This study produces a grounded theory of the process of communication with former partners for 30 men and women who share physical and legal custody of their children following divorce or separation. The formality of the custody arrangement was the core factor that influenced the ways in which study participants established and maintained boundaries regarding when, how, and what they communicated with their former partners. Other factors that played a role included the relationship with the former partner, the child, and the introduction of new partners. One cannot simply assume that because parents share physical and legal custody, they communicate with their former partners in a particular way; instead, the formality of the custody arrangement and the establishment of communication boundaries needs to be examined in order to understand how coparents communicate with their former partners.
As the number of multiracial families in the United States steadily increases, so does the need for more relevant conceptual frameworks that capture the structures and processes in these families. Much of the theoretical and empirical literature on the multiracial experience has focused on identity development, which has resulted in a body of scholarship heavily steeped in the individual level of analysis that neglects dyadic process‐oriented perspectives. More specifically, multiracial families experience complex life transitions just as their monoracial counterparts do, yet there is little recognition and/or understanding of their strengths and challenges, both as a family unit and as individuals within these family structures. This article proposes a conceptual model to describe and explain the relationship satisfaction of interracial couples across the transition to parenthood. We pay particular attention to the factors that are particular to interracial couples across this life transition.
Reflective supervision/consultation (RS/C) is an important component of infant mental health training and practice. Given high levels of job stress reported by a variety of early childhood professionals, the present study offers a qualitative examination of early childhood intervention professionals’ perceptions of stress and coping before and after receiving regular RS/C. Thirty‐one professionals received 9 months of RS/C and completed semistructured interview questionnaires at the pre‐/postassessments. Questionnaires focused on job‐related experiences, including what participants found stressful and how they coped with job‐related stress. Inductive analysis techniques were used to identify themes that arose from the data. Relationships between themes were discovered through axial coding. Three key themes of individual, relational, and organizational stress were identified across the pre‐/postassessments. Similar themes were evident in reports of coping. Following 9 months of RS/C, analysis revealed greater detail and reflection among the majority of participants. These results contribute to the literature through identification of multiple levels of stress and coping as well as areas of continuity and change among participants receiving RS/C. Future research should consider how professionals’ reports of stress and coping relate to reported self‐efficacy and observed competence with young children and families.
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