Managing positive and negative media effects among adolescents: Parental mediation matters-but not always

The current study examined the role of parental media mediation styles in the relationships between (1) prosocial media content and the performance of prosocial behavior and (2) antisocial media content and the performance of antisocial behavior. The results of a cross-sectional survey (N = 475; Mage = 14.6) indicated that autonomy-supportive restrictive mediation was positively related to prosocial behavior through increased prosocial media exposure, while it was also associated with less antisocial behavior through decreased antisocial media content exposure. Autonomy-supportive active mediation on the other hand strengthened the positive association between exposure to prosocial media content and the performance of prosocial behavior. However, this type of mediation did not moderate the association between exposure to antisocial media content and the performance of antisocial behavior. These results indicate that autonomy-supportive mediation styles are most effective in managing media effects, but that antisocial media content may warrant a more restrictive approach

Gender Differences in Parental Well-being After Separation: Does Shared Parenting Matter?

A large body of literature has examined how separation and divorce influence social and economic well-being. One consistent finding of the literature is that women and men are affected differently by divorce and separation. Women, and particularly mothers, are likely to suffer from a loss of income. Fathers frequently suffer from having reduced contact with their children, who usually continue to live with their mother after a union dissolution. This chapter uses 10 years of data from the German Family Panel (pairfam) to examine more closely the gender differences in life satisfaction after separation. In line with previous research, we show that following a separation, satisfaction with family life declines more among fathers than among mothers, and that mothers tend to experience a greater decline in their satisfaction with their financial situation than fathers. We also examine the role of shared parenting (Wechselmodell) in parents’ life satisfaction. Our findings indicate that shared parenting is positively associated with well-being, but also that the association is not stable to the inclusion of socio-economic characteristics that explain the selection into shared parenting. The results are discussed in the context of the current German policy debate on shared parenting

Paternal psychological well-being after union dissolution: does involved fatherhood have a protective effect?

Although the attention scholars have paid to the question of how the involvement of fathers affects the well-being of their children in post-separation families has increased tremendously in recent years, the question of how fathers’ involvement affects their own well-being has been hardly examined. Using data from the cross-sectional survey “Fathering after Union Dissolution,” which was conducted in Lithuania in 2016 (N = 1225), we looked at the extent to which the involvement of fathers with their non-resident children (contact frequency, relationship quality, payment of child support, and the quality of the co-parenting relationship with the mother) was associated with their psychological well-being (depressive feelings and general life satisfaction). Our multiple regression results indicated that the self-assessed quality of the father’s relationship with the child was the most important factor contributing to paternal psychological well-being: i.e., the better the relationship quality, the less likely a father was to report having depressive feelings, and the more likely he was to report having a high level of general life satisfaction. However, while making regular child support payments was found to be associated with a lower likelihood of having depressive feelings, it was not shown to be associated with having a high level of general life satisfaction. Contrary to our expectations, we found that the frequency of contact with the non-resident child and the quality of the co-parenting relationship with the mother did not affect paternal psychological well-being. Accordingly, we concluded that the protection provided by involved fatherhood after union dissolution is not universal, but instead depends on the nature of the involvementSocialinių tyrimų centrasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta