Early Parenting Styles & Sexual Offending Behavior: A Comparative Study

Sexual offenders, in general, report problematic rearing practices from their parents, lacking however more empirical research on this topic regarding particular subtypes of offenders. 

The current study examined the relationship between early parenting styles and different types of sexual offending. A total of 113 sexual offenders (rapists, pedophilic and nonpedophilic child molesters), and 51 nonsexual offenders completed the EMBU (My Memories of Upbringing), the Brief Symptom Inventory, and the Socially Desirable Response Set Measure. 

Results showed that rapists were less likely to remember their fathers as being emotionally warm compared with nonsexual offenders and pedophilic child molesters. In addition, compared with rapists, pedophilic offenders perceived their mothers as having been less emotionally warm to them. 

Overall, results showed that certain developmental experiences with parents were able to distinguish between subtypes of offenders supporting an association between distal interpersonal factors and sexual offending.

These findings may have important implications for early intervention and prevention of sexual crimes. Further research using larger samples of pedophilic child molesters is recommended.

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By:  Sigre-Leirós V1, Carvalho J2, Nobre PJ3.

• 1Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: vera.sigre.leiros@gmail.com.
• 2Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Lisboa, Portugal.
• 3Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal. 
• Int J Law Psychiatry. 2016 Mar 24. pii: S0160-2527(16)30055-3. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.02.042.

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The Impact of Parenthood on Physical Aggression: Evidence from Criminal Data

Evolutionary approaches to sex differences in physical aggression weigh the potential benefits of aggression against the likely costs to inclusive fitness, with some authors focusing on the damage physical injury would do to female inclusive fitness, and others on the extent to which success in physical competition may particularly enhance male fitness. 

This study tested a hypothesis derived from these approaches: that parents would be less physically aggressive than non-parents because of the damage any physical injury would do to their inclusive fitness. Analysis was carried out using the United States federal sentencing records for 1994-1999 (22,344 individuals). 

The proportion of theft convictions which were violent (robbery; vs. larceny) was significantly greater for men than women (odds ratio 7.7). As predicted, non-parents were significantly more likely to be violent than parents (odds ratio 1.6). Parenthood had a similar effect on relative rates of violence in men and women, although the baseline was considerably higher for men. There was also a significant effect in men of marital status, which interacted with parental status such that parenthood was only associated with a reduction in rates of violence in males recorded as partnered. 

The results are interpreted in terms of both evolutionary theory and recent work on the hormonal impacts of marriage and parenthood. 

Purchase full article at:  http://goo.gl/iCrpE7

By:  Boothroyd LG1, Cross CP2.

• 1Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom.
• 2The School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom. 
• Aggress Behav. 2016 Mar 22. doi: 10.1002/ab.21652.

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Relationship between Parenting and Cognitive Schemas in a Group of Male Adult Offenders

This work analyzes the correlation of retrospective ratings on parental binding with cognitive patterns in the inmates for property crimes. The participant group comprehended 248 adults men, including 130 marked out as offenders (the target group), aged between 19 and 70, currently serving sentences in the Cavadonna prison in Siracusa, and 118 marked out as non-offenders (the control group), aged between 20 and 70, living in Siracusa (Sicily). The instruments used were the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), and the Young Schema Questionnaire-3 (YSQ). The preliminary analysis showed a high percentage of offenders who experienced an affectionate constraint parenting. Offenders scored significantly higher than the non-offenders on the level of paternal control and the YSQ subscales. The study underlines the influence of maternal care on most of the cognitive schemas, and the role of father's control on the tendency to social isolation and defectiveness in the offenders.

The author identified 18 early maladaptive schemas that have been organized into five themes known as domains:

1. disconnection and rejection domain: people with these schemas expect that their needs for stability, nurturance, security, and empathy in family relationships will not be met in a consistent or predictable way;
2. impaired autonomy and performance: this domain has to do with expectations about oneself and the environment that interfere with one's ability to separate and function independently and one's perceived ability to survive alone; typically the family of origin is enmeshed or overprotective;
3. impaired limits domain: characterized by deficiencies in internal limits, respect, and responsibility to others; typically the family of origin is characterized by permissiveness and indulgence;
4. other-directedness domain: relates to an excessive focus on meeting the needs of others, at the expense of one's own needs; Typically the family of origin gave only conditional acceptance, resulting in the children suppressing normal needs and emotions in order to gain attention and approval;
5. overvigilance and inhibition domain: characterized by an excessive focus on controlling, suppressing, or ignoring of one's emotions; typical of the family of origin are domination and suppression of feelings, or a bleak environment where performance standards and self-control take priority over pleasure and playfulness.

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/mUwUu2

By:  Monica Pellerone,* Giuseppe Craparo, and Ylenia Tornabuoni

Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, “Kore” University of Enna, Enna, Italy

Edited by: Omar Carlo Gioacchino Gelo, Universita del Salento/Sigmund Freud University, Italy

Reviewed by: Guenter Karl Schiepek, Paracelsus Medical University, Austria; Salvatore Gullo, Niccolò Cusano University, Italy

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A Church-Based Intervention for Families to Promote Mental Health and Prevent HIV among Adolescents in Rural Kenya

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate a family- and church-based intervention for adolescents and caregivers in rural Kenya to improve family relationships, reduce HIV risk, and promote mental health.

METHOD:

The intervention was developed using community-based participatory methods and focused on strengthening family communication. Modules addressed economic, relationship, and HIV-related topics using evidence-based behavioral strategies alongside culturally grounded content. A stepped wedge cluster randomized trial was conducted with 124 families (237 adolescents ages 10 to 16; 203 caregivers) from 4 churches. Participants completed interviewer-administered surveys over 5 rounds. Primary outcomes included family communication, HIV risk knowledge, self-efficacy, and beliefs. Secondary outcomes included parenting, social support, mental health, and adolescent sexual behavior. We estimated intent-to-treat effects via ordinary least squares regression with clustered standard errors.

RESULTS:

Relative to controls, the intervention group reported better family communication across domains at 1- and 3-months post-intervention and higher self-efficacy for risk reduction skills and HIV-related knowledge at 1-month post-intervention. Sexually active youth in the intervention reported fewer high-risk behaviors at 1-month post-intervention, including unprotected sex or multiple partners. Male caregivers in the intervention reported higher parental involvement at both time points, and youth reported more social support from male caregivers at 3-months post-intervention. No effects on secondary outcomes of parenting, social support, and mental health were detected.

CONCLUSIONS:

This intervention holds promise for strengthening positive family processes to protect against negative future outcomes for adolescents. Implementation with religious congregations may be a promising strategy for improving sustainability and scalability of interventions in low-resource settings.

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By:  Puffer ES, Green EP, Sikkema KJ, Broverman SA, Ogwang-Odhiambo RA, Pian J.

J Consult Clin Psychol. 2016 Mar 17.

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Effects of Abusive Parenting, Caretaker Arrests, and Deviant Behavior on Dating Violence among Homeless Young Adults

Though dating violence is widespread among young adult homeless populations, its risk factors are poorly understood by scholars. To address this gap, the current study uses a social learning theory to examine the effects of abusive parenting and caretaker arrests on dating violence among 172 homeless young adults. Results from path analyses revealed that child physical abuse and caretaker arrests were positively associated with engaging in a greater number of school fights, which, in turn, was strongly and positively correlated with participating in more deviant subsistence strategies (e.g., stealing) since being on the street. Young people who participated in a greater number of delinquent acts were more likely to report higher levels of dating violence. Study results highlight the extent of social learning within the lives of homeless young adults, which is evident prior to their leaving home and while they are on the street.

Below:  Correlates of Dating Violence

...Current study results show that those who experience higher rates of child physical abuse and those who report a caretaker who has ever been arrested are more likely to experience a greater number of school fights. Additionally, we find that child physical abuse is indirectly associated with dating violence through school fighting and deviant subsistence strategies. Next, findings reveal that young adults who report more school fighting engage in a greater number of deviant subsistence strategies, which is positively associated with more dating violence. Combined, these multiple factors create interlocking, transecting experiences of violence that can potentially reinforce one another in complex ways. These webs of violent behavior can serve to normalize aggression in homeless young adults’ lives. For example, these different behaviors create situations in which youth are exposed to and take part in many forms of violence such as at home, at school, and on the street. Moreover, engagement in deviant subsistence strategies, such as stealing, may be done for survival purposes when youth are homeless, but these behaviors also may lead to lower resistance to engaging in other crime such as assaulting a partner. Likewise, many of these youth may be dating other youth who have been similarly exposed to multiple forms of violence and when two such youth are in a relationship, this may increase the likelihood of dating violence. The present study highlights the extent of physical violence within the lives of homeless young adults, which is evident prior to their leaving home and while they are on the street...

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/vKN92c

By:  Kimberly A. Tyler and Rachel M. Schmitz

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kimberly A. Tyler, PhD, Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 717 Oldfather Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588. Phone: (402) 472-6073

Kimberly A. Tyler, Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Rachel M. Schmitz, Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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Parental Awareness of Sexual Experience in Adolescent Boys with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Parent report and adolescent self-report data on lifetime sexual experience in adolescents with ASD were compared in 43 parent-adolescent dyads. Parents tended to underestimate the lifetime sexual experience of their sons, particularly solo sexual experiences such as masturbation and experience with orgasm. Parental underestimation and unawareness of adolescents’ sexual experience may influence communication and education about sex and sexuality in families. These findings have implications for the interpretation of earlier research, based on parent and caregiver reports, on sexuality in adolescents with ASD.

...Parent-adolescent agreement about sexual experiences was higher with respect to romantic relationships and partnered sexual experiences than solo sexual experiences. The majority of the boys with ASD in this study had been in a romantic relationship, and most parents were aware of this; nevertheless about a third of parents underestimated their sons’ partnered sexual experience. The underestimation of sexual experience of their sons’ might reflect limited discussion of sexual experiences between adolescents and parents. It is also possible that assumptions about their sons’ lack of sexual experience temper parents’ inclination to discuss partnered sexual behaviours with their sons. The taboo on discussing romantic relationships is possibly less strong than the taboo on talking about the sexual aspects of relationships. The higher level of agreement about partnered sexual experience might also be explained by the generally lower frequencies of partnered experiences. Given parental underestimation, the probability of agreement on the absence of a behaviour is higher in the case of low-frequency behaviours (Mollborn and Everett 2010). It would be interesting to examine parent-adolescent agreement on the partnered sexual experiences of older boys with ASD as it is possible that a higher proportion of them will have had partnered sexual experiences.

The number of boys who reported having forced someone else to do sexual things or having been forced to do sexual things themselves was low. Slightly more parents stated that they did not know if their son had coerced someone into sexual behaviour than reported that they did not know if their son had been victimised sexually. This finding should be interpreted with care, given the exploratory nature of this study; however parents could have doubted about the possibility that their sons coerced others to sexual behaviours...

Agreement on sexual experience between boys with ASD and their parents (N = 43 dyads)

Relational or sexual behaviour	Adolescent report		Parental report						Parental awarenessa
			Agreement on occurrence		Agreement on non-occurrence		Do not know
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Masturbation	41	95.3	22	53.6	1	50	19	44.2	23	53.5
Orgasm	38	88.4	19	50	1	100	22	51.2	20	46.5
Relationship	32	74.4	28	87.5	10	91	1	2.3	38	88.4
French kissing	26	60.5	20	76.9	12	71	7	16.3	32	74.4
Petting above clothes	24	55.8	16	66.6	12	63	11	25.6	28	65.1
Penile/vaginal intercourse	12	27.9	8	66.7	22	71	12	27.9	30	69.8
Making love to a boy	1	2.3	0	0	39	93	3	7	39	90.7
Forcing someone else to do sexual things	2	4.7	1	50	35	85	7	16.3	36	83.7
Being forced to do sexual things	3	7	1	33.3	37	92	1	2.3	38	88.4

aParents correctly aware of the presence or absence of sexual behaviour

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/nWdOMu

By:  J. Dewinter, R. Vermeiren, I. Vanwesenbeeck, and Ch. Van Nieuwenhuizen

Tranzo, Scientific Centre for Care and Welfare, Tilburg University, PO Box 90153 (T618), 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands

GGzE Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, PO Box 909 (DP1104), 5600 AX Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Curium-LUMC, PO Box 15, 2300 AA Oegstgeest, Leiden, The Netherlands

VU Medical Centre Amsterdam, PO Box 303, 1115 ZG Duivendrecht, The Netherlands

Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, PO Box 80140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands

Rutgers WPF, PO Box 9022, 3506 GA Utrecht, The Netherlands

J. Dewinter, Phone: (0031)402613700, Email: eb.neprewtna@retniwed.neorej.

  

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A Qualitative Exploration of Parental Experiences of Stigma While Living with HIV in Bangladesh

With much of the focus on the "risk" groups, families have often been less studied in HIV research. Further, because of a focus on the aetiology and epidemiology of HIV, the social impacts associated with HIV on families and neighbours are sometimes overlooked. This study examined parental experiences of stigma and discrimination while living with HIV within a family context in Bangladesh. 

A qualitative research design using a grounded theory approach was used for this research. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with 19 HIV-positive parents, recruited with the support of two self-help groups of HIV-positive people, in two settings namely Khulna and Dhaka in Bangladesh. 

The findings indicate that HIV-positive parents held the view that they continue to experience significant stigma and their narratives clearly show how this affected them and their children. A range of informal practices were enacted in everyday contexts by extended family and community members to identify, demarcate and limit the social interaction of HIV-positive parents. 

Parents highlighted a number of factors including negative thoughts and behaviours, rejection, isolation and derogatory remarks as manifestations of stigma and discrimination, impacting upon them and their children because of their association with HIV.

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By:  Islam MS1, Scott J2, Minichiello V3,4.

• 1 School of Health , University of New England , Armidale , NSW 2351 , Australia.
• 2 Faculty of Law , School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology , Brisbane , Queensland 4001 , Australia.
• 3 The Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society , La Trobe University , Melbourne , Australia.
• 4 Emeritus Professor , University of New England , Armidale , Australia. 

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Children's Night Waking among Toddlers: Relationships with Mothers' & Fathers' Parenting Approaches & Children's Behavioural Difficulties

AIMS:

To explore associations between children's sleep problems, and behavioural difficulties and parenting approaches.

BACKGROUND:

Children commonly have problematic night waking; however, relationships between parenting cognitions and behaviours and children's sleep problems are rarely examined.

DESIGN:

Longitudinal children's cohort study from 5-29 months post birth.

METHODS:

Data were taken from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (1998-2007) at three phases: 5, 17 and 29 months of age. Thousand four hundred and eighty-seven families were included in our study based on: participation from phase 1 (5-months old), both parents' reports on parenting cognitions/behaviours and child behavioural difficulties at 29 months, and mothers' reports of children's sleep at 29 months. In 2013, we conducted repeated measures anovas and manovas including children's gender.

RESULTS:

Extended night-time waking patterns (wakes of ≥ 20 minutes) were associated with mothers' and fathers' lower sense of parenting impact and higher over protectiveness and mothers' lower self-efficacy and higher coerciveness for 29-month-old children. In the extended waking group, mothers consistently reported lower self-efficacy, higher over protectiveness and lower parenting impact at 5, 17 and 29 months. For those children, fathers were only more overprotective at 5 and 29 months. Regarding 29-month-old children's behaviour, children in the extended night waking group had highest scores on externalizing and internalizing behaviours. Girls had higher scores on shyness/inhibition and boys had higher scores on aggression/hyperactivity.

CONCLUSION:

Mothers' and fathers' parenting cognitions and behaviours are affected by 29-month-old children's night waking patterns and night waking patterns are associated with children's behavioural problems.

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By:  Zaidman-Zait A1,2, Hall WA3.

• 1Department of School Counseling and Special Education, Constantiner School of Education, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
• 2Department of Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), University of British Columbia (http://earlylearning.ubc.ca/), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
• 3University of British Columbia School of Nursing, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
• J Adv Nurs. 2015 Jul;71(7):1639-49. doi: 10.1111/jan.12636. Epub 2015 Feb 18.

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Bidirectional Associations between Externalizing Behavior Problems and Maladaptive Parenting within Parent-Son Dyads Across Childhood

Coercive parent-child interaction models posit that an escalating cycle of negative, bidirectional interchanges influences the development of boys' externalizing problems and caregivers' maladaptive parenting over time. However, longitudinal studies examining this hypothesis have been unable to rule out the possibility that between-individual factors account for bidirectional associations between child externalizing problems and maladaptive parenting. 

Using a longitudinal sample of boys (N = 503) repeatedly assessed eight times across 6-month intervals in childhood (in a range between 6 and 13 years), the current study is the first to use novel within-individual change (fixed effects) models to examine whether parents tend to increase their use of maladaptive parenting strategies following an increase in their son's externalizing problems, or vice versa. These bidirectional associations were examined using multiple facets of externalizing problems (i.e., interpersonal callousness, conduct and oppositional defiant problems, hyperactivity/impulsivity) and parenting behaviors (i.e., physical punishment, involvement, parent-child communication). 

Analyses failed to support the notion that when boys increase their typical level of problem behaviors, their parents show an increase in their typical level of maladaptive parenting across the subsequent 6 month period, and vice versa. Instead, across 6-month intervals, within parent-son dyads, changes in maladaptive parenting and child externalizing problems waxed and waned in concert. Fixed effects models to address the topic of bidirectional relations between parent and child behavior are severely underrepresented. 

We recommend that other researchers who have found significant bidirectional parent-child associations using rank-order change models reexamine their data to determine whether these findings hold when examining changes within parent-child dyads.

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By:  Besemer S1, Loeber R2, Hinshaw SP3, Pardini DA4.

• 1University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Human Development (http://ihd.berkeley.edu/), 1205 Tolman Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA. besemer@berkeley.edu.
• 2Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
• 3Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
• 4School of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
• J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2016 Jan 18. 

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