Disentangling parental monitoring. The role of family communication in achieving parental knowledge

In this study, parental monitoring construct was disentangled through the introduction of the family communication variable. Two mediation models were tested: The model in which parental solicitation was significantly associated to youth disclosure, and in which both solicitation and youth disclosure fostered the development of positive family communication, fitted data better than the model in which family communication fostered parents' and children's monitoring behaviors. In the first model parental knowledge was achieved through two paths: (1) parental control was directly related to parental knowledge, and (2) family communication mediated the relation of parental solicitation and youth disclosure with parental knowledge, thereby highlighting more complex dynamics

Cultivating practices of inclusion towards same-sex families in Italy: A comparison among educators, social workers, and healthcare professionals

AbstractLGB+ parented families in recent years are becoming more visible, but limited information exists about how professionals interact with people in these family forms. This study used the framework of intergroup contact theory to investigate whether contact with lesbians and gay men, same‐sex couples, and same‐sex parents respectively increase inclusive practices towards same‐sex families, and whether this association is mediated by professionals' prejudice and endorsement of same‐sex families' rights. A questionnaire with scales on: (a) intergroup contact, (b) professionals' orientation towards same‐sex families' inclusive practices, (c) professionals' prejudices, and (d) support of same‐sex couples' rights was administered to 460 professionals (9.8% males) working in social (N = 103), education (N = 156), and healthcare (N = 201) services in Italy. Path analysis was used to test the prediction that contact increases professionals' intention to embrace inclusive practices towards same‐sex families through the mediation of both prejudice and support to same‐sex couples' rights to have and raise children. Results showed that contact reduced prejudices towards same‐sex families and increased the endorsement of same‐sex families' rights, which in turn favoured professionals' willingness to modify their practices to include these family forms. Implications for the training and development of inclusive models are discussed. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement

The role of rigidity in adaptive and maladaptive families assessed by FACES IV: the points of view of adolescents

Previous studies using Olson’s Circumplex Model and FACES IV, the self-report assessing family functioning, did not clarify the role of rigidity, a dimension of this model. Rigidity emerged as ambiguous: it was considered either as a functional or as a dysfunctional dimension. Building upon the results of previous studies, we provided a contribution intended to disambiguate the role of rigidity considering adolescents’ perceptions and using a non-a priori classification analysis. 320 Italian adolescents (13–21 years) participated in this study and responded to a questionnaire containing scales of the study variables. A latent class analysis was performed to identify the association of rigidity with the other dimensions of Olson’s model and with indicators of adaptive family functioning in adolescence: parental monitoring and family satisfaction. We found six clusters corresponding to family typologies and having different levels of functioning. Rigidity emerged as adaptive in the typologies named rigidly balanced and flexibly oscillating; it was associated with positive dimensions of family functioning, i.e. flexibility, cohesion, parental monitoring, and high levels of family satisfaction. Differently, when rigidity was associated with disengagement, low cohesion and flexibility, and lack of parental supervision, emerged as maladaptive. This was the case of two typologies: the rigidly disengaged and the chaotically disengaged. Adolescents of these families reported the lowest levels of satisfaction. In the two last typologies, the flexibly chaotic and the cohesively disorganized, rigidity indicated a mid-range functionality as these families were characterized by emotional connectedness but lack of containment. Clinical implications are discussed

Las emociones del terapeuta

The author discusses the issue of therapist’s emotions in connection with the process of self-observation which characterizes every therapeutic activity. The attempt is to avoid the risks of eclectism and irrationalism which are sometimes present in the debate about emotions in the family therapy field. For this purpose the author considers the different approaches to the topic that can be found in the systemic literature and proposes a framework according to which the therapist’s emotions are analyzed in the interdependence that connects the cognitive, affective and behavioral systems through which the therapeutic relationship is constructed.La autora lleva cabo una reflexión sobre el tema de las emociones del terapeuta en conexión con el proceso de autoobservación que caracteriza cada acción terapéutica. Con ello se intenta evitar los riesgos del eclecticismo y del irracionalismo que a veces se presentan en el debate de los terapeutas familiares sobre las emociones y de reconducir, en cambio este aspecto importante del proceso terapéutico al ámbito de la discusión sobre el método terapéutico. Con este objetivo, después de haber considerado los diversos modos en los que el tema de las emociones del terapeuta ha sido tratado en la literatura sistémica, la autora propone un enfoque según el cual las emociones se deben resituar en la interdependencia que conecta los sistemas cognitivo, afectivo y comportamental, a través de la cual se construye la relación terapéutica