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The present study examines the implications of a pedagogical approach that views at-risk children as ‘specialized needs’ students lacking family resources, limiting their future educational and employment prospects. This approach deliberately addresses the distinctive needs of this population. The research investigates a case study conducted at an elementary school in Israel that includes at-risk students and which follows the proposed approach. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 15 at-risk students and 15 members of the teaching staff, as well as observations and document collection. Findings were analysed using qualitative-phenomenological methodology. Two main themes emerged: (1) differential responses to basic and optimal needs; (2) needs-supportive pedagogy. The findings demonstrate that the school adopts a pedagogical orientation wherein addressing at-risk students’ lack of home functionality is considered a prerequisite for learning. Study participants described the school as a ‘second home’ providing for students’ basic and optimal family needs, and fostering students’ development through cultivating a sense of belonging, empowerment, and self-worth. From a theoretical standpoint, this study presents a pedagogical concept that enhances knowledge of school-based educational interventions for at-risk students. From a practical standpoint, it presents an organisational model that can be studied and applied in similar educational systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study questions the links between the young adolescents quality of attachment to the mother and father (secure, ambivalent or avoidant) and the sexual behaviours reported by early adolescents. Two questionnaires were completed by 312 French middle-school students (mean age: 13.8 years) to test attachment style and sexuality (emotion, intention and relation). Ambivalent attachment was related to greater sexual involvement than to secure attachment. Avoidant attachment to the mother was associated with emotional disinvestment in sexuality. Avoidant attachment to the father appears to influence sexual decision-making, especially for girls. These results support an individuated conception of attachment patterns with differential influence of dyadic relationships and could provide a better understanding of adolescent sexual behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An essay on the need to empower and uplift young girls focusing on dynamics of father-daughter relations as portrayed in the novel "Desirada: A Novel" by Maryse Conde is presented. The author stesses on the need to offer emotional guidance, support and physical protection of both parents to young girls in order to ensure their proper physical and mental health. Also discussed is the lack of self confidence among fatherless girls.

This case study presents a psychodynamic approach to clinical social work practice with the father of a child who suffered from separation anxiety disorder symptoms. The theoretical background of the study is initially presented, followed by a description of the research setting and its participants. The clinician presents his work through critical incidents of parent and practitioner narratives during the assessment and intervention process. The effectiveness of the intervention with the father/parents and the resulting reduction in the child's symptoms appeared to be the consequence of the father's improvement in his role as both parent and husband, which in turn affected positively the mother's improvement in her parent and wife roles. Support to the father's adult part/strengths and the handling of the practitioner's counter-transference feelings were important parameters in evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. Longitudinal study on the predictors of parental stress in mothers and fathers of toddlers. Background. To study whether anxiety, depression, or marital problems increase the parenting stress in parents of toddlers. Methods. At early pregnancy, 2 - 3 months, and 2 - 3 years after delivery, 214 low-risk couples filled in questionnaires on their marital relationship, social support, child's temperament, and self-evaluated competence in routine care-taking. In hierarchical regression analyses, they were used as predictors of parental stress. Results. Those mothers who in early pregnancy had adequate social support, adaptive social strategies, and high self-esteem, and who had given birth vaginally, enjoyed breastfeeding, and whose spouse supported breastfeeding reported less stress 2 - 3 years later. Pregnancy-related anxiety, depression, general anxiety, neuroticism, and vulnerability in early pregnancy, as well as child's temperament and low self-estimated competence in routine care-taking measured at both 2 - 3 months and 2 - 3 years after childbirth predicted parental stress. Depression and living alone in early pregnancy, and the child-related variables (temperament and care-taking, measured both at 2 - 3 months and 2 - 3 years after childbirth) predicted high parenting stress in fathers of toddlers. Conclusions. Parental stress in toddlers' parents was predicted both by the temperament of the child, and by the parents' depression, self-esteem, and anxiety, as well as by lack of support and low self-evaluated competence in routine care-taking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 3 studies using 6 subscales, the authors investigated (a) others' parenting expectancies for mothers and fathers and (b) parents' reports of the frequency of their parenting behaviors with their 3- to 6-year-old sons and daughters. Mothers rated higher for physical care and emotional support than did fathers, and mothers reported engaging in the parenting behaviors assessed more frequently than did fathers across subscales. In each study, the authors obtained Parent X Child Gender interactions only for personal-interaction parenting (e.g., hugging their child) and found the lowest scores for fathers with daughters. These findings and the relations between parents' ratings of appropriateness and of their own behaviors support the view that gender-based expectancies prescribe gender differences in parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared parental psychiatric symptom severity, and the absence or presence of severe substance abuse, as predictors of contact with minor children for a representative sample of adults with diagnoses of serious mental illness (N = 45). Child contact and psychiatric symptom severity were measured during regularly scheduled 6-month research interviews over a total 30-month period following each participant's entry into the project. Severe substance abuse was documented as present or absent for the 6-month interval preceding each interview. Results revealed that incidence of severe substance abuse was repeatedly associated with less frequent parent-child contact, even after controlling for psychiatric symptoms, diagnosis, gender, age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Neither psychiatric diagnosis nor symptom severity predicted frequency of child contact when substance abuse was taken into account. Mental health agencies offering parenting classes for adults with serious mental illness should incorporate substance use interventions to reduce loss of child custody and strengthen parent-child relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the tendencies and characteristics of development in monitoring the rise of generation in Russia. It states that an individual is the main wealth of any country, with consideration on the determinant of power and future. In the system of values, children occupy a top-priority in the Russian government. It contends that children represents the anchor of the Russian population and the foundation of the country's success or failure. It notes that owing to number of factors, the state and society, parents do not pay enough attention to children.

Information is needed about how the effects of socio-economic deprivation on teenage pregnancy are mediated by proximal risk factors, in order to target area-wide and family interventions more effectively. Using a 2×2 factorial design, we tested the separate and interacting effects of area deprivation and family deprivation on six specific proximal risk factors for teenage pregnancy: early sexual activity, life expectations, knowledge and beliefs about contraceptives, attitude to abortion, beliefs about love, and use of local sexual health services. Data were collected from 201 13 – 15-year-old girls in deprived and non-deprived families living in deprived and more affluent areas of the United Kingdom. Area deprivation significantly increased early sexual activity, and both area and family deprivation significantly reduced life expectations. Significant interactions between area and family deprivation showed that the impact of living in a deprived area depends to some extent on family circumstances, with implications for targeting different types of intervention. Living in a deprived area increased early sexual activity much more markedly among girls in deprived families, so interventions to reduce early sexual activity could target individually deprived girls living in deprived areas. Living in a more affluent area increased life expectations, but only among girls in non-deprived families, so both area-wide and individually targeted interventions would be needed to raise life expectations among girls most at risk of teenage pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about the making of an observation video of a Nepalese baby during the first six months of its life and the technical and cultural issues raised (Barnett & Leng, 2004). The project was undertaken in collaboration with Lynn Barnett, as part of her series of cross-cultural observation videos on the emotional development of infants and young children (Barnett, 1975–2005, 1996–1999, 1996). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children who have experienced parental separation have potentially 3 sets of parents whose relationships may impact on them: mother and former partner, mother and stepfather, and father and new partner. Children's accounts of their response to conflict between these different parental dyads were studied, in relation to the quality of their relationships with these parents assessed with child interviews and questionnaires, and to maternal reports of the children's adjustment, in a sample of 159 children growing up in different family settings. Involvement in conflict within 1 parental dyad was chiefly unrelated to such involvement in conflict between the other parental dyads. In contrast, there was evidence for"spillover"effects in relationships within families; for instance, high frequencies of conflict between parents were linked to more troubled parent–child relationships. Children were more likely to side with the parent to whom they were biologically related than with stepparents. Involvement in mother–nonresident father conflict and in mother–stepfather conflict were both associated with adjustment problems, independent of the qualities of positivity and conflict in the relationship between child and parent. Implications for views on"family boundaries"are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generational boundary dissolution is a form of parent-child relationship disturbance in which the typical parent and child roles become distorted or even reversed. While recognized as a pathological family process among clinicians, generational boundary dissolution has also become the subject of empirical study. The current paper presents the theoretical background supporting the construct of boundary dissolution, with particular emphasis on family systems theory and developmental psychopathology. We also review the empirical studies of the occurrence and developmental outcomes of boundary dissolution that have been conducted within the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, extending from early childhood through adolescence and into adulthood, with data related to multiple realms of social and emotional development, including questions of intergenerational continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of boundary dissolution has a long history in both the psychodynamic and family systems literatures and is linked to a number of important processes in developmental psychopathology. However, advancements in the empirical study of boundary dissolution have been hindered by the multiplicity of terms and conceptualizations that have been used to capture the construct. The purpose of this paper is to present a multidimensional model of boundary dissolution and to show how the specific dimensions of the construct might be differentially linked to pathological processes in development. Research from a series of studies is presented that lends Support to this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifteen million children experienced a divorce in their families in the 1990s. The primary determinant of adverse outcome in children is ongoing parental hostility after the divorce. A study in 1996 of community professionals (ministers, pediatricians, attorneys, school counselors and divorce mediators) in a western Colorado county demonstrated the need for parenting after divorce classes. It has now been seven years since the beginning of those classes; the views and perceptions of those professionals are reexamined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the eating-related cognitions and behaviors of college-age women who had experienced parental death, parental divorce, or neither loss condition, we recruited 48 women from science and social science departments at a state university in the Southeast. All participants completed the Mizes Anorectic Cognitions Scale (MAC) and the Bulimia Test-Revised (BULIT-R). Women who had experienced parental death scored significantly higher on the MAC than individuals who had experienced parental divorce. Participants who had experienced parental death also exhibited higher MAC scores than their peers in the nonloss group, but this difference just failed to meet conventional levels of significance. No significant differences emerged on the BULIT-R. The findings suggest that although college-age women who have experienced parental death may not exhibit bulimic behaviors, an assessment of their anorectic-related cognitions may be warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT. This article reports on the Adolescent Unresolved Attachment Questionnaire (AUAQ), a brief questionnaire that assesses the caregiving experiences of unresolved adolescents (as recipients of caregiving). The AUAQ was developed and validated in a large normative sample (n = 691) and a sample of 133 adolescents in psychiatric treatment. It is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 3 scales with Likert-type responses ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The Aloneness/Failed Protection Scale assesses the adolescent's perception of the care provided by the attachment figure. The Fear Scale taps the fear generated by the adolescent's appraisal of failed attachment figure care. The Anger/Dysregulation Scale assesses negative affective responses to the perceived lack of care from the attachment figure. All scales demonstrated satisfactory internal reliability and agreement between scores for adolescents (n = 91) from the normative sample who completed the AUAQ twice. Adolescents in the clinical sample also completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; C. George, N. Kaplan, & M. Main, 1984/1985/1996); the AUAQ demonstrated high convergent validity with the AAI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loss of parents for midlife lesbians is discussed in the context of continued development in middle age. From an intersubjective point of view, comprehension of externality, the capacity for mutual recognition, the disruption and repair of recognition and affirmation of subjectivity and the agenic "I" color relationships with parents throughout life. In filial bereavement, there can be a resurgence of intersubjective development along with an easing of internalized homophobia. In recovery from loss, there are opportunities to make loving identifications that more fully acknowledge externality and difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on several movies elaborating the difficulties of child survival in native land without parents. Need to define oneself in relation to parents; Importance of courage in resisting maltreatment by stepparents; Impact of abandonment on the lives and origins of orphans; Representation of the search for legitimacy, prosperity and justice of marginalized groups.

The recurrent theme of rejection and abandonment in group work with Caribbean adolescents recently immigrated to join parents after years of separation is discussed. Familial tensions that preclude successful reunion are explored and implications for helping professionals are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the paper "The Transsexual Syndrome in Males. I. Primary Transsexualism," by Ethel Person and Lionel Ovesey. The authors aimed to examine male transsexualism in more detail. They found that in male transsexualism, the child countered separation anxiety by resorting to a separative fantasy of symbiotic fusion with the mother. This resulted to an ambiguity of core gender identity, referring to the sense of maleness. In addition, the authors showed the different solutions found in transvestism and effeminate homosexuality.