title: New direction for treating parent-adolescent conflict: comparison of problem solving skills training and social cognitive development training

authors: Connelly, Marie Leona

abstract: Parent-teen conflict has been associated with both acting-out behaviours and psychiatric disorders in adolescence, which indicates serious conflicts have negative sequelae that goes beyond the specific area of disagreement. The efficacy of traditional cognitive-behavioural interventions focusing on communication and problem-solving training has been demonstrated, but limitations have been recognised. One possible reason might be a lack of understanding the origin or underlying cause of conflicts in terms of adolescent social-cognitive development. 

The initial study utilised a package of self-report measures to investigate actual conflict levels in New Zealand families, and factors suggested as relating to conflict. Measures were completed by 112 parent-teen dyads. Results indicated high levels of conflict were occurring over everyday issues such as doing chores, tidy bedroom, swearing, going out, and homework. Also, higher conflict levels were associated with authoritarian parenting behaviours, lower perceptions of the parent-adolescent relationship, and poorer psychological well-being, but not with divergent conceptions of who makes decisions regarding adolescent behaviour. 

Main findings from the survey study were that parents and teens categorised issues differently according to four social-cognitive domains: moral, conventional, prudential (safety) and personal. Parents generally treated issues as belonging to safety and moral domains, while teens categorised issues more often as belonging to the personal domain. Discrepant categorisation of issues to domain categories was related to higher frequency and anger-intensity levels of discussions, supporting the hypothesis that parent-adolescent conflict can be meaningfully understood within a social-cognitive framework. 

To investigate whether these constructs could be used in cognitive-behavioural treatment, an exploratory treatment study was designed that compared providing a strategy to assist teens and parents articulate and justify their reasoning in the context of social-cognitive domains with the standard cognitive-behavioural problem solving intervention. 

Thirty-two self-referred parent-adolescent dyads reporting high conflict levels and negative family environments were randomly assigned to either the Domain and Development group or the Problem Solving group. Treatment duration was approximately 6 weeks. Dyads were seen individually. 

Results showed a similar general trend of improvement for parents and teens in both treatment groups, with a large percentage of individuals reporting meaningful changes after each treatment. Differences that did emerge tended to favour parents in the Problem Solving group and teens in the Domain and Development group, but variable response to treatment appeared more attributable to individual family circumstances than to each intervention. Statistical comparisons did not reveal differences according to teen age or gender, parent gender, religious affiliation, family composition, or dyad. Treatment evaluations, however, generally indicated that middle adolescents were more responsive to the Domain approach and rated it as more acceptable than did early adolescents. 

Overall, this project has demonstrated that greater mutual understanding of fundamental differences between parents and teens that lead to conflict, rather than focusing on problem-focused strategies that address conflictual topics only, can reduce their conflict levels. Findings are discussed within the context of theoretical principals guiding treatment outcome research, and recommendations regarding combining the two approaches in clinical practice are made.

text: New direction for treating parent-adolescent conflict: comparison of problem solving skills training and social cognitive development training Parent-teen conflict has been associated with both acting-out behaviours and psychiatric disorders in adolescence, which indicates serious conflicts have negative sequelae that goes beyond the specific area of disagreement. The efficacy of traditional cognitive-behavioural interventions focusing on communication and problem-solving training has been demonstrated, but limitations have been recognised. One possible reason might be a lack of understanding the origin or underlying cause of conflicts in terms of adolescent social-cognitive development. 

The initial study utilised a package of self-report measures to investigate actual conflict levels in New Zealand families, and factors suggested as relating to conflict. Measures were completed by 112 parent-teen dyads. Results indicated high levels of conflict were occurring over everyday issues such as doing chores, tidy bedroom, swearing, going out, and homework. Also, higher conflict levels were associated with authoritarian parenting behaviours, lower perceptions of the parent-adolescent relationship, and poorer psychological well-being, but not with divergent conceptions of who makes decisions regarding adolescent behaviour. 

Main findings from the survey study were that parents and teens categorised issues differently according to four social-cognitive domains: moral, conventional, prudential (safety) and personal. Parents generally treated issues as belonging to safety and moral domains, while teens categorised issues more often as belonging to the personal domain. Discrepant categorisation of issues to domain categories was related to higher frequency and anger-intensity levels of discussions, supporting the hypothesis that parent-adolescent conflict can be meaningfully understood within a social-cognitive framework. 

To investigate whether these constructs could be used in cognitive-behavioural treatment, an exploratory treatment study was designed that compared providing a strategy to assist teens and parents articulate and justify their reasoning in the context of social-cognitive domains with the standard cognitive-behavioural problem solving intervention. 

Thirty-two self-referred parent-adolescent dyads reporting high conflict levels and negative family environments were randomly assigned to either the Domain and Development group or the Problem Solving group. Treatment duration was approximately 6 weeks. Dyads were seen individually. 

Results showed a similar general trend of improvement for parents and teens in both treatment groups, with a large percentage of individuals reporting meaningful changes after each treatment. Differences that did emerge tended to favour parents in the Problem Solving group and teens in the Domain and Development group, but variable response to treatment appeared more attributable to individual family circumstances than to each intervention. Statistical comparisons did not reveal differences according to teen age or gender, parent gender, religious affiliation, family composition, or dyad. Treatment evaluations, however, generally indicated that middle adolescents were more responsive to the Domain approach and rated it as more acceptable than did early adolescents. 

Overall, this project has demonstrated that greater mutual understanding of fundamental differences between parents and teens that lead to conflict, rather than focusing on problem-focused strategies that address conflictual topics only, can reduce their conflict levels. Findings are discussed within the context of theoretical principals guiding treatment outcome research, and recommendations regarding combining the two approaches in clinical practice are made.

year: 2001

title: Surrogacy and the law: three perspectives

authors: Walker, Ruth

abstract: In this article we argue that, from the perspective of the surrogacy triad, the legal process in New Zealand does not work well. We conducted semi-structured interviews with surrogates and intended parents about their experience of the New Zealand system and found several common themes, which we report here. Most legal professionals lack experience with surrogacy adoptions and do not always provide accurate advice, which leads to additional cost and stress for the intended parents in particular. A large part of the problem is that the legislation itself is not fit for purpose and forces the triad into a Family Court procedure that is antithetical to the intentions of all members. ECART plays a valuable role in facilitating domestic surrogacies and we argue for it to be expanded to include all traditional surrogacies and to be the only port of call for the triad to establish the intended parents as the legal parents of the baby from birth.

text: Surrogacy and the law: three perspectives In this article we argue that, from the perspective of the surrogacy triad, the legal process in New Zealand does not work well. We conducted semi-structured interviews with surrogates and intended parents about their experience of the New Zealand system and found several common themes, which we report here. Most legal professionals lack experience with surrogacy adoptions and do not always provide accurate advice, which leads to additional cost and stress for the intended parents in particular. A large part of the problem is that the legislation itself is not fit for purpose and forces the triad into a Family Court procedure that is antithetical to the intentions of all members. ECART plays a valuable role in facilitating domestic surrogacies and we argue for it to be expanded to include all traditional surrogacies and to be the only port of call for the triad to establish the intended parents as the legal parents of the baby from birth.

year: 2020

title: Re-presenting Māori and Indigenous understandings of Being: Deconstructing the notion of mental illness

authors: Southey, Kim Marie

subjects: Maori

abstract: This thesis examines metaphysics in order to re-present Māori and indigenous understandings of Being and deconstruct the notion of mental illness.  A holistic understanding of Being is crucial to Māori and indigenous worldviews and takes priority as a focus for this thesis. Holistic notions of Being allow indigenous peoples to reimagine potentiality in general and the possibility of a renewed experience of being-in-the-world more specifically. Through an exploration of Māori and indigenous (complex) holism, I seek to re-turn to the influence of things in the world that exist outside of the self-contained individual - that is, beyond the cognitive rational agent.  Doing so shifts the concept of well-being to reside not simply within the person (or the individual’s reactions), but within the entire world in which we live.  

It is posited that a dominant Western metaphysics poses a fundamental risk to Māori and indigenous expressions of Being.  This deeper layer of influence – the metaphysics of presence - is examined to expose its structure – one that insists that things in the world will be represented as fully discernible objects.  The implications that a dominant Western metaphysics has for the notion of mental illness are explored within the context of the metaphysics of presence that sets up things in the world as Beings whose essential meaning is identified only through qualities that can be seen, measured, described and defined.  Within this view of the world, the notion of mental illness is solidified, reflected in a focus on the most discernible aspects of Being – the observable and physical parts of a person that can be examined through science.  To counter this, the more mysterious and unthinkable aspects of Being reflected in Māori and indigenous metaphysics are highlighted as a way of re-turning to holism, to the extent that they resist the expectation that things in the world will be reduced to fit the dominant (metaphysical) framework.  

I engage the relational holistic research approach of whaiwhakaaro (a non-method implicating the more-than-human entities that push thinking and characterised by a free-flowing style of reflection), to draw out the possibilities that exist for re-presenting Māori and indigenous metaphysics and the notion of mental illness.  Eleven interviews were conducted with participants from varying professional and community-based backgrounds.  While the participants represent different views on metaphysics and mental illness, each has a passion for exploring the philosophies that shape the experience of being-in-the-world and how we understand ourselves in relation to all other things.  Their responses provide important signals for how human nature, more-than-human nature, and (mental) well-being are re-conceptualised.  

The main ideas that emerged through the interviews and the process of reflecting on participant responses (whaiwhakaaro) provoked thinking about the possibilities of holism in reconsidering the notion of mental illness.  Māori and indigenous understandings of Being were used to re-turn to ideas of well-being as a collective experience. I posit that, if there is illness, then it resides in the world rather than being centred solely on the individual who experiences the world.  If there is a way to talk about illness and well-being, then it need not be restricted to assigned concepts or pre-determined categories that explain behaviour.  Through a re-turn to complex holism – to Māori and indigenous metaphysical premises – I suggest we can engage with people’s experiences on different terms.  These are the terms that carry excessive meaning, that allow for mystery – to break from conventions and categories. These terms support a different view of individualism where the person is free to express their experience of thorough interconnection – of whakapapa.  In its broadest sense, the re-turn to holism is an understanding of the self as part of a thoroughly connected whole.

text: Re-presenting Māori and Indigenous understandings of Being: Deconstructing the notion of mental illness This thesis examines metaphysics in order to re-present Māori and indigenous understandings of Being and deconstruct the notion of mental illness.  A holistic understanding of Being is crucial to Māori and indigenous worldviews and takes priority as a focus for this thesis. Holistic notions of Being allow indigenous peoples to reimagine potentiality in general and the possibility of a renewed experience of being-in-the-world more specifically. Through an exploration of Māori and indigenous (complex) holism, I seek to re-turn to the influence of things in the world that exist outside of the self-contained individual - that is, beyond the cognitive rational agent.  Doing so shifts the concept of well-being to reside not simply within the person (or the individual’s reactions), but within the entire world in which we live.  

It is posited that a dominant Western metaphysics poses a fundamental risk to Māori and indigenous expressions of Being.  This deeper layer of influence – the metaphysics of presence - is examined to expose its structure – one that insists that things in the world will be represented as fully discernible objects.  The implications that a dominant Western metaphysics has for the notion of mental illness are explored within the context of the metaphysics of presence that sets up things in the world as Beings whose essential meaning is identified only through qualities that can be seen, measured, described and defined.  Within this view of the world, the notion of mental illness is solidified, reflected in a focus on the most discernible aspects of Being – the observable and physical parts of a person that can be examined through science.  To counter this, the more mysterious and unthinkable aspects of Being reflected in Māori and indigenous metaphysics are highlighted as a way of re-turning to holism, to the extent that they resist the expectation that things in the world will be reduced to fit the dominant (metaphysical) framework.  

I engage the relational holistic research approach of whaiwhakaaro (a non-method implicating the more-than-human entities that push thinking and characterised by a free-flowing style of reflection), to draw out the possibilities that exist for re-presenting Māori and indigenous metaphysics and the notion of mental illness.  Eleven interviews were conducted with participants from varying professional and community-based backgrounds.  While the participants represent different views on metaphysics and mental illness, each has a passion for exploring the philosophies that shape the experience of being-in-the-world and how we understand ourselves in relation to all other things.  Their responses provide important signals for how human nature, more-than-human nature, and (mental) well-being are re-conceptualised.  

The main ideas that emerged through the interviews and the process of reflecting on participant responses (whaiwhakaaro) provoked thinking about the possibilities of holism in reconsidering the notion of mental illness.  Māori and indigenous understandings of Being were used to re-turn to ideas of well-being as a collective experience. I posit that, if there is illness, then it resides in the world rather than being centred solely on the individual who experiences the world.  If there is a way to talk about illness and well-being, then it need not be restricted to assigned concepts or pre-determined categories that explain behaviour.  Through a re-turn to complex holism – to Māori and indigenous metaphysical premises – I suggest we can engage with people’s experiences on different terms.  These are the terms that carry excessive meaning, that allow for mystery – to break from conventions and categories. These terms support a different view of individualism where the person is free to express their experience of thorough interconnection – of whakapapa.  In its broadest sense, the re-turn to holism is an understanding of the self as part of a thoroughly connected whole.

year: 2020