Corporal punishment and youth externalizing behavior in Santiago, Chile

OBJECTIVES: Corporal punishment is still widely practiced around the globe, despite the large body of child development research that substantiates its short- and long-term consequences. Within this context, this paper examined the relationship between parental use of corporal punishment and youth externalizing behavior with a Chilean sample to add to the growing empirical evidence concerning the potential relationship between increased corporal punishment and undesirable youth outcomes across cultures. METHODS: Analysis was based on 919 adolescents in Santiago, Chile. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the extent to which parents' use of corporal punishment and positive family measures were associated with youth externalizing behavior. Furthermore, the associations between self-reported externalizing behavior and infrequent, as well as frequent, use of corporal punishment were investigated to understand how varying levels of parental use of corporal punishment were differently related to youth outcomes. RESULTS: Both mothers' and fathers' use of corporal punishment were associated with greater youth externalizing behavior. Additionally, increases in positive parenting practices, such as parental warmth and family involvement, were met with decreases in youth externalizing behavior when controlling for youth demographics, family socioeconomic status, and parents' use of corporal punishment. Finally, both infrequent and frequent use of corporal punishment were positively associated with higher youth problem behaviors, though frequent corporal punishment had a stronger relationship with externalizing behavior than did infrequent corporal punishment. CONCLUSIONS: Parental use of corporal punishment, even on an occasional basis, is associated with greater externalizing behavior for youth while a warm and involving family environment may protect youth from serious problem behaviors. Therefore, findings of this study add to the growing evidence concerning the negative consequences of corporal punishment for youth outcomes.R01 HD033487 - NICHD NIH HHS; R01 DA021181 - NIDA NIH HH

Relationship between discordance in parental monitoring and behavioral problems among Chilean adolescents

This study investigated the role of discrepancies between parent and youth reports of perceived parental monitoring in adolescent problem behaviors with a Chilean sample (N= 850). Higher levels of discordance concerning parental monitoring predicted greater levels of maladaptive youth behaviors. A positive association between parent-youth discordance and externalizing problems indicated that large adult-youth disagreement in parental monitoring may impose a great risk, despite protective efforts of parental monitoring. Although the direct relationship between parental monitoring and youth internalizing behaviors was not significant, parent-youth incongruence in monitoring was associated with greater levels of internalizing behaviors. Therefore, differing assessments of parental behaviors, as an indicator of less optimal family functioning, may provide important information about youth maladjustment and may potentially provide a beginning point for family-focused intervention.R01 DA021181 - NIDA NIH HHS; R01 DA021181-05 - NIDA NIH HHS; R01 HD033487 - NICHD NIH HH

Financing and Payment Issues in Rural Long-term Care Integration [Policy Brief]

Federal and state policy makers, consumers, health plans, providers, and other stakeholders are interested in the benefits and disadvantages of integrating acute and long term care financing in rural areas. To date, experience with integrated financing is limited and is based largely in urban areas. This paper reviews current research and experience and identifies key policy and program considerations for integrated financing in rural areas

Multiple Role Women and their Spouses: Variables Effecting Family Functioning

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of age, education, perceived child care support, social support, role conflict, coping and marital adjustment on family functioning as experienced by multiple role women and their spouses. The family has long been recognized as the most important contextual influence in human growth and development. Nurses have been working with families for generations, especially in community and mental health nursing. It is only in the last decade, however, that there has been an increasing interest in family research among nurses reflected in a trend away from individual-focused studies and toward a whole family perspective. The theoretical framework for this study was derived from the stress and coping paradigm of Lazarus and Folkman (1984) with support of the linkages offered through the literature review. The correlational design of this investigation was based on a temporally ordered causal recursive model. One hundred multiple role women and their spouses were selected using a computerized random sampling from membership listings of employed members of a large organization. This sample provided a cross-section of many professional disciplines. Descriptive, correlational, and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Family cohesion, as a component of family functioning, had 50% of the variance explained, with family role conflict and marital adjustment being the strongest predictor variables for the total sample of men and women. A comparison of the results by gender revealed that social support and coping were more predictive for men, while interrole conflict was more predictive for women. Marital adjustment was the most potent predictor for both groups. Family cohesion, as a component of family functioning, had 43% of the variance explained for the men, and 52% of the variance explained for the women by the predictor variables. Further examination of group differences revealed that women reported significantly more perceived emotional support from relatives, friends, and neighbors than men, while men reported more perceived emotional and informational support from work supervisors than did the women respondents. Women reported more frequent use of confrontive and fantasy coping patterns than men

Work Book: Improving the Quality of Home and Community-based Services and Supports

The HCBS Work Book is a technical assistance guide to assist state agencies with their HCBS quality improvement efforts. It provides step-by-step guidance on how to conduct quality improvement projects within the HCBS waiver program, and illustrates the principles of quality improvement in an easy to use format. The Work Book was developed for CMS by the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine

Performance Measurement: Managing and Using Home and Community-based Services Data for Quality Improvement

The Data Management and Use Series represents the third in a group of papers synthesizing the ideas and practices of states as they improve the quality of home and community based services (HCBS) and supports for older persons and persons with disabilities

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL ACADEMIC PROGRESSION IN MATHEMATICS

One of the strategies in accelerating the country’s human capital development is to achieve quality accessible, relevant, and liberating basic education for all. This can be done through various programs in the department which develop and improve and continue curricular reforms. Hence, developing an intervention suited to 21st century learners’ needs specifically for the new basic education curriculum can be challenge. The study describes the trends of Senior High School Academic Progression in Mathematics of a school district in a Province of the Philippines through quantitative analysis that tracks students’ performance in Grade 9, Grade 10 and Grade 11 mathematics using National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) Mathematical Ability results, National Achievement Test (NAT) Mathematics results, General Mathematics and Statistics and Probability ratings. Logical Reasoning Test (LRT) results was used as an additional explanatory variable for a Grade 11 Mathematics performance regression equation. Research results revealed that there are pairwise significant relationships between Grade 11 General Mathematics and Statistics and Probability academic performance with a) NCAE Mathematical Ability, b) NAT Grade 10 Mathematics and c) Logical Reasoning. Recommended interventions, for improving Senior and Junior High Mathematics suited to learner’s needs were designed