Eirini Flouri

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) What We Have Learned and What We Still Have Not Found Out

This article discusses the biomedical and the social constructionist models applied to response to trauma, presents the prevalence and the etiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and describes its biological and psychological correlates in children and adults. It concludes that future research might benefit from investigating factors that may protect people who have been exposed to an event likely to be traumatic from presenting with PTSD symptoms, and factors that may affect the longitudinal course of PTSD and treatment effectiveness.

The role of father involvement in children's later mental health.

Data on 8441 cohort members of the National Child Development Study were used to explore links between father involvement at age 7 and emotional and behavioural problems at age 16, and between father involvement at age 16 and psychological distress at age 33, controlling for mother involvement and known confounds. Father involvement at age 7 protected against psychological maladjustment in adolescents from non-intact families, and father involvement at age 16 protected against adult psychological distress in women. There was no evidence suggesting that the impact of father involvement in adolescence on childrens later mental health in adult life varies with the level of mother involvement.

The Role of Mother Involvement and Father Involvement in Adolescent Bullying Behavior

It has been suggested that bullying behavior at school may be linked to parenting and family characteristics. Based on data from 1,147 adolescents aged 14 to 18 years in Britain, this study explored whether father involvement can protect against offspring bullying behavior. Results showed that low father involvement and low mother involvement contributed significantly and independently to bullying behavior in adolescents. Neither the association between father involvement and bullying nor the one between mother involvement and bullying was higher for sons than for daughters. There was evidence showing that the impact of the father-child relationship depended on the closeness of the mother-child relationship in that father involvement protected more when mother involvement was lower.

What predicts good relationships with parents in adolescence and partners in adult life: findings from the 1958 British birth cohort.

This study drew on data from the National Child Development Study to explore the role of father involvement and mother involvement at age 7 in father-child and mother-child relations at age 16, and the role of closeness to father and closeness to mother at age 16 in quality of relationship with partner at age 33. Closeness to mother was associated with closeness to father, intact family structure and academic motivation, and closeness to father with closeness to mother, early father involvement, less emotional and behavioral problems in adolescence, male gender and academic motivation. Closeness to father at age 16 was more strongly related to level of father involvement at age 7 for daughters than for sons and to closeness to mother for sons than for daughters. Marital adjustment at age 33 was related to good relationships with siblings, mother, and father at age 16; less current psychological distress; female gender; and educational attainment.

The Protective Role of Parental Involvement in Adolescent Suicide

This study of 2,722 adolescents aged 14-18 years explored whether parental involvement can protect against adolescent suicide attempts. Compared to their counterparts suicide attempters were more likely to have been in trouble with the police, to report lower levels of parental interest and academic motivation, and to report suicidal ideation and using alcohol or an illegal drug when they feel stressed. They were also less likely to reside with both parents. The association between parental involvement and suicidal behaviour was not stronger for sons than for daughters or for adolescents who had experienced family disruption than for those who grew up in two-parent families.

Subjective Well-Being in Midlife: The Role of Involvement of and Closeness to Parents in Childhood

This study used data from the British National Child Development Study to examine the role of parenting in later subjective well-being (SWB). Parenting was defined as mother involvement and father involvement (measured at age 7) and as closeness to mother and closeness to father (measured at age 16). SWB was measured at age 42 and was defined as life satisfaction, psychological functioning (measured with the GHQ-12), and absence of psychological distress (measured with the Malaise Inventory). Control factors were parental social class at birth, parental family structure throughout childhood, domestic tension in the parental home, parental ill mental health in early childhood, psychological maladjustment in adolescence, financial difficulties throughout childhood, educational attainment, self-rated health in early adulthood, and current socio-demographic correlates of SWB (labour force participation, religion and being partnered). It was found that even after adjusting for these factors closeness to mother at age 16 predicted life satisfaction at age 42 in both men and women, whereas mother involvement at age 7 predicted life satisfaction at age 42 in men. Closeness to mother at age 16 was also negatively related to poor psychological functioning at age 42 in women.

Parental background, social disadvantage, public care, and psychological problems in adolescence and adulthood

OBJECTIVE To assess whether the structure of the parental background (birth, restructured, widowed, single) or the context (severe social disadvantage or care) in childhood is associated with psychological problems in adolescence and adulthood. METHOD Data on 8,441 cohort members of the National Child Development Study were used to explore the impact of parental background on maladjustment at age 16, as assessed by the Rutter A Health and Behaviour Checklist, and psychological distress at age 33, as assessed by the Malaise Inventory. RESULTS Restructured parenting (without disadvantage or care) was not a risk factor for maladjustment at age 16. Rather, a childhood experience of care or social disadvantage was significantly related to psychosocial problems at age 16. Psychological distress at age 33 was associated with maladjustment at age 16. A childhood experience of care was associated with a tendency to adult psychological distress in men, as was growing up with a single parent. CONCLUSIONS It is not the structure of the family background but the context that is more strongly associated with maladjustment in adolescence. A childhood experience of single parenthood and an experience of care predicted adult psychological distress in men but not in women.

The behavioral and emotional problems of former unaccompanied refugee children 3-4 years after their return to Vietnam.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to examine the behavioral and emotional problems of former unaccompanied refugee children who had repatriated to Vietnam from refugee centers in Hong Kong and South East Asia. The children were compared with a matched sample of children who had never left Vietnam. METHOD The participants consisted of 455 Vietnamese children aged between 10 and 22 years; 238 of the children had formerly resided in refugee camps without their parents. Data were collected using the Achenbach Youth Self-Report, the Cowen Perceived Self-Efficacy scale, a Social Support scale as well as an Exposure to Trauma scale. RESULTS No significant difference was found between the two groups of children on the YSR Total Score. The former refugee children had significantly lower Externalizing scores and failed marginally to report significantly higher Internalizing scores than the local children. The study showed that the perceived self-efficacy, number of social supports and experience of social support did not differ between the two groups of children. Further analysis showed that a significant interaction between the immigration status of the children and the childrens subjective perception of their current standard of living explained the differences in the YSR. CONCLUSION The results suggest that the experience of living without parents in a refugee camp does not lead to increased behavioral and emotional problems in the immediate years after repatriation.

Correlates of parents’ involvement with their adolescent children in restructured and biological two-parent families: The role of child characteristics

This study used data from both 225 fathers and mothers as well as their secondary school age children to explore the role of child characteristics (sex, age, self-esteem, and emotional and behavioural well-being) in mother’s and father’s involvement in biological and restructured (stepfather) two-parent families after controlling for known confounding factors. Parent involvement was assessed by both the child and the parents. Child-reported father’s involvement was positively related to child-reported child’s self-esteem, and child-reported mother’s involvement was higher for girls. The interaction between family structure and father-reported child’s emotional and behavioural problems was significant in predicting father-reported father’s involvement. Stepfathers reported higher involvement when they viewed their stepchildren as psychologically well adjusted than when they viewed them as having emotional and behavioural problems. As a group, child characteristics were more significant in predicting fathers’ than mothers’ involvement.

Childhood families of homeless and poor adults in Britain: A prospective study

Abstract Using longitudinal data from the British National Child Development Study which traced some 17,000 children born in England, Scotland and Wales in one week in March 1958, this study investigated the role of early father’s and mother’s involvement in social and economic disadvantage (experience of homelessness, state benefits receipt, and subsidized housing) in adult life. Data from 5880 cohort members showed that in women being married was negatively related to all three indicators of disadvantage. In men, large family size in childhood and current psychological distress were positively related to the three indicators of disadvantage. For both genders low educational attainment predicted both living in subsidized housing and receiving state benefits. Both father’s and mother’s involvement in families of lower socio-economic status were highly protective against an adult experience of homelessness in sons.