Parenting alliance: a multifactor perspective.

The Parenting Alliance Measure (PAM) provides an operational representation of Weissman and Cohen's theory of parenting that has both clinical and research applications. The PAM is a 20-item, self-report instrument that measures the strength of the perceived alliance between parents of children ages 1 to 19 years. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine whether the PAM measures the same constructs for mothers and fathers. In addition, a formal comparison between a one- and two-factor solution was conducted, and the invariance of parameter estimates for the preferred model was tested for mothers and fathers. Results indicated that the PAM measures the same dimensions for these two groups. A formal comparison between the one- and two-factor solutions favored the less parsimonious two-factor model. At the same time, the relationship between these constructs was sufficiently high to warrant interpretation of an overall parenting alliance score. Accordingly, results from the current investigation support two levels of interpretation on the PAM. Normative raw score conversions to percentile and standardized T scores are provided.

The minimizing style: perceptions of psychological abuse and quality of past and current relationships.

OBJECTIVE: The goals of this current project were to expand and elaborate on the results of Varia, Abidin, and Dass' (1996) study to better understand what historical parenting factors may contribute in creating a "Minimizing" perception of childhood psychological abuse. A second objective included examining the association between perceptual styles and adult ratings of adult relationship satisfaction. METHOD: Ninety individuals from a non-clinical adult sample completed self-report questionnaires regarding psychological maltreatment and adult relationship satisfaction. Three groups were created and compared using analysis of variance. The groups were (I) "Non-Abused," consistent reporters of no abuse; (II) "Acknowledgers," consistent reporters of abuse; and (III) "Minimizers," reporters of abuse, but do not label themselves as having been abused. RESULTS: Results indicated a continuum effect with the Non-Abused individuals reporting the highest level of maternal warmth and affection, the Acknowledgers reporting the lowest, with the Minimizers in the middle. The Non-Abused group reported the healthiest adjustment in terms of adult relationship satisfaction. While Minimizers and Acknowledgers reported similar levels of psychologically abusive experiences, Acknowledgers reported more difficulties with adult relationships. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of studying Minimizers, a group which describes abusive events but minimizes the meaning and scope of these experiences. The relatively higher levels of maternal care which the Minimizers reported is hypothesized to be associated with their perceptions that they were not abused and acted as a protective factor associated with better quality adult relationships. The varying degrees of nurturance and care in the early family environment of abused individuals is speculated to be associated with distinct perceptual styles.

The relation of childhood abuse and early parenting experiences to current marital quality in a nonclinical sample.

This study examines the relation between adults' reports of the nature of the early parenting they received, including abuse, and the quality of their marital relationship. This community sample of 159 married women and men experienced relatively low levels of abuse. The regression analyses indicated that for women verbal abuse in childhood was predictive of marital conflict, and the caring parenting they experienced predicted the depth of their marital relationship. For men, the abuse variables did not predict any dimension of their current marital relationship. Of the parenting variables, overprotection was significantly predictive of conflict in their marriage. No demographic variable--income, education, and number of siblings--predicted any dimension of marital quality for either men or women. Given the skew of the abuse data for this nonclinical sample, log transformations were performed on the data and the regression analyses were reported. One change was noted: that for men, physical abuse and overprotection were equally predictive of marital conflict. The results suggest that abuse and early parent experiences are predictive of marital functioning in a nonclinical sample, but that differences exist in the pattern for men and women.

Perceptions of abuse: effects on adult psychological and social adjustment.

The present study examined perceptions of abuse (psychological, physical, and sexual) and later adult psychological and social adjustment in a nonclinical sample of 173 individuals. A subgroup of abused individuals were identified (Minimizers), who reported levels of abuse above the mean, but failed to acknowledge themselves as abused. Analyses of variance revealed that abused individuals, both Acknowledgers and Minimizers, consistently had more psychological and social adjustment problems than the Nonabused group. In addition, individuals who fell in the Minimizing subgroup had more detrimental outcome than the Abused (Acknowledgers) group in a few areas, suggesting that the perception of past events (abuse) may be an important factor in determining future psychological adjustment.

Parenting stress and its relationship to child health care.

This study examined the relationship between the level of parental stress (Parenting Stress Index) experienced by mothers of children during their child's second year of life and the frequency and appropriateness of the health care they obtained for their child. No systematic relationships were found between the amount or medical necessity of the pediatric health care obtained in relation to maternal stress for this largely middle class population. Contrary to clinical folklore, these mothers were able to appropriately separate their decision making regarding seeking health care for their children from their stress level.

Parenting stress and the utilization of pediatric services.

Parents' level of stress as measured by the Parenting Stress Index is examined in relation to the utilization of pediatric medical services for children between the ages of 1 and 48 months. The six categories of medical services considered were: Well Visits, Sick Visits, Infections, Diarrhea and Vomiting, Traumatic Injuries, and Other Medical Services. For the first 18 months of age no significant mean difference between stress groups and medical utilization was found. Significant correlations and mean differences were found for the 19- to 24- and the 25- to 48-month age groups in relation to the traumatic injury criterion. Moderate parenting stress is interpreted as potentially adaptive in relation to reducing traumatic injuries.