Latent Profiles of Residential Stepfamily Relationship Quality and Family Stability

Stepfamilies are an increasingly common context in which adults and children reside. Past research has examined family processes that promote family resilience, such as dyadic relationships marked by warmth, positive communication, satisfaction, and closeness. What remains less clear is whether various profiles of dyadic relationship quality within stepfamilies exist and operate to influence stepfamily stability. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we conducted a latent profile analysis of mother-child, stepfather-child, and stepcouple relationship quality among a sample of 1,646 adolescents residing in married and cohabiting mother-stepfather families. Results favor a 4-profile solution, labeled high-quality, high-quality couple relationship, high-quality parent-child relationships, and low-quality. The identified latent profiles displayed differences with respect to family stability, or rates of remaining an intact family system 1 year later

Using a Contextual Effects Measurement Approach to Understand the Influence of Community on Individual Behavior

A social organization perspective identifies processes operating in the community that may influence an individual’s behavior. To understand such processes, researchers can apply a contextual effects measurement approach, which is used to assess the influence of group-level effects on lower level outcomes. However, few community studies employ this approach. The purpose of this article is to present and evaluate the merits of the contextual effects measurement approach

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental Health Conditions Among Multiracial Adolescents

The relationships between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and mental health conditions have received much attention in the literature. A particularly well-documented type of ACE is household dysfunction. However, compared to monoracial youth, little is known about the relationship between this type of ACE and mental health outcomes among multiracial adolescents. Objective The objective of this study was to verify the factor structure of the household dysfunction type of ACE using data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), and then examine whether household dysfunction (measured as a latent construct) was associated with mental health conditions among multiracial adolescents. Design We used cross-sectional data collected in 2016 from caregivers who completed the NSCH and analyzed data from a subpopulation of adolescents (12–17) who reported more than one race (n = 1,231). Mplus 8.4 was used to conduct confirmatory factor analysis and probit models from a structural equation modeling framework. Results Results from this study indicated that the household dysfunction type of ACE, as a latent construct, had good model fit and was significantly associated with depression [standardized coefficient [B] = .50, 95% confidence interval [CI] .36, .65], anxiety [B = .61, 95% CI .48, .73], behavior problems [B = .58, 95% CI .44, .72], and ADHD [B = .54, 95% CI .38, .69] for multiracial adolescents. Conclusions Household dysfunction may result in adolescents being separated (physically or emotionally) from their caregivers, which may hinder adolescents’ ability to establish or maintain one of the most important relationships needed to promote racial/ethnic identity development and mental health. Implications for advancements in theory and NSCH are presented

Perceptions of Goal Attainment Scaling among Future Behavioral and Mental Health Providers: A Qualitative Analysis

Goal Attainment Scaling is a method for measuring an individual’s progress toward a given goal. It was used as part of an interprofessional workforce development program that trained social work and occupational therapy graduate students and peer support workers on meeting the mental and behavioral health needs of underserved communities. The purpose of this research note is to describe participants’ experience with Goal Attainment Scaling using data gathered from eight focus groups. Qualitative data were coded, and thematic content analysis was used. Four themes emerged that described participants’ experience with Goal Attainment Scaling: accountability, motivation, insight into developing own goals, and insight into developing client goals. Findings suggest that Goal Attainment Scaling may be a resource to support individuals in obtaining their learning goals about providing appropriate social services and enhancing their understanding of clients’ experiences with goal setting

Structure finding in cosmological simulations: the state of affairs

The ever increasing size and complexity of data coming from simulations of cosmic structure formation demand equally sophisticated tools for their analysis. During the past decade, the art of object finding in these simulations has hence developed into an important discipline itself. A multitude of codes based upon a huge variety of methods and techniques have been spawned yet the question remained as to whether or not they will provide the same (physical) information about the structures of interest. Here we summarize and extent previous work of the `halo finder comparison project': we investigate in detail the (possible) origin of any deviations across finders. To this extent, we decipher and discuss differences in halo-finding methods, clearly separating them from the disparity in definitions of halo properties. We observe that different codes not only find different numbers of objects leading to a scatter of up to 20 per cent in the halo mass and Vmax function, but also that the particulars of those objects that are identified by all finders differ. The strength of the variation, however, depends on the property studied, e.g. the scatter in position, bulk velocity, mass and the peak value of the rotation curve is practically below a few per cent, whereas derived quantities such as spin and shape show larger deviations. Our study indicates that the prime contribution to differences in halo properties across codes stems from the distinct particle collection methods and - to a minor extent - the particular aspects of how the procedure for removing unbound particles is implemented. We close with a discussion of the relevance and implications of the scatter across different codes for other fields such as semi-analytical galaxy formation models, gravitational lensing and observables in general