whole family unit, with a specific focus on identifying relationship structures, interpersonal boundaries, power distributions, and communication patterns (Cox & Paley, 1997; Minuchin, 1985).
Work on this special issue was supported, in part, by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 57318) awarded to Patrick Davies and grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 45027-01 and MH 45027-06) and the Spunk Fund, Inc. awarded to Dante Cicchetti.
Research Article
The development of family hierarchies and their relation to children's conduct problems
- DANIEL S. SHAW, MICHAEL M. CRISS, MICHAEL A. SCHONBERG, JOY E. BECK
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 483-500
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Despite the intuitive richness of family systems theory, relatively little research has sought to test the validity of constructs theorized to be critical in the development of children's adjustment. One such cornerstone of structural and strategic family therapy is the family hierarchy. The present study investigated both the development of hierarchical structure in families from infancy to late middle childhood and relations between strong hierarchical structure and children's conduct problems. Using structural equation modeling, direct pathways to low hierarchical structure were evident for early caregiving behavior and parent–child conflict, with indirect associations present for parental adjustment, marital functioning, negative child behavior, and ecological disadvantage. In turn, family hierarchies were associated with youth antisocial behavior, an effect that was moderated by ethnic and neighborhood context. The results are discussed in reference to family systems' theory and implications for prevention and intervention.
The research reported in this article was supported by grants to the first author from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 50907 and MH 01666). We are grateful to the staff of the Pitt Mother & Child Project for their years of service and to our study families for making the research possible. We also thank Miles Gilliom and Robert Laird for their assistance on this article.
Exploring marriage–parenting typologies and their contextual antecedents and developmental sequelae
- JAY BELSKY, R. M. PASCO FEARON
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 501-523
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To identify types of families, latent-class analysis was applied to (reported) marriage and (observed) parenting measures obtained during the infancy, toddler, and/or preschool years for 828 two-parent families participating in the NICHD Study of Child Care. Five types of families were identified: Consistently Supportive (i.e., good parenting, good marriage, 15% of sample), Consistently Moderate (i.e., moderate marriage, moderate parenting, 43%), Consistently Risky (i.e., poor parenting, poor marriage, 16%), Good Parenting/Poor Marriage (19%), and Poor Parenting/Good Marriage (7%). When groups were compared in terms of contextual antecedents (measured at child age 1 month) and child cognitive–academic and socioemotional functioning in first grade, results indicated (a) that contextual risks increased linearly and children's functioning decreased linearly as one moved across the first three aforementioned groups; and after controlling for group differences in background factors (b) that children in the Good-Parenting/Poor-Marriage families outperformed those in the Poor Parenting/Good Marriage; (c) that there was evidence of “added value” developmentally when children experienced two sources of support (i.e., good marriage and good parenting) rather than just one (i.e., good marriage or good parenting); but (d) that there was only modest evidence of protective buffering whereby children experiencing just good parenting (but not just good marriages) outperformed children experiencing poor parenting and poor marriages. Results are discussed in terms of the relative influence of marriage and parenting on child development and the potential benefits of applying typological approaches to the study of marriage–parenting family subsystems.
The research described herein was supported by a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U10-HD25420). The authors express their appreciation to all collaborating investigators of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care.
Pathways between profiles of family functioning, child security in the interparental subsystem, and child psychological problems
- PATRICK T. DAVIES, E. MARK CUMMINGS, MARCIA A. WINTER
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 525-550
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This study was designed to delineate pathways between systems profiles of family functioning, children's emotional insecurity in the interparental relationship, and their psychological adjustment in a sample of 221 children and their parents. Consistent with family systems theory, cluster analyses conducted with assessments of marital, coparental, and parent–child functioning indicated that families fit into one of four profiles: (a) cohesive families, characterized by warmth, affection, and flexible well-defined boundaries in family relationships; (b) disengaged families, reflected in high levels of adversity and low levels of support across family subsystems; (c) enmeshed families, evidenced by high levels of discord and weak maintenance of relationship boundaries in the family unit; and (d) adequate families, defined by elevated parental psychological control within a larger family context of low discord and high warmth. In comparison to children in cohesive families, children in enmeshed and disengaged families exhibited greater signs of insecurity in the interparental relationship concurrently and internalizing and externalizing symptoms both concurrently and 1 year later. Structural equation models revealed that a latent, multimethod measure of insecurity in the interparental relationship partially mediated associations between family enmeshment and disengagement and children's psychological symptoms 1 year later. Results are discussed in relation to how they inform and refine a family-wide model of the emotional security hypothesis.
This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (Project R01 MH57318) awarded to Patrick T. Davies and E. Mark Cummings. Marcia A. Winter was supported by a predoctoral National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (F31 MH068058). The authors are grateful to the children, parents, teachers, and school administrators who participated in this project and to the staff who assisted on various stages of the project, including Courtney Forbes, Marcie Goeke–Morey, Amy Keller, Michelle Sutton, and the graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Rochester and University of Notre Dame. We also thank Harry Reis for his valuable statistical advice.
Shared or conflicting working models? Relationships in postdivorce families seen through the eyes of mothers and their preschool children
- INGE BRETHERTON, TIMOTHY F. PAGE
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 551-575
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Marvin and Stewart and Byng–Hall proposed that effective family collaboration requires family members to construct “shared family working models,” and that the renegotiation of these working models during family transitions is facilitated by family members' “interactional awareness” (ability to be perceptive observers of family relationships). We apply these constructs to data collected from 71 mothers and their 4.5- to 5.0-year-old preschool children, 2 years after parental divorce. Maternal representations of the father as coparent and ex-spouse, and of father– and mother–child relationships were assessed via two interviews. A family story completion task captured child representations of mother–child and father–child, coparental and ex-spousal interactions. Maternal accounts of mother–child conversations illustrated the negotiation of shared working models. Primarily qualitative analyses contrasting maternal and child perspectives are presented in the first section. Then we use regression analyses to predict children's story themes from maternal representations of flexible, sensitive, and effective discipline-related interactions; maternal depressive symptoms; and perception of the child's father. Finally, we identify gender differences in children's enactments of divorce-related and child-empathy themes. We conclude by considering how our findings could be used to assist postdivorce families in constructing shared rather than conflicting working models of family relations.
This research was funded by Grant R01 HD267766 awarded to the first author by the NICHD. Additional support was received from the University of Wisconsin Graduate School Research Committee, the Waisman Center, and the Vilas Trust. We express our deep appreciation to the mothers and children who participated in this study. We also thank Barbara Golby, Angel Gullon–Rivera, Patti Herman, Chris Halvorsen, Vicky Lenzlinger, Kristine Munholland, Reghan Walsh, and Laura Winn for assisting with data collection and analysis and acknowledge helpful advice from John Byng–Hall, Robert Emery, Paul Amato, and Daniel Veroff.
Observations of early triadic family interactions: Boundary disturbances in the family predict symptoms of depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in middle childhood
- DEBORAH JACOBVITZ, NANCY HAZEN, MELISSA CURRAN, KRISTEN HITCHENS
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 577-592
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This article argues for the importance of focusing explicitly on the construct of boundary disturbances in families to understand the development of depressive, anxious, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in middle childhood. Grounded in family systems theory, this study examined traditional parent–child antecedents of childhood depression and anxiety (hostile, controlling, and disengaged interactions) in the context of the entire family as well as enmeshed patterns, whereby one parent drew in the child by turning to the child for caregiving or intimacy and excluded the spouse, and balanced patterns, whereby all family members expressed vulnerabilities and asserted their needs or desires. Mostly White, middle-class mothers, fathers, and children were observed at home interacting on a series of everyday tasks when the children were 24 months old, and mothers and teachers rated children's symptoms of anxiety, depression, somatic problems, and ADHD at age 7. Regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for maternal depression and the effects of other family patterns, enmeshed family patterns forecast children's depressive symptoms; controlling and disengaged interactions predicted anxious and depressive symptoms; and hostility forecast ADHD and somatic complaints. Intriguing gender differences emerged. As predicted, whereas boys who experienced enmeshed family patterns more often developed symptoms of ADHD, girls who experienced enmeshed family interactions later showed symptoms of depression.
This research was supported by Grant SBR-9212990 from the National Science Foundation and Grant 3332 from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. The authors thank the families who participated in this study, as well as Lisa Steffeck who assisted with coding the data.
Coparenting, family-level processes, and peer outcomes: The moderating role of vagal tone
- ALISON LEARY, LYNN FAINSILBER KATZ
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 593-608
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This article examines the relationship between coparenting and family-level processes during preschool and peer relationship outcomes in middle childhood, and the hypothesis that children's ability to regulate emotion (as indexed by basal vagal tone and the ability to suppress vagal tone) may moderate this relationship. We predicted that high vagal tone and a greater ability to suppress vagal tone would buffer children from the effects of negative coparenting and family processes. Results indicated that hostile–withdrawn coparenting predicted higher levels of conflicted play and lower levels of positive peer conversation. Vagal suppression also moderated the relationship between hostile–withdrawn coparenting and peer conflict. For children who were unable to suppress vagal tone, hostile–withdrawn coparenting was associated with higher levels of peer conflict, while for children who were able to suppress vagal tone there was no relationship hostile–withdrawn coparenting and peer conflict. The relationship between hostile–withdrawn coparenting and positive peer conversation was also moderated by children's ability to suppress vagal tone. For children who were unable to suppress vagal tone, there was no relationship between hostile–withdrawn coparenting and positive peer conversation, while for those who were able to suppress vagal tone, hostile–withdrawn coparenting was associated with less positive peer conversation. Cohesive family-level processes also predicted positive conversation in play at age 9 after controlling for positive conversation at age 5; however, this relationship was not moderated by vagal suppression. Basal vagal tone also did not function as a moderator of relations between hostile–withdrawn coparenting and peer play. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of negative coparenting on children with different patterns of modulating physiological arousal.
This research was supported by a research grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to the second author (1 R01 49141). The authors thank the families involved for their participation.
Couple power dynamics, systemic family functioning, and child adjustment: A test of a mediational model in a multiethnic sample
- KRISTIN M. LINDAHL, NEENA M. MALIK, KAREN KACZYNSKI, JULIE S. SIMONS
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 609-630
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Power dynamics in the marital dyad and systemic elements of whole-family functioning (cohesion, subsystem boundary formations) were examined in relation to each other and also in relation to child adjustment in a multiethnic sample of families. Support was found for a mediational model, such that family functioning was found to mediate the relationship between marital power dynamics and children's internalizing and externalizing behavior. Some support also was found for ethnicity as a moderator of the association between systemic family processes and children's adjustment. Disturbances in family cohesion and subsystem boundaries were more strongly related to internalizing symptomatology for children in European American families compared to children in Hispanic American families.
This research was funded by National Institute of Mental Health Grant R03 MH54631. We thank Jean–Philippe Laurenceau for his feedback on drafts of this manuscript and for statistical consultation. We also are very grateful to the participating families for the generous donation of their time and effort.
The link between marital conflict and child adjustment: Parent–child conflict and perceived attachments as mediators, potentiators, and mitigators of risk
- MONA EL-SHEIKH, LORI ELMORE–STATON
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 631-648
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Parent–child conflict and perceived attachments to parents were examined as predictors, mediators, and moderators in the marital conflict–child adjustment connection in a sample of older children and young adolescents. After controlling for marital conflict, parent–child conflict predicted additional unique variance mainly for children's externalizing problems, and attachments to parents accounted for unique variance in children's externalizing and internalizing problems. Moderation effects illustrated that a higher level of parent–child conflict was a vulnerability factor, whereas a secure attachment was a protective factor, for behavior problems associated with marital conflict. Mediation effects were also evident and supported the proposition that parent–child conflict and attachment to parents mostly are partial mediators of effects in the marital conflict–child outcomes link. The findings illustrate the aggregation, potentiation, and amelioration of risk for adjustment problems associated with marital conflict, and highlight the importance of assessing multiple systems within the family.
This research was supported by NIAAA Grant R29 AA10591. We would like to thank the research participants for their time and effort, and Stephanie Whitson and Karen Martin for their assistance with data collection.
Family processes that shape the impact of interparental conflict on adolescents
- JOHN H. GRYCH, SARAH R. RAYNOR, GREGORY M. FOSCO
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 649-665
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This study draws on the family systems concepts of triangulation and wholism to investigate how interparental conflict may affect adolescents' psychological adjustment. An ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample (N = 388) of 14- to 18-year-olds completed measures of interparental conflict, family relationships, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems. We found that triangulation into parental disagreements mediated the association between parental conflict and both internalizing and externalizing problems. Adolescents exposed to more frequent, intense, and poorly resolved conflict were more likely to feel triangulated, but this association was moderated by the nature of the alliances they had with their parents. Specifically, at low levels of interparental conflict, adolescents who had substantially stronger alliances with one parent than the other reported greater triangulation than those with more balanced alliances. At high levels of conflict, these groups reported similar degrees of triangulation. We also found that supportive parent–child relationships reduced adolescents' appraisals of threat and self-blame for interparental conflict, while more empathic relationships with siblings increased these appraisals. Finally, close relationships with fathers acted as a protective factor that reduced symptoms of maladjustment.
The role of family systems in severe and recurrent psychiatric disorders: A developmental psychopathology view
- DAVID J. MIKLOWITZ
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 667-688
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Family systems theory has been highly influential in the study of recurrent psychiatric disorders. This review examines two interrelated domains: research on expressed emotion (EE) attitudes among relatives (criticism, hostility, or emotionally overinvolvement) and relapses of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and randomized trials of family intervention in these populations. The literature is discussed in terms of contemporary systems theory and concepts from developmental psychopathology research. Several conclusions are drawn: (a) levels of EE are correlated with caregivers' attributions regarding the controllability of patients' behaviors; (b) EE attitudes are associated with bidirectional, mutually influential cycles of interaction between relatives and patients; and (c) family psychoeducational therapy, when combined with pharmacotherapy, is associated with lower rates of relapse in schizophrenia and bipolar illness. Underlying disturbances in family systems may emerge in response to illness symptoms in a family member, but also have recursive effects on the developmental course of the illness once manifest. The nature and stability of these recursive effects will depend on dynamic processes in the patient, the relative, and their relationship. Future research should elucidate mediating and moderating variables in the pathways from EE to patients' outcomes, and the conditions under which family treatments bring about favorable outcomes of psychiatric disorder.
Preparation of this article was supported by Grant MH62555 from the National Institute of Mental Health and a Distinguished Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. The author thanks Martha Tompson for her conceptual input.
Expressed emotion in multiple subsystems of the families of toddlers with depressed mothers
- FRED A. ROGOSCH, DANTE CICCHETTI, SHEREE L. TOTH
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 689-709
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Expressed emotion was examined in families of toddlers (N = 101) whose mothers had experienced major depressive disorder occurring since the child's birth, and contrasted with expressed emotion in demographically comparable families (N = 54) with no history of parental mental disorder to elucidate family systems processes as contributors to child functioning. Both mothers and fathers provided Five-Minute Speech Samples on their child, their spouse, and themselves, and completed measures of marital adjustment, trait affect, relationship quality with their own parents in childhood, and child behavior problems. Maternal-expressed emotion criticism regarding child, self, and spouse was higher in the families with depressed mothers; paternal criticism regarding self and spouse also was higher in the depressed families. Mothers and fathers in the depressed group also differed on relational/affective features, exhibiting lower marital satisfaction, higher trait negative affect, and more negative childhood relationship representations, relative to the nondepressed group, and mothers reported more child behavior problems. Mediational models were evaluated separately for the different targets of maternal and paternal criticism and child behavior problems, and findings supported both individual parent and spouse contributions as mediators of the relation between depression group status and expressed criticism and child behavior problems. The findings are discussed in terms of the multiple levels of family system influence on negativity in the emotional environment of toddlers of depressed mothers, developmental risk, and the need for family-level interventions.
Completion of this work was supported by grant funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH45027) and the Spunk Fund, Inc. We thank Traci McCabe for her diligent coding of the Five Minute Speech Samples.
The transition to coparenthood: Parents' prebirth expectations and early coparental adjustment at 3 months postpartum
- JAMES P. McHALE, CHRISTINA KAZALI, TAMIR ROTMAN, JEAN TALBOT, MEAGAN CARLETON, REBECCA LIEBERSON
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 711-733
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In the decade since the first observationally based empirical studies of coparenting process in nuclear families made their mark, most investigations of early coparenting dynamics have examined whether and how such dynamics drive child development trajectories, rather than identifying factors that may contribute to the differential development of such dynamics in the first place. In this prospective study, we examined both individual-representational and dyadic-interpersonal predictors of early coparental process. Fifty married couples expecting their first child portrayed their expectations and concerns about family life after the baby's arrival, and took part in a set of problem-solving tasks used to help evaluate marital quality. Both mothers' and fathers' prebaby expectations about the future family, and prenatal marital quality, predicted observed coparenting cohesion at 3 months postpartum. Maternal– and marriage–coparenting trajectories differed as a function of infant characteristics, with pathways most pronounced when infants were rated high in negative reactivity. Results reveal how the prenatal environment can come to shape early coparenting process, and indicate that family models must take into account the role that child characteristics can play in altering prebirth–postpartum pathways.
This study was supported by National Institute of Child Health and Development Grant RO1 HD42179. We thank the families who contributed their time and effort to the investigation and our colleagues Regina Kuersten–Hogan, Wendy DeCourcey, Julia Berkman, Valerie Haskell, Meaghan DiLallo, Nina Olsen, Amy Alberts, Oliver Hartman, Stefanie Giampa, Eleanor Chaffe, and Kate Fish for their assistance with various aspects of this project.
Attachment patterns across multiple family relationships in adulthood: Associations with maternal depression
- SUSAN DICKSTEIN, RONALD SEIFER, KATHLEEN E. ALBUS, KARIN DODGE MAGEE
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 735-751
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We explored attachment in a family context by applying family systems principles to the investigation of multiple attachment relationships within families. This study focused on maternal adult attachment with respect to family of origin experiences (assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview [AAI]) as well as maternal marital attachment (assessed using the Marital Attachment Interview [MAI]). We examined associations between maternal adult attachment (or marital attachment) and three levels of family functioning including individual maternal depression symptoms, dyadic marital satisfaction (reported by mothers), and family unit functioning. We also examined associations between combined attachment security (consistent secure, AAI secure/MAI insecure, AAI insecure/MAI secure, and consistent insecure) and family outcomes. Finally, we assessed the extent to which attachment representations operate differently in the context of family stress, namely maternal depression. We found that attachment security with respect to particular relationships was differentially associated with different levels of family functioning. Examination of the security of combined adult and marital attachment further supported the multilevel organization of the family system.
Links between marital and parent–child interactions: Moderating role of husband-to-wife aggression
- GAYLA MARGOLIN, ELANA B. GORDIS, PAMELLA H. OLIVER
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 753-771
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The present study examined how marital conflict may compromise parenting by identifying interdependencies across marital and parent–child subsystems in a sample of 86 two-parent families with a child aged 9–13. The study used direct observation of three family discussions to examine interdependencies across family subsystems. The study also assessed whether a history of husband-to-wife aggression strengthened interdependencies. Overall, families with husband-to-wife aggression showed a negative tone that pervaded throughout the family. Consistent with theories about physically aggressive men tending to withdraw from conflict, fathers who had engaged in husband-to-wife aggression showed an association between marital hostilities and lower levels of empathy toward their children. Consistent with stress theories, women who had been exposed to husband-to-wife aggression showed a link between marital hostilities and negative affect when interacting with their children. These findings illustrate how a history of exposure to marital aggression can create a family environment of multiple risks for children. For children in families with prior marital aggression, ongoing marital hostilities can be linked to the additional risk of erosions in parental support.
This study was partially supported by a grant from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, NIMH Grants R01MH36595 and F31MH10947, NICHD Grant K23HD041428, and a California State University, Fullerton, Junior Faculty Research Grant. We are grateful to our USC Family Studies Center colleagues who helped collect these data, to the dedicated groups of coders, and to the families who participated in the study.
Interdependencies among interparental discord and parenting practices: The role of adult vulnerability and relationship perturbations
- PATRICK T. DAVIES, MELISSA L. STURGE–APPLE, E. MARK CUMMINGS
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- 01 September 2004, pp. 773-797
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We examined the nature and directionality of associations between interparental discord and parenting practices in a sample of 227 mothers and fathers of kindergarten children over two measurement waves spaced 1 year apart. Cross-lagged models indicated that associations between interparental discord and maternal and paternal parenting practices (i.e., acceptance, discipline) were generally negligible with one exception: interparental discord at Time 1 predicted decreases in maternal acceptance from Time 1 to Time 2. However, consistent with the family systems conceptualization of the family as an open system, prospective associations among interparental and parent–child subsystems varied significantly as a function of parental depressive symptoms, interparental relationship insecurity, and child-rearing disagreements. The moderating role of adult characteristics commonly varied across the type of adult vulnerability (e.g., depressive symptoms, interparental relationship insecurity, child-rearing disagreements), dimension of parenting practices (e.g., maternal and paternal acceptance and inconsistent discipline), and the directionality of the paths between interparental and parent–child subsystems.
This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (Project R01 MH 57318) awarded to Patrick T. Davies and E. Mark Cummings. Melissa L. Sturge–Apple was supported by a postdoctoral National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (F32 MH 66596). The authors are grateful to the children, parents, teachers, and school administrators who participated in this project. Gratitude is also expressed to the staff who assisted with the project, including Courtney Forbes, Marcie Goeke–Morey, Amy Keller, Michelle Sutton, and the graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Rochester and the University of Notre Dame.