Researchers increasingly recognize the importance of early family experiences on children and the impact that inter-parental conflict has on child development. This book reviews recent research in order to show how children who experience high levels of inter-parental conflict are put at both an immediate psychological and physical risk and a longer-developing risk of recapitulating such behaviors. The authors examine topics such as the differences between destructive and constructive inter-parental conflict on child development, why some children are more adversely affected than others, and how conflict affects child physiology. Ultimately they provide suggestions for improving the futures of children who are experiencing challenging family environments today.
There is increasing government recognition of the importance of early family experiences on individuals in the long term and of how inter-parental conflict influences children’s development. Recognition of the role of such factors early in life is key to helping both policy makers and practitioners promote positive outcomes for children. This accessible book reviews recent research showing how children who experience high levels of inter-parental conflict are at serious risk not only in terms of their own wellbeing, but also in relation to the perpetuation of these behaviours later in life. It examines the differences between ‘destructive’ and ‘constructive’ conflict and how they affect children, explores why some children are more adversely affected than others, and features the latest evidence on how conflict affects child physiology. Of particular note is the book’s focus on the growing evidence-based literature on conflict interventions within the last decade. A primer for practitioners working with families, policy makers, students and academics, it will show how to improve the tomorrows for children who experience challenging family experiences today.
There is increasing government recognition of the importance of early family experiences on individuals in the long term and of how inter-parental conflict influences children’s development. Recognition of the role of such factors early in life is key to helping both policy makers and practitioners promote positive outcomes for children. This accessible book reviews recent research showing how children who experience high levels of inter-parental conflict are at serious risk not only in terms of their own wellbeing, but also in relation to the perpetuation of these behaviours later in life. It examines the differences between ‘destructive’ and ‘constructive’ conflict and how they affect children, explores why some children are more adversely affected than others, and features the latest evidence on how conflict affects child physiology. Of particular note is the book’s focus on the growing evidence-based literature on conflict interventions within the last decade. A primer for practitioners working with families, policy makers, students and academics, it will show how to improve the tomorrows for children who experience challenging family experiences today.
From leading researchers, this book presents important advances in understanding how growing up in a discordant family affects child adjustment, the factors that make certain children more vulnerable than others, and what can be done to help. It is a state-of-the-science follow-up to the authors' seminal earlier work, Children and Marital Conflict: The Impact of Family Dispute and Resolution. The volume presents a new conceptual framework that draws on current knowledge about family processes; parenting; attachment; and children's emotional, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral development. Innovative research methods are explained and promising directions for clinical practice with children and families are discussed.
Interparental Conflict and Child Development provides an in-depth analysis of the rapidly expanding body of research on the impact of interparental conflict on children. Emphasizing developmental and family systems perspectives, it investigates a range of important issues, including the processes by which exposure to conflict may lead to child maladjustment, the role of gender and ethnicity in understanding the effects of conflict, the influence of conflict on parent-child, sibling, and peer relations, family violence, and interparental conflict in divorced and step-families.
High-Conflict Parenting Post-Separation: The Making and Breaking of Family Ties describes an innovative approach for families where children are caught up in their parents’ acrimonious relationship - before, during and after formal legal proceedings have been initiated and concluded. This first book in a brand-new series by researchers and clinicians at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families (AFNCCF) outlines a model of therapeutic work which involves children, their parents and the wider family and social network. The aim is to protect children from conflict between their parents and thus enable them to have healthy relationships across both ‘sides’ of their family network. High-Conflict Parenting Post-Separation is written for professionals who work with high-conflict families – be that psychologists, psychiatrists, child and adult psychotherapists, family therapists, social workers, children’s guardians and legal professionals including solicitors and mediators, as well as students and trainees in all these different disciplines. The book should also be of considerable interest for parents who struggle with post-separation issues that involve their children.
"How can we develop a family identity? ; How can we meet our children's deepest needs? ; How and where do we set the boundaries? ; How can we pass on our values to our children? Drawing on their own experience of bringing up four children and having talked to thousands of parents over the years on their parenting courses, Nicky and sila Lee bring fresh insights and time-tested values to the task of parenting. Full of valuable advice and practical tips. The parenting book is a resource for parents to come back to again and again"--Back cover.
Parent-adolescent discord is often handled from a unitary perspective, whether the focus is on enhancing parenting skills, resolving conflicts in family relationships, or working to improve the behavior of the individual child. This important work shows the clinician how to incorporate all of these crucial elements into a single, research-based treatment program. Presented is the authors' influential integration of cognitive-behavioral constructs and family systems theory, grounded in consideration of adolescent developmental concerns. The book describes effective ways to conceptualize and assess the problems of embattled parents and teens; use assessment data in treatment planning; overcome resistance and other therapeutic hurdles; and implement carefully sequenced skills training, cognitive restructuring, and functional/structural interventions. The theoretical and empirical bases of the treatment approach are also discussed in depth.
Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.
For professionals interested in the family, the book describes how parents can handle their differences more effectively, and offers insights into the outcomes that are related to styles of family dispute.
