2018 Volume 22 Issue 4

Robin G. Yaure, Silvia K. Bartolic,

ABSTRACT: Whether in person, fully online, or in hybrid format, teaching is a never-ending challenge. Teaching can be a joy and a head-banging experience, sometimes within the span of the same week. Many college faculty may never have had formal training as teachers and so have had to develop their expertise through trial-and-error. By employing techniques examined using the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and also benefitting from the experiences of others who share what they have learned through this process, one can become an expert teacher. By using a SoTL framework, faculty can understand that their teaching methods have moved from intuition-driven to more empirically tested. This second special issue of Family Science Review that focuses on current methods of pedagogical (teaching children) and andragogical (teaching adults) contains great examples of using the scientific method to examine a variety of teaching and learning experiences in family science. It is a delightful extension of many of the wonderful presentations from the National Council on Family Relations annual conference, with many of the same authors who had presented in San Diego in 2018 and in previous years. While the topics are varied, from student perceptions of online and hybrid courses to teaching sexualization and objectification, using active reading methods, studying content delivery in a relationships course and when helping children learn about healthy eating, the theme that runs through these studies is of going beyond just reporting on clever ways of teaching. These articles share the desire to use quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis to determine how learning may best occur. By employing systematic methods of analysis, the authors of these articles show the value of what they are doing in and out of classrooms and question assumptions about the learning process.

Robin G. Yaure, Silvia K. Bartolic,

ABSTRACT: In light of the growing research on family diversity, the field of family science has yet another critical topic to explore: the implications of family structures on children’s outcomes. With family policy and laws in many countries providing the option for shared parenting, this research on how children cope in different parenting arrangements comes at a necessary and opportune time. For this special issue, shared parenting is broadly defined as a collaborative arrangement  regarding child custody where parental responsibilities for caregiving are shared by parents after divorce or separation occurs. Our first paper examines the co-parenting relationship following divorce with an emphasis on co-parenting support, overt, as well as covert conflict on child outcomes. Parental alienation is discussed in the following two papers – the first examining parental alienation in terms of contact time while the second extends this to an examination of parental alienation as a form of child abuse. The final paper in this set examines how parents make decisions about custody arrangements following divorce through an exchange theory framework.

Robin G. Yaure, Jacqueline E. Schwab

ABSTRACT: As more students in higher education institutions take online and hybrid courses, their perspectives must be taken into consideration. A study surveyed forty-five undergraduate students regarding their experiences with online and hybrid courses. An online survey assessed their reasons for taking the courses and reactions to them. Using the general inductive approach, students’ responses were examined. Students reported taking such courses to take advantage of their flexible schedules to suit work, family, and commuting commitments, fit course schedules, and reduce anxiety about in-person classes. Students reported being dissatisfied when they felt isolated from their peers and professors, did not understand course material, forgot to complete assignments on time, and had difficulty contacting instructors. Suggestions for faculty teaching online and hybrid courses include getting experience as students in an online course environment, enhancing their online “presence” in their own courses, and learning about best practices for online instruction.

Nikki DiGregorio

ABSTRACT: Accelerated developments in technology have occurred alongside an increasingly dynamic student population within higher education, serving as a catalyst for change in approaches to teaching and learning. In response to these rapid shifts, there has been increasing attention to integration of various instructional technologies into educational settings. Research has demonstrated that teachers use technology in various ways (Teo, 2009). Higher education also continues to examine different approaches to teaching and their effects on learning. Despite advances elsewhere, inquiry surrounding the intersection of teaching strategies and technology, specifically within family science, remains scarce. This study explores application of self-directed learning, media literacy, and recreational technology use in shaping intentional teaching assignments to foster learning surrounding sexualization and objectification within an upper-level family science course. Results demonstrate that students report lower body objectification scores and greater awareness of interpersonal sexual objectification after completing the course. This paper also suggests methods for using empirical evidence of best practices from the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) to inform contemporary teaching of family science courses alongside rapid technological changes.

Julie K. Nelson

ABSTRACT: Reading academic material is required in virtually all university classrooms. As such, reading can present a challenge not only for reluctant or resistant students, but also for instructors who assume students have completed assigned reading before class, have understood the information, and retained it for subsequent classroom discussion. However, research has shown the majority of students do not complete the assigned reading. Rather than presenting original data, this paper re-frames pedagogical practices in family science courses using a dual-classroom model for students to engage in active learning through assigned reading. Four active reading strategies are outlined to maximize dual-classroom learning environments.

Daniel S. Hubler, Amanda L. Williams, Mark S. Adams

ABSTRACT: As online relationship education programs continue to grow in prevalence, there emerges a need for anonymous feedback that is useful for improving content and processes that program participants experience. Additionally, as micro-content is used to educate others on relationship knowledge and skills, qualitative feedback can help explore the most appropriate means of content delivery. This paper reports on qualitative feedback that was organized and coded using thematic analysis. These themes provide clear input for structuring online content for all relationship education programs, including those structured in abbreviated “micro-content” formats.

Meeshay Williams-Wheeler, Paula E. Faulkner, Odile Huchette

ABSTRACT: Although there are institutional barriers to interdisciplinary teaching in higher education, students report higher levels of cognitive though and greater knowledge of subject matter when they learn in interdisciplinary ways. This paper highlights interdepartmental collaboration for developing an undergraduate course integrating three concepts: child development, gardening, and nutrition. The course design is meant to prepare undergraduates for developmentally appropriate strategies to educate preschoolers on well-being through use of garden with edible crops. Forty-five students from various majors enrolled in the course over a 2.5-year period. Experiential learning activities included gardening activities at the University Child Development Laboratory along with tours of local farmers’ markets, the University Farm, and the Children’s Museum Edible Schoolyard. In reflective journaling, students reported on knowledge they gained in the three areas as a result of experiential gardening activities with preschoolers. The paper concludes with discussion implications of interdisciplinary course development among family science researchers and the role of gardening education in teaching health and well-being to preschoolers.

Anthony J. Ferraro, Karen Oehme, Hilary Dalton

ABSTRACT: For parents of minor children, the co-parenting relationship is often a highly salient yet volatile aspect of post-divorce life. The nature of this relationship is also dependent upon the greater social context, particularly those aspects that facilitate or constrain interactions between parents. This study evaluates four dimensions of co-parenting behaviors among a sample of recently divorced and divorcing parents (N = 396) and tests for measurement equivalence across physical custody arrangements. Item functioning was determined to be empirically similar for nonresident parents and parents with shared physical custody, so post-hoc tests were conducted comparing a combined group of these parents with a group of resident parents. Results indicated that covert conflictual behaviors falling within the exclusive control of the individual functioned similar across physical custody arrangements. Co parental support, overt forms of conflict, and covert conflict that fell outside the control of the individual differed at a mean-level. As such, there is discussion of co-parenting under particular contextual conditions and the potential impact of those conditions on child well-being.

Amy Smith, Zeynep Biringen, Jennifer J. Harman

ABSTRACT: This study examined whether discrepancies in reported court ordered parenting time and actual parenting time among families that had dissolved (i.e., divorced) was associated with the degree to which children are reported to demonstrate negative coping behaviors. It was hypothesized that (a) parents who were targets of alienating behaviors by the other parent would report having less parenting time than what the courts ordered and (b) children would engage in negative behavioral coping strategies when there were larger discrepancies between parenting time in the divorce decree versus reported parenting time. Data were gathered from surveys and audio-recorded interviews from 70 parents who reported being the targets of parental alienating behaviors. A content analysis was conducted on the interview transcripts to code for the child’s behavioral outcomes, as reported by the targeted parent. Results from this study provide information on the extent to which parenting time awarded by family courts can be in conflict with what occurs, and in reality, whether such discrepancies are associated with parent reported child functioning.

Edward Kruk

ABSTRACT: This article examines the current state of research on parental alienation, which reveals that alienation is far more common and debilitating for children and parents than was previously believed. In extreme cases, one can make the argument that parental alienation is a serious form of emotional child abuse. Careful scrutiny of key elements of parental alienation in the research literature consistently identifies two core elements of child abuse: parental alienation as a significant form of harm to children that is attributable to human action. As a form of individual child abuse, parental alienation calls for a child protection response. As a form of collective abuse, parental alienation warrants fundamental reform of the family law system in the direction of shared parenting as the foundation of family law. There is an emerging scientific consensus on prevalence, effects, and professional recognition of parental alienation as a form of child abuse. In response, the authors discuss the need for research on effectiveness of parental alienation interventions, particularly in more extreme cases. This paper argues for more quantitative and qualitative research focused on four pillars of intervention at micro and macro levels, with specific recommendations for further study of child protection responses, reunification programs, and other therapeutic approaches.

Jaimee L. Hartenstein, Melinda Stafford Markham, Kali Summers

ABSTRACT: This grounded theory study examines how parents make decisions about custody arrangements of their children following divorce. Eleven divorced parents who shared physical and legal custody of their children were interviewed. Eleven factors influenced the custody arrangement decisions of divorcing parents: former partner, children, work, new partner, use of a lawyer, role of family, parenting role, place of residence, finances, divorce, and adolescent input. Parents weighed perceived costs and rewards when determining their custody arrangements. Custody arrangement decisions involve complexities that parents face. Several factors are considered; the custody arrangement decision making process varies for families.