Background: The idea that raising a child with disabilities has a negative impact on the parents' relationship is still widely accepted despite contradictory research findings. This article addresses the impact of raising a child with disabilities on family structure in the present Norwegian context. Method: Family demographics were collected at…

Faced with anywhere between one half and two thirds of its youth having a diagnosable mental illness, the identification and treatment of mental health concerns is a critically important endeavor for professionals working with youth who have contact with the juvenile justice system. In addition, the literature suggests that factors related to both…

This study examined the relation of middle ear effusion (MEE) in the first 3 years of life to language outcomes at age seven. It was hypothesized, on the basis of a literature review, that (1) a low, but positive relation between early MEE and language measures in general will be observed at age seven, and (2) major effects will be demonstrated…

Past research has suggested that family reminiscing may be a particularly important avenue for the development of children's well-being. In this study, the authors examined the ways in which mothers and fathers scaffold conversations about past emotional events with their preadolescent children. Narratives of positive and negative shared family…

Using data from the 2003 and 2004 American Time Use Surveys, this article examines nonstandard work hours and their relationship to parents' family, leisure and personal care time--informing the discussion of the costs and benefits of working nonstandard hours. The results suggest that parents who work nonstandard evening hours spend less time in…

Objective: To identify a comprehensive set of distinct "need states" based on the eating occasions experienced by midlife women. Design: Series of 7 focus group interviews. Setting: Meeting room on a university campus. Participants: A convenience sample of 34 multi-ethnic women (mean age = 46 years). Phenomenon of Interest: Descriptions of eating…

In this article, the author shares the experiences of his wife, Cheryl, and his 5-year-old daughter, Rose, when they visited their local high school's child development class. Cheryl and Rose met with over a 100 teenagers teenagers in eight different classes to talk about their family, raising a child with Down syndrome, and their experiences with…

Children with Asperger's Disorder present unique challenges due to their impairments in social functioning. In order to better understand the experiences of parents of children with Asperger's Disorder, interviews were conducted with 20 parents. The interviews were taped, transcribed, and coded using the systematic methods of Grounded Theory. The…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how kin and fictive kinship relationships help to ameliorate or buffer responses to parental alcoholism and the breakdown in parenting. This qualitative study investigated coping responses developed by college students, who self-identified as adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) who lived with…

In this article, we document the literacy practices of Genna Johar and her extended family. Genna, a grade 1 student, is a member of a Indo-Canadian joint family in which her parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, share a household. Family members including siblings and cousins play important roles in supporting Genna's literacy…

Pre-school children with special needs face a complex transition to school, requiring additional administrative, social and educational support. In this study, parents of 40 children with special needs reported on the transition to school experience of their 4-6-year-old child. They completed a measure of impact of the child's disability on their…

Family environment appears to be an important determinant of friendship quality. Despite this apparent link, few studies have explored how family environment relates to friendship, especially among college students. The present study examined the relationship between family environment and best friendships, by administering the Family Environment…

This study investigated the effect of acculturation on definitions and attributions towards children's school achievement. Iranian and Iranian-Canadian immigrant mothers and their upper-elementary school children were interviewed about their definitions and attributions about school success and failure. There were significant effects of…

Learning disability is a classification that includes several disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner. Depending on the type and severity of the disability, interventions may be used to help the individual learn strategies that will foster future success. Some interventions can be quite simplistic, while others are…

Discussions and debates about the educational system in the United States continue to center on curriculum and school reform. However, many children in America's public schools suffer from existing "life hazards" including social isolation, poverty, neglect, drug abuse, violence, school failure, and the breakdown of traditional family…