Title: FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
1FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS CHILDRENS PSYCHOLOGICAL
ADJUSTMENT
- Drs. Esther Hakvoort
- Dr. Frank van Balen
- Dr. Henny Bos
- Prof. dr. Jo Hermanns
- SRIP Conference, 10 - 12 September 2007, Oxford,
UK
2Introduction
- Family System Theory
- The family system exists of several subsystems
-
Marital Subsystem Mother-Father
Parent/child Subsystem Parent-child
Sibling Subsystem Child-child
3Aims of the study (1)
4Aims of the study (2)
- To assess the associations between the 3
subsystems and - childrens psychosocial adjustment (self
esteem, social competence) - childrens cognitive and physical competence
- childrens problem behaviour
5This study
- includes all 3 family subsystems
- based on mothers and childrens report
6Method (sample)
- Including-criteria
- - intact families
- - two (or more) children
- - target child 8 12 years old
- - younger sibling of at least 4 years old
- Recruitment
- - municipal registration
- - elementary schools
- - snowball method
- Procedure
- - home visitations
- - interview with the target child
- - questionnaire filled out by mother
7Method (instruments)
- Marital relationship (mother-father)
- Marital Satisfaction Scale (Relationship
satisfaction) - Parental Stress Index (Satisfaction partner as
co-parent) - Parent/Child relationship (parent-child)
- Parent/Child Interaction Questionnaire
(Acceptance, Conflict) - Sibling relationship (child-child)
- Sibling Relationship Inventory (Affection)
- Leiden Sibling Relationship Questionnaire
(Hostility) - Psychological adjustment (child)
- Strengths Difficulties Questionnaire (Total
problem behaviour) - Perceived Competence Scale for Children (Social
competence, Cognitive competence, Physical
competence, Self esteem)
8Method (participating families)
- 66 families
- Target children
- 40 girls 26 boys, M age 10.1
- mean number of siblings 1.5 (min 1 max 5)
- siblings 35 sisters 31 brothers, M age
7.2 - Mothers
- M age 40.9
- 75 intermediate professional, higher
professional or academic level - 70 has a paid job
9Results (1)
BOYS Significant correlations between all
aspects of both subsystems GIRLS Marital
quality is only significant correlated with the
father/child relationship
BOYS Significant correlations between both
subsystems GIRLS No significant correlations
BOYS Significant correlations between both
subsystems GIRLS Only the quality of the
mother/child relationship is correlated with
both aspects of the sibling subsystem
10 Results (2)
-
- Marital Satisfaction -
-
- Conflict Mother
-
- Acceptance Mother -
-
- Conflict Father
- Acceptance Father -
- Sibling Hostility
CHILDRENS TOTAL PROBLEM BEHAVIOUR
11 Results (3)
- Acceptance Mother
- Acceptance Father
- Conflict Father -
- Sibling Affection
CHILDRENS COGNITIVE COMPETENCES
12Results (4)
- Conflict Mother -
- Acceptance Mother
- Acceptance Father
CHILDRENS SELF ESTEEM
13Limitations
- Self-selection of the participating families
- Sample size boys lt girls
- Self-report ? socially desirable answers
- Not all family members are included in the study
14Conclusions
- 1. All family relationships are positively
correlated with each other. There are more and
stronger correlations found for boys, compared to
girls - 2. All family relationships are correlated with
childrens problem behaviour. Again, there are
more and stronger correlations found for boys,
compared to girls. - 3. The parent/child relationship appears to
contribute most to childrens feelings of
cognitive competence and self esteem.
15Discussion
- Quality of family relationships appears to be
more important for boys, than for girls. - All family relationships are associated with
childrens problem behaviour. Only the
parent/child relationship appears to be
correlated with childrens self esteem and
feelings of competence.
16Thanks for your attention Questions?
- Drs. Esther Hakvoort
- Department of Educational Sciences
- Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
- Universiteit van Amsterdam
- E.M.Hakvoort_at_uva.nl