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This study examines how fostered individuals, foster carers, bio-legal children of foster carers and birth parents use discourse to construct and maintain family identity and what may influence this use. Focus group and interview data show how family terminology may create a sense of family, affirm and strengthen ties, erase distinctions, promote inclusion and conformity and protect, refute and explain ties to in- and outsiders. Family terminology use is dynamic and can be influenced by (conflicting) beliefs about who is entitled to these terms and the difficulty of sharing terms. Stakeholders showed many commonalities. Practice and research implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies have shown that social climate in therapeutic residential youth care (TRC) is important to the welfare of residents, staff, and assessing treatment outcomes. The most influential theory on social climate in residential settings is the theory of Moos. The measurement of the concepts and aspects of this theory using the Community Oriented Programs Environment Scale (COPES) has repeatedly been criticized regarding usability, validity, and reliability, especially for TRC. Objective: To improve the usability and psychometric quality of the COPES by shortening and refining the original subscale structure for usage in TRC. Methods: Four-hundred adolescents living in Norwegian TRC participated. We supplemented confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with item response theory (IRT) to evaluate model fit, investigate factor loadings, and shorten scales to improve their psychometric qualities and usability in describing social climate in TRC. Results: The original subscales were not acceptable as evaluated by the criteria for CFA and IRT. By removing psychometrically weak items, the instrument was shortened to 40 items within the original ten subscales. This short version showed acceptable psychometric qualities based on both CFA and IRT criteria and the instrument retained its content validity. Finally, the original three higher-order dimensions was not supported. Conclusions: Compared to the original instrument, the refined 40-item version of the COPES represents a more usable instrument for measuring social climate in TRC. Future studies are needed to confirm the multifaceted refined short version in comparable samples of youth and staff to further investigate predictive value and construct validity.

The aim of the present study was to examine differences in psychological symptoms and sense of self-competence between adolescents with and without non-suicidal self-injurious behavior. We collected data in a sample of 281 Flemish adolescents. Psychological symptoms and self-competencies were assessed by means of the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and NSSI was assessed using the Self-Harm Inventory (SHI-22). Results showed significant differences between adolescents with and without NSSI on all psychopathological subscales. Furthermore, adolescents engaging in NSSI reported significantly lower scores on social competence, but equal levels on other competencies. Results revealed that externalizing problems and attention/thought/social problems are significantly associated with NSSI. Results also showed that having a higher score on aggressive behavior or thought problems increases the chance of belonging to the NSSI group; whereas a higher score on the social competence scale decreases the chance of belonging to the NSSI group. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed. (Contains 5 tables.)

The present study examined specialized associations between parental control and child aggression in a sample of 600 8- to 10-years old children. Parental control dimensions and aggression subtypes were assessed using multiple informants (i.e. children, mothers, fathers, peers, and teachers). In line with expectations, parental physical punishment was positively associated with overt aggression, whereas parental psychological control was positively associated with relational aggression in both girls and boys. In addition, this study demonstrated that if both parents employed similar parenting strategies, it appeared to have a cumulative effect on child aggressive behaviour. Associations involving overt aggression were more pronounced for boys than girls, whereas associations involving relational aggression were not moderated by gender. Overall, the present study contributes to an emerging research field by supporting the hypothesis of specialized associations between parental control and child aggression.

Using a cross-lagged panel design, this study examined the directionality of relations between parental psychological control and child relational aggression. Data were collected from a proportionally stratified sample of 600 Flemish 8- to 10-year-old children at 3 measurement points with 1-year intervals. Reciprocal effects were evident in mother-child dyads. Maternal psychological control was positively related to child relational aggression 1 year later, and child relational aggression was positively related to maternal psychological control 1 year later. The father-child dyads were best represented by unidirectional parent effects. Paternal psychological control was positively related to child relational aggression 1 year later. Surprisingly, these effects emerged only for relational aggression as indexed by mother and father reports and not for relational aggression as indexed by teacher and peer measures. (Contains 1 footnote, 5 tables and 1 figure.)

The major aim of this review is to propose new ways of thinking about the role of parents in the development and course of children's relationally aggressive behavior. An important theoretical framework from which to start thinking about linkages between parenting and relational aggression is provided by attachment theory. Attachment theory proposes that early family experiences are an important basis for the development of later peer relationships. Recent studies are only beginning to suggest possible linkages between children's parental attachment and relational aggression. One possible reason for the scant research is that theoreticians studying these constructs have not yet developed a conceptual framework combining the two, but rather have focused on different characteristics of different interpersonal contexts. Based on the premise that both relational aggression and attachment are relational constructs and given the already established correlations between insecure attachment and physical aggression, this paper will attempt to devise a heuristic model that may serve as an aid to discover links between parent-child interactions, attachment, and relational aggression. Finally, implications for future studies of relational aggression are discussed. (Contains 1 figure.)

There is a growing need for multicultural collaboration in child mental health services, training, and research. To facilitate such collaboration, this study tested the 8-syndrome structure of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) in 30 societies. Parents' CBCL ratings of 58,051 6- to 18-year-olds were subjected to confirmatory factor analyses, which were conducted separately for each society. Societies represented Asia; Africa; Australia; the Caribbean; Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern Europe; the Middle East; and North America. Fit indices strongly supported the correlated 8-syndrome structure in each of 30 societies. The results support use of the syndromes in diverse societies.

This study compared parents' ratings of behavioral and emotional problems on the "Child Behavior Checklist" (Achenbach, 1991; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) for general population samples of children ages 6 to 16 from 31 societies (N = 55,508). Effect sizes for society ranged from 0.03 to 0.14. Effect sizes for gender were less than or equal to 0.01, with girls generally scoring higher on Internalizing problems and boys generally scoring higher on Externalizing problems. Effect sizes for age were less than or equal to 0.01 and varied across types of problems. Total Problems scores for 19 of 31 societies were within 1 "SD" of the overall mean of 22.5. Bisociety correlations for mean item scores averaged 0.74. The findings indicate that parents' reports of children's problems were similar in many ways across highly diverse societies. Nonetheless, effect sizes for society were larger than those for gender and age, indicating the need to take account of multicultural variations in parents' reports of children's problems.