Madeleine Stevens

Children With Lesbian Parents: A Community Study

Existing research on children with lesbian parents is limited by reliance on volunteer or convenience samples. The present study examined the quality of parent-child relationships and the socioemotional and gender development of a community sample of 7-year-old children with lesbian parents. Families were recruited through the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a geographic population study of 14,000 mothers and their children. Thirty-nine lesbian-mother families, 74 two-parent heterosexual families, and 60 families headed by single heterosexual mothers were compared on standardized interview and questionnaire measures administered to mothers, co-mothers/fathers, children, and teachers. Findings are in line with those of earlier investigations showing positive mother-child relationships and well-adjusted children.

Costs and longer-term savings of parenting programmes for the prevention of persistent conduct disorder: a modelling study.

BackgroundConduct disorders are the most common psychiatric disorders in children and may persist into adulthood in about 50% of cases. The costs to society are high and impact many public sector agencies. Parenting programmes have been shown to positively affect child behaviour, but little is known about their potential long-term cost-effectiveness. We therefore estimate the costs of and longer-term savings from evidence-based parenting programmes for the prevention of persistent conduct disorder.MethodsA decision-analytic Markov model compares two scenarios: 1) a 5-year old with clinical conduct disorder receives an evidence-based parenting programme; 2) the same 5-year old does not receive the programme. Cost-savings analysis is performed by comparing the probability that conduct disorder persists over time in each scenario, adopting both a public sector and a societal perspective. If the intervention is successful in reducing persistent conduct disorder, cost savings may arise from reduced use of health services, education support, social care, voluntary agencies and from crimes averted.ResultsResults strongly suggest that parenting programmes reduce the chance that conduct disorder persists into adulthood and are cost-saving to the public sector within 5-8 years under base case conditions. Total savings to society over 25 years are estimated at £16,435 per family, which compares with an intervention cost in the range of £952-£2,078 (2008/09 prices).ConclusionsEffective implementation of evidence-based parenting programmes is likely to yield cost savings to the public sector and society. More research is needed to address evidence gaps regarding the current level of provision, longer-term effectiveness and questions of implementation, engagement and equity.

Openness in lesbian-mother families regarding mother's sexual orientation and child's conception by donor insemination

This study aimed to examine how lesbian mothers deal with their 5-9-year-old childrens growing realizations about the unusual nature of their family. Using standardized interviews with 38 mothers, the study examined how open lesbian mothers are with their children and others about their sexual orientation and about the childs conception, where this was by donor insemination (DI). The study also looked at how much the children seemed to understand and how the knowledge may have affected them. Half of the 38 children were fully aware of their mothers sexual orientation and only two were completely unaware. The majority of children developed awareness gradually, rather than being told. No children reacted negatively to finding out. Comparisons with earlier studies suggest these children have a greater awareness than their counterparts from 30 years ago. Ten children had been conceived by DI while the remainder were conceived in heterosexual relationships with the mother later identifying as lesbian. All DI mothers had told (n=9) or planned to tell (n=1) their children about their conception.

Does Father Absence Influence Children's Gender Development? Findings From a General Population Study of Preschool Children

Objective. This study aimed to investigate whether preschool children in father-absent families are less gender-typed than their counterparts from father-present homes. Design. Samples of 283 single-mother families, including a subsample of 136 families where the child had no contact with the father, and 6,420 nuclear families were obtained from a longitudinal population study of 14,000 mothers and their children. Gender-role behavior was assessed when the child was 42 months old using the Pre-School Activities Inventory, a reliable and valid instrument designed to discriminate within as well as between the sexes. Results. No difference in parent-reported gender-role behavior was found between father-present and father-absent families for either boys or girls. Conclusions. The findings suggest that the gender-role behavior of preschool children develops typically despite the absence of a live-in father figure.

Prevention of suicide and suicidal behaviour in adolescents

The objectives of the intervention are: 1. To determine whether school, community, primary health-care or other institution-based interventions for the prevention of suicide in adolescents are effective in reducing suicide attempts, reducing symptoms of known risk factors for suicide or increasing the likelihood of identifying at-risk individuals 2. To identify possible adverse effects associated with interventions 3. To determine, if possible, which features of interventions are most successful, for example, where programmes include more than one of the components listed in the description of the intervention section above. Other features of interventions which could be explored include frequency, intensity, mode of delivery, characteristics of providers and setting 4. To highlight areas where further research is most needed

Preventing at-risk children from developing antisocial and criminal behaviour: a longitudinal study examining the role of parenting, community and societal factors in middle childhood

BackgroundMany childhood risk factors are known to be associated with children’s future antisocial and criminal behaviour, including children’s conduct disorders and family difficulties such as parental substance abuse. Some families are involved with many different services but little is known about what middle childhood factors moderate the risk of poor outcomes. This paper reports the quantitative component of a mixed methods study investigating what factors can be addressed to help families improve children’s outcomes in the longer term. The paper examines six hypotheses, which emerged from a qualitative longitudinal study of the service experiences of eleven vulnerable families followed over five years. The hypotheses concern factors which could be targeted by interventions, services and policy to help reduce children’s behaviour problems in the longer term.MethodsThe hypotheses are investigated using a sample of over one thousand children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Multiple logistic regression examines associations between potentially-moderating factors (at ages 5–10) and antisocial and criminal behaviour (at ages 16–21) for children with behaviour problems at baseline.ResultsALSPAC analyses support several hypotheses, suggesting that the likelihood of future antisocial and criminal behaviour is reduced in the presence of the following factors: reduction in maternal hostility towards the child (between ages 4 and 8), reduction in maternal depression (between the postnatal period and when children are age 10), mothers’ positive view of their neighbourhood (age 5) and lack of difficulty paying the rent (age 7). The evidence was less clear regarding the role of social support (age 6) and mothers’ employment choices (age 7).ConclusionThe findings suggest, in conjunction with findings from the separate qualitative analysis, that improved environments around the child and family during middle childhood could have long-term benefits in reducing antisocial and criminal behaviour.