This study addressed 5 research questions about the role of implementation (dosage and fidelity) and process (alliance with the provider, and satisfaction/engagement with the intervention) characteristics in explaining effects on parenting characteristics targeted by a selective family-focused violence prevention program for high-risk, socially influential, middle school youth. The intervention was part of a multisite trial involving random assignment of 37 schools to 4 conditions: (a) a universal intervention composed of a student social-cognitive curriculum and teacher training, (b) this selective intervention, (c) a condition combining these two interventions, and (d) a no-intervention control condition. The present study uses data from 334 participating families who attended at least 1 intervention session at which process measures of alliance with the provider and satisfaction with the intervention were administered. Although parent and child alliance with the provider and satisfaction with the program increased over the course of the intervention, these process characteristics were not associated with higher levels of intervention attendance. Higher intervention dosage was associated with more positive change in the parenting characteristics targeted by the intervention. Process characteristics had mixed positive and negative effects that were limited to a single outcome. Within structured, manualized, family-focused preventive efforts, as contrasted with less structured therapeutic interventions, these findings suggest that monitoring and improving program dosage may have stronger effects on parenting practices than improving therapeutic alliance or engagement in the intervention.
(1994). BOOK REVIEW: Crisis intervention in the schools. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology: Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 220-221.
Examined reliability and validity of the parent version of the Child Symptom Inventory (CSI-4) in 247 boys between 6.0 and 10 years 11 months old referred for evaluation of behavioral and emotional problems. The CSI-4 is a behavior rating scale whose items correspond to the symptoms of disorders defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. (DSM-IV); American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Results indicated satisfactory internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, and temporal stability over a 4-year period for most symptom categories. CSI-4 ratings converged and diverged in a theoretically consistent pattern with respective scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991a) and the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents-Revised-Parent Version (DICA-P; Reich, Shayka, & Taibleson, 1991). Discriminant validity was established in that boys with specific DICA-P diagnoses received significantly higher corresponding CSI-4 parent symptom ratings than boys not so diagnosed. Clinical utility (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive power, negative predictive power) was evaluated for screening cutoffs based on categorical (DSM-IV) and dimensional (normative distribution of Symptom Severity scores) scoring methods.
Many multivariate statistical techniques that previously appeared prohibitive to the applied researcher are now becoming increasingly accessible given the advances and user-friendly nature of the graphic interfaces associated with many software applications. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is one such. technique that has seen an exponential growth in its development and usage. However, up to less than a decade ago, most of the texts devoted to SEM were relatively complex, with a sound foundation in matrix algebra necessitated. However, there has been a spate of introductory texts that have inundated the marketplace recently, each with their own emphasis (e.g., type of software) and philosophy. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of the various introductory texts, some of which are software specific and some that are more general. Also, for those who have gained more than a cursory familiarity with SEM, a brief review of more advanced texts is provided.
Investigated the family drawings of 180 children ages 5 to 7 years in various family settings, including stepfather, single-parent, complex stepfamilies, and 2-parent control families. The relations of family type and biological relatedness to omission of family members and grouping of parents were examined. Children from step- and single-parent families were more likely to exclude family members than children from "control" non-step families, and exclusion was predicted from biological relatedness. Children who were biologically related to both resident parents were also more likely to group their parents together. Omission of family members was found to be associated with children's adjustment (specifically more externalizing and internalizing behavior) as reported by teachers and parents. The results indicate that biological relatedness is a salient aspect of very young children's representations of their families. The association between adjustment and exclusion of family members and grouping of parents indicates that family drawings may be useful research and clinical tools, when used in combination with other methods of assessment.
The Emotion Expression Scale for Children (EESC) is a new self-report scale designed to examine 2 aspects of deficient emotion expression: lack of emotion awareness and lack of motivation to express negative emotion. Validity was assessed using self-report measures of emotion regulation and self- and peer-report of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Using a community sample of 208 fourth- and fifth-grade children, reliability analyses revealed high internal consistency and moderate test-retest reliability of the EESC. The results provide initial support for concurrent validity for the EESC factors evidenced by relations with measures of emotion management. Associations were found between the EESC and measures of internalizing symptoms.
Studied 4th- through 8th-grade students in a rural school district (N = 382, 201 girls; M age = 12.48) who, at the end of the academic year, completed self-report measures assessing functional impairment, self-concept, reactance, and autonomy experiences in relation to parents. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a distinction between 2 aspects of autonomy: mutuality (perceptions of parents as encouraging of autonomy) and conflictual dependence (negative representations of "self-in-relation-to-parent" and related feelings of anger and shame). Path analysis findings mostly were consistent with a mediated model predicting personality from autonomy experiences and functional impairment from personality. However, conflictual dependence rather than negative self-feelings directly predicted girls' emotional difficulties. Comparisons of total effects suggested that conflictual dependence may have stronger and more consistent implications for adolescent psychopathology than mutuality. In general, significant relations between conflictual dependence and psychopathology remained significant even after controlling for a measure of negative affectivity (NA).
Examined the tripartite model of personality, which emphasizes negative affectivity (NA) and positive affectivity (PA) as central organizing dimensions of personality that are useful for discriminating psychopathologies. Conceptualizations of youth temperament also include second-order, organizing factors of negative emotionality/neuroticism and positive emotionality/extroversion that may differentially predict psychopathologies. A community sample of 290 10- to 17-year-old youth completed the Emotionality, Activity, and Sociability Temperament Survey (EAS), Positive and Negative Affectivity Schedule, and measures of symptoms of anxiety and depression. Factor analysis replicated the 5-factor structure of the EAS and revealed 2 independent second-order factors, negative temperament (NT) and positive temperament (PT). NT and PT demonstrated convergent and discriminant relations with NA and PA. Consistent with the tripartite model, NT was associated with both anxiety and depression scores, but PT was related to depression scores only.
Investigated self-described social goals, self-generated actions, and perceived peer responses to hypothetical vignettes, as well as observed social behavior and peer sociometric status, in an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 49) and comparison girls (n = 30). Although we found no differences between the social goals of girls with ADHD and comparison participants, girls with ADHD generated higher rates of aggressive responses to the hypothetical vignettes than did comparison girls, whereas comparison girls generated a larger number of negotiating behaviors than did the ADHD sample. The ADHD participants anticipated negative peer responses, whereas comparison girls predicted positive reactions from peers. Importantly, these perceived peer responses showed associations with girls' naturalistic social behaviors and peer sociometric status. Several pertinent predictions held with control of ADHD versus comparison status. Social cognitions appear to be relevant in the investigation of ADHD in girls.
Examined sex differences in a mostly clinic-referred sample of 127 children (22 girls, 105 boys) who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; (DSM-IV), American Psychiatric Association, 1994) criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 125 comparison children (24 girls, 101 boys) matched on age, sex, and race-ethnicity. Children in both groups ranged in age from 3 years, 10 months to 7years, 0 months. Both girls and boys who met criteria for ADHD were more impaired than same-sex controls on a variety of measures when intelligence and other types of psychopathology were controlled. Teachers reported that boys with ADHD were more inattentive and more hyperactive/impulsive than girls with ADHD. These findings suggest that the diagnosis of ADHD is valid for both girls and boys in this young age range. Young girls and boys who meet DSM-IV criteria for ADHD are more similar than different, but boys tend to display more symptoms of ADHD, particularly in school.
The Emotion Expression Scale for Children (EESC) is a new self-report scale designed to examine 2 aspects of deficient emotion expression: lack of emotion awareness and lack of motivation to express negative emotion. Validity was assessed using self-report measures of emotion regulation and self- and peer-report of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Using a community sample of 208 fourth- and fifth-grade children, reliability analyses revealed high internal consistency and moderate test-retest reliability of the EESC. The results provide initial support for concurrent validity for the EESC factors evidenced by relations with measures of emotion management. Associations were found between the EESC and measures of internalizing symptoms.
Evaluated the psychometric properties of a newly created measure of cognitive vulnerability to depression for use with adolescents. Previous measures have shown poor internal consistency reliability and have not completely assessed all hypothesized components of cognitive vulnerability. High school students completed questionnaires assessing cognitive vulnerability to depression, negative life events, depressive symptoms, and general internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The Adolescent Cognitive Style Questionnaire (ACSQ) demonstrated excellent internal consistency reliability and good test-retest reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis showed there were 3 latent factors to the ACSQ. Construct validity was supported by significant correlations with another attributional style questionnaire, as well as with depressive and internalizing symptoms. The interaction of ACSQ with negative events significantly predicted concurrent depressive and internalizing symptoms but not externalizing problems. Last, cognitive vulnerability mediated the gender difference in depressive symptoms. Overall, results suggest that the ACSQ is a highly reliable and valid measure of cognitive vulnerability to depression in adolescence.
Examined the validity of the tripartite model of anxiety and depression and its internal structure in children. Measures of positive affect/surgency (PA/S) and negative affect/neuroticism (NA/N) and self-report and peer nominations of symptoms of depression and anxiety were completed by 104 children (mean age = 14.9 years, SD = 1.9). Parents completed measures of temperament and anxious and depressive symptoms. Multitrait-multimethod and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) supported a 3-factor model that included separate Child and Parent NA/N factors and a joint PA/S factor. Child and Parent NA/N were related to symptoms of both depression and anxiety, but neither parent nor peer symptom ratings related to Child NA/N. PA/S was primarily related to symptoms of depression. These results support aspects of the tripartite model in children and suggest caution in the use of multimethod assessment of children's temperament and internalizing symptoms.
Assessed the factor structure of the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS). Youths presenting to a research program specializing in the pharmacological treatment of mood and disruptive behavioral disorders (N = 612) were administered a semistructured diagnostic interview. Based on the interview, youths were placed into diagnostic groups. Highly trained raters completed the YMRS for each youth. YMRS ratings were internally consistent (a = .91), and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded a 1-factor solution for boys and girls in both young (5 to 11 years) and older (12 to 17 years) subsamples. However, the young male group showed higher scores on several items as well as the total YMRS score. Results suggest that the YMRS total score can be meaningfully interpreted in child and adolescent samples.
Few broad observational measures of preschool-age children's temperament and behavior currently exist. Studied the Child Temperament and Behavior Q-Set (CTBQ-Set) as a naturalistic observation measure to tap the major domains of temperament and behavior in preschoolers. Pairs of observers rated the behavior of a community sample of preschoolers during 2 independent home visits using q-sort methodology. The CTBQ-Set scales displayed good levels of internal consistency and convergent and discriminant content saturation. The scales displayed good interrater reliability at each observation and moderate test-retest stability between observations. The construct validity of the CTBQ-Set scales was supported by correlations with mothers' ratings of their children's behavior using the Child Behavior Checklist for 2- and 3-year-olds (CBCL/2-3) and the Children's Behavior Questionnaire. The CTBQ-Set shows promise as an observer-rated measure of preschoolers' behavior and temperament in their natural home environment.
Examined proximal and contextual factors most strongly related to externalizing behavior among young children growing up in low-income, mother-headed families. Participants were 50 low-income single mothers and their preschool-age children who were visited twice in the home setting. Measures of proximal (low levels of supportive parenting, high levels of punitive disciplinary practices, low levels of maternal emotional well-being) and contextual (low maternal support, high levels of family stress) risk were assessed in relation to maternal reports of child externalizing behavior and an index of negative child behavior during a clean-up task. Child defiance during the clean-up task was highly associated with punitive maternal control in the same situation but had no other direct correlates. However, multiple risk factors representing both proximal and contextual variables were associated with variations in children's behavior problem scores. Mothers of children with high behavior problem scores reported lower feelings of self-efficacy in handling child care and emotional stressors, more frequent use of punitive child disciplinary practices, and lower feelings of satisfaction with the quality of their supportive resources than others. Maternal self-evaluations of coping efficacy mediated the relation between perceived support and child behavior problems, suggesting that constructs of personal control are important to represent in future studies of highly stressed parents.
The Emotion Expression Scale for Children (EESC) is a new self-report scale designed to examine 2 aspects of deficient emotion expression: lack of emotion awareness and lack of motivation to express negative emotion. Validity was assessed using self-report measures of emotion regulation and self- and peer-report of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Using a community sample of 208 fourth- and fifth-grade children, reliability analyses revealed high internal consistency and moderate test-retest reliability of the EESC. The results provide initial support for concurrent validity for the EESC factors evidenced by relations with measures of emotion management. Associations were found between the EESC and measures of internalizing symptoms.
