Coping with Marital Transitions: A Family Systems Perspective

Hetherington, E. Mavis; Clingempeel, W. Glenn; Anderson, Edward G.; Deal, James E.; Hagan, Margaret Stanley; Hollier, E. Ann; Lindner, Marjorie S.; Maccoby, Eleanor E.; Brown, Jeanne Cavanaugh; O’Connor, Thomas G.; Eisenberg, Marlene M.; Rice, Alyson M.; Bennion, Layne D.

doi:10.2307/1166050

Cited by 414 publications

(560 citation statements)

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The associated caregiver transitions accompanying placement in foster care might also lead to subsequent detrimental effects for girls. For example, girls are more adversely affected by disruptions in caregiving (Hetherington & Clingempeel, 1992), which might increase their difficulty in establishing successful peer relationships.A second set of mechanisms that possibly explains this differential impact on girls involves factors such as a lack of prosocial skills, developmental delays, emotion understanding deficits, and stigmatization. Lacking adequate prosocial models, frequent school and living transitions, and lacking a sense of security and stability at home might contribute to prosocial skill deficits.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Peer Relations at School Entry: Sex Differences in the Outcomes of Foster Care

Leve¹,

Fisher²,

DeGarmo³

2007

Merrill-Palmer Quarterly

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Converging research indicates that foster children with maltreatment histories have more behavior problems and poorer peer relations than biologically reared, nonmaltreated youth. However, little is known about whether such deficits in peer relations work independently or as a result of increased behavior problems, and whether outcomes for foster children differ by sex. To address these questions, multiagent methods were used to assess peer relations at school entry among maltreated foster children and a comparison sample of low-income, nonmaltreated, biologically reared children (N = 121). Controlling for caregiver-reported behavior problems prior to school entry, results from a multigroup SEM analysis suggested that there were significant relationships between foster care status and poor peer relations at school entry and between foster care status and the level of behavior problems prior to school entry for girls only. These Sex × Foster care status interactions suggest the need for gender-sensitive interventions with maltreated foster children. Keywordsfoster care; maltreatment; peer relations; sex differences; school entry When children enter formal educational settings, they are expected to possess competencies that make it possible for them to respond to the demands of the school environment. Children who lack basic social skills and fail to develop successful peer relations during school entry are at greater risk for conduct problems, peer rejection, and academic failure throughout childhood and adolescence (Brendgen, Vitaro, Bukowski, Doyle, & Markiewicz, 2001;Dishion 1990;Snyder et al., 2005). Foster children are at particularly high risk for difficulties in this area. There are currently more than 500,000 foster care children in the United States, with more than 230,000 children entering foster care yearly (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2000). Beginning in early childhood, foster children show deficits on indicators of behavioral and mental health (Pilowsky, 1995). Early placement in foster careprior to age 5-appears to be particularly detrimental to later outcomes (Keiley, Howe, Dodge, Bates, & Pettit, 2001). Once foster children enter school, they show more behavior problems than nonmaltreated, biologically reared children and fare worse than their peers on indicators of school performance, including achievement, peer competence, high school completion rates, and special education service needs (Wodarski, Kurtz, Gaudin, & Howing, 1990). Though extensive behavioral and educational disparities among foster children have been well documented, few studies have examined whether behavior problems that emerge during the preschool period lead to subsequent poor outcomes or whether foster care elicits unique effects on peer relations over and above those associated with behavior problems.Correspondence regarding this paper should be addressed to Dr. Leslie D. Leve, Oregon Social Learning Center, 160 East 4 th Avenue, Eugene, OR 97401-2426. E-mail: lesliel@oslc.org. Landsverk, Ganger, ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Relations at School Entry: Sex Differences in the Outcomes of Foster Care

Leve¹,

Fisher²,

DeGarmo³

2007

Merrill-Palmer Quarterly

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“…For newly single mothers, the demands of looking after difficult children while in a poor emotional state can impair their ability to function as effective parents. They may be less affectionate, less communicative, less consistent, more irritable, and more punitive in disciplining their children than before, which may exacerbate their children's difficulties (Hetherington & Clingempeel, 1992). A number of studies have demonstrated a link between parental depression, poor parenting, and negative child outcomes in single-parent families following divorce (Amato, 2000;Dunn et al, 1998;Hetherington & Stanley-Hagan, 2002), with improvement in mothers' emotional well-being associated with improvement in children's adjustment.…”

Section: Divorced Single Mothersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many of the important initial findings came from carefully designed longitudinal controlled studies of European American middle-class families in the United States, such as the Developmental Issues in Stepfamilies study (DIS; Bray & Berger, 1993) and the work of Hetherington and colleagues on the Virginia Longitudinal Study of Divorce and Remarriage (VLS; Hetherington, 1993;Hetherington et al, 1982), the Hetherington and Clingempeel Study of Divorce and Remarriage (HCSDR; Hetherington & Clingempeel, 1992) and the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development (NEAD) study (Reiss et al, 1994). Initial data from both the DIS and Hetherington's studies generally indicates that the children in stepfamilies displayed more externalizing problems and lower social competency than the children in either mother-father families or single-mother households on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and associated Teacher Report Form (TRF) (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983).…”

Section: Stepfather Stepfamiliesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In stabilized stepfamilies with adolescent stepchildren, stepfather-stepson relationships have been found to be more likely to be positive than those between stepfathers and stepdaughters (Bray & Berger, 1993;Hetherington, 1993). Hetherington and Clingempeel (1992) found that if a resident parent remarried when children were entering early adolescence, then a poor stepfatherstepchild relationship and family functioning often ensued with little improvement in adolescent socioemotional problems or social and academic competence observed 2 years later. Nevertheless, if a positive stepfather-stepchild relationship had been established, then this was associated with better school grades and fewer externalizing and internalizing problems.…”

Section: Stepfather-child Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Socioemotional Development in Changing Families

Golombok

Tasker

2015

Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science

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Since the latter part of the 20th century, dramatic changes have taken place to the structure of the family such that the traditional nuclear family headed by a heterosexual married couple is now in the minority. This chapter begins with a description of these changes and some of the key factors involved. The consequences of different family contexts for parent–child relationships and children's socioemotional development are then examined. These include single‐parent families, stepparent families, cohabiting parent families, families created through assisted reproductive technologies, and families headed by same‐sex parents. The specific issues and concerns raised by each family type are outlined, followed by a discussion of key empirical findings regarding parenting and child adjustment. The chapter ends by drawing on research relating to children in these different family forms to examine the relative importance of family structure and family processes for children's socioemotional development. The implications for policy and practice, and directions for future research, are also discussed.

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