Recent research findings by Psychologist James McHale, associate professor of psychology and director of the USF St. Petersburg Family Study Center, indicates that dissonance between parents regarding their approaches to parenthood can affect their child's social, behavioral and emotial development. When parents fail to establish a supportive parenting relationship, children as young as two can show a wide variety of adjustment difficulties intricately tied to their parents co-parenting problems.

 

This eight-year study, "Families Through Time,"  was federally funded by two grants from the National Institute of Child and Health Development.

 

In this interview, Dr. McHale discusses his research findings and what they mean for parents, soon-to-be parents and families throughout the country.