Black women and white women: do perceptions of childhood family environment differ?

Parent-Reported Family Functioning Among Children With Cleft Lip/Palate

OBJECTIVE

To examine family functioning related to sociodemographic and clinical characteristics in youth with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P).

DESIGN

Cross-sectional, multi-site investigation.

SETTING

Six U.S. cleft centers.

PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS

A diverse sample of 1200 children with CL/P and their parents.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Parents completed the Family Environment Scale (FES), which assesses three domains of family functioning: cohesion (or closeness), expressiveness (open expression of feelings), and conflict. Demographic and clinical characteristics were also assessed including race, ethnicity, type of insurance, and surgical recommendations.

RESULTS

The FES scores for families seeking team evaluations for their youth with CL/P (mean age = 11.6 years) fall within the average range compared with normative samples. Families receiving surgical recommendations for their youth also had FES scores in the average range, yet families of children recommended for functional surgery reported greater cohesion, expressiveness, and less conflict compared with those recommended for aesthetic surgery (P < .05). For cohesion and expressiveness, significant main effects for race (P = .012, P < .0001, respectively) and ethnicity (P = .004, P < .0001, respectively) were found but not for their interaction. No significant differences were found on the conflict domain. Families with private insurance reported significantly greater cohesion (P < .001) and expressiveness (P < .001) than did families with public insurance.

CONCLUSIONS

Family functioning across domains was in the average range. However, observed differences by race, ethnicity, type of insurance, and surgical recommendation may warrant consideration in clinical management for patients and families.

Parenting Attitudes, Family Environments, Depression, and Anxiety in Caregivers of Maltreated Children

This study evaluated parenting attitudes, family environments, depression, and anxiety in a sample of primarily minority urban mothers to better understand maltreating mothers (n = 83), who retain custody of their children and how they are similar to and different from foster mothers (n = 50), kin caregivers (n = 52) of maltreated children, and comparison mothers (n = 100) from the same communities. Maltreating mothers were distinguished by their much higher levels of depression and anxiety from other mothers. In addition, like foster mothers, maltreating mothers were less likely to approve of corporal punishment. Foster mothers were higher in organization and lower in empathy than other groups. There were no differences by race/ethnicity on study dimensions. Higher education, however, was related to more favorable parenting attitudes and family environments. Practice implications related to appropriate services are suggested.

Sibling agreement on retrospective reports of parental alcoholism and other childhood events

Studies have used siblings to verify subject reports of retrospective data and examined variables influencing subject-sibling agreement, but questions remain. From 1998 to 2000, we examined a community sample of women (N = 143) in a metropolitan area, aged 21-60, balanced by race, parental alcoholism, and social class, as well as their siblings, using standardized, self-administered questionnaires and an interview.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Do subject and sibling reports agree? Do reports vary by subject characteristics, or the type of childhood experience? Descriptive statistics showed that agreement was strong for measures of parental alcoholism and psychiatric problems, weaker for family environment, and varied little by subject characteristics. Study limitations and implications are noted, and future research suggested.

The effect of personal relevance on learning stroke symptoms/response

The aim of this study was to test the effect of increasing the personal relevance of stroke symptom information on learning stroke symptoms/emergency response. A randomized pretest-posttest double-blind study design was used. A total of 173 community-dwelling adults participated. Treatment participants read the personally relevant statement, "Learn about stroke to save someone you love," completed the Stroke Action Test pretest, read the National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke pamphlet titled Know Stroke. Know the Signs. Act in Time, and responded to the Stroke Action Test posttest. The control condition differed only in the omission of the personally relevant statement. The treatment group learned significantly more than the control group, F(1, 170) = 7.46, p < .007, eta2 = .02. The mean items learned by the treatment group was 8.3 (SD = 5.67) compared to the control group mean of 6.2 (SD = 5.76). Prefacing stroke prevention information with the statement, "Learn about stroke to save someone you love," could result in greater learning of stroke symptoms/response.