First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"This text is intended for a one-semester introductory course."--Page 1.

This book provides an expert view of research on parenting and child development in new family forms.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

This text provides for the first time in book form an exploration of the communicative aspects of the darker side of family life, ranging from, for example, severe acts of violence to more subtle forms of conflict. In addition to offering a working definition of the concept of the "dark side" in the family context, the authors propose the Darkness Model of Family Communication that integrates relevant literature in new and significant ways. Researchers, teachers and advanced students alike will benefit from the holistic and theoretical approach to the topic advanced through this volume. Readers are also encouraged to process the material by reviewing discussion questions and the case study of the Moore family at the end of each chapter. Chapter topics include: an overview of the "dark side" of family communication individual influences on the darkness of family communication the dark side of dyadic family life familial interaction structure and the dark side dark family communication in a context of darkness - socio-cultural influences on family life concluding reflections on the study of dark family communication The Dark Side of Family Communication offers an integrative understanding of the dark side of family communication and a theoretical mechanism for understanding related scholarship. It will be essential reading for all students and scholars of family communication.

Throughout the past 30 years, there have been significant developments in theory and research relating family variables to various psychopathologies. The potential importance of such efforts is obviously great, given the implications that reliable and valid findings would hold for treatment and preventive inter ventions across a variety of settings and populations. The purpose of this volume is to present a critical evaluation of this field of inquiry through a detailed assessment of the theoretical perspectives, the methodological issues, and the substantive findings that have characterized family studies of psychopathology during the past several decades. The book is divided into four parts, each con taining contributions from leading researchers and theorists in the field. The first part, "Background," presents a review of the major streams of influence that have shaped the development and the present character of the field. The second part, "Conceptual Foundations," contains presentations of gen eral models and orientations relevant to family studies of psychopathology. In most cases, a particular theoretical perspective provides the primary underpin ning of the approach, the exception to this format being the family model of David Reiss based on the concept of the family paradigm. The major objective of this part is to present a broad yet detailed set of chapters that address the conceptual status of the field. It is hoped that this material will provide a rich background against which subsequent discussions of specific theories, methods, and findings can be more fully appreciated.

How do divorced and intact families differ? Is there a link between parental divorce and child adjustment? How do parents and children in divorced families interact differently from those in intact families? Offering insights on these and other questions, the contributors begin by presenting a model of the impact parental divorce has on child development. They emphasize the ways in which family structure, differences in stress and parental adjustment account for the fact that children of divorced parents show more conduct and emotional problems than do those from intact families. The subsequent chapters test the various components of the model.

This edited collection uses the concept of 'displaying families' as a new way to understand contemporary family and personal life, addressing how, in a world of fluid relationships, family life must not only be 'done' but also be 'seen to be done'.