An adaptive approach to family intervention: Linking engagement in family-centered intervention to reductions in adolescent problem behavior.

This study used Complier Average Causal Effect analysis (CACE; see G. Imbens & D. Rubin, 1997) to examine the impact of an adaptive approach to family intervention in the public schools on rates of substance use and antisocial behavior among students ages 11-17. Students were randomly assigned to a family-centered intervention (N = 998) in 6th grade and offered a multilevel intervention that included (a) a universal classroom-based intervention, (b) the Family Check-Up (selected; T. J. Dishion & K. Kavanagh, 2003), and (c) family management treatment (indicated). All services were voluntary, and approximately 25% of the families engaged in the selected and indicated levels. Participation in the Family Check-Up was predicted by 6th-grade teacher ratings of risk, youth reports of family conflict, and the absence of biological fathers from the youths' primary home. Relative to randomized matched controls, adolescents whose parents engaged in the Family Check-Up exhibited less growth in alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use and problem behavior during ages 11 through 17, along with decreased risk for substance use diagnoses and police records of arrests by age 18. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal analysis of friendships and substance use: Bidirectional influence from adolescence to adulthood.

The reciprocal relation between deviant friendships and substance use was examined from early adolescence (age 13-14) to young adulthood (age 22-23). Deviance within friendships was studied using direct observations of videotaped friendship interaction and global reports of deviant interactions with friends as well as time spent with friends. Substance use was assessed through youth self-report at all time points. Multivariate modeling revealed that substance use in young adulthood is a joint outcome of friendship influence and selection processes. In addition, substance use appears to influence the selection of friends in late adolescence. Findings suggest that effective preventions should target peer ecologies conducive to substance use and that treatment should address both the interpersonal underpinnings and addiction processes intrinsic to chronic use, dependence, and abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Collateral benefits of the family check-up on early childhood school readiness: Indirect effects of parents' positive behavior support.

The authors examined the longitudinal effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU) on parents' positive behavior support and children's school readiness competencies in early childhood. It was hypothesized that the FCU would promote language skills and inhibitory control in children at risk for behavior problems as an indirect outcome associated with targeted improvements in parents' positive behavior support. High-risk families in the Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program participated in a multisite preventive intervention study (N = 731) with 3 yearly assessments beginning at child age 2 years. Positive behavior support was measured using 4 indicators derived from at-home observations of parent-child interaction during semistructured tasks. Longitudinal structural equation models revealed that parents in families randomly assigned to the FCU showed improvements in positive behavior support from child age 2 to 3, which in turn promoted children's inhibitory control and language development from age 3 to 4, accounting for child gender, ethnicity, and parental education. Findings suggest that a brief, ecological preventive intervention supporting positive parenting practices can indirectly foster key facets of school readiness in children at risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reciprocal models of child behavior and depressive symptoms in mothers and fathers in a sample of children at risk for early conduct problems.

Although much has been written about transactional models in the study of parenting practices, relatively few researchers have used this approach to examine how child behavior might be related to parental well-being. This study used latent growth curve modeling to test transactional models of age 2 child noncompliance, parental depressive symptoms, and age 4 internalizing and externalizing behaviors using a subsample of families in the Early Steps Multisite Study. In unconditional models, maternal depressive symptoms showed a linear decrease from child ages 2 to 4, whereas paternal depression did not show significant change. Observed child noncompliance at age 2 showed significant associations with concurrent reports of maternal depressive symptoms and trend-level associations with paternal depressive symptoms. For both parents, higher levels of initial depressive symptoms were related to increased age 4 child internalizing behaviors. The findings provide support for reciprocal process models of parental depression and child behavior, and this study is one of the first to present empirical evidence that fathers' depressive symptoms have bidirectional associations with their children's behavior in early childhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When interventions harm: Peer groups and problem behavior.

This article explored developmental and intervention evidence relevant to iatrogenic effects in peer-group interventions. Longitudinal research revealed that "deviancy training" within adolescent friendships predicts increases in delinquency, substance use, violence, and adult maladjustment. Moreover, findings from 2 experimentally controlled intervention studies suggested that peer-group interventions increase adolescent problem behavior and negative life outcomes in adulthood, compared with control youth. The data from both experimental studies suggested that high-risk youth are particularly vulnerable to peer aggregations, compared with low-risk youth. We proposed that peer aggregation during early adolescence, under some circumstances, inadvertently reinforces problem behavior. Two developmental processes are discussed that might accounts fro the powerful iatrogenic effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reducing depression among at-risk early adolescents: Three-year effects of a family-centered intervention embedded within schools.

The Adolescent Transitions Program (ATP) is a family-focused multilevel prevention program designed for delivery within public middle schools to target parenting factors related to the development of behavior problems in early adolescence. The current study examines the effects of the ATP on the development of youth depressive symptoms across early adolescence in a sample of 106 high-risk youths. Youths were recruited in 6th grade, and selected as high risk based on teacher and parent reports of behavioral or emotional problems. Depression symptoms were based on youth and mother reports in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. Receipt of the family-centered intervention inhibited growth in depressive symptoms in high-risk youths over the 3 yearly assessments compared with symptoms in high-risk youths in the control group. Results support the notion that parental engagement in a program designed to improve parent management practices and parent-adolescent relationships can result in collateral benefits to the youths' depressive symptoms at a critical transition period of social and emotional development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Randomized prevention trial for early conduct problems: Effects on proactive parenting and links to toddler disruptive behavior.

Despite knowledge of early pathways to conduct problems, few preventive interventions are specifically designed to modify disruptive behavior in toddlerhood. One potential prevention target is proactive and positive parenting, which is associated with reduced risk of conduct problems in preschoolers. This randomized trial with 120 low-income 2-year-old boys examined whether a brief family-centered intervention that reduces disruptive behavior (D. Shaw, T. Dishion, L. Supplee, F. Gardner, & K. Arnds, 2006) also leads to increases in proactive and positive parenting. It also explored whether change in parenting predicts change in disruptive behavior. In the intervention group, proactive and positive parenting skills increased among parents of 3-year-olds. Change in proactive and positive parenting of 2- to 3-year-old toddlers correlated with change in child disruptive behavior, although the mediation effect of positive parenting was of only borderline significance. Findings suggest that even within a brief and multifaceted preventive intervention, change in proactive parenting skills contributes modestly but significantly to change in child problem behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trajectories of family management practices and early adolescent behavioral outcomes.

Stage–environment fit theory was used to examine the reciprocal lagged relations between family management practices and early adolescent problem behavior during the middle school years. In addition, the potential moderating roles of family structure and of gender were explored. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to describe patterns of growth in family management practices and adolescents' behavioral outcomes and to detect predictors of interindividual differences in initial status and rate of change. The sample comprised approximately 1,000 adolescents between ages 11 years and 15 years. The results indicated that adolescents' antisocial behaviors and substance use increased and their positive behavioral engagement decreased over time. As adolescent age increased, parental knowledge of their adolescent's activities decreased, as did parental rule making and support. The level and rate of change in family management and adolescent behavioral outcomes varied by family structure and by gender. Reciprocal longitudinal associations between parenting practices and adolescent problem behavior were found. Specifically, parenting practices predicted subsequent adolescent behavior, and adolescent behavior predicted subsequent parenting practices. In addition, parental warmth moderated the effects of parental knowledge and rule making on adolescent antisocial behavior and substance use over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Role of Adolescent Friends, Romantic Partners, and Siblings in the Emergence of the Adult Antisocial Lifestyle.

This study investigated the contribution of social processes in boys' adolescent relationships in 3 key domains--same-sex friends, cross-sex romantic partners, and younger siblings--to continued association with delinquent peers in young adulthood and, therefore, to continuance of an antisocial lifestyle. It was hypothesized that levels of negative interaction and antisocial talk observed during problem-solving discussions would be associated across the 3 domains. The influences of negative interactions and antisocial talk in the adolescent relationships on young-adult delinquent peer association were compared in 2 mediational models. It was posited that antisocial talk would be more predictive of continued association with delinquent peers than would negative interactions. Hypotheses were tested on an at-risk sample of young men (the Oregon Youth Study). Findings were generally in keeping with the hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal analysis of flexibility and reorganization in early adolescence: A dynamic systems study of family interactions.

A dynamic systems (DS) approach was used to study changes in the structure of family interactions during the early adolescent transition period. Longitudinal observational data were collected in 5 waves prior to, during, and after the transition. Boys (n = 149 families) were videotaped problem solving with their parents at 9-10 years old and every 2 years thereafter until they were 18 years old. State space grids (a new DS method) were constructed for all families across all waves. Two variables indexing the variability of the family interactions were derived from the grids. As hypothesized, the DS variables revealed a significant quadratic effect related to a peak in variability at 13-14 years of age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)