Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This pilot study examined the differences between parenting styles of parents with gifted adolescents and non-labeled adolescents. Comparisons were made between parents of gifted and parents of non-labeled to examine if there are differences between the ways that these parents communicate with their children. Analysis revealed that parents of the gifted were more likely to verbally admonish their children, have a greater knowledge of school activities, and report that their children disclose more information to them than the parents of non-labeled children. Discussion focuses on specific characteristics of the gifted that may be responsible for these findings as well as the need for future studies examining differences between parent-child communications of gifted children.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: If a parent has experienced a severe life stressor and has developed traumatic stress reactions, it can be hypothesized that the parent should be less skilled in regulating their own distress which in turn might result in negative parenting practices and lower psychological adjustment of their children. In this population-based longitudinal study of 2,451 girls, 683 parents reported (single measurement) a history of experiencing at least one traumatic event. Of the 683 parents, 25% could be classified as currently suffering from PTSD while another 13% fell into a sub-threshold range for the diagnosis for PTSD. This presentation will examine the transmission of parental psychopathology through mediation of negative parenting practices which in turn lead to adjustment problems (depression, anxiety, and delinquency) among the girls. Parenting practices that were examined are the 1) unavailability of the parent (low parental warmth) and 2) parental aggression (harsh punishment).

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Abstract
This study takes a life span developmental communicative approach to examine the relationships between communication competency, humor orientation, and relational satisfaction in the older adult parent-adult child dyad when the parent has been diagnosed with cancer. Results indicate that communication competency is associated with humor orientation and relational satisfaction while humor itself may operate in more complex ways within the family cancer context. As predicted, communication competency had a significantly positive correlation with both humor orientation and relational satisfaction. Humor orientation was not significantly correlated with relational satisfaction. Content analysis of open-ended data revealed that discussing diagnosis and treatment procedures with children was often a satisfying conversation whereas withholding information had an adverse affect. The discussion of parents' feelings during the cancer period was complex. Humor was often used as a coping or relief function for discussing side effects of cancer treatment.

Publication Type: Interactive Paper (Poster)
Abstract: This study examines parent and child reports of parental advertising mediation. In a survey among 360 parent-child dyads (children aged 8-12 years), we (a) investigate how parent-child agreement varies by child age, child sex, and family communication style, and (b) examine the role of child-reported mediation in the relation between parent-reported mediation and advertising-induced materialism (i.e., the mediation outcome). Overall, parent and child reports were moderately correlated yet showed similar strength in predicting the mediation outcome. However, parent-child agreement was considerably higher among older children, girls, and high communication-oriented families. In addition, structural equation modeling analysis showed that parent-reported mediation was (1) related to child-reported mediation, which (2) negatively affected advertising-induced materialism. Our findings suggest that child-reports are an indicator of children’s selective perception of parental mediation activities, and are a key variable in predicting the mediation outcome.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: One purpose of this study was to examine parents (N = 46) of adolescents’ perceived importance of discussing different sexual behavior topics and the extent to which parents talk about different sexual behavior topics with their adolescents. A secondary purpose was to examine the parental characteristics associated with parent-child sex communication