Making financial markets safer for consumers: lessons from consumer goods markets and beyond

In the wake of the mortgage meltdown, policymakers are discussing how best to protect consumers in financial product markets.Consumer protection ; Financial markets

In Reply

A reply to a letter to the editor regarding their article: Swahn MH, Alemdar M, Whitaker DJ. 2009. Nonreciprocal and Reciprocal Dating Violence and Injury Occurrence Among Urban Youth. The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. 11(3):264-268

Nonreciprocal and Reciprocal Dating Violence and Injury Occurrence among Urban Youth

Objective: Dating violence is a significant health problem among youth that leads to adverse health outcomes, including injuries. Reciprocal violence (perpetrated by both partners) is associated with increased injury in adults, but very little is known about the prevalence and context for reciprocal violence, as well as injury rates, among youth. We sought to determine the prevalence and scope of reciprocal dating violence and injury occurrence among urban youth in a high-risk community. Methods: Analyses were based on data from the Youth Violence Survey, conducted in 2004, and administered to over 80 % of public school students in grades 7, 9, 11, and 12 (N=4,131) in a highrisk, urban school district. The current analyses were restricted to those who reported dating in the past year and who also reported any dating violence (n=1,158). Dating violence was categorized as reciprocal (the participant reported both violence perpetration and victimization) and non-reciprocal (the participant report either violence perpetration or victimization, but not both). Results: Dating violence reciprocity varied by sex. Girls who reported any dating violence were more likely to report reciprocal dating violence (50.4%) than were boys (38.9%). However, reciprocity did not vary by race/ethnicity or grade level. Reciprocal dating violence was more common among participants who reported more frequent violence experiences. Reciprocal violence was als

In Reply

A reply to a letter to the editor regarding their article: Swahn MH, Alemdar M, Whitaker DJ. 2009. Nonreciprocal and Reciprocal Dating Violence and Injury Occurrence Among Urban Youth. The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. 11(3):264-268

Can Social Networking Be Used to Promote Engagement in Child Maltreatment Prevention Programs? Two Pilot Studies

Introduction: Child maltreatment is one of the United States’ most significant public health problems.In efforts to prevent maltreatment experts recommend use of Behavioral Parent Training Programs(BPTs), which focus on teaching skills that will replace and prevent maltreating behavior. eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. While there isresearch to support the effectiveness of BPTs in maltreatment prevention, the reach of such programsis still limited by several barriers, including poor retention of families in services. Recently, newtechnologies have emerged that offer innovative opportunities to improve family engagement. Thesetechnologies include smartphones and social networking; however, very little is known about thepotential of these to aid in maltreatment prevention. The primary goal of this study was to conduct 2pilot exploratory projects. Methods: The first project administered a survey to parents and providers to gather data about at-risk parents’ use of smartphones and online social networking technologies. The second project tested asocial networking-enhanced brief parenting program with 3 intervention participants and evaluatedparental responses. Results: Seventy-five percent of parents surveyed reported owning a computer that worked. Eightyninepercent of parents reported that they had reliable Internet access at home, and 67% said theyused the Internet daily. Three parents participated in the intervention with all reporting improvement in parent-child interaction skills and a positive experience participating in the social networking-enhanced SafeCare components. Conclusion: In general, findings suggest that smartphones, social networking, and Facebook, in particular, are now being used by individuals who show risk factors forma treatment. Further, themajorityof parents surveyed in this study said that they like Facebook, and all parents surveyed said that they useFacebook and have a Facebook account. As well, all saw it as a potentially beneficial supplement forfuture parents enrolling in parenting programs

Relationship Between Self-Report and Observed Parenting Among Parents in Treatment Versus Not in Treatment Populations

Background: Most maltreatment, by definition, is a failure of parenting. However, even without maltreatment, poor parenting can lead to a variety of negative outcomes including social, emotional and behavioral problems. Given that parenting plays a key role in child outcomes, one of the foci of interventions are parenting programs. Interventions for parents must be evaluated using standardized assessment tools, which leads to an important question; how can we best assess parenting? Observational methods (observing a parent and child interact) are often regarded as the gold standard in the assessment of parental behaviors but are cumbersome to administer. Self-reports of parenting behaviors are the most commonly used measure due to ease of administration, but their validity may be questioned. The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between three observational measures of parenting and two self-report measures. Methods: Participants (n=133) were either parents who were receiving treatment at Metro-Atlanta drug courts or other caregivers. All participants completed self-report measures of parenting, and videotaped interaction task with a child. Videos were coded for a variety of behaviors, and two of those behaviors (affection and involvement) matched constructs that parents reported on in a self-report battery. Results: Correlations between self- report and observational measures for the constructs affection and involvement for the whole sample ranged from r = -.03 to.06 for affection, and r = -.05 to .08 for involvement, but none were statistically significant. The relationship between self-report and observed parenting by adult type and child age was also examined. However, none of the correlations were statistically significant. Conclusions: Although there were no significant correlations found between self-report and observational measures, existing research suggests that self-reports are not interchangeable with observational methods. In future studies, constructs used to compare self-reports and observational methods should examine how each relates to the outcomes. Furthermore, CAIC (observational tool) should also be examined in further detail. Keywords: Observation methods, self-report methods, parenting, behaviors: warmth and involvement, coerced population, non-coerced population, child ag

Mental Health Outcomes, Parenting Skills and Family Functioning of Adult and Family Treatment Court Participants

Background: Parental substance use places children at risk for poor social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes. Many parents with substance use disorders (SUD) are treated through accountability drug courts including adult drug courts (ADC) through the criminal justice system and family drug treatment courts (FTC) through the child welfare system. Little is known about the children of parents who participate in treatment through adult drug courts, which could serve as an important treatment venue for improving child outcomes. Children treated through family treatment courts are often the center of treatment. This research compared outcomes of parents and children involved in adult drug and family treatment courts. Methods: Participants were 105 drug court clients (80 from ADC; 25 from FTC) from four Georgia based drug courts. Participants completed computerized interviews containing a variety of measures focusing on adult mental health, parenting behaviors and communication, and child mental health and behavior. Results: Parents in FTC compared to those in ADC reported greater social support (p =.05) and better family functioning (p =.03). Parents in ADC reported poorer parental involvement and poorer monitoring of children than FTC, but no differences in positive parenting (p =.13), inconsistent discipline (p =.27), or child abuse potential (total risk \u3e 9, p =.42; total risk \u3e12, p =.37). Regarding mental health, ADC parents reported a greater number of symptoms or poor mental health than FTC. No differences were found for parent-child communication skills (p =.38), post-traumatic stress symptom severity (p =.62), or child behavior problems. Conclusions: This data suggests that children of caregivers in drug treatment via ADC are at equal and perhaps greater risk than children of caregivers in FTC because of increased parental risk factors. ADC should consider offering family -based treatments that can enhance the parent-child relationship and promote recovery by reducing family conflict

The expanding role of behavior analysis and support: Current status and future directions.

Although many of the pioneers of behavior analysis thought on a large scale and encouraged others to do so, most behavior analytic projects have remained small scale. The intent of this article is to urge the application of behavior analytic principles on a large scale. This article begins with a brief history of applied behavior analysis. It then describes some early behavior analysts who thought big and describes several examples of large-scale behavioral projects. It then shows how behavior analysis fits well with the public health model and describes how behavior analytic principles can be implemented broadly to combat public health problems. The article ends with some practical advice for behavior analysts on how to think big and speculates on the future of behavior analysis. Keywords: thinking big; history; pitfalls The field of applied behavior analysis grew out of basic behavior analysis laboratories in which learning theory was explored primarily with rats and pigeons, although many other species were also studied. The purpose of this discussion is to take the reader from those basic roots through a brief history of applied behavior analysis (ABA). In doing so, we highlight the accomplishments of ABA, cite exhorta-575 AUTHORS' NOTE: We dedicate this article to Donald M. Baer and Montrose M. Wolf, whose recent passings leave a gaping hole in the field of applied behavior analysis. In the preparation of this manuscript, we are grateful for the assistance of Cynthia Boyle, Gail Brown, Jill Filene, and W. Rodney Hammond. Reprints are available from John R. Lutzker, DVP/NCIPC/CDC