Human evolution and culture in relationship to shame in the parenting role: Implications for psychology and psychotherapy

A brief compassion focused therapy intervention can help self-critical parents and their children: A randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Parents can be highly self-critical of their own parenting, which can negatively impact parenting style and child outcomes.

AIMS

The aim of this randomised controlled trial (RCT) was to examine the efficacy of a brief 2-hour Compassion Focused Therapy intervention (CFT) for parents to determine if it can reduce self-criticism, improve parenting and improve child social, emotional and behavioural outcomes.

MATERIALS & METHODS

In total, 102 parents (87 mothers) were randomised to either a CFT intervention (n = 48) or waitlist control group (n = 54). Participants were measured at pre-, 2-week post-intervention and the CFT group again at 3-month follow-up.

RESULTS

At 2-week post-intervention parents in the CFT group compared to waitlist control had significantly reduced levels of self-criticism, significant reductions in child emotional and peer problems, but no changes in parental style. At 3-month follow-up, these outcomes improved, with self-criticism further decreasing, parental hostility and verbosity decreasing, as well as a range of childhood improvements.

CONCLUSION

The results from this first RCT evaluation of a brief 2-hour CFT intervention for parents show promise for not only improving how parents relate to themselves with self-criticism and self-reassurance, but also for improving parenting styles and child outcomes.

Intergenerational associations of adverse and positive maternal childhood experiences with young children's psychosocial well-being

Background: Maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are believed to have negative consequences on offspring health. However, positive childhood experiences (PCEs) may be concurrent with ACEs, and little is known about how ACEs and PCEs transmit intergenerationally in the context of each other.Objective: To explore the independent effect of maternal ACEs and PCEs on offspring psychosocial well-being and how ACEs and PCEs are intergenerationally transmitted in their context.Method: Data were 2587 mother-child dyads in Anhui provinces of China. Mothers retrospectively reported their ACEs and PCEs, as well as provided demographic characteristics and their children's psychosocial well-being. Logistic regression models were performed to explore the associations of maternal ACEs and PCEs with offspring psychosocial well-being.Results: Separate unadjusted logistic regression models showed that children with mothers reported high ACEs scores were more likely to have psychosocial challenges (total difficulties and prosocial problems), while children whose mothers reported high PCEs scores were less likely to have psychosocial challenges. When we added maternal ACEs and PCEs to a same model, we found that PCEs slightly neutralised the negative effects of ACEs on offspring's total difficulties and prosocial problems. When stratified by sample, mothers with high PCE scores and higher maternal ACEs were related with a higher risk of offspring total difficulties; mothers with low levels of ACEs and high PCEs tend to report a lower risk of offspring total difficulties.Conclusions: Results suggest that PCEs are positively and intergenerationally transmitted. Results suggest that PCEs are positively and intergenerationally transmitted. More programme should be provided to increase maternal PCEs. When preventing the intergenerational transmission of ACEs, specific interventions should be provided to mothers with different levels of PCEs.

Coercive parenting: modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors in parents of children with developmental disabilities

BACKGROUND

Parents of children with developmental or intellectual disabilities tend to report greater use of coercive parenting practices relative to parents of typically developing children, increasing the risk of adverse child outcomes. However, to date, there is limited research exploring the role and relative contribution of modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors in parents of children with a disability. The present study aimed to explore the role of various modifiable and nonmodifiable parenting, family and sociodemographic factors associated with the use of coercive parenting practices in parents of children with a disability.

METHODS

Caregivers (N = 1392) enrolled in the Mental Health of Young People with Developmental Disabilities (MHYPeDD) programme in Australia completed a cross-sectional survey about their parenting and their child aged 2-12 years with a disability. Measures covered a range of domains including relevant demographic and family background, use of coercive parenting practices, intensity of child behavioural difficulties and questions relating to parent and family functioning such as parental self-efficacy, adjustment difficulties and quality of family relationships.

RESULTS

Parents of older children, those who were younger at the birth of their child, and parents who were co-parenting or working reported more use of coercive parenting practices. Greater intensity of child difficulties, poorer parental self-efficacy and parent-child relationships, and more parental adjustment difficulties were also significantly associated with more use of coercive parenting. Examination of the relative contribution of variables revealed parent-child relationship was a key contributing factor, followed by intensity of child behaviour problems, parent adjustment and parent confidence.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight a range of factors that should be targeted and modified through upstream prevention programmes and further inform our understanding of how coercive practices may be influenced through targeted parenting interventions.

The Role of Compassionate and Self-Image Goals in Predicting Psychological Controlling and Facilitative Parenting Styles

People enter into parental roles with a range of different motivations for parenting. To date, however, there is limited research assessing maternal motivations, concerns, and anxieties in their parenting styles. While some mothers are confident and child focused, others have concerns with performing parenting behaviors, and can be self-focused, shame prone, and self-judgmental. Two studies explored these two dimensions in relation to degree of controlling and facilitative parenting styles in the mothers of 3-9-year-old children. In study one, 151 mothers took part in an online survey measuring these two dimensions using the compassionate goals and self-image goals scales (Crocker and Canevello, 2008), in relation to facilitative and controlling parenting styles. As predicted, after controlling for child behavior, parental mental health, and parental self-efficacy, self-focused and shame avoidant concerns were associated with greater psychologically controlling parenting. In contrast a compassionate focused orientation was associated with greater facilitative parenting. In study two, 198 mothers were randomly assigned to either compassion focused goals, self-image goals, or control condition, which was manipulated by varying the instructions provided to participants. Emotional responses (e.g., angry, sad, and shame) to difficult parenting scenarios did not differ depending on whether participants were prompted with compassionate goal, self-image goal, or control condition instructions. The findings from study 1 demonstrate how goal motivation can influence parenting style, with the results from study 2 suggesting that instruction alone is insufficient to shift goal orientation.

Psychotherapy for the 21st century: An integrative, evolutionary, contextual, biopsychosocial approach

Fragmentation of processes and interventions plague the psychotherapies (Gilbert & Kirby, ). Part of the problem is that we have not agreed on a framework that could be the basis for integrating knowledge and the scientific enquiry of processes and interventions. This paper outlines an approach that brings together a variety of different disciplines in the service of consilience (Wilson, , Consilience: The unity of knowledge, Vintage, New York, NY; Siegel, ). It presents the importance of an evolutionary framework for understanding the proclivities and dispositions for mental suffering and antisocial behaviour, and how they are choreographed in different sociodevelopmental contexts. Building on earlier models (Gilbert, , Human nature and suffering, Routledge, London, UK; Gilbert, , Clin. Psychol. Psychother., 2, 135; Gilbert, , Br. J. Med. Psychol., 71, 353; Gilbert, , Case formulation in cognitive behaviour therapy: The treatment of challenging cases, Wiley, Chichester, UK, pp. 50-89) the call is for an integrative, evolutionary, contextual, biopsychosocial approach to psychology and psychotherapy. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Evolutionary functional analysis is part of an evolutionary, contextual, biopsychosocial approach to mental health that can serve as a scientific platform for the future developments of psychotherapy. Therapist skills and training will increasing need to focus on the multidimensional textures of mental states especially the context-social-body linkages. Therapies of the future will also focus more on the moral aspects of therapy and address the need to promote prosocial and ethical behaviour to self and others.