Call for family therapy services

Parents seem to be "at a loss" on how to bring up their children, said clinical psychologist Angela Abela, calling for family therapy services in every school.

Although Maltese families are undergoing "lots of change", the director of the University's Centre for Family Studies is not concerned about the number of separations, saying the greatest challenge is the "worrying" adolescent behaviour, particularly sexual.

Parents could be finding it hard to cope with their children due to their own stressful lives and fast social changes, Dr Abela said. She pointed to their lack of awareness of the dangers their children were exposed to and how to maintain a position of authority.

Insisting that schools could do more and move closer to parents, who were often embarrassed and felt incompetent, Dr Abela said more relationship classes were required so that problems would be nipped in the bud.

Parents are seeking support from schools in the upbringing of their children and the school is the best place to offer help, the family therapist believes, drawing on her 10-year experience at the Tal-Virtù Boys' Seminary School, which has its own family therapy services and has been a success story.

In a paper, Relationship Education - Perspectives From a Country in Transition, which she presented to the Parliamentary Social Affairs Committee and previously to the UK House of Commons, Dr Abela said relationship education was a priority and a good investment but to be effective it had to be part of a well-thought-out family policy.

The paper refers to a number of studies that painted a picture of today's reality, listing among the facts and figures the high level of births outside marriage, teenage pregnancies and regular binge drinking.

A study had shown that 98 per cent of Maltese adolescents have a computer, with 26 per cent surfing sites that had violent and pornographic content and 21 per cent using it to fix meetings with strangers. But 66 per cent of their parents had no idea of internet filtering software, Dr Abela said, highlighting the fact that parents had not been prepared for the "revolution" that was occurring while the media's role was more and more powerful and, in a way, even substituting them.

Dr Abela identified one problem as the lack of research and studies on marital separations: "We do not know who these couples are or after how many years of marriage they are separating, important information to formulate policies".

"We cannot continue to rely on platitudes and opinion makers and we need hard facts," she added.

The Centre for Family Studies wants to build an empirical picture of the marital situation, and that of adolescents, to support their relationships. But it lacked funding, Dr Abela said, adding talks were underway on how to finance it.