Family Science

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2239

Formerly known as the Department of Family Studies.

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Navigating a Relational Bind: Black and Latino Emergent Adult Men’s Negotiation of their Relational Needs in a Masculine Context
(2024) Hedelund, Adam Jens; Roy, Kevin; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Emergent adulthood is a period of discovery and transition for humans aged 18 to 29 that often requires many practical as well as relational resources. Black and Latino emergent adult men from low socioeconomic backgrounds often navigated through this time period through alternate pathways because of a lack of resources. They may have also experienced substantial stress in childhood that prompted the reliance on hegemonic masculinity as a guide for how to cope with these stressors. This study sought to examine how Black and Latino emergent adult men negotiated their relational needs and abilities within the context of their masculine identities. Using semi-structured life history interviews, Black and Latino young men were interviewed from two youth development centers in the Washington DC/Baltimore area. Findings suggested that the impact of the provider role as adultified children, as well as exposure to violence, increased the participant’s likelihood of hegemonic masculine disconnection from family and friends in emergent adulthood. However, this disconnection was often complicated given their human desire for closeness and support as well as obligations to family members. This complexity was conceptualized as a type of relational bind. Participants used a variety of strategies to resolve this bind that often left them more isolated.
Exploring Couple and Family Therapist Involvement in Social Justice Praxis
(2023) Golojuch, Laura; Mittal, Mona; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
As the nation becomes more diverse, multicultural competence and social justice are being increasingly recognized as essential components to effective therapy practice (Hays, 2020; Ratts et al., 2016; Vera & Speight, 2003). While some scholars in the field of Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) have urged the importance of infusing social justice into training and clinical practice for years (see Hardy, 2001; Knudson-Martin et al., 2019; McDowell et al., 2019; McGoldrick, 2007), this topic is understudied and underprioritized by the field at large. Recent CFT scholars also acknowledge the importance of advocacy as an accompaniment to therapy (J. M. Goodman et al., 2018, Jordan & Seponski, 2018a, 2018b). Counseling and social work fields have prioritized social justice advocacy and codified it into mission statements and ethical codes (Ratts et al., 2016; Ratts & Greenleaf, 2018; Toporek & Daniels, 2018). Although CFTs are trained systemically, and may be enacting micro-level advocacy intervention in the therapy room, they do not always view themselves as advocates or enact macro-level advocacy interventions (J. M. Goodman et al., 2018; Holyoak et al., 2020; Jordan & Seponski, 2018b). This study utilized a sequential transformative mixed methods design to assess multicultural competence, social justice commitment and self-efficacy, and advocacy competence in a nationally representative sample of CFTs (n = 101) using survey methods. A subsample of 22 participants were interviewed to further explore their practices as multiculturally competent and socially just clinicians. Three complementary frameworks were utilized to ground the study: The Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC), critical consciousness, and Public Health Critical Race praxis. Overall, multicultural competence, social justice commitment, and social justice self-efficacy scores were high in this sample, while advocacy competence scores were lower. Results showed that identifying as Black or African American and completing additional training in multicultural competence and social justice were associated with multicultural competence. Results also showed that working in an agency setting vs. other settings was associated with lower levels of multicultural competence. Results showed that identifying as female compared to male, having a higher level of oppression, a higher level of civic engagement, and more additional training in multicultural competence were all associated with social justice commitment. Results showed that being older, completing more additional training, and having a higher level of oppression were all associated with higher levels of social justice self-efficacy. Finally, results showed that identifying as non-binary compared to male, completing more hours of additional training, and experiencing higher levels of oppression were all associated with advocacy competence. Additionally, receiving more post-graduate hours of training in multicultural competence, social justice, and advocacy competence was associated with higher multicultural competence, social justice, and advocacy competence. Qualitative findings revealed ways in which CFTs developed and embodied socially just clinical practice and explored recommendations for training.
Redoing gender, redoing family: A mixed-methods examination of family complexity and gender heterogeneity among transgender families
(2020) Allen, Samuel H.; Leslie, Leigh A; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Scholars have documented that considerable health disparities exist between transgender persons and the general population. A growing research base suggests that the family environment of trans individuals—i.e., the social climate within one’s family—can have a significant influence on the population’s health and wellbeing. Despite the substantiated relationship between the family environment of transgender people and their health, there are three identifiable gaps in the literature that warrant further research. First, no known quantitative studies have considered trans family environments beyond those that are accepting and rejecting, or how such family environments might be differently related to the population’s mental and physical health. Second, though scholars are increasingly recognizing the existence of gender heterogeneity within the trans population, it remains unknown if the health and family environment vary for trans persons of different gender identities. A third gap exists within the nascent literature on individuals with nonbinary gender identities in which there is an absence of studies examining the experiences of their family members. The three papers that comprise this mixed-methods dissertation respond to the aforementioned gaps in the literature. The first two studies analyze quantitative survey data collected from transgender adults (N=873); study three analyzes qualitative interview data collected from the parents of adult children with nonbinary gender identities (N=14). Study one examines family environment heterogeneity and tests its association with mental and physical health. Study two assesses variation in mental health, physical health, and family environment as a function of having a binary vs. a nonbinary gender identity. Study three uncovers how parents of nonbinary adult children make sense of their child’s gender and the developmental processes that occur in doing so. Taken together, findings from this dissertation offer important implications for healthcare providers, clinicians, and intervention efforts aimed at improving the health of transgender populations.
Clerical Conduct Related to the Perpetuation of Child Sexual Abuse in Pennsylvania Catholic Dioceses: A Developing Framework
(2019) Britto, Crystel; Roy, Kevin; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Throughout his papacy, Pope Francis reiterated that clericalism played a major role in the global Catholic sexual abuse crisis. Research has not been able to back this claim due to lack of data on cultural and structural elements that have contributed to the various crises. The present study aims to fill this gap in research by examining narratives regarding clerical sexual abuse and seeks to explore themes contributing to a framework of abuse. Qualitative data analysis was conducted by examining the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury Report of Pennsylvania, focusing on correspondence between various actors regarding 12 priests in Pennsylvania and their involvement in child sexual abuse. Using grounded theory with elements of narrative analysis, the study seeks to explore themes of belief, behavior and emotion of clergy between 1930-2016. The results provide insight into the nature of the Catholic Church’s involvement in the perpetuation of child sexual abuse.
PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH ADHD: COGNITIONS, EMOTIONAL, AND BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES TO ADHD SYMPTOMS
(2017) Salazar, Jaimeleigh Mercedes; Epstein, Norman B; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The present study investigated the association between the cognitions and coping related traits of parents of children with ADHD and their behavioral and emotional responses to their child’s symptoms. Current research on ADHD suggests that diagnosis of this neurodevelopment disorder is rising, and parents of children with ADHD face challenges such as increased stress, burdens of the parenting role, and potentially tense relationships with their children. However, there has been a lack of research on relations among parents’ behavioral, emotional, and cognitive responses to their children’s ADHD behaviors. This study collected primary online survey data from 100 parents of children with ADHD who were members of the national organization CHADD. Degree of child ADHD behavior, parent coping related traits, and parent negative attributions about the child were associated with parent anger, anxiety, limit-setting behaviors, and encouraging/coaching behaviors. Research and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
The Relationship Between Therapist Common Factor Behaviors and Client Evaluations of Couple Therapy Sessions
(2017) Baker, Taylor Norene; Epstein, Norman B; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
There is an insufficient amount of research on therapist common factor behaviors during therapy sessions that contribute to the process of therapeutic change in couple and family therapy. The purpose of this study was to explore the association between therapists’ common factor behaviors during a couple therapy session and clients’ evaluations of that session. The sample was 40 couples presenting with mild to moderate psychological and physical partner aggression who received ten therapy sessions at a university-based clinic. A set of Pearson product-moment correlations were conducted and revealed that only the degree of therapist collaboration behavior was significantly associated with female partners’ positive evaluations of the session; statistical trend for males. Overall, male and female ratings of session helpfulness were positively correlated. The possible explanations for the lack of relationships between other therapist behaviors and session evaluations are discussed.
Therapist Common Factors and Changes in Client Anger Management in the Context of Couple Therapy
(2017) Straub Barrientos, Magdalena Paz; Epstein, Norman B; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The present study investigated the associations between therapist common factors behaviors and changes in client anger control in the context of couple therapy. Research on psychotherapy suggests that common factors are more strongly associated with therapy outcome than model-specific interventions. However, research on the effects of specific common factors on therapeutic outcomes is lacking. This study was a secondary analysis of data from 40 couples that presented with mild to moderate physical and psychological partner aggression and who received couple therapy at a university family therapy clinic. The study examined the associations between five therapist common factor behaviors (warmth, empathy, validation, systemically-based techniques, and session structuring) coded from couples’ fourth couple therapy session and changes in clients’ anger control, as well as the role of gender as a moderator. No main effects were found, and one significant interaction (session structure and gender) was found to be associated with improvements in anger control for males. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Pathways to adulthood and their precursors: Roles of gender and race
(2016) Lee, Yoonjoo; Hofferth, Sandra L; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Research on the transition to adulthood dates back nearly four decades, but a growing body of research has taken a new approach by investigating multiple demographic markers in the transition to adulthood simultaneously. Using the life course perspective, this dissertation is built on the literature by first examining contemporary young adults’ pathways to adulthood from ages 18 to 30 and their differences by gender. Data for this study were drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997; the final sample included 2,185 men and 2,086 women. The college-educated single workers pathway, the college-educated married working parents pathway, and the high-school-educated single parents pathway were identified in both genders. For men, the study also identified the high-school-educated single workers pathway and the high-school-educated married working parents pathway. For women, the study also identified the high-school-educated workers pathway and the high-school-educated married parents pathway. Not only did the definitions of some pathways differ by gender, but even in the pathways with the same definition, gender differences were found in the probabilities of being married, of being a parent, or of being employed full-time. Based on the pathways to adulthood identified, this research examined the family and adolescent precursors and whether race moderates the associations between family structure experiences and young adults’ pathways to adulthood. Parental education, family structure, GPA, delinquency, early sexual activity, and race/ethnicity were the family and adolescent precursors that distinguished among pathways taken by the youth. Two interactions between race and family structure/instability were identified. The positive association between growing up in a single-parent family and the odds of taking the high-school-educated single workers pathway compared to the college-educated married working parents pathway was weaker for Black males than for White males. The positive association between family instability and the odds of taking the college-educated single workers pathway compared to the college-educated married working parents pathway was weaker for Black females than for White females. This dissertation accounted for changes in the multiple statuses related to becoming an adult by following contemporary young adults for 12 years. More research on contemporary young adults’ pathways to adulthood and subgroup differences in the effects of precursors are recommended. Limitations and implications of this study are discussed.
The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Later Parenting Self-Perceptions: The Moderating Effect of Family Support
(2016) Doyle, Kaitlin Nicole; Leslie, Leigh; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Childhood sexual abuse has been found to be a risk factor for developing negative parenting self-perceptions later in life. Given this established relationship, it is crucial to investigate factors that may mitigate negative outcomes, such as family support. The present study used secondary analysis of a dataset of 265 predominantly African-American and low-income mothers. This study examined differences in parenting self-perceptions among mothers who experienced childhood sexual abuse and those who did not. Analyses revealed that mothers who experienced childhood sexual abuse did not differ in terms of parenting self-perceptions from non-sexually-abused mothers. After controlling for depression, there was no moderating effect of family support; however, a main effect for family support was observed. The results indicate that depression plays a larger role in mothers’ parenting self-perceptions than childhood sexual abuse, and that family support is beneficial for all mothers, regardless of sexual abuse status. Clinical implications are discussed.
The emotional well-being of mothers of transgender and gender non-conforming children
(2015) Allen, Samuel H.; Leslie, Leigh A; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
In recent years, mental health professionals have reported an upsurge in the number of referrals relating to transgender identities among children. While controversies exist among clinicians over treatment for these children, a growing number of practitioners are encouraging parents to accept their children's gender expressions. This practice, however, may be challenging for parents to embrace for a number of reasons, resulting in a vulnerable mental state. Using a combined theoretical framework of decentering heteronormativity within Meyer's minority stress theory (2003), the present study seeks to determine the association between various factors--gender non conformity, gender role beliefs, and child misbehavior--and the anxiety and depression in mothers of transgender and gender non-conforming children. Data were taken from Wave 1 of a longitudinal study of transgender and gender non-conforming children and their parents. Results indicated that only child misbehavior was significantly associated with maternal anxiety, and social support did not moderate this relationship. Complete findings and their implications are discussed, for both future research and further deconstruction of gender in the social sciences.

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