Francine Cyr

Parental Conflicts and Their Damaging Effects on Children

Abstract Parental conflicts can have a devastating impact on children. Besides representing a major obstacle to their adjustment, parental conflicts may lead to damaging lifelong effects on the childrens well-being. This paper reviews the literature concerning parental conflicts and their effects on children. In addition to presenting different findings within this field, the paper will empathize the importance of more clearly understanding the effects of parental conflicts on the childrens well-being, as well as on the importance of intervening with parents in conflict in order to increase their awareness of the consequences of their behaviours on their children.

Child Adjustment Following Parental Separation: The Role of Maternal Well-Being, Parenting Quality, and Household Income

This study explored the role of parental and environmental factors in the relationship between parental separation and child vulnerabilities. Participants were from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, including 358 children from separated families and 1,065 children from non-separated families. Results demonstrated that parental separation was associated with higher levels of hyperactivity/impulsivity in children over and beyond what was accounted for by child gender, maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety, parenting quality, and household income. However, parental separation no longer predicted child anxiety and physical aggression once these parental and environmental variables were controlled. Results highlight the importance of considering the quality of the family environment as more predictive of child outcomes than parental separation per se.

Children’s perspectives on parenting coordination: Insights from the montreal parenting coordination pilot project

ABSTRACT As part of a pilot project in the Montreal area, ten high-conflict families received free parenting coordination services. This explorative study aimed to document, through psychometric measures and semistructured interviews, how the parenting coordination process impacted children involved. Although not statistically significant, results suggest a diminution in the intensity of the conflict between parents over the course of parenting coordination, as perceived by the children. Qualitative data indicates variation in children’s opinions regarding their experience. Approximately half of the sample shared examples of improvements in their lives, mostly to do with diminution of parental conflict and better communication between parents. However, some shared frustrations with the intervention and their belief that parenting coordination was not helpful. Not feeling heard by the parenting coordinator (PC) as well as a perceived lack of neutrality were linked with negative discourse on parenting coordination.

A comprehensive model of the development of mental handicap in children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: A synthesis of the literature

Most clinical studies addressing sequelae in children with leukaemia are not theory-driven. Nonetheless, the role of different mediating biological (e.g. cranial irradiation, chemotherapy) and psychosocial variables (e.g. family functioning) has been empirically acknowledged. In these studies, a cause-effect relationship between biological variables and cognitive deficits, sometimes complex due to multiple agents, has been hypothesised. As for the psychosocial consequences, adaptation to the cancer-related stress has been the main focus, at both the individual and family levels. In this paper, we advocate the use of a global model for the development of handicap, derived from the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps (ICIDH) by the World Health Organisation. This revised model proposes that handicap is the result of complex interactions between the characteristics of a person’s impairment, disabilities, and the characteristics of the environment. At each of these levels, risk/resilience factors are defined. This means that depending on the environmental obstacles they face, persons with an impairment or a disability may or may not experience a situation creating a handicap which is no longer seen as a stable status resulting from a disease to which the individual must adapt. By reviewing animal and clinical studies, current knowledge pertaining to leukaemia sequelae are integrated into the different levels defined by the model: organic impairment, disabilities, environmental obstacles, and handicap situation. Practical implications for research, policies, and individual treatments, and comparisons with existing models, are also outlined.

The Voice of the Child in Parenting Coordination: Views of Children, Parents, and Parenting Coordinators

ABSTRACT This article examines the views of children, parents, and parenting coordinators (PCs) on child inclusion in the parenting coordination process. Participants in a parenting coordination pilot project in Montréal, Quebec—10 children (ranging in age from 8–17 years old), 14 parents, and 2 PCs—were interviewed at the end of the project. The goal was to understand their perceptions of child participation in parenting coordination interventions. Overall, a vast majority of children and parents agreed that children should be given a forum in parenting coordination and their voices heard. Feedback from PCs on their child inclusion experience also provided rare insight into this practice. Results confirm the importance for children of being heard in postseparation interventions, even when parental conflict is high. These findings add to the growing literature on the participation of children in postseparation interventions.

Group interventions for children having separated parents: a Systematic Narrative Review

ABSTRACT The aims of this article are to review the current body of knowledge on group interventions for children with separated or divorced parents and to provide new insights into the evaluation of their efficacy. This review draws on a method of systematic narrative review (SNR). We provide a narrative synthesis of evidence from 29 studies conducted between 1980 and 2014, which were included in the SNR consistently with the inclusion criteria established. Three dimensions were considered: intervention characteristics, study characteristics, and intervention outcomes (i.e., types of outcomes and efficacy). Our findings showed a general inconsistency among the studies, which was discussed in the light of some important methodological issues.

Neuropsychological and Psycho-social Consequences of Corpus Callosotomy

Groupe de Recherche en Neuropsychologie Experimentale Departement de Psychologie Universite de Montreal C. P., 6128, Succ. Centre-Ville Montreal, Que. H3C 3J7, Canada Departement de Pedopsychiatrie Hopital Neurologique et Neuro-chirurgical Pierre Wertheimer 69394 Lyon Cedex 03, France Departement de Psychologie Universite de Montreal C. P., 6128, Succ. Centre-Ville Montreal, Que. H3C 3J7, Canada Service de Neurologie Hopital Sainte-Justine 3175 Ch. Cote Sainte-Catherine Montreal, Que., H3T 1C5, Canada Service de Neurochirurgie Hopital Sainte-Justine 3175 Ch. Cote Sainte-Catherine Montreal, Que., H3T 1C5, Canada