Introduction to the special issue: Advances in methods and measurement in family psychology.

This special issue presents a collection of reports that highlight recent advances in methods and measurement and also shed light on the complexity of family psychology. The importance of theory in guiding solid family science is evident throughout these reports. The reports include guides for researchers who incorporate direct observation into their research protocols and the ever-expanding field of tele-health interventions.

Assessing readiness to change the balance of responsibility for managing type 1 diabetes mellitus: adolescent, mother, and father perspectives.

Objective: This study examined the reliability and validity of items assessing adolescent and parent readiness to change the balance of responsibility for managing type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).

Methods: Sixty-nine adolescents with T1DM and their caregivers completed questionnaires assessing readiness to change the balance of responsibility, division of responsibility for diabetes management tasks, self-efficacy, and parenting stress. Stages of change classifications were determined for individual respondents and families.

Use of the Family Interaction Macro-coding System with families of adolescents: psychometric properties among pediatric and healthy populations.

Objective: To examine reliability and validity data for the Family Interaction Macro-coding System (FIMS) with adolescents with spina bifida (SB), adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), and healthy adolescents and their families.

Methods: Sixty-eight families of children with SB, 58 families of adolescents with T1DM, and 68 families in a healthy comparison group completed family interaction tasks and self-report questionnaires. Trained coders rated family interactions using the FIMS.

Families' perspectives on the effect of constipation and fecal incontinence on quality of life.

Objectives: Understanding families' quality of life can be important for interdisciplinary treatment planning. The present study examined child and parent perspectives about how constipation and fecal incontinence affect families' quality of life.

Patients And Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 8 children/adolescents and 8 caregivers.

Reciprocal influences in children's and families' adaptation to early childhood wheezing.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to demonstrate the reciprocal relationships between family adaptation to illness and children's medication use over time among children who presented with wheezing illness in infancy but have varying illness outcomes by age 4.

Design: A longitudinal design and latent growth curve models (LGM) were used to predict change in family and caregiver adaptation to illness and children's medication use over three years among 140 infants with wheezing, among families from low socioeconomic, multi-ethnic backgrounds.

Main Outcome Measures: One LGM predicted level and change (slope) of family adaptation to illness from children's baseline medication use.

Validity of the Five Minute Speech Sample in families with infants from low-income backgrounds.

Caregivers of 169 infants from low-income and multi-ethnic backgrounds completed the Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS). Validity of the FMSS was supported by demonstrating significant associations among positive and negative affect dimensions of the FMSS and other indices of the caregiving environment.

Family influences on pediatric asthma.

Objective: To describe pathways by which families may influence the onset and course of a child's asthma.

Methods: We critically reviewed published articles and book chapters to identify research findings and integrated conceptualizations that demonstrate how families affect pediatric asthma.

Results: Family emotional characteristics, asthma management behaviors, and physiological factors account for key influences on pediatric asthma onset and outcomes.

Sibling relationships and behavior after pediatric traumatic brain injury.

To evaluate long-term outcomes for siblings of children with traumatic brain injury (TBI), measures of sibling relationships and sibling behavior were collected an average of 4 years postinjury. The study sample included participants in a larger longitudinal study who had school-aged siblings, including 34 with severe TBI, 30 with moderate TBI, and 39 with orthopedic injuries not involving brain insult (ORTHO group). Group comparisons revealed more negative sibling relationships in families of children with TBI than in families of children in the ORTHO group, but only for mixed-gender sibling pairings.