Family Climate and Intention to Use Cannabis as Predictors of Cannabis Use and Cannabis-Related Problems among Young University Students

Dual alcohol and cannabis use in male and female adolescents: Relationships with family variables

Family dynamics influence adolescents' use of alcohol and other substances, such as cannabis. The aim of this study was to understand the relationship between family variables and alcohol use, dual use of alcohol and cannabis, and non-use in adolescents according to sex. A cross-sectional study was conducted. The sample comprised 879 adolescents (56.4 % boys; M(SD)age = 14.25 (1.88) years). Multinomial regression analysis showed that for boys, the presence of family conflict increased the likelihood of being an alcohol (OR = 1.19) and dual (OR = 1.23) user rather than a non-user. For girls, communication reduced the probability of being an alcohol user (OR = 0.88), and the presence of consequences for breaking rules reduced the probability of being a dual user rather than a non-user (OR = 0.83) or an alcohol user (OR = 0.84). These findings highlight the importance of family prevention of adolescents' substance use, bearing in mind the participants' sex.

Analyzing when parental warmth but without parental strictness leads to more adolescent empathy and self-concept: Evidence from Spanish homes

Introduction

Classical research mainly conducted with European-American families has identified the combination of warmth and strictness (authoritative style) as the parenting always associated with the highest scores on developmental outcomes. Additionally, despite the benefits of empathy for prosocial behaviors and protection against antisocial behaviors, most research has considered the contribution of specific practices (e.g., reasoning or power assertion), but not so much the parenting styles. Similarly, family studies tend to study the relationship between parenting and global self-perceptions (self-esteem), but not so much those of each dimension (self-concept).

Methods

In the present study, 600 Spanish adolescents from 12 to 17 years old (M = 15.25, SD = 2.01) were classified within one of the four household typologies (i.e., authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian, or neglectful). Adolescent developmental outcomes were cognitive empathy (adopting perspectives and emotional understanding), emotional empathy (empathic stress and empathic happiness), and self-concept (academic, social, emotional, family and physical).

Results

The results showed that the indulgent parenting (warmth but not strictness) was related to equal or even better empathy and self-concept than the authoritative style (warmth and strictness), whereas non-warm parenting (authoritarian and neglectful) was consistently associated with poor results.

Discussion

Overall, the present findings seriously question that parental strictness combined with parental warmth (authoritative style) is always the parenting style related to the greatest outcomes. By contrast, it seems that reasoning, warmth and involvement, without strictness (indulgent parenting) help adolescents to achieve a good orientation toward others in terms of cognitive and affective empathy and a good self-evaluation in terms of self-concept.

The Mediation Role of an Individual's and Couple's Psychological Factors, Including Parenting in the Prediction of Relational and Marital Satisfaction

The goal of this study was to widen the scope of the social component of family sustainability. The fundamental goal of this non-experimental, quantitative study was to look at the links between parenting correlates, personality characteristics, marital satisfaction, and well-being in couples, as well as to construct explanatory prediction models for relational and marital satisfaction. The study focused on the effects of personality traits, parental self-efficacy, and attachment to marital and relational satisfaction. The test instruments applied were: the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised, Marital Adjustment Test, Couple Satisfaction Index, Relationship Satisfaction Scale, Family Distress Index, Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (adapted to the role of a parent), Mowen's Personality Scale, and demographic data. A total of 238 Romanians answered the online survey, recruited based on a convenience sampling method. Participants in this research were individuals who were both married and had at least one child. The main findings show that agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, anxious and avoidant attachment, and marital adjustment predict the satisfaction in the relationship, and openness partially mediates the association between marital adjustment and relationship satisfaction. Parental self-efficacy appears to influence the association between relationship satisfaction and marital satisfaction. An increased parental self-efficacy score predicts an increased relationship satisfaction and marital satisfaction. The higher the parental self-efficacy, the higher the satisfaction in the relationship, which leads to an increase in satisfaction in the couple. These results show that marital adjustment and adaptation are related to relational satisfaction, and these relationship are partially mediated by an individual's openness. Despite some limitations, the current study significantly contributes to couples therapies and interventions in terms of physical and mental health, and the study provides insight into the experiences and perspectives of married individuals with children in Romania.

The Effects of COVID-19 on Family Climate: A Fuzzy Clustering Approach to Examine Spanish Households

Spain was one of the countries in which more severe lockdown policies were imposed during the second term of 2020 to mitigate the unprecedented health crisis. The measures restricted citizens’ mobility, obliging families to stay confined at homes for 99 days since 15 March 2020. The measures created a number of challenges that affect the family climate. This paper aims to empirically analyse how the family climate in Spain has been affected by COVID-19. The family climate assessment was based on an online questionnaire answered by 2034 citizens. A multi-criteria decision-making method rooted in fuzzy logic and TOPSIS, and a fuzzy clustering method, are applied to analyse the effects of the COVID-19 on the family climate. The fuzzy clustering method reveals that there are three different family climate profiles, namely (1) extreme positive, (2) extreme negative, and (3) intermediate. Our results show that some traits affect having a more or less positive family climate. The authors discuss the main contributions and the policy implications that could provide insights into future measures.

Digitalisation, Parenting, and Children's Mental Health: What Are the Challenges and Policy Implications?

In this narrative review, the relationships between digitalisation and the mental health status among children and youths will be discussed first. Second, amidst the pandemic, parents and children have much more time to spend together at home, so parenting plays a more significant role in determining children’s wellbeing. Therefore, how different parenting styles impact digitalisation and the mental health experienced by children and youths will be assessed. This narrative review aims to investigate the parenting conditions needed for children and youths to benefit from the growth of digitalisation, so that policies for digital transformation can be recommended. The outputs of this narrative review include recommending the endeavours of digital transformation that involve indiscriminately active inclusion and facilitating privileged young people, as well as their less advantaged counterparts, to maximise the advantages digitalisation offers.

Raising Children in Risk Neighborhoods from Chile: Examining the Relationship between Parenting Stress and Parental Adjustment

Introduction: Parenting stress and parental adjustment could implicate key differences in the relational dynamics that parents establish with their children, particularly when families come from vulnerable social contexts. Method: Participants were 142 fathers and mothers from a risk neighborhood of Chile. The variables examined were parenting stress (parental distress, parent–child dysfunctional interaction and difficult child) and parental adjustment (depression, anxiety, and stress). Parents also completed a sociodemographic characterization survey. The statistical analyses were a correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analyses. Results: Overall, not all components of parenting stress were related to parental adjustment. Only parental distress was found as a significant predictor of poor parental adjustment (greater depression, anxiety, and stress), but not parent–child dysfunctional interaction and having a difficult child. Conclusions: The present study findings highlight the influence of stress on parenting as a relevant dimension of research for the improvement of the intervention deployed by the state regarding the protection of vulnerable Chilean children, providing multiple clinical and psychosocial applications for research and intervention purposes.