Transactional analysis of the reciprocal links between peer experiences and academic achievement from middle childhood to early adolescence.

This study tested a transactional model of reciprocal influences regarding students' peer experiences (peer acceptance, peer rejection, and friends' academic achievement) and students' academic achievement from middle childhood to early adolescence. This longitudinal model was tested on 452 students (198 girls), mostly Caucasian and French speaking, who were assessed yearly from Grades 2 through 7. Structural equation models revealed that, for boys and for girls, higher academic achievement predicted (a) increases in peer acceptance from Grades 2 through 6, (b) decreases in peer rejection from Grades 2 through 4 (through Grade 5 for girls), and (c) increases in friends' achievement from Grades 4 through 7. Also, rejection predicted decreases in academic achievement from Grades 3 through 5. These results suggest that academic achievement is a good predictor of peer group status in middle childhood and that high-achieving students start selecting each other as friends as they enter early adolescence. These data also suggest that peer rejection in childhood may disrupt future academic achievement. Possible mediating mechanisms, as well as peer selection and influences in the context of social development, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancing home-based child care quality through video-feedback intervention: A randomized controlled trial.

In the present randomized controlled trial, the effectiveness of video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting–child care (VIPP-CC) was tested in home-based child care. Forty-eight caregivers were randomly assigned either to the intervention group or to the control group. Global child care quality improved in the intervention group but not in the control group. The program did not change observed caregiver sensitivity. After the intervention however, caregivers in the intervention group reported a more positive attitude toward sensitive caregiving than caregivers in the control group. The study shows that the family-based intervention can be applied with some minor modifications in a professional group setting as well. The brief VIPP-CC program is an important tool for enhancing quality of home-based child care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Older siblings benefit from a family-based preventive intervention for preschoolers at risk for conduct problems.

This study evaluated sibling effects of a family-based intervention aimed at preventing conduct problems in preschool-age siblings of adjudicated youths. Ninety-two families of preschoolers who had older siblings adjudicated for delinquent acts were randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions. Of these, 47 families had nontargeted school-age (5-11 years) or adolescent siblings (12-17 years) living at home. These families were considered in this report. The authors hypothesized group differences on antisocial behavior and positive peer relations for older siblings of targeted preschoolers. The authors examined outcomes of parent- and teacher-reported behavior immediately postintervention and 8 months postintervention. Findings revealed significant intervention effects 8 months following intervention for adolescent siblings on parent-reported antisocial behavior and positive peer relations. Teacher reports confirmed group differences for antisocial behavior immediately postintervention. Findings document benefits for adolescent siblings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Promoting healthy beginnings: A randomized controlled trial of a preventive intervention to preserve marital quality during the transition to parenthood.

Couples expecting their first child were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 28) and comparison groups (n = 38) to assess the efficacy of a couples intervention and examine marital satisfaction trajectories across the transition to parenthood. The primarily European American sample (M age = 30 years) completed assessments of marital satisfaction at 5 points from the final trimester of pregnancy to 66 months postpartum. Growth curve analyses indicated a normative linear decline in marital satisfaction. Intervention participants experienced significantly less decline than comparison participants, providing support for the efficacy of the intervention. Comparable childless couples (n = 13) did not show a decline in marital satisfaction. The results suggest that early family transitions that strain couple relationships provide critical opportunities for preventive interventions to strengthen marriage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonshared environmental mediation of the association between deviant peer affiliation and adolescent externalizing behaviors over time: Results from a cross-lagged monozygotic twin differences design.

It has been argued that peers are the most important agent of adolescent socialization and, more specifically, that this socialization process occurs at the child-specific (or nonshared environmental) level (J. R. Harris, 1998; R. Plomin & Asbury, 2005). The authors sought to empirically evaluate this nonshared environmental peer influence hypothesis by examining the association between externalizing behaviors and deviant peer affiliation in a sample of 454 pairs of monozygotic (genetically identical) twins, assessed at ages 14 and 17, within a cross-lagged twin differences design. Results argued against a causal nonshared environmental influence of peer affiliation on the development of externalizing behaviors and in favor of nonshared environmental “selection.” In particular, the twin with more externalizing behaviors at age 14 reported increased deviant peer affiliation relative to his or her co-twin 3 years later, regardless of his or her genetic predispositions toward externalizing behavior. Such findings suggest that adolescents with higher levels of externalizing behaviors select or shape (either intentionally or inadvertently) subsequent environmental experiences to involve increased affiliation with deviant peers. Implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aggressive behavior between siblings and the development of externalizing problems: Evidence from a genetically sensitive study.

This study investigated the prospective links between sibling aggression and the development of externalizing problems using a multilevel modeling approach with a genetically sensitive design. The sample consisted of 780 adolescents (390 sibling pairs) who participated in 2 waves of the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development project. Sibling pairs with varying degree of genetic relatedness, including monozygotic twins, dizygotic twins, full siblings, half siblings, and genetically unrelated siblings, were included. The results showed that sibling aggression at Time 1 was significantly associated with the focal child’s externalizing problems at Time 2 after accounting for the intraclass correlations between siblings. Sibling aggression remained significant in predicting subsequent externalizing problems even after controlling for the levels of preexisting externalizing problems and mothers’ punitive parenting. This pattern of results was fairly robust across models with different informants. The findings provide converging evidence for the unique contribution of sibling aggression in understanding changes in externalizing problems during adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental evidence for differential susceptibility: Dopamine D4 receptor polymorphism (DRD4 VNTR) moderates intervention effects on toddlers' externalizing behavior in a randomized controlled trial.

In a randomized controlled trial we tested the role of genetic differences in explaining variability in intervention effects on child externalizing behavior. One hundred fifty-seven families with 1- to 3-year-old children screened for their relatively high levels of externalizing behavior participated in a study implementing Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD), with six 1.5-hr intervention sessions focusing on maternal sensitivity and discipline. A moderating role of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) variable-number tandem repeat (VNTR) exon III polymorphism was found: VIPP-SD proved to be effective in decreasing externalizing behavior in children with the DRD4 7-repeat allele, a polymorphism that is associated with motivational and reward mechanisms and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. VIPP-SD effects were largest in children with the DRD4 7-repeat allele whose parents showed the largest increase in the use of positive discipline. The findings of this first experimental test of (measured) gene by (observed) environment interaction in human development indicate that children may be differentially susceptible to intervention effects depending on genetic differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Randomized controlled trial of a brief intervention for increasing participation in parent management training.

Evidence-based treatments exist for a range of child and adolescent behavior problems; however, effects are often limited by poor treatment attendance and adherence. The authors developed and evaluated the efficacy of a brief (5 to 45 min) intervention designed to increase treatment attendance and adherence in a sample of 76 parents referred for treatment of their child's oppositional, aggressive, and antisocial behavior. The results of this randomized controlled trial showed that parents who received this brief intervention had greater treatment motivation, attended significantly more treatment sessions, and had greater adherence to treatment according to both parent and therapist report. This study provides researchers and clinicians with a brief and efficacious method of increasing motivation, attendance, and adherence for treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of trauma-focused and present-focused group therapy for survivors of childhood sexual abuse: A randomized controlled trial.

This randomized controlled trial compared trauma-focused group psychotherapy (TFGT) with present-focused group psychotherapy (PFGT) and a waitlist condition for 166 survivors of childhood sexual abuse who were at risk for HIV infection. Primary outcomes included risk for HIV infection (based on sexual revictimization, drug and alcohol use, and risky sex) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. It was hypothesized that TFGT would be superior to the PFGT and waitlist conditions and that receiving either treatment (combining both TFGT and PFGT) would be superior to no treatment (waitlist condition). Intention-to-treat analyses for HIV risk found that all conditions reduced risk; however, there was no effect for condition on HIV risk. Intention-to-treat analyses for PTSD symptoms found a reduction for all conditions. There was no advantage for either TFGT or PFGT in reducing PTSD symptoms; however, there was an effect for treatment compared with the waitlist condition. On secondary outcomes, there was a greater reduction in anger for TFGT compared with PFGT, and when comparing treatment with the waitlist condition, there was a greater reduction in hyperarousal, reexperiencing, anger, and impaired self-reference for the treatment condition. Adequate dose analyses generally confirmed the intention-to-treat findings and additionally found that treatment led to reductions in depression, dissociation, and sexual concerns. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A randomized controlled trial of a peer support intervention targeting antiretroviral medication adherence and depressive symptomatology in HIV-positive men and women.

Objective: To determine the efficacy of a peer-led social support intervention involving support groups and telephone contacts compared with standard clinical care to enhance antiretroviral medication adherence. Design: Randomized controlled trial with follow-up. Participants were 136 HIV-positive indigent mainly African American and Puerto Rican men and women recruited from an outpatient clinic in the Bronx, New York. The 3-month intervention was delivered by other HIV-positive clinic patients trained in addressing barriers to adherence and sensitively providing appraisal, spiritual, emotional, and informational adherence-related social support. Main outcome measures: Medical chart-abstracted HIV-1 RNA viral load, antiretroviral adherence according to electronic drug monitoring and participant self-report, and social support and depressive symptomatology. All assessments conducted at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Results: Intent-to-treat and as-treated analyses indicated no between-conditions intervention effects on the primary outcome of HIV-1 RNA viral load or any of the secondary outcomes at immediate postintervention or follow-up. Post hoc analyses within the intervention condition indicated greater intervention exposure was associated with higher self-reported adherence, higher social support, and lower depressive symptomatology at follow-up, even after controlling for baseline adherence. Conclusion: Null findings, consistent with the limited literature on efficacious highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) adherence interventions, may be due to insufficient exposure to the intervention, its low intensity, or the nature of the sample-a heterogeneous HAART-experienced group of patients with high levels of substance use and multiple other competing stressors. Overall, findings highlight the need for more comprehensive and intensive efforts to battle nonadherence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)