Male Adolescents with Mild Intellectual Disabilities:Normative Sexual Development and Factors Associated with Sexual Risks

This study aimed to (1) describe male mildly intellectually disabled (MID) adolescents’ general romantic and sexual development, education experience with topics on sexuality and relationships, and frequency of undesirable sexual behaviors and experiences; and (2) explore how sexuality related attitudes, self-esteem, sexual knowledge, and resilience to peer pressure link to MID male adolescents’ sexual and dating violence (SDV) perpetration, SDV victimization and sexual risk behavior. We used baseline data from a randomized controlled trial on a program for psychosexual health promotion and prevention of undesirable sexual experiences for MID male adolescents (N = 120, M age = 15.03 years), assessed with self-report questionnaires. We examined cross-sectional associations with correlations and (logistic) regression analyses between sexuality-related attitudes, global self-esteem, sexual knowledge, and resilience to peer pressure with SDV perpetration, SDV victimization and behavioral intentions following sexual rejection. Results indicated that male MID adolescents were romantically and sexually active, and reported unsafe sex, 47.7% experienced SDV perpetration and 33.9% victimization. Positive attitudes towards dating violence were associated with having experienced both SDV perpetration and victimization, and more adherence to heterosexual double standards was related to more negative and fewer positive behavioral intentions upon sexual rejection. Participants who experienced SDV victimization had more sexual knowledge. Self-esteem and resilience to peer pressure were unrelated to SDV. Concluding, male MID adolescents are similarly sexually active to the general population but may need more guidance in the form of timely, tailored prevention and education. We provide concrete suggestions such as focusing on changing attitudes and practicing skills.</p

Introduction to the Special Issue. Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) in Clinical and Community Settings: Challenges, Alternatives, and Supplementary Designs

This article provides an overview of the contributions to the special issue on Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) in Clinical and Community Settings: Challenges, Alternatives, and Supplementary Designs. The article introduces the challenges of conducting RCTs in dynamic real-world settings and outlines the need to consider alternative and supplementary designs

Understanding differential effectiveness of behavioral parent training from a family systems perspective: Families are greater than “some of their parts”

Behavioral parent training (BPT) is a theory-driven, evidence-based, and widely used intervention strategy for preventing and decreasing children’s disruptiv

A Dose of Nature:Two three-level meta-analyses of the beneficial effects of exposure to nature on children's self-regulation

There is growing evidence that exposure to nature, as opposed to a built environment, is associated with better health. Specifically in children, more exposure to nature seems to be associated with better cognitive, affective, and behavioral self-regulation. Because studies are scattered over different scientific disciplines, it is difficult to create a coherent overview of empirical findings. We therefore conducted two meta-analyses on the effect of exposure to nature on self-regulation of schoolchildren (Mage = 7.84 years; SD = 2.46). Our 3-level meta-analyses showed small, but significant positive overall associations of nature with self-regulation in both correlational (15 studies, r = .10; p < .001) and (quasi-) experimental (16 studies, d = .15; p < .01) studies. Moderation analyses revealed no differential associations based on most sample or study characteristics. However, in correlational studies the type of instrument used to measure exposure to nature (index score of nature vs. parent-reported exposure) significantly moderated the association between nature and self-regulation. Stronger associations were found when exposure to nature was assessed via parent-reports than via an index such as by a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Our findings suggest that nature may be a promising tool in stimulating children's self-regulation, and possibly preventing child psychopathology. However, our overview also shows that we are in need of more rigorous experimental studies, using theoretically based conceptualizations of nature, and validated measures of nature and its putative outcomes

Exploring parenting profiles to understand who benefits from the incredible years parenting program

Behavioral parenting programs are a theory-driven and evidence-based approach for reducing disruptive child behavior. Although these programs are effective on average, they are not equally effective in all families. Decades of moderation research has yielded very few consistent moderators, and we therefore still have little knowledge of who benefits from these programs and little understanding why some families benefit more than others. This study applied a baseline target moderation model to a parenting program, by (1) identifying parenting profiles at baseline, (2) exploring their correlations with other family characteristics and their stability, and (3) assessing whether they moderate intervention effects on child behavior. Individual participant data from four Dutch studies on the Incredible Years (IY) parenting program were used (N = 785 caregiver-child dyads). Children (58.2% boys) were at risk of disruptive behavior problems and aged between 2 and 11 years of age (M = 5.85 years; SD = 1.59). Latent profile analyses indicated three distinct baseline parenting profiles, which we labeled as follows: Low Involvement (81.4%), High Involvement (8.4%), and Harsh Parenting (10.1%). The profiles caregivers were allocated to were associated with their education, minority status, being a single caregiver, and the severity of disruptive child behavior. We found neither evidence that baseline parenting profiles changed due to participation in IY nor evidence that the profiles predicted program effects on child behavior. Our findings do not support the baseline target moderation hypothesis but raise new questions on how parenting programs may work similarly or differently for different families

Long-term collateral effects of parent programs on child maltreatment proxies:Can administrative data provide useful insights?

Collecting child maltreatment data from participants is expensive and time-consuming, and often suffers from substantial attrition rates. Administrative population data may prove fruitful to overcome these barriers. The aim of this study was twofold: (1) to illustrate how administrative data may be used in evaluating long-term intervention effects; and (2) to examine collateral effects of three preventive early childhood interventions offered to families in the Netherlands (Supportive Parenting, VoorZorg, and Incredible Years). Using population data, four proxies of child maltreatment were assessed to examine collateral intervention effects: incidences of child protection orders, placements of children in residential care, crime victimization of children or their parents, and parental registrations as a crime suspect. The results revealed no significant differences between experimental and control conditions on any of these proxies, with very small effect sizes (ranging from Cramer's V = 0.01 to Cramer's V = 0.10). We conclude that the results do not provide support for collateral effects, but that studying other outcomes may provide this support. We further discuss that small sample sizes and low prevalences challenge studies using administrative data. Notwithstanding these limitations, we conclude that administrative data can strengthen the evidence base for collateral and direct intervention effects.</p

In the Eye of the Beholder?

This study examined parent-observer discrepancies in assessments of negative child behavior and negative parenting behavior to shed more light on correlates with these discrepancies. Specifically, we hypothesized that informant discrepancy between observers and parents on child behavior would be larger when parents reported high levels of negative parenting (and vice versa) because high levels of these behaviors might be indicators of negative perceiver bias or patterns of family dysfunctioning. Using restricted correlated trait–models, we analyzed cross-sectional observation (coded with the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System) and survey data (Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory and Parenting Practices Interview) of 386 Dutch parentchild dyads with children aged 4–8 years (Mage = 6.21, SD = 1.33; 55.30% boys). Small associations between parent-reported and observed child and parenting behavior were found, indicating high discrepancy. In line with our hypothesis, this discrepancy was higher when parents self-reported more negative parenting or more negative child behavior. Parent-observer discrepancy on negative child behavior was also predicted by child gender. For boys parents reported higher levels of negative child behavior than were observed, but for girls parents reported lower levels of negative child behavior than were observed. These findings suggest that informant discrepancies between observers and parents might provide important information on underlying, problematic family functioning and may help to identify those families most in need of help