Social housing for urban households sheltering children responsible for the "kuluna" and "black babies" phenomena in Congo Brazzaville.

Housing as a place where household members spend about half (12 hours) of their daily time, including six to eight hours in sleep, is one of the essential conditions in the fight against poverty and precariousness. The current Congolese urban environment is facing serious problems: small plots of land, lack of suitable housing in relation to the size and composition of households, overcrowding, and water and electricity supplies. This situation is becoming critical with the appearance of deviant behavior among children aged between 10 and 30. The government and its development partners have demonstrated their powerlessness face to this situation, leaving thousands of children on the streets without education or family warmth to form real criminal gangs. These street children have created the phenomena of "kuluna" and "black babies". It has been shown that these one act in this way for their survival, claiming their rights. In this study, we find innovative proposals to provide households sheltering adulterine and adoptive children with low-cost social housing, in order to restore the image of the head of the household and provide the children with a pleasant space for their physical, economic, cultural and spiritual development. This will undoubtedly help to find solutions to the problems facing children and indeed Congolese society as a whole today. The study revealed that if the government does not take practical measures in response to the phenomena created by wayward children, especially "black babies" and "kuluna", there will be a massive adherence of other children, especially the adulterine and adoptive ones. There will be a risk of the phenomena will to be exported to rural areas. The study recommends a "State - Household" partnership in the manufacture of new types of urban housing for households housing children likely to integrate or create gangs, jeopardizing social order and public security.

Rechazo parental y ajuste psicológico infantil: efecto moderador del afecto familiar percibido desde una perspectiva multi-informante

Parental rejection and children’s psychological adjustment: The moderating role of perceived family warmth from a multi-informant perspective.Abstract: This study explores the moderating effect of children’s perceptions about family environment on the relation between parental acceptance and children’s psychological adjustment, from a multi-informant perspective. The sample consisted in 227 triads, father, mother and child from the same family (children’s mean age 12.52, Sd =1.81) divided in two groups based on children’s level of perceived family warmth. Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) was used to assess parental acceptance-rejection, and CBCL (Child Behavioral Checklist) and YSR (Youth Self Report) from Achenbach System were used to assess children’s psychological adjustment. Results showed that relations between parental rejection and adjustment depend on the informant used, and that the subjective perception of the child’s contextual affection moderated the effect of maternal rejection on exteriorized problems informed by the father. The need to include children, mothers, and fathers in the assessment of family relations and children´s psychological adjustment is highlighted.Key words: Multi-informant; parental acceptance-rejection; mother; father: children psychological adjustment.Resumen: El presente trabajo explora el efecto moderador de la percepción de niños y niñas sobre el ambiente familiar, desde una perspectiva multi-informante, en la relación entre rechazo parental y ajuste psicológico infantil. La muestra estuvo constituida por 227 triadas (padre, madre e hijo/a) de la misma familia (edad media de los menores 12.52 DT = 1.81). La aceptación-rechazo parental se evaluó mediante en PARQ (Parental Acceptance Rejection Questionnaire) y el ajuste mediante el CBCL (Child Behavioral Checklist) e YSR (Youth Self-report). Los resultados mostraron diferencias en la asociación entre rechazo parental y ajuste condicionadas por la fuente informante, y que la percepción subjetiva del menor del afecto contextual moderaba el efecto del rechazo materno sobre los problemas exteriorizados informados por el padre. Se destaca la necesidad de incluir tanto a los propios menores como a sus padres y madres en la evaluación de las relaciones familiares y el ajuste psicológico infantil.Palabras clave: Multi-informante; aceptación-rechazo parental; madre; padre; ajuste psicológico infantil.

Cluster Analysis of Child Externalizing and Prosocial Behaviors in a Randomized Effectiveness Trial of the Family-Check Up and Internet-Delivered Parent Training (iComet)

Objective: To explore whether children with various externalizing/prosocial behavior profiles benefit differently from face-to-face training than from an internet-based parent management training (PMT) programme. Methods: A total of 231 families with children (aged 10 to 13 years) with externalizing behavior problems (EBP) were randomized to receive either the Family Check-Up, delivered by therapists in the community, or the internet-based PMT program (iComet). Person-oriented analysis was used for subtyping the children according to combinations of prosocial behavior and EBP. Results: The person-oriented analysis resulted in five significantly different clusters. There were no significant differences between the five clusters in relation to the total difficulties score of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, family warmth or family conflict, but the within-group effect sizes for the main outcome (total difficulties score) from baseline to post-treatment varied from Cohen’s d of 0.52 to 2.56. There were no significant interaction effects between the clusters and type of intervention. However, for children high on symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and moderate to high on oppositional defiant disorder, and low to relatively high on prosocial behaviors (Cluster 3 respectively 5), substantial residual EBP-symptomatology remained at post-treatment, although both interventions resulted in significant effects. The other three clusters were within the non-clinical EBP-range at post-intervention, irrespective of treatment condition. There were no significant differences between the clusters regarding treatment completion rate (ranging from 47.2% to 67.4%). This study illustrates the value of distinguishing between different profiles of children in the context of PMT for parents of children with EBP.

Family warmth, self-perception, social competence, and friendships in emerging adulthood

This study examines the factors influencing friendship quality during emergent adulthood. Data were collected on a sample of 393 college students (age range 18–22, M = 20.01). Nine multi-item measures were used as indicators in this study. Seven scales were drawn from the Battery of Adolescent Measures (Benson & Faas, 2014). The other two were the pragmatic (social) language and the aloof scales, which provided sensitised assessment of interpersonal deficits (Hurley, Losh, Parlier, Reznick, & Piven, 2007). The article hypothesises that family warmth predicts friendship quality during emergent adulthood. It also hypothesises that this relationship is mediated by emergent adults’ self-perceptions and by their social competence. Structural equation models supported the first hypothesis and also showed that self-perceptions and social competence partially mediate the main relationship. We also examined each mediator separately for evidence of partial mediation, but the full model remained a significantly better fit to the data compared to both single mediator models.

Are family warmth and positive remarks related to outcomes in psychosis? A systematic review

BackgroundAffective attitudes and behaviours manifested within the family environment have been characterised as expressed emotion (EE). High EE environments have been robustly shown to put psychosis patients at a greater risk of relapse compared with low EE exposure. Positive EE dimensions (warmth; positive remarks) have received far less attention than negative EE dimensions such that EE has become synonymous with a negative family atmosphere; the predictive value of positive EE dimensions is largely ignored. A systematic review examining the relationship between positive family EE and outcomes in psychosis is needed.MethodsA systematic search was conducted. Studies reporting bias and study quality were assessed.ResultsA total of 2368 studies were identified. Of these, 27 met eligibility criteria reporting outcomes including relapse, symptomatology, social functioning and life satisfaction. Relapse was the most commonly measured outcome. Stronger evidence emerged for the association between EE warmth and outcomes compared with EE positive remarks, with effects mostly evident in the early phase of psychosis. Evidence for protective effects of warmth on relapse was found up to 9 months follow-up. No effects were evident between positive remarks and relapse. Studies assessing symptom outcomes showed inconsistent findings. Evidence for an association with social functioning was evident, primarily in at risk mental states. Warmth and positive remarks predicted life satisfaction.ConclusionsThe positive aspects of EE require further investigation with longitudinal research designs. Clinical interventions should focus not only on reducing negative aspects of EE but also foster warmth within families in the context of psychosis.

Expressed and Perceived Criticism, Family Warmth, and Symptoms in Schizophrenia

Criticism directed by caregivers towards a family member with schizophrenia, both from the perspective of the patient and of the caregiver, predicts relapse, although both perspectives differ. This study aims to verify if the same applies to a Mediterranean sample, where criticism is not the main attitude of high expressed emotion families. The Camberwell Family Interview was applied to assess the family’s perspective, and the Perceived Criticism and the Family Emotional Involvement and Criticism Scales were used to assess the patients’ perspective, in 21 dyads. The association between both perspectives and psychotic symptoms was also examined. Results replicated those of previous studies in other countries, revealing that the perspectives on Criticism of patients and families do not match. The fact that family members also presented positive attitudes towards the patient did not cushion the patient’s perceived criticism. Thus, it seems that families considered to be critical may not be perceived as such by the patients. Furthermore, only the warmth from the family’s perspective correlated with the symptoms: positive affect proved to be more relevant than negative affect. Therefore, the patients’ subjective assessments and family warmth should be included in clinical and research proposals.

Self-Ambivalence and Attachment to Possessions

Doron and Kyrios (2005) have suggested that self-related constructs may be vulnerability factors for the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and associated cognitions, possibly including compulsive buying, hoarding, and materialism. The present study examined the relationship between self-related constructs (self-ambivalence and attachment uncertainty), compulsive acquisition, hoarding, and materialism. As predicted, self-ambivalence and uncertainty were correlated with materialism, compulsive hoarding, and compulsive buying, while compulsive acquisition of free things was correlated with uncertainty. Furthermore, self-ambivalence accounted for significant variance in all three possession-related variables even after controlling for depression and indecisiveness. Uncertainty accounted for significant variance in the compulsive acquisition of free things. Materialism exhibited high to moderate correlations with compulsive buying but low to moderate correlations with compulsive hoarding and no association with free acquisition. Lack of family warmth failed to correlate with acquisition variables but did correlate with depression. Overall, the findings supported the contribution of self-ambivalence and attachment patterns but not early family environment to the understanding of compulsive acquisition, particularly hoarding and buying problems.