Over 400 married couples participated in a 3-year prospective study of economic pressure and marital relations. The research (a) empirically evaluated the family stress model of economic stress influences on marital distress and (b) extended the model to include specific interactional characteristics of spouses hypothesized to protect against economic pressure. Findings provided support for the basic mediational model, which proposes that economic pressure increases risk for emotional distress, which, in turn, increases risk for marital conflict and subsequent marital distress. Regarding resilience to economic stress, high marital support reduced the association between economic pressure and emotional distress. In addition, effective couple problem solving reduced the adverse influence of marital conflict on marital distress. Overall, the findings provided substantial support for the extended family stress model.

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WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Family meals are protective for child health, but there are inconsistent findings in relation to child weight status. More research is needed examining why family meals are protective for child health and whether there are differences by child weight status. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:The current mixed-methods study used direct observational methods to examine family dynamics during family meals and child weight status. Results indicated that positive family interpersonal and food-related dynamics during family meals were associated with reduced prevalence of childhood obesity. abstract BACKGROUND: Family meals have been found to be associated with a number of health benefits for children; however, associations with obesity have been less consistent, which raises questions about the specific characteristics of family meals that may be protective against childhood obesity. The current study examined associations between interpersonal and food-related family dynamics at family meals and childhood obesity status. METHODS:The current mixed-methods, cross-sectional study included 120 children (47% girls; mean age: 9 years) and parents (92% women; mean age: 35 years) from low-income and minority communities. Families participated in an 8-day direct observational study in which family meals were video-recorded in their homes. Family meal characteristics (eg, length of the meal, types of foods served) were described and associations between dyadic (eg, parent-child, child-sibling) and familylevel interpersonal and food-related dynamics (eg, communication, affect management, parental food control) during family meals and child weight status were examined.

In response to the recent economic crisis in Korea and its negative effects on families, the current study examined the interrelationships among economic pressure, emotional distress, marital conflict, and marital satisfaction for 236 Korean couples. The family stress model (Conger & Elder, 1994; Conger, Rueter, & Conger, 2000; Conger, Rueter, & Elder, 1999) was tested using structural equation modeling. The results generally supported the theoretical model, showing that economic pressure negatively affects marital satisfaction via emotional distress and marital conflict. The results also implied cultural differences in the process of family stress. Korean husbands' emotional distress did not affect marital conflict or marital satisfaction, suggesting that Korean husbands may differ from their wives in their reaction to emotional distress from economic pressure.

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This investigation evaluated the hypothesis that the development of either effective or disruptive adolescent problem-solving behavior is reciprocally associated with the child-rearing strategies of parents. Longitudinal data collected over 3 time points from a large sample of families were analyzed at l-year and 2-year measurement intervals by using structural equation modeling. Parent and adolescent behavior was assessed by independent observers. Reciprocal parent-adolescent interactions occurred primarily in the presence of disruptive adolescent behavior. Analyses involving positive adolescent behavior produced unidirectional effects from parent behavior to adolescent behavior. Also, reciprocal associations were most evident when the 2-year measurement interval was used.

This study applies the Family FIRO model, one of interpersonal dynamics and change, to family businesses (specifically, to family farming couples). It empirically tests the developmental sequence of three dimensions of the model: inclusion, control, and integration. Findings indicate that both a sense of inclusion in a family business and the manner in which control issues are managed have important influences on family business integration. Because inclusion predicts control dynamics, effective control may not be diminished without adequate levels of inclusion. The study offers practitioners a theory‐based approach to working with the complex dynamics within family businesses. Family businesses will remain more resilient in times of change if the leaders understand and reassess patterns of inclusion when change is initiated.

Despite the large and growing numbers of adoptive families, little research describes interactions in families with adopted adolescents. Yet, adopted adolescents' increased risk for adjustment problems, combined with the association between family interactions and adolescent adjustment in nonadoptive families, raises questions about differences in adoptive and nonadoptive family interactions. We compared observed and self-reported family interactions between 284 adoptive and 208 nonadoptive families and within 123 families with 1 adopted and 1 nonadopted adolescent. Adolescents averaged 14.9 years of age. Comparisons were made using analysis of variance incorporating hierarchical linear methods in SAS PROC MIXED to control family-related correlations in the data. Parents and children reported more conflict in adoptive families when compared with nonadoptive families. Families with 1 adopted and 1 nonadopted adolescent reported more conflict between parents and adopted adolescents. Observed parental behavior was similar across adoptive and nonadoptive children although adopted adolescents were less warm and, in families with 2 adopted children, more conflictual than nonadopted adolescents. These findings suggest a need for further investigation of the association between family interactions and adopted adolescent problem behavior.