The Strong Families Program: Differential Impacts of Resilience and Parent Management Training

Childhood behavior problems are pervasive with 50% of non-referred families citing noncompliance and behavior problems as an issue (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1981). Many behavioral parent trainings (BPTs) treat these behaviors at an early age. Recently, adaptions to BPTs include group formats increasing accessibility and decreasing cost, especially for rural families with limited resources (Niec, Barnett, Prewett, & Stanley Chatham, 2016). Beyond BPTs, Alvord, Zucker, and Johnson Grados (2011) developed the Resilience Builder Program to enhance children’s social, emotional, and behavioral skills through a cognitive behavioral framework. The Resilience Builder Program improves anxious and depressive symptoms and reduces behavior problems in children (Watson, Rich, Sanchez, O’Brien, & Alvord, 2013). Although researchers (Borden, Schultz, Herman, & Brooks, 2010) theorized about the suitability for combining BPTs and resilience training, no such study examining the combination of these interventions exists to date. The current study sought to examine the effectiveness of a group treatment combining BPT and resilience training on reducing parental stress and child externalizing behaviors and increasing children’s resilience. A six-week group treatment format consisting of a parent training only group (e.g., Standard Group) and a parent training plus resilience group (e.g., Resilience Group) was utilized to determine the change in child externalizing behaviors, parental stress, and resilience. Multiple 2 (Group Type: Standard; Resilience) X 3 (Time: pre-; mid-; post) factorial ANOVAs were used to analyze the data. Results demonstrated no significant interactions between Group Type (Standard; Resilience) X Time (pre-; mid-; post) for parent stress, children’s resilience, or children’s externalizing behaviors. Significant main effects of Time were found across groups demonstrating a significant decrease in parental stress and children’s externalizing behaviors, and a significant increase in children’s resilience. However, when child age was included as a covariate, these effects did not hold. While there are limitations based on sample size (N = 15) and a lack of control group, there appears to be promising support for using shortened, group-based interventions in the treatment of externalizing behaviors among children. These results indicate BPT alone may be effective in increasing childhood resilience. Future research should aim to address limitations

Traditional Design and Speed Limit Setting Practices Are Ill-suited to Urban Areas

Traffic safety numbers indicate that fatalities of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other vulnerable users have risen between 50% to 100% nationally over the past decade. This remarkable increase should make all overseers of a road system, local or state, reassess how vulnerable users can be accommodated and implement strategies to make our roads safer for all users. Join us and learn how you can improve safety for all

A Systematic Approach to Roadway Safety

This session will take a look at a new systemic approach to identifying and improving high-risk horizontal curves in rural Indiana. Also presented will be a discussion on new safety data and analysis techniques used by INDOT

Unconstitutional State Special Laws: Is Rational Basis Review the Rational Solution?

For centuries, scholars, judges, and lawmakers have argued over the role of the judiciary in striking down laws created by a democratically elected legislature. This problem has come to be known as the “Countermajoritarian Difficulty.” The famous Carolene Products footnote offers one widely accepted answer to the Countermajoritarian Difficulty. It stipulates that the judiciary should only invalidate laws that violate fundamental rights specified in the Constitution, disadvantage discrete or insular minorities, or undermine the political process. This approach promised judicial deference and allowed the legislature to create economic regulations. Debates on this subject typically involve federal courts. However, the Supreme Court of Missouri’s decision in City of Aurora v. Spectra raises these same issues on a state level

The Potential Role of Aerobic Exercise-Induced Pentraxin 3 on Obesity-Related Inflammation and Metabolic Dysregulation

Obesity is defined as the excess accumulation of intra-abdominal body fat, resulting in a state of chronic, low-grade proinflammation that can directly contribute to the development of insulin resistance. Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is an acute-phase protein that is expressed by a variety of tissue and cell sources and provides an anti-inflammatory property to downregulate the production of proinflammatory cytokines, in particular interleukin-1 beta and tumor necrosis factor alpha. Although PTX3 may therapeutically aid in altering the proinflammatory milieu in obese individuals, and despite elevated expression of PTX3 mRNA observed in adipose tissue, the circulating level of PTX3 is reduced with obesity. Interestingly, aerobic activity has been demonstrated to elevate PTX3 levels. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to discuss the therapeutic potential of PTX3 to positively regulate obesity-related inflammation and discuss the proposition for utilizing aerobic exercise as a nonpharmacological anti-inflammatory treatment strategy to enhance circulating PTX3 concentrations in obese individuals