Analysis of Article about Psychology - Literature review Example

Article Analyses Article Introduction There is a very important research by Mallers et al. in which they have studied perceptions of childhood relationships with mother and father. They studied how children took their attachment with parents into adulthood where they had to deal with daily emotional and stressor experiences. These stressor experiences, for girls, may include their relationships with their husbands. Socio-historic influences such as socio-economic status and cultural norms about parenting have a deep influence upon the relationship between parents and their children. Both mothers and fathers have their important roles: mother interacting with children as the primary caregiver, while father interacting with them during play to contribute basic problem-solving and recreational skills. Mallers et al. hypothesized that “mother– child and father– child relationship quality were each related to emotional reactivity to daily stressors” (2010, p.1656). Method The study included 912 men and women aged between 25 and 74. The participants participated in the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE) which is a daily diary study included in the National Survey of Midlife in the United States. Originally, quite a large sample was recruited and interviewed via telephone about their experiences of stressors in the past 8 evenings. Data collection took one year because the researchers conducted 40 flights of interviews with almost 38 respondents in each flight. Their responses about their parent-child relationship and daily stressor experience were recorded. Finally, only 912 responses were selected for this research study. These responses came from those respondents who discussed both the maternal and paternal relationship quality. Results Although the researchers found out that adults, who reported positive parent-child relationship in childhood, dealt with stressors more efficiently than those who reported negative parent-child relationships; yet, they also found that this was true more in case of male participants. The research concluded that father-son relationship was more related to less emotional reactivity to stress as compared to father-daughter relationship. Discussion The research helps understand that the ability of persons to deal with stressful situations in life depends mainly on their experiences of parent-child relationship. Fathers and mothers both are important, but fathers’ role was found to be more significant when it came to dealing with stressors. Fathers’ impart a sense of recreation and problem-solving when they spend time with their children at play, and that sense of solving problems enables the children to learn how they can deal with all kinds of stressful circumstances that they may be facing in their future lives. Limitations included participants recalling the experiences 50 years back or more. Perceptions may change about experiences over such a long period. General Result Discussion The research is worthwhile to understand the importance of impact of positive or negative parenting on the personality of children which they carry into adulthood and throughout their lives. This study triggers the urge to learn more about the relation between father-daughter relationship and daughters’ emotional reactivity to stress. It is important to understand the underlying causes of stress in life to make certain corrections in social relationships. Article 2 Introduction A very interesting research is presented by Byrd-Craven et al. (2012), in which the researchers have studied how women’s relationship with their fathers affects their reactions to stressors in their lives. Activity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis (salivary cortisol) and autonomic nervous system (ANS) in late adolescence–emerging adulthood during peer interactions is studied to determine the effect of father-daughter relationship quality on the ability of females to cope with stress. This study fits with the previously mentioned research as both discuss the effect of parental relationship on children’s ability to cope with stress. This research, however, specifically focuses on the relationship between father and daughter. “Paternal investment in humans is particularly facultative”, state Bryd-Craven et al. (2012, p.87). Method There were 86 participants in Study 1 and 37 participants in Study 2. Researchers conducted the study through observing the activity of HPA and ANS in females, when they interacted with their peers and discussed problems. These females were all adolescents. They were instructed to restrict their consumption of food, caffeine and nicotine one hour before saliva collection. All of them completed one questionnaire regarding their activities before coming to the lab, and the other regarding their health status which was rated on 1-10 scale. Log transformation and square root transformation was used to analyze cortisol and sAA scores. Results The study reported that those females who reported positive emotional relationship with their fathers had low pre-task cortisol levels and attenuated cortisol levels during peer interaction. Contrarily, those females who reported negative emotional attachment with their fathers showed high pre-task cortisol levels and elevated cortisol level during peer interaction. Discussion The researchers found that father-daughter emotional attachment was crucial in enabling females to effectively cope with the stressors in their social lives. Women with cold paternal relationships tend to discuss their stressors with friends, and are not able to cope with what they feel as uncontrollable for them. This shows the importance of paternal influence on women’s lives. There were some limitations in the research. The researchers may have judged the quality of father-daughter relationship from daughters’ perspectives. Also, the cortisol levels were just checked in the mornings, which might have changed over the course of the day. Still, the research is helpful in understanding how fathers can improve their role in their daughters’ lives to make them successful individuals in their future lives. General Result Discussion This study is helpful in determining the importance of father’s emotional availability to daughters. Fathers and mothers have an intertwined role in building good psychosocial relationships with children, and in motivating them to bring the best out of them through positive behavior. The form of relationship the parents develop with their children is a very important indicator of what type of early education the children are receiving at their homes. Parent involvement in their kids’ goings-on at home and at school is vital because a parent plays a very important role in his child’s life. Fathers, especially, must communicate with their daughters to develop an understanding with them so that they share with them all problems that they might be facing in their personal lives. This is what this research implies. Article 3 Introduction An interesting research by Stewart and Menning (2009) discusses the effect of involvement of nonresident fathers on their children’s eating patterns. This is a unique research of its kind that discusses how residential structures and circumstances affect the lifestyles of adolescents, especially if the father is not present. “The family is one of the primary mechanisms underlying children’s growth and psychosocial development and is part of a large and complex number of hereditary, psychological, and social factors that may be associated with adolescent eating patterns”, state Stewart and Menning (2009, p.193). Since children are, nowadays, have started going toward junk food and want to skip meals too often, parental involvement becomes a must to bring them back on healthy eating habits. This research fits with the previous two researches as this also talks about the importance of parental involvement in children’s lives, with a unique aspect of father being nonresident in this research. Method The researchers used the data that came from the first two waves of Add Health, which surveyed more than 20,000 adolescents in grades 7–12 in 1994–1995 and a follow-up survey of 14,738 respondents in 1996. The data included information about children’s activities and parental involvement level. In-home questionnaires were distributed among the participants. Information on diet, family structure, father involvement, and controls was drawn. Subsamples of adolescents who had nonresident fathers were used to estimate the relationship between nonresident fathering and eating patterns. Results Children, who lived in such residential settings where direct parental involvement was not present (like a distant parent, single parent, or no parent at all), were more likely to show unhealthy eating habits (like more junk food, fewer vegetables and fruits, and unsupervised mealtimes) than those children who lived in traditional residential settings where they lived with both the parents, biological or adoptive. When a nonresident father showed involvement, the children showed good response toward breakfast and consumed more vegetables; however, the consumption of junk food remained the same. Discussion The research helps understand that father involvement is a crucial aspect in healthy physical and psychological development of children. When father involvement is present, no matter he is resident or nonresident, the children show better eating habits as their mealtimes are being properly supervised. Nonresident fathers can show the same amount of concern and attention a resident father can do, especially when the children are young and can be controlled. General Result Discussion The research helps understand that since it is the father who is the bearer of all expenses including food in traditional home setting, hence, it is the duty of the father to stay involved in the children’s lives to help them develop good eating habits. The research has been done to reinforce the role of parental involvement, just like the other two researches mentioned above. References Byrd-Craven, J., Auer, B. J., Granger, D. A., Massey, A. R. (2012). The father–daughter dance: The relationship between father–daughter relationship quality and daughters stress response. Journal of Family Psychology, 26(1), pp. 87-94. Retrieved December 9, 2014, from http://www.academia.edu/5201955/The_Father_Daughter_Dance_The_Relationship_Between_Father_Daughter_Relationship_Quality_and_Daughters_Stress_Response Mallers, M.H., Charles, S.T., Neupert, S.D., & Almeida, D.M. (2010). Perceptions of childhood relationships with mother and father: Daily emotional and stressor experiences in adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 46(6), pp.1651-1661. Retrieved December 9, 2014, from http://www.midus.wisc.edu/findings/pdfs/853.pdf Stewart, S.D., & Menning C.L. (2009). Family structure, nonresident father involvement, and adolescent eating patterns. Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 45, 193-201. Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www.soc.iastate.edu/staff/stewart/Stewart%20and%20Menning,%20JAH,%202009.pdf Read More