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In this article we highlight recent changes in fathers' roles and argue that research on parenting has focused disproportionately on the role of mothers. We then describe ways that fathers may be overlooked in psychological services providing parent training and summarize preliminary evidence that the inclusion of fathers may enhance long-term effectiveness of parenting interventions. Compared to intact couples, separated and divorced parents may require additional support in working together to address children's problems. We outline a strategy inspired by mediation that is designed to promote coparenting in separated and divorced families and illustrate it with a case example. (Contains 3 tables.)

Examined effects of child care on mothers' levels of stress, and parental and life satisfaction. Found that all the child care variables contributed significantly to mothers' stress levels. However, the more satisfied mothers felt with child care arrangements, the greater their satisfaction as parents. Results suggest that adequate child care must be a priority for employers and policymakers. (JPB)

The degree to which fathers' motivation for involvement with their preschool children was intrinsic versus extrinsic was examined in a sample of 205 French-speaking fathers. Links between fathers' motivation and [...]

To examine whether the results of effectiveness studies match those obtained for efficacy studies on the same treatments, we conducted a focused review of the published treatment effectiveness literature. A literature search yielded 35 effectiveness studies for adult disorders (N = 21) and child and adolescent disorders (N = 14). A comparison of data from these studies with benchmarks from recent reviews of efficacy trials revealed treatment completion rates comparable with those found in the efficacy benchmarks. The improvement rates were comparable in effectiveness studies with those reported in randomized clinical trials of treatment efficacy. Despite methodological limitations in many effectiveness studies, these initial data provide encouraging support for the transportability to clinical settings of treatments with established efficacy. Keywords: psychological treatments, efficacy research, effectiveness research, benchmarking

Employed parents (226 fathers, 264 mothers) in Canada were interviewed about the kinds of support that help them balance the dual responsibilities of work and family. The participants received tangible and emotional support from their partners. In the workplace, family-responsibility leave and flexible work arrangements were helpful. The participants also stressed the importance of supportive supervisors and expressed the desire for greater flexibility, shorter hours, and help with child care. The majority of the participants had friends who provided both emotional and practical support in balancing the competing demands of work and family. Comparisons by gender, family type, marital status, and life-cycle stage identified the importance of contextual variables. The findings highlight the importance of multidimensional assessment of support and the necessity to consider both the availability of and gaps in support., In recent decades, there have been such dramatic changes in women's involvement in the Canadian labor force that now only a minority of Canadian families fit the traditional model of [...]

Psychologists who conduct divorce mediation or child custody assessment must understand the context of such professional practice and the views of other professions involved, such as lawyers. In this study, family lawyers (N = 161) completed a questionnaire about mediation and assessment of custody disputes, indicating positive attitudes toward mediation and recognition of its favorable effects on the family. Lawyers viewed assessment as a desirable alternative to litigation but did not associate it with enhanced family functioning. Lawyers strongly endorsed the need for abuse screening prior to mediation. Distinctions between the roles of lawyers and psychologists are emphasized. The necessity of effective abuse screening is highlighted.

Interviews were conducted with 15 recently divorced parents (12 mothers and 3 fathers) about the ways in which their parents and their parents-in-law support them. Divorced parents reported that their parents were important providers of support. The most welcome type of support was emotional or practical in nature. A third of the sample of divorced parents reported receiving unwelcome advice from their parents. Divorced parents reported that their parents-in-law provided very little support; it was more common for participants to report wanting more support from parents-in-law than they currently receive. We present recommendations for clinicians to help divorced clients to make clear requests from their parents and parents-in-law and to help such clients develop ways of dealing with unwelcome involvement. Finally, we suggest direction for future research.

Gender roles in the Ismaili Muslim community were examined. Eighty-one Shia Imami Nizari Ismaili Muslims living in Ontario, Canada, provided demographic data and completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1981) and the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS; Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1973). The results indicated that, although the Muslim women had more liberal views about gender roles than the Muslim men did, both the men and the women reported views that were liberal and comparable to those that have been reported by other Canadian samples., Gender roles are perceived differently by men and women, with men scoring higher on scales that assess masculinity and women scoring higher on scales that assess femininity (Bem, 1981). Moreover, [...]

The efficacy of family-based interventions should be assessed in preference to child-focused and adult-focused group interventions while analyzing divorce-related issues. The interventions that focus on the child have limited scope and child interventions cannot have a great influence on child's adaptation to family division. A psychometrically efficient measure of divorce-related functioning is required to combine child, adult and family interventions.

It is thought that children of depressed mothers have a variety of related difficulties in social and emotional adjustment, but the origins of their difficulties are unknown. One study, for example, found that difficulties were not related to mother's depression, but to mother's psychological distress in general. In a previous, study the authors found that 7- to 13-year-old children of nondepressed arthritic mothers and nondepressed mothers in the community were less likely to have adjustment difficulties than same-age children of depressed mothers and nondepressed mothers who had other psychiatric problems. The authors have now conducted a 10-month follow-up on 44 of the subjects involved in the prior study. The follow-up sample consisted of 12 depressed outpatients, 9 nondepressed outpatients, and 23 community women and their children. Psychological stress was rated for all the mothers, and the children's emotional and social adjustment were assessed as well. These results were compared with the original data gathered 10 months earlier. Mothers' symptoms of depression were significantly improved over the period, but children's improvements, while evident, lagged behind. Specifically, children improved least during the 10 months on internalizing behavior as reported by mothers and observed by clinicians. This suggests that the adjustment difficulties experienced by children of psychologically distressed mothers do not diminish as quickly as their mothers' symptoms. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)