Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1517916
10 Unity SUNDAY 24 MARCH 2024 Parents and adolescence Dr Ingrid Grech Lanfranco Department of Child and Family Studies THE environment in which a child grows is crucial for his or her wellbeing and future devel- opment. The environment is not just about luxuries and com- modities or the lack of them, nor is it about having a large house with a pool and a nice car! No, it's about the atmos- phere that a child is brought up in and exposed to that inevita- bly leaves a long lasting impact on many levels, being they emo- tional, cognitive, educational, health-related, and relational amongst others. The environ- ment is primarily the couple/ parenting relationship in which a child lives and is exposed to. When a couple relationship is strained, it impacts the quality and effectiveness of how they relate, as well as how they par- ent. Evidence clearly shows that the quality of the couple rela- tionship directly impacts the effectiveness of their parent- ing relationship, and their re- spective relationship with their child (Grech Lanfranco, 2020). Therefore it is no surprise to see problematic behaviours and/ or symptoms in children whose parents are distressed and in conflict with each other, par- ticularly in more severe circum- stances. Supporting the couple and parenting relationship is there- fore a crucial part of the agenda of the Department of Child and Family Studies, who is engaged in different research projects in the scope of creating the best possible environment for the child, who would after all be the future of our society. Therefore any investment made at the lev- el of the couple, is considered as beneficial not only to the child but also to society as a whole. The first ever prevalence study on childhood experiences of abuse in Malta, carried out by the Department of Child and Family Studies (Sammut Scerri, Grech Lanfranco, Pace & Borg, 2022) and commissioned by the Commission on Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Vio- lence, found that 52% of partic- ipants aged between 18 and 24 years reported having witnessed domestic violence during their childhood. A total of 61.4% of the partic- ipants reported experiences of child maltreatment, with the most frequent types of maltreat- ment being psychological/emo- tional abuse (45.%) and physical abuse by the a caregiver (43%). The main perpetrator of phys- ical abuse on the respondents was identified by 45.7% re- spondents as being the biolog- ical or adoptive father. A total of 64.7% of the respondents claimed that their biological or adoptive father also happened to be the same perpetrator of physical abuse on the oth- er parent, where as 28% of the respondents who have been physically abused have identi- fied their biological or adoptive mother as the perpetrator. Living in such an environment and being maltreated can have negative repercussions on the children wellbeing and their ability to develop effective re- lationships as adults. In fact, many studies show a repercus- sion on the children's cognitive development as well as on their health. When stress levels are high, the risk of violence within the family environment is greater. Despite the fact that this family environment predisposes chil- dren to be at risk for more ad- justment difficulties when com- pared to non-exposed children, there are also children who fare well (Howell, 2011). Children who were resilient had less violence exposure, few- er fears and worries and moth- ers with better mental health and parenting skills. The National Strategy for Pos- itive Parenting in Malta (2016- 2024) (Abela, & Grech Lan- franco, 2016) took up the task of providing different means of support to couples and parents and their children, so as to pre- vent and intervene in situations where there is a higher risk and potential for difficulties to de- velop. In fact, the Department of Child and Family Studies was commissioned to carry out a pi- lot study with parents of young infants attending the perina- tal clinic at Mater Dei General Hospital. Parents, both moth- ers and fathers, who indicated that they were struggling with mental health difficulties as well as couples experiencing rela- tionship distress, where offered therapeutic support and attend- ance to a parenting programme respectively, in order to provide them with the necessary atten- tion and intervention to cope more effectively as a couple and as parents, so that they would be in a better position to offer their child the best possible en- vironment to grow up in. Ultimately, keeping in mind the importance of the couple as the environment for the child, the importance of early inter- vention cannot be underesti- mated. Every effort needs to continue to be supported at policy level for appropriate interventions that make a qualitative differ- ence to couples and families. References Abela, A. & Grech Lanfran- co, I. (2016). National Strat- egy for Positive Parenting in Malta (2016-2024). https:// f a m i l j a . g o v . m t / w p - c o n t e n t / uploads/2023/04/National-Par- enting-Policy-EN-8.02.17.pdf Grech Lanfranco, I. (2020). Early coparenting programmes with parents of infants with a highly reactive temperament: A ran- domised study using 'Parents as Partners' (PasP). Unpublished Ph.D. Study, Univeristy of Malta. Howell, K. H., Graham-Ber- mann, S. A., Czyz, E. K., Lilly, M. (2010). Assessing resilience in preschool children exposed to intimate partner violence. Vio- lence and Victims, 25(2), 150- 64. Sammut Scerri, C., Grech Lan- franco, I., Pace, L. & Borg, M. (2022). Safety in childhood: A prevalence study of childhood abuse experiences in Malta a quantitative research study. University of Malta. The couple is the environment! When a couple relationship is strained, it impacts the quality and effectiveness of how they relate, as well as how they parent. Evidence clearly shows that the quality of the couple relationship directly impacts the effectiveness of their parenting relationship, and their respective relationship with their child