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Biomedical subjects

Vicky Phares

Publications and source records attributed to Vicky Phares.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

The relationship between maternal and paternal psychological symptoms and ratings of adolescent functioning.

Families with an adolescent between the ages of 11 and 18 years participated in a study examining the relationship between parental depressive and anxiety symptomatology and parental ratings of adolescents' functioning. This study indicated that mothers, fathers, and adolescents exhibited significant cross-informant correspondence (i.e. correlations) and very few significant differences in ratings of adolescents' functioning. After controlling for demographic variables and the ratings of other informants, mothers' depressive symptomatology was a significant predictor of mothers' ratings of adolescents' internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and competence. With regard to fathers' ratings, fathers' depressive symptomatology was a significant predictor of adolescents' internalizing behavior problems and competence, whereas fathers' depressive and anxious symptomatology was a significant predictor of adolescents' externalizing behavior problems. The findings of this study suggested the importance of considering maternal and paternal depressive symptomatology when parents are asked to provide ratings of their adolescents' functioning.

Adolescent↗

Are fathers involved in pediatric psychology research and treatment?

BACKGROUND: Recently, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of the roles of fathers in understanding normative developmental processes. Increased attention has been given to the roles of fathers in the area of clinical child research and therapy. However, the presence of fathers in research and treatment in pediatric psychology has not been fully examined. OBJECTIVE: To explore the status of including fathers in both research and treatment in the area of pediatric psychology. METHOD: An extensive review of published research. RESULTS: The findings suggest that pediatric psychology research lags even farther behind clinical child research in including fathers in research designs and analyzing for maternal and paternal effects separately. There is also a concomitant lack of inclusion of fathers in family-based interventions in pediatric psychology. CONCLUSION: These patterns are discussed, with an emphasis on strategies to increase the inclusion of fathers in research and treatment of pediatric psychology issues. Future directions for researchers and clinicians are also included.

Child↗

Still looking for Poppa.

In 1992, V. Phares published an article titled "Where's Poppa?: The Relative Lack of Attention to the Role of Fathers in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology". Since that time, there have been modest gains in the research literature on clinical child issues, but there remains a wide gap between the inclusion of mothers and fathers in clinical child and family research. To provide an update of this issue for the field of developmental psychopathology, the authors of this comment conducted an updated review and analysis of the research on fathers and developmental psychopathology. These current data were compared with the data from the Phares and Compas (1992) study. It was found that there continues to be a dearth of research on fathers and developmental psychopathology.

Adolescent↗

Adolescent motherhood and postpartum depression.

Adolescent mothers undergo unique personal and social challenges that may contribute to postpartum functioning. In this exploratory investigation completed within a risk and resilience framework, 149 adolescent mothers, ages 15 to 19, who participated in school-based teen parents' programs, completed measures of parental stress (social isolation and role restriction), maternal competence, weight/shape concerns, and depression. The sample was quite diverse, and no ethnic differences in base rate levels of the variables were detected. Regression analyses indicated that social isolation, maternal competence, and weight/shape concerns predicted unique variance associated with depression level. The findings are discussed in light of future work and the continued need to inform prevention and treatment programs for young mothers.

Adolescent↗

Cross-informant ratings of social competence in children and adolescents.

The cross-informant ratings of social competence displayed by children and adolescents were investigated in a meta-analytic study. Effect sizes from 74 studies containing the ratings of the social competence of children and adolescents from at least two different informants were included in this meta-analysis. Results indicated that studies investigating the correspondence of the child or adolescent's own report with the report of parent, teacher, or peer informants had average effect sizes that were small in magnitude. The average effect sizes of other types of cross-informant pairs (e.g., parent-teacher) were moderate in magnitude, with teachers and peers demonstrating the greatest correspondence. Potential moderators (e.g., the type of measure completed by the informants, the age and gender of the target child or adolescent, and the location of the assessment) were also examined. These results demonstrate the importance of selecting carefully informants when evaluating the social competence of children and adolescents.

Adolescent↗

Coping with parental loss because of termination of parental rights.

This article addresses the process by which children and adolescents cope with severe acute stress of parental loss from causes other than divorce or death. Participants were 60 children and adolescents from a residential treatment facility. Most had experienced neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, and their parents had their parential rights terminated. Measures of symptomatology indicated that children reported low levels of depressive symptoms, whereas caregivers reported the children were experiencing significant psychological problems. Children used avoidant coping strategies more often than emotion-focused coping strategies, which, in turn, were used more than problem-focused coping strategies. Results are discussed in terms of helping children cope with parental loss.

Adaptation, Psychological↗