In 2012 Michigan implemented Great Start to Quality, a voluntary quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) that uses a multidimensional assessment system to rate the quality of early childhood education programs. Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest examined how changes to Great Start to Quality's rating calculation approach that were…

Data were obtained from about 1,700 New Zealand adolescents annually for three years to assess their connectedness to family, school, peer group and community as well as other indicators of adolescent functioning. Key results were that a sense of connection predicted better psychological wellbeing over time; in turn, wellbeing predicted higher…

This paper aims to contribute to the current debate on "interculturality" (IC) by investigating the process of language socialization whereby different generations of diasporic families negotiate, construct, and renew their sociocultural values and identities through interaction. Focusing on the use of address terms and "talk about social,…

Existing studies of mediation models have been limited to normal-theory maximum likelihood (ML). Because real data in the social and behavioral sciences are seldom normally distributed and often contain outliers, classical methods generally lead to inefficient or biased parameter estimates. Consequently, the conclusions from a mediation analysis…

This article briefly outlines the neglect of families within previous UK policy documents relating to drugs and alcohol, and discusses the significant progress that has been made in focusing on the family over the past decade. Although substance misuse causes major problems for many family members, this was not even recognized across the Western…

The present study examined the longitudinal links between perceptions of family connectedness and body satisfaction in 1,774 (52% female) adolescents. Participants (10-15 years of age at Time 1) completed self-report measures at three measurement occasions separated by 1 year each. Mean group difference results showed that both body satisfaction…

Mothers and fathers in 156 African American families reported on racial discrimination experiences, gendered traits, and warmth and conflict in family relationships. Discrimination was linked with relationship quality, but links differed for mothers and fathers. More expressive parents and less instrumental fathers had more positive relationships…

This review examines the role of religion, for better and worse, in marital and parent-child relationships according to peer-reviewed studies from 1999 to 2009. A conceptual framework of relational spirituality is used (a) to organize the breadth of findings into the 3 stages of formation, maintenance, and transformation of family relationships…

To be responsive to clients' evaluations of the unfolding therapy process, therapists must first accurately "read" client behavior, a particularly challenging task in conjoint family therapy. In this study, the authors compared client behavior in 28 sessions that one family member and the therapist concurred, on the Session Evaluation…

In this study links between spousal and parent-child relationships among Finnish (n = 157 couples) and Dutch (n = 276 couples) dual earners with young children were examined using paired questionnaire data. Variable-oriented analyses (structural equation modeling with a multigroup procedure) supported the spillover hypothesis, as higher levels of…

Married people enjoy better physical and mental health than those who are not married, and the children of married parents experience better health than do children raised in single-parent families. Furthermore, married parents and their children have longer life expectancies than do members of single-parent or divorced families. Most studies have…

Mary Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln, lived a tragic life. Beginning with the death of her mother when she was a little girl, Mrs. Lincoln experienced a number of family deaths, including three brothers, three sons, and the murder of her beloved husband while she sat by his side. In addition to tragedy, Mrs. Lincoln suffered from poor…

Background: The National Association for Mental Health adopted the "brand name" MIND as part of its transformation into a campaigning pressure group at the turn of the 1970s. This article examines the historical antecedents to key statements made by the organisation at this time regarding the relationship of mental health with, what was then…

Few interventions have been proposed for the treatment of families following a child's disclosure of nonheterosexuality. To address this gap in the literature, the current paper outlines a brief cognitive behavioral family treatment (CBFT) for families negotiating the coming-out process and illustrates this approach with a case example. Parents'…

The role of social capital (parental beliefs, social networks, and trust) as a predictor of parental involvement in Cambodian children's education was examined, controlling for human capital (family socioeconomic status). Parents of elementary students (n = 273) were interviewed face to face in Cambodia. Teacher contact scored highest, followed by…