The Family Journal

The Family Journal is a quarterly peer-reviewed professional journal that has undergone substantial changes in the last three years. A content analysis of the first 13 years of the journal (Southern, 2006) provided a context for understanding changes over time. The preliminary results of a pilot content analysis for 2023 (Volume 31, Issues 1–4) identified types and subtypes of published articles as well as categories, subcategories, and domains. The pilot testing refined categories and raised important issues for the ongoing content analysis. One of the major challenges involves the proliferation of international manuscripts and quantitative research designs. The mission of the journal is to balance theory, research, and practice for the predominantly clinical readership. The review concludes with some guiding questions for ongoing research and practice in marriage and family counseling.

An exploration of peer-reviewed articles published in the last decade in 11 journals from the American Counseling Association (ACA) was conducted to identify the state of research on teaching family and systems theory in the field of counselor education. This study presents a review of the relevant literature using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework. While much has been published over the past decade specific to family and systems theory, few recommendations exist for counselor educators attempting to select the most recent and relevant publications to include in their counselor education curricula. A summary of the review and recommendations for counselor educators who are designing and teaching counselor education curricula on family and systems theory are provided.

This paper articulates the positive effects on the therapeutic relationship between an adult with neurodiversity, their family, and their counselor of a counseling career growth opportunity in expressive arts play therapy. In a larger sense, this articulation exemplifies the importance of career growth opportunities for mitigating counselor burnout by strengthening a counselor's ability to form deeper therapeutic relationships with their clients.

Overtime, choosing not to have children has become a more common phenomenon. Alongside this change, studies have found that women without children are just as fulfilled, if not more so, in their lives as those who have had children. These studies, in the context of theories of second-wave feminism, psychosocial theory, and stigma theory, are reviewed. This study presents a dissatisfied older woman who has not had children to examine the differences in such cases. As a product of thematic analysis, five themes stand out during Holly's interview: focus on the past, stigma, fear, relationships with younger generations, and regret. Results are discussed in the context of what they may mean for future research and practice with the suggestion that perhaps an over-focus on the past, in lieu of present and future circumstances, may be a factor in childless women's dissatisfaction in life.

The aim of this research is to determine the antecedents that cause domestic disputes to devolve into high conflict domestic disputes (HCDs) in couples with children. Little is known about how antecedents can cause conflict to progress from low to high levels, comprehensive assessment of existing and potential conflicts, or the effectiveness of interventions that may help couples in HCDs. Using a qualitative, grounded theory approach, a theory that identifies the antecedents that cause regular conflict to devolve into a HCD was developed. This theory increases understanding of early identification of antecedents, and the use of proactive and targeted interventions to specifically address these antecedents could help reduce or eliminate HCDs by allowing the root cause of the conflict to be addressed before it escalates to high conflict. The purposes of this study were, therefore, to (1) explore the perceptions of family counselors about assessment of and interventions for antecedents that can cause conflicts to progress to HCDs in couples with children and (2) develop a conceptual framework and theory to explain how antecedents can create barriers to conflict resolution and describe a process for decreasing the potential for the development or continuation of HCDs in couples with children.

Each year, millions of marriages end up in divorce which can cause teenagers to experience multiple physiological and psychological issues. Cognitive Behavioral Family Therapy (CBFT) has become increasingly popular among family therapists in recent decades, who utilize it either as a stand-alone technique within a system perspective or integrated into other approaches with couples and family therapy. There is a gap in the literature regarding the utilization of CBFT to a divorced family of Hispanic/Latinx descent with an adolescent who developed an eating disorder. The overall aim of this article is to provide insight for marriage and family therapists (MFTs), other mental health professionals, professors/teachers, researchers, and virtually everyone. The researchers hope to provide the ability to conceptualize eating disorders in a way that promotes empathy, compassion, and awareness. Barriers unique to Hispanic/Latinx families, clinical implications, and future directions will be discussed.

With drug-related overdose death involving opioids hitting record numbers in 2021, clinical mental health counselors (CMHCs) need to be prepared to address the needs of adolescent clients with opioid use disorder (OUD). Adolescent populations with OUD have significant risk factors and poor outcomes and are at elevated risk for an opioid-related overdose due to surges in high-potency opioids. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) has been an evidenced-based treatment option for adolescents that combines pharmacotherapy and behavioral therapies to treat OUD. This article reviews the adolescent MAT literature and provides clinical implications for CMHCs working with adolescent populations diagnosed with OUD. The medications and behavioral therapies utilized in MAT are highlighted in this article, and a case study provides additional context.

Although studies have focused on identifying the association between family-related factors (e.g., family relationship quality) and youth's career decision-making self-efficacy, additional empirical evidence is necessary to clarify the potential factors influencing the connection between family relationship quality and youth's career decision-making self-efficacy. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of youth's perceived levels of family relationship quality on their career decision-making self-efficacy and the mediating role of their positive decision-making skills among 425 youth participants in a southeastern region of the United States. The authors of this study conducted a mediation analysis using longitudinal data at two different time points in order to investigate the mediating effect of youth's positive decision-making skills. Results indicated that family relationship quality did not have a direct association with youth's career decision-making self-efficacy. Instead, youth's positive decision-making skills had a full mediating effect on the association between the quality of youth-family member relationships and their self-efficacy for career decision-making. Implications for family life educators, researchers of youth career development, and family counselors are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between family functioning and strengths in the context of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Saudi Arabia. A total of 300 parents of a child with ASD completed a self-report questionnaire, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES IV), Family Communication Scale (FCS), Family Satisfaction Scale (FSS), and Family Strengths Scale, to measure different balanced and unbalanced aspects of family cohesion and flexibility, family communication skills, extent of satisfaction with family functioning, and the accord and pride facets of family strength. The data were analyzed using independent sample t-test, F-test, and ANOVA. The severity of child's ASD symptoms and age of the child when diagnosed with ASD had a significant effect on a family's cohesion and flexibility, communication, and accord. The parents’ years of marriage and annual income also had a significant effect on cohesion, flexibility, communication, and family strengths. Contributions of the study, limitations, and implications for future research and practice are provided.

The family is a salient social institution influencing its members’ health capacities and outcomes. Particularly for collectivist societies like the Philippines, the family is a persistent social factor that shapes the health of its younger members, even during their college years. Following the health-promoting family framework, this study examines the relationship between family health and the mental well-being of young Filipino undergraduates and how self-care mediates this relationship. A total of 259 undergraduate students living with their families participated in this cross-sectional, simple mediation study. Data was collected via an online survey. Results suggest that family health has a significant positive effect on mental well-being (B=3.227, p<.001). Moreover, self-care partially mediates (46.89%) family health and mental well-being (B[indirect effect]=1.513, p<.001). Recommendations for mental health and helping professionals working in higher education settings are forwarded in this article.

The present study aimed to examine the associations between adolescent attachment styles, parental caregiving styles, and self-improvement in early adolescence. We analyzed data from 385 Japanese mother–adolescent dyads and 201 father–adolescent dyads (mothers’ mean age is 46.48, fathers’ mean age is 48.58, and adolescents’ age ranged from 13 to 15). The results showed that attachment avoidance was negatively associated with adolescent self-improvement in all domains. The negative associations between attachment avoidance for mother and self-improvement in some domains are stronger in mother–daughter dyads than mother–son dyads. Regarding self-improvement in the domain of health, attachment anxiety and caregiving hyperactivation showed an interaction effect in father–adolescent dyads. The findings underscore the differential roles that mother– and father–child relationships play in adolescent development. The results also proposed the importance of examining the interaction between adolescent attachment styles and parental caregiving styles.

The following theoretical article presents a contemporary Adlerian Family Counseling model, which describes the salient elements of Adlerian Family Counseling as well as its implications for marriage, family, and couple counselors. The authors of the article cover areas of Adlerian Family Counseling and its integration into family systems. Specifically, the article represents contemporary Adlerian Counseling and its application to family systems as well as working with diverse family and couples’ contemporary issues. Lastly, the article pays special attention to working with cultural and LGBTQIA + areas of marriage, family, and relational counseling.

Background: Parents may be at greater risk to experience parental burnout after experiencing challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the unique experiences of parents with young children during the first two years of the pandemic, this study explored the relationship between parental burnout, quality of life (QOL), and perceived threat of COVID-19 among a sample of adults who parented at least one child under the age of five. Method: A brief survey was conducted through convenience sampling (N = 48) and included the Brief Parental Burnout Scale, The QOL Scale, and a perceived COVID threat scale. Results: Logistic regression analysis found that pregnancy was a significant predictor of burnout risk even after controlling other effects on burnout risk. Conclusion: Findings suggest that the pandemic negatively impacted parental burnout and pregnancy during the first 2 years of the pandemic increased risk for burnout. Awareness is important for appropriate assessment and intervention by clinicians.

The focus of this study was the students lived experiences and perspectives of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns. Although there is considerable quantitative evidence that the pandemic significantly strained the general population's mental health, qualitative attempts to explore the psychosocial determinants that could have moderated and mitigated its adverse effects are limited. Based on empirical phenomenological methods of inquiry, this study aimed to provide a more eidetic portrait of the lived experience of the pandemic-induced environment from the perspective of 36 first-year college students from a private university in the Philippines. A thematic analysis of their responses to the online structured written interview surfaced three strands that enabled them to cope, adapt, and even thrive: finding the family, finding faith, and finding meaning. The researchers recommend that youth ministers, positive psychology practitioners, and school guidance counselors enact and implement programs that can strengthen the supportive role of family and religion to enable the youth to respond well to the current pandemic and beyond.

Pedagogical practices use support of empirical research conducted on students learning in-person, but traditional methods of teaching might not work in times of rapid changes. Globally, courses have switched to online/remote learning and the transition has created challenges to student achievement. The unexpected public safety hazards shifted research focus on the impact of remote learning during COVID-19. Previous interventions including positive reinforcement, negative punishment, perceived control, optimism, and factors of self-determination as single constructs have been used to increase student motivation and engagement. The literature reviewed provides an overview of the impact of previous motivation interventions and the theories used to examine students’ motivation. Future implications to design courses incorporating these key five focuses are ideal for student achievement in remote learning.

In this study, we develop a new scale for measuring helicopter parenting of teenagers in India using a sample of 425 teenage students (aged 13–17 years) in the New Delhi education system. The Minor Teen Helicopter Parenting Scale consists of two validated factors of helicopter parenting we label: Pressure and Intrusion. Both factors demonstrated high validity through factor analysis procedures and high levels of reliability (0.804 and 0.709, respectively). Both pressure and intrusion were associated with academic performance and well-being outcomes. Both factors were an improvement over the Helicopter Parenting Scale (HPS) for this age group. Analysis of the HPS did not yield an acceptable reliability (0.422) for these teenagers under the age of 18. Pressure was more related academic performance and school-related outcomes. Intrusion was more associated with general well-being, self-reported health, and happiness. Results suggest the new measure with two subscales is a more age-appropriate tool for assessing helicopter parenting in parents of children not yet in the college or university life stage. Implications for these findings are discussed and future research is considered.