Parent Differentiation of Self and Child Competence in Low-Income Urban Families.

Abstract

In this study, the author examined whether family system functioning was associated with resilience in children exposed to negative environmental stress. In a sample of 55 low-income, urban families, greater differentiation of self among mothers predicted child competence—that is, better verbal and math achievement scores and lower aggression—after considering the effects of neighborhood violence and family life stress. No relations were observed between parent functioning and child academic selfconcept. Furthermore, mothers’ differentiation-of-self scores predicted children’s cognitive skills, even after controlling for parent level of education. Implications, limitations, and directions for further research are discussed. Since counseling psychology’s discovery of the family in the 1980s (Gelso & Fassinger, 1990), interest in children and their families has grown dramatically (e.g., Fitzgerald & Osipow, 1988; Schneider, Watkins, & Gelso, 1988; Walsh, Galassi, Murphy, & Park-Taylor, 2002). In the last decade, instruction in family therapy has become a standard component of doctoral training in counseling psychology programs (Murdock, Alcorn, Heesacker, & Stoltenberg, 1998). Articles focused on children and families appearing in the Journal of Counseling Psychology have more than tripled in the last 20 years (i.e., only 7 articles with the keywords child or family were published from 1980 to 1989, whereas from 1990 to 1999, 40 articles appeared). Recent issues of The Counseling Psychologist on preventing childhood disorders (Romano & Hage, 2000) and promoting school partnerships (Kenny, Waldo, Warter, & Barton, 2002; Walsh et al., 2002) provide further evidence of the field’s interest in and commitment to understanding and working effectively with children and families. The broad purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship between family system functioning and resilience among urban, at-risk children. Urban environmental stress puts children at early risk for learning delays and emotional and behavioral problems (e.g., Attar, Guerra, & Tolan, 1994; Black &

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