Profiles of Early Family Risk and the Socioemotional Functioning of Infants and Toddlers

Research consistently indicates that exposure to a range of early family risk factors is associated with compromised social and emotional functioning in early childhood, but less is known about configurations of multiple risk factors within families. The present study investigated a range of risk factors representing family structure (marital status, child\u27s father in the home), sociodemographic context (maternal age, household income, maternal education, and insurance status), and maternal psychosocial functioning (maternal postnatal depression and prenatal physical and psychological relationship conflict) from a person-centered approach in a diverse, urban sample of 819 mothers. Latent variable mixture modeling was used to identify subgroups of families with similar profiles across the risk factors, a seven class solution emerged as statistically and conceptually supported. In addition to larger SESOnly Risk (30%) and Low Risk (31%) classes, a Cohabitating Middle Income (13%) class emerged, as well as a class of Single Mothers (6%), a class characterized by low SESand physical conflict (Low SES-Physical Conflict; 11%), and a low SESclass characterized by very elevated postnatal depression (Low SES-Depressed; 4%). When socioemotional functioning at 12 and 24 months was compared between classes, results indicated that the Low SES-Depressed class was at high risk for elevated ratings across domains and time points, and the Low SES-Physical Conflict, SESOnly, and Cohabitating Middle classes were also at more moderate increased risk with differential links to different BITSEAdomains. For example, the SES Only class was at elevated risk across domains at 12 months, and particular risk for Internalizing difficulties at 24 months, whereas the Low SES-Physical Conflict class was at significant risk for Externalizing difficulties at 24 months. The Cohabitating Middle class was at increased risk for Internalizing difficulties at 12 months only. These results are discussed in the context of early family development with a discussion of clinical and prevention-based implications

Patterns of Change in Children’s Loneliness: Trajectories from Third Through Fifth Grades

Latent growth-mixture modeling was used to investigate patterns of change in loneliness for 170 children from third through fifth grades. A three-class model representing unique trajectories of loneliness provided the best overall fit to the data, including a Stable Low group (65%), as well as groups of Increasers (23%) and Decreasers (12%). Groups were then compared on aspects of peer functioning, including peer optimism, classroom sociometric ratings, and peer behavior nominations that were also collected in third, fourth, and fifth grades. The Stable Low group was characterized by positive peer functioning (elevated peer optimism, below-average victimization and passive social withdrawal nominations, and above-average mutual friendships). The Increasers had elevated passive social withdrawal and later victimization nominations, and possibly represent a subgroup of children at risk for developing later internalizing symptomatology. The Decreasers had a less clear pattern of peer functioning in third grade but were indistinguishable from the Stable Low group by fourth and fifth grades. Findings are discussed in the context of the development of loneliness in middle childhood

Evaluating Treatments and Interventions: What Constitutes “Evidence-based” Treatment?

This chapter provides an overview of the evidence-based treatment (EBT) paradigm, beginning with definitional issues, followed by a discussion on use of the iterative process and the importance of strong academic–practice partnerships to inform the development, selection, and implementation of EBTs. The discussion then turns to the importance of attaining, measuring, and sustaining fidelity to the treatment models; and identifying common barriers to sustained EBT use. Drawing from our expertise related to interventions for children and adolescents, a few dissemination/implementation models are highlighted as examples of current efforts to achieve sustained use of EBTs among practitioners, within agencies, and across communities. This involves keeping up to date with the research and integrating the available evidence base with clinical expertise and patient characteristics, including cultural considerations and client preferences for treatment. The chapter concludes with directions for the future, including considerations for practitioners, referring agents, and agency senior leaders to promote, support, and sustain EBTs

Adolescent Reactions to Maternal Responsiveness and Internalizing Symptomatology: A Daily Diary Investigation

A daily diary methodology was employed to gather teens’ perceptions of maternal responsiveness to daily stressful events and teens’ reactions to maternal responsiveness in a diverse sample (792 entries from 104 teens; 81% African American, mean age 13.7 years). Additionally, parents and teens completed baseline reports of internalizing symptoms. Diary findings were congruent with prior studies employing self-report measures of global maternal responses to emotion (e.g., higher probability of Accepting reactions to supportive responses, higher probabilities of Attack, Avoid-Withdraw reactions to non-supportive responses). Elevated baseline internalizing symptoms were related to perception of elevated Punish and Magnify responses during the week, and more Avoidant (Avoid-Withdraw and Avoid-Protect) reactions to responsiveness. Results are discussed in the context of reciprocal emotion socialization processes

Perceptions of Parental Awareness of Emotional Responses to Stressful Life Events

There is a need to better understand family processes related to recovery from past stressful life events. The present study aimed to investigate links between perceptions of parental awareness regarding stressful life events, continued event-related rumination, and current symptoms of depression. Students at a diverse, urban university completed a life events checklist and a semistructured interview regarding family processing of stressful life events, as well as self-report measures of event-related rumination and depression. Results indicated that perceptions of mothers’ and fathers’ awareness of sadness regarding stressful life events as well as mothers’ and fathers’ verbal event processing predicted symptoms of event-related rumination and depression. Results support the inclusion of perceptions of parental awareness in the understanding of how emerging adults continue to cope with past stressful life events

Patterns of change in children\u27s loneliness: Trajectories from third through fifth grades

Latent growth-mixture modeling was used to investigate patterns of change in loneliness for 170 children from third through fifth grades. A three-class model representing unique trajectories of loneliness provided the best overall fit to the data, including a Stable Low group (65%), as well as groups of Increasers (23%) and Decreasers (12%). Groups were then compared on aspects of peer functioning, including peer optimism, classroom sociometric ratings, and peer behavior nominations that were also collected in third, fourth, and fifth grades. The Stable Low group was characterized by positive peer functioning (elevated peer optimism, below-average victimization and passive social withdrawal nominations, and above-average mutual friendships). The Increasers had elevated passive social withdrawal and later victimization nominations, and possibly represent a subgroup of children at risk for developing later internalizing symptomatology. The Decreasers had a less clear pattern of peer functioning in third grade but were indistinguishable from the Stable Low group by fourth and fifth grades. Findings are discussed in the context of the development of loneliness in middle childhood. Copyright © 2011 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI 48201

Examination of Consistency of Adolescent and Parent Reports Across Several Psychosocial Constructs

This study investigated the consistency of discrepancy scores between adolescent and parent reports across several psychosocial constructs (adolescent internalizing, externalizing, emotion regulation difficulties, parent rewarding responses to adolescent emotions, and parent depressive symptoms). Sixty-two adolescents (67.7% females; 76.7% African American) and one of their parents participated. Most of the associations among discrepancy scores were equivalent. There was one instance in which the association among two discrepancy scores (youth internalizing and externalizing) was stronger than the others and one instance in which the association was weaker than the others (youth internalizing and parent rewarding). These results suggest that discrepancies between adolescent and parent reports are not necessarily a stable characteristic of the dyad and depend on the construct under consideration

Comparison of PTSD Symptom Centrality in Two College Student Samples

Network analysis is becoming more widely used as a method of understanding the structure and potential causal and influential relationships between symptoms within and across psychiatric syndromes such as posttraumatic stress disorder. Because large samples are often needed to yield more stable findings in network analysis, researchers often struggle to overcome limitations associated with small sample size. So, researchers often combine samples to ensure appropriate statistical power for analyses. Little research has been done, however, to determine whether such strategies are appropriate. The present study evaluates the network structure and indices of two college student samples (N = 668 and 456) from mid-sized cities to examine similarities and differences that might inform whether similar samples can be combined for network analysis. The findings suggest that the overall network structures are not different based on a network comparison analysis; however, centrality stability coefficients for centrality indices across both networks were below recommended cut-offs, indicating that the networks were generally unstable. We discuss the implications for these findings in the paper, highlighting that network comparison alone is likely insufficient in determining whether or not to combine samples for network analysis