"Knock me down a little bit more": Support networks of parents impacted by the child welfare system, a mixed methods study.

Background: Families impacted by the child welfare system (CWS) face increased risks of poverty, family dysfunction, and poor child outcomes. Strong support networks, comprised of formal support from government programs or service providers and informal support from family and friends, are an under-researched potential mechanism to facilitate family engagement and protect against child maltreatment.

Objective: This study's objective was to describe formal and informal supports among parents with substantiated maltreatment who recently entered the CWS to understand parents' situations and conditions.

Within-family processes among safety nets, maternal parenting stress, and child behavioral problems among low-income families: The importance of race and ethnicity.

Research has long emphasized the adverse effects of poverty on children; however, within-family processes of how safety nets offset the effects of poverty differ by race and ethnicity are unclear. Guided by the context-sensitive family stress model, the current study investigated within-family processes among safety nets, maternal parenting stress, and child behavioral problems among low-income families and revealed differences in these processes among Hispanic, Black, and White mothers. Using The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), participants included 2251 low-income mothers and their children, repeatedly surveyed when children were 1, 3, 5, and 9 years old.

Instrumental safety net configurations and changes over time among economically marginalized families.

Poverty, a social determinant of health, disproportionately affects families with children. Public and private safety nets, or support networks available in times of need, can help address poverty and its consequences. Independently, strong safety nets (public or private) promote health and well-being, yet little is known about how private and public safety nets combine and evolve over time.

Quality of the Parent-Child Relationship as a Moderator of Witnessing Violence and Youth Trauma Symptoms.

Traumatic event exposure affects two in every three adolescents in the United States and there is the potential for numerous deleterious effects including higher levels of youth depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and emotional and behavioral problems. Witnessing violence is one of the more common experiences associated with trauma exposure. Despite the ample research on mental health outcomes associated with witnessing violence, less is known about the extent to which parent-child relationships play a role in youth mental health outcomes when youth are exposed to violence.

Parent and Caregiver Relationships and Mental Health Symptom Profiles of Youth in Foster Care.

Adolescents in foster care can be quite resilient, yet they also are at risk for developing internalizing and externalizing mental health concerns. Positive family relationships are central to adolescent mental health, and these relationships can be complex for youth in foster care placements. Accordingly, there can be significant heterogeneity in the mental health symptoms of youth in foster care.

A test of the dyadic associations between ineffective arguing, emotional distress, and violence perpetration and victimization among couples seeking therapy.

Researchers have tested associations between ineffective arguing and emotional distress among couples without relationship violence. Moreover, studies have demonstrated associations between physical violence perpetration and victimization in the aftermath of emotional distress. However, there is a paucity of research examining linkages between ineffective arguing, emotional distress, and physical violence perpetration or victimization.

Current Caregiver Involvement and Contact with Biological Parents are Associated with Lower Externalizing Symptoms of Youth in Out-of-Home Child Welfare Placements.

Positive family relationships are important for child well-being. However, family relationships are unique for youth in out-of-home child welfare placements because they involve both biological and foster parents. The aim of this study was to test the interactive association between current caregiver involvement and contact with biological parents on youths' externalizing symptoms using a sample representative of youth in out-of-home child welfare placements in the United States.

Profiles of perceived resources among low-income, rural mothers: Prospective associations with maternal and child outcomes.

Low-income, rural families face significant mental health risks. However, the understanding of resources associated with mental health risks is limited. The present study investigated the associations between perceived resources of low-income, rural mothers, and longitudinal maternal and child outcomes.

Which therapist perceptions best predict client outcomes? A naturalistic examination.

Examining associations between therapists' perceptions of therapy sessions and client-reported outcomes in naturalistic settings (real-life therapy settings) can provide valuable guidance for the assessment, treatment, and monitoring of clients. This study included data of 1334 sessions from 127 clients (86 individual and 41 couple cases) and 15 therapists, collected at a therapy training center. Clients reported their personal functioning and individual symptoms before each session.

Informal support and obligation contribute to fewer child behavior problems over time.

Objective: This study used longitudinal data from a sample of low-income mothers and their children to examine how informal support and obligation, or informal networks, contribute to children's behavior. We also tested the potential mediating role of maternal parenting stress.

Background: Many studies document the importance of informal support for maternal stress and child behavior to offset the negative impact of poverty for low-income families.

Thought Problems and Aggression Over Time Among Youth in Foster Care.

Background: Youth in foster care may demonstrate high levels of aggression and thought problems. There is a growing trend to consider mental health symptoms of youth involved with the foster care system from a developmental trauma perspective.

Objective: The aim of this study was to test if trauma, race, age, and gender predicted variability in thought problems and aggression for youth in foster care.

More Contact with Biological Parents Predicts Shorter Length of Time in Out of Home Care and Mental Health of Youth in the Child Welfare System.

Foster care is intended to be a temporary placement option. Viewing permanency as central to child well-being, current U.S.

Systemic interventions for traumatic event exposure: A 2010-2019 decade review.

Trauma exposure is a pervasive issue worldwide. People exposed to traumatic events may develop PTSD, depression, anxiety, and other mental health symptoms. Family and intimate partner relationship problems also are frequently associated with trauma exposure.

Individual's pretreatment psychological symptoms and progress in couples therapy: A person-centered analysis.

This study examined how individual pretreatment symptoms (depression and anxiety) predicted longitudinal, relational processes in couples therapy (the therapeutic alliance and couple satisfaction). This study included 99 heterosexual couples receiving systemic couples therapy. Partners reported their individual pretreatment symptoms of depression and anxiety before intake.

Couple Satisfaction, Depressive Symptoms, and the Therapeutic Alliance: A Systemic Perspective.

There is a well-established bidirectional, negative association between couple satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Yet, a family systems perspective emphasizes the role of the therapist in interrupting this recursive cycle between couple satisfaction and depressive symptoms. The current study utilized longitudinal data to explore the bidirectional associations between depressive symptoms and couple satisfaction, moderated by the therapeutic alliance over the course of therapy.

Clients' Attributions of the Presenting Problem and the Therapeutic Alliance in Couple Therapy: Systemic Versus Intrapersonal Perspectives.

The therapeutic alliance is central to couples' therapy success. The current study examined associations between couples' initial agreement and causal attributions of the presenting problem and changes in the therapeutic alliance. To test study hypotheses, 85 couples were recruited from a university training clinic focused on couple and family therapy.

Psychological distress among low-income mothers: the role of public and private safety nets.

Poverty is linked with a host of negative outcomes. Approximately one-third of unmarried mothers and their children live in poverty in the United States. Public and private supports have the potential to mitigate the adverse effects of poverty; however, these supports may be unstable over time.

Informal Networks of Low-Income Mothers: Support, Burden, and Change.

Objective: The authors examined the support and burden of low-income, urban mothers' informal networks.

Background: Living or growing up in poverty strongly predicts barriers and instability across several life domains for mothers and their children. Informal networks can play a critical role in promoting maternal and child well-being particularly in the midst of poverty.

Maternal depression, maltreatment history, and child outcomes: The role of harsh parenting.

The link between maternal depression and negative child outcomes has been well-established; however, less is known regarding the impact of harsh parenting on child outcomes, especially for women living with depressive symptoms and whom also experienced child maltreatment. The purpose of this study was to examine harsh parenting practices as a mediator in this known association, in order to examine factors associated with negative child outcomes and to explore a reduction in future transmission of risk. Mediation analyses were conducted with 2 samples of mother-child dyads at separate time points (child age 6: = 325; and youth age 12: = 213) using data collected from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect.

Caregiver-Adolescent Disagreement on the Mental Health of Youth in Foster Care: The Moderating Role of the Caregiver Relationship.

It is not uncommon for caregivers and adolescents to provide different perspectives of adolescents' mental health symptoms; however, few studies have examined these discrepancies, especially between foster parents and adolescents in the child welfare system. The goal of this study was to investigate the levels of disagreement on adolescent mental health symptoms among caregivers and adolescents in foster care, to examine factors associated with caregiver-adolescent discrepancies, and the potential moderating role of caregiver-child closeness on the link between the length of time the youth lived with caregivers and discrepancies regarding adolescent mental health symptoms. These research questions were examined using two measures of adolescent-caregiver disagreement, intraclass correlations and discrepancy scores, using data from a nationally representative study of youth involved with the child welfare system.

Adapting a parenting intervention for parents aging out of the child welfare system: A systematic approach to expand the reach of an evidence-based intervention.

Parents aging out of the child welfare system face a constellation of unique risk factors that threaten the well-being of themselves and their children. Although parenting interventions are an important resource for providing much-needed services to parents aging out, there is currently a lack of evidence-based parenting interventions that address the unique needs of this population. The purpose of this project was to systematically adapt an evidence-based parenting intervention for parents aging out.

The Profession of Couple, Marital, and Family Therapy (CMFT): Defining Ourselves and Moving Forward.

The field of Couple, Marital, and Family Therapy (CMFT) has evolved and strengthened, but we still have work to do when it comes to identity, comprehensive scholarly resources, empirical support, and name brand recognition. We explore the reasons for these challenges and propose ways to address them: embracing the interdisciplinary nature of the field, consistently organizing treatment effectiveness by problem rather than by intervention model, continuing innovation in theory development, and utilizing more diverse and meaningful research methods. This approach provides a more accurate representation of the scope of practice of CMFTs, the range of mental and physical health problems we address, and the depth and extent of the existing research on the effectiveness of relational therapies.

Reciprocal Associations Among Maternal and Child Characteristics of At-Risk Families: A Longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Model.

Researchers have found linear associations among maternal and child characteristics. However, family systems theorists suggest that relationships are more complex and family members are interdependent. We used actor-partner interdependence modeling to unravel associations among maternal and child characteristics to predict outcomes in adolescence.