Beth Shoshana Russell

Parent–child relationships are critical to adolescent development, with greater closeness and lower conflict linked to positive outcomes. While prior research shows that parental problematic alcohol use negatively affects general parenting, less is known about its impact on specific dimensions of the parent–child relationship or the mechanisms involved. This study examined whether parental perceptions of acceptability and knowledge about their adolescent mediated the link between problematic parental alcohol use and parent–child closeness (e.g., emotional warmth, open communication) and conflict (e.g., tension, disagreement). Parental hostility was tested as a moderator of the association between knowledge and both outcomes. Multigroup analyses explored differences between mothers and fathers. Data were collected from 457 parents of adolescents (aged 14–17) via Prolific. Path analysis revealed that although problematic alcohol use was not directly associated with closeness or conflict, it was positively related to perceived acceptability, which was negatively linked to parental knowledge. Knowledge was associated with greater closeness and less conflict, and both links were moderated by parental hostility. Multigroup analysis revealed a moderating effect of parental gender, with two distinct paths emerging for mothers and fathers. Findings highlight the need to examine parental attitudes and knowledge when assessing the impact of parental alcohol use on family relationships.

Filial piety ( xiaoshun ) is a traditional Chinese cultural value that regulates parent-child relationships and child responsibilities. Previous research has suggested the important role of filial piety in contemporary Chinese families. However, there are few reviews summarizing findings about the influence of parents’ filial piety values on parenting and child emotional well-being and mental health. The current scoping review collects empirical studies that were published between 2014 and 2026. Six eligible studies were found, and they suggest various findings about the associations between parents’ filial piety values and parenting and child emotional well-being, as well as mental health. In sum, parents’ filial piety values can be positive and negative in different situations. Future directions to strengthen the conceptualization of filial piety and regional variances to capture contemporary parenting and its effects on children’s outcomes are discussed.

Background: This study aimed to determine if motivations to use alcohol (coping and social motivations) mediate the relationship between trait mindfulness and a variety of alcohol-related consequences and to determine if the relationship between motivations to use alcohol and alcohol-related consequences is moderated by alcohol use. We determined the factor structure of positive and negative consequences of alcohol use and used this structure as outcomes across eight moderated mediation models. Methods: Data were obtained from 296 undergraduate students to confirm the alcohol-related consequences factor structure and to test eight moderated-mediation models. Results: Four alcohol-related consequences scales (romantic/sexual, positive, mild negative, and severe negative consequences) were confirmed. The motive of drinking to cope significantly mediated the relationship between trait mindfulness and all four of the alcohol-related consequences scales. Drinking to socialize did not significantly mediate the relationship between trait mindfulness and all of the alcohol-related consequences scales. Conclusions: The identified four-factor structure suggests that alcohol-related consequences should be assessed in a more specific manner. Additionally, different motivations for alcohol use relate differentially to trait mindfulness and different alcohol-related consequences; drinking to cope is particularly problematic for this population. Future research on the usefulness of promoting mindfulness to reduce problematic drinking appears warranted.

This study took a family systems perspective and tested spillover theory to examine the transmission of stress from parents to children during COVID-19. Using a longitudinal design with a 1-year interval, we tested the association between parent perceived stress and perceived child stress, and the sequential mediating effects of poor family functioning and parent–child closeness. The data comprised 134 parents residing in the US who were assessed from the initial first peak of COVID-19 infections in 2020 to 2021, 1 year later. Results indicated that when controlling for covariates, there was a significant association between parent perceived stress and perceived child stress. What is more, poor family functioning and parent–child closeness fully mediated the former link in sequence. These findings highlighted the need for improving family relationship quality when providing interventions that target families suffering in stressful contexts.

Traumatic events during childhood are crucial to consider when addressing children’s social and emotional development, as childhood trauma is associated with negative impacts, including academic achievement. Additionally, positive classroom environments and teachers’ trauma-informed attitudes and behavior play a role in supporting recovery from children’s trauma-related experiences. Aspire, Connect, Thrive (ACT) is a trauma-informed school-based intervention that examined students’ Social Emotional Competence (SEC) and resilience for K-8th grade students in a disadvantaged, urban elementary school in Connecticut contending with the effects of students’ exposure to trauma. The present study examines the experience of ACT teachers who received professional development and subsequently implemented learned content in the classroom (N = 17; 70.6% female, mean age = 44 years; 47.1% racial/ethnic minority; mean years teaching = 15.6) through qualitative evidence of trauma sensitivity (observed and self-reported) and clinician-ratings of teachers’ positive classroom environment. Quantitative results indicate significant change over time in teachers’ attitudes and trauma-informed classroom responses. Interview themes suggest (1) teachers learned from and implemented the intervention content in their classrooms dependent upon the support the teacher was given, (2) teachers’ perspectives on the connections between the student-teacher relationship and trauma-informed attitudes or practices influenced teacher behavior, and (3) teachers’ own emotions and experiences implementing trauma-informed practices were key to classroom management.

Despite the critical need to understand the processes and predictors behind adolescent substance use and risk behaviors, research has focused primarily on individual predictors rather than family dynamics, and mothers rather than fathers. Family systems theory would suggest that children are impacted both directly by parents' behavior (e.g., modeling risk behaviors) and indirectly by their parents' behaviors toward one another (e.g., coparenting) and their relationships with their parents (mother-child and father-child closeness). This article investigates links between parental substance use at child age 9 and children's substance use and delinquent behaviors at age 15, and relational mediators of these associations (coparenting, parent-child closeness). Data from 2,453 mothers, fathers, and children from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (Reichman et al., 2001) were analyzed. Fathers' drug and alcohol use at child age 9 were not directly associated with adolescent risk behaviors at age 15, but his drug use was associated with adolescent substance use indirectly via its influence on maternal coparenting and thereafter father-child closeness. Mothers' alcohol and drug use were both directly associated with later adolescent drug use and delinquency, and indirectly with delinquency via their associations with fathers' coparenting and thereafter mother-child closeness. Implications of the findings for intervention and prevention as well as future research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).