Parent-child interaction therapy:An evidence-based treatment for child maltreatment

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Parent relationships and adolescents' depression and social anxiety: indirect associations via emotional sensitivity to rejection threat

One prominent theory has proposed that rejection and other negative parenting practices prompt children's emotional sensitivity to the threat of rejection, often referred to as rejection sensitivity (RS). This emotional sensitivity is thought to result in social and emotional maladjustment. In the present study, we tested this model of parenting, emotional sensitivity, and maladjustment with 659 early adolescents (aged 9–13 years). The findings confirmed that adolescents who reported more negative parenting practices had elevated depression and social anxiety symptoms, heightened levels of RS, and more elevated sadness and withdrawal responses to rejection threat. In a final structural equation model, RS and withdrawal were uniquely associated with depressive symptoms, and RS, sadness, and withdrawal were uniquely associated with social anxiety. Moreover, negative parenting had significant associations with symptoms both directly and indirectly via RS, sadness, and/or withdrawal, with the effects mostly direct for depressive symptoms and mostly indirect for social anxiety symptoms. Interparental conflict was also implicated in adolescents' RS, reactions to rejection threat, and symptoms, but these correlational effects were almost entirely indirect via parenting practices. An alternate model of depression and anxiety predicting sensitivity to rejection threat was tested and found to be equally viable. The findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the links between rejection and adolescent emotional adjustment

Reviewing the focus: a summary and critique of child-focused sexual abuse prevention

Due to the high incidence, and widespread detrimental health consequences, of child sexual abuse (CSA), effective prevention remains at the forefront of public and mental health research, prevention and intervention agendas. To date much of the focus of prevention has been on school-based education programs designed to teach children skills to evade adult sexual advances, and disclose past or ongoing abuse. Evaluation of sexual abuse prevention programs demonstrate their effectiveness in increasing children’s knowledge of CSA concepts and protection skills, but little is known about their effects on children’s capacity to prevent abuse. Moreover, concerns persist about the unintended side-effects for young children such as anxiety, worry and wariness of touch. This paper summarizes the recent history of CSA prevention and the critique of child-focused protection programs in order to demonstrate the need to compliment or replace these programs by focusing more on protectors in the children’s ecology, specifically parents, in order to create safer environments in which abuse is less likely to occur

The Role of Coping in Processes of Resilience: The sample case of academic coping during late childhood and early adolescence

Developmentalists have increasingly concluded that systems approaches to resilience provide a useful higher-order home for the study of the development of coping. Building on previous work on the complementarity of resilience and coping, this paper had two goals: (1) to propose a set of strategies for examining the role of coping in processes of resilience, and (2) to test their utility in the academic domain, using poor relationships with the teacher as a risk factor, and classroom engagement as an outcome. This study examined whether coping serves as a: (1) promotive factor, supporting positive development at any level of risk; (2) pathway through which risk contributes to development; (3) protective factor that mitigates the effects of risk; (4) reciprocal process generating risk; (5) mechanism through which other promotive factors operate; (6) mechanism through which other protective factors operate; and (7) participant with other supports that shows cumulative or compensatory effects. Analyses showed that academic coping at this age was primarily a mediator of risk and support, and a promotive factor that added to engagement for students with multiple combinations of risk and support. Implications are discussed, along with next steps in exploring the role of coping in processes of resilience

Evidence-Based Treatment in Practice: PCIT Research on Addressing Individual Differences and Diversity Through the Lens of 20 Years of Service

Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an intensive parent support program for caregivers and their children who exhibit difficult-to-manage disruptive behaviors. After more than four decades of research supporting its efficacy for reducing children’s disruptive behaviors and improving parent–child relationships, PCIT has become one of the most popular and widely disseminated parenting support programs in the world. The evidence for the efficacy of PCIT can be found in many reviews of randomized clinical trials and other rigorous studies. To add to those reviews, our aim was to provide practical guidance on how PCIT can be part of an evidence-based program for families that depends on practitioner expertise, as well as attention to families’ diverse needs. To do this, we describe the evolution of PCIT as practiced in a university-community partnership that has continued for over 20 years, alongside a narrative description of selected and recent findings on PCIT and its use in specific client presentations across four themes. These themes include studies of 1) whether the standard manualized form of PCIT is efficacious across a selection of diverse family situations and child diagnoses, 2) the mechanisms of change that explain why some parents and some children might benefit more or less from PCIT, 3) whether treatment content modifications make PCIT more feasible to implement or acceptable to some families, at the same time as achieving the same or better outcomes, and 4) whether PCIT with structural modifications to the delivery, such as online or intensive delivery, yields similar outcomes as standard PCIT. Finally, we discuss how these directions in research have influenced research and practice, and end with a summary of how the growing attention on parent and child emotion regulation and parents’ responses to (and coaching of) their children’s emotions has become important to PCIT theory and our practice

A Pattern-Centered Analysis of Adolescents\u27 Concerns and hopes about future crises: Differences in ways of coping and personal adjustment

Introduction Many adolescents are concerned about global and future crises, such as the health of the planet or terrorism/safety. Yet, adolescents can also express hope about the future. Thus, asking adolescents about their concern and hope could yield subgroups with different ways of coping and personal adjustment. Method Australian adolescents (N = 863; age 10-16) completed surveys to report their concern (worry and anger) and hope about the planet, safety, jobs, income, housing, and technology, as well as their active and avoidant coping, depression, and life satisfaction. Results Four distinct subgroups were identified using cluster analysis: Hopeful (low on concern and high on hope across all issues, 32%), Uninvolved (low in concern and hope; 26%), Concerned about the Planet (CP, 27%), and Concerned about Future Life (CFL, 15%). When compared (adjusting for age, sex, and COVID timing), the CP subgroup was highest in active coping (e.g., taking action) but moderate in personal adjustment. Hopeful had the most positive adjustment, whereas CFL had the poorest adjustment. Uninvolved were lowest in coping but moderate in adjustment. Conclusions Findings suggest ways of coping and adjustment may not always align, in that CP is connected with more active coping but also some cost to personal adjustment, whereas Hopeful is associated with optimal adjustment but perhaps at the cost of active coping. In addition, although CFL adolescents emerged as the at-risk group, the low levels of hope and coping in Uninvolved adolescents raise the possibility that they are at risk of future problems

It’s “mean,” but what does it mean to adolescents? Relational aggression described by victims, aggressors, and their peers

Abstract Early adolescent girls and boys (N = 33) with known histories of relational aggression and/or victimization gave detailed accounts of the nature, frequency, intensity, course, and impact of relational aggression among their peers. They also described reasons for, and forms of, aggression after being prompted by a series of hypothetical vignettes. Despite identifying many forms of aggression that were similar for girls and boys, some sex differences were found; girls were described as experiencing more victimization within close friendships than boys, with a focus on maintaining exclusivity. Boys described exclusion from larger groups with themes of masculinity, athletic skill, and/or perceived sexual identity. Girls' and boys' perceptions about the motivations for these different forms of relational aggression were quite similar. These included power, popularity, and wanting to fit in as well as the aggressors' emotional states and the victims' characteristics

Child sexual abuse prevention: parental discussion, protective practices and attitudes

Understanding parental practices and attitudes regarding child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention could be used to improve CSA prevention, but little information is available. In this study, we summarise survey data collected from 248 Australian and UK parents (87% female) with at least one child aged 6-11 years (M = 8.6, SD = 1.8). This is the first study to quantify parental use of protective practices, other than prevention education, which may guard against CSA. Parental media mediation, which may safeguard against online dangers, was another unique focus of this study. Participants reported their discussion of sensitive topics with their children including CSA; behaviors that may reduce the incidence of CSA (e.g., monitoring, supervision, delegation of care and checking-in with the child); mediation of their child's media use; and attitudes towards CSA prevention education. Parents reported discussing sexual abuse less than other sensitive topics such as abduction dangers, drugs, and death but more than issues surrounding puberty, sex and pornography. Parents reported using high levels of protective behaviours, however some areas of concern were revealed. Of concern was the low-moderate level of parental media mediation, with substantial numbers of children potentially exposed to online risks such as using devices unsupervised in bedrooms or chatting to individuals unknown to their parents and not having their devices checked for concerning content. Almost all parents were supportive of CSA prevention education and felt they should provide this education. However, two-thirds of parents thought CSA education may be associated with harms for the child and two-thirds of parents believed children could prevent their own abuse. Reported results will aid in our understanding of which areas of parenting could be strengthened to create safer environments for children. This research has particularly highlighted the need for parents to be more protective around their children’s access to online devices

Face-to-face and cyber-victimization: a longitudinal study of offline appearance anxiety and online appearance preoccupation

Most adolescents and young adults navigate seamlessly between offline and online social environments, and interactions in each environment brings with it opportunities for appearance concerns and preoccupation, as well as victimization and teasing about appearance. Yet, research has concentrated primarily on face-to-face victimization and its role in offline appearance anxiety symptoms in adolescents and young adults. To extend this to include cyber-victimization and online behaviors indicative of appearance anxiety, the present longitudinal study investigated the risk of face-to-face and cyber-victimization for offline appearance anxiety and online appearance preoccupation. Participants were 650 adolescents age 15 to 19 years (Mage = 17.3 years, 59% female) who completed two surveys over one-year. Correlations identified both forms of victimization as associated with offline appearance anxiety and online appearance preoccupation. Yet, in a structural equation model, face-to-face peer victimization, but not cyber-victimization, was uniquely associated with increased offline appearance anxiety and online appearance preoccupation from T1 to T2. Offline appearance anxiety and online appearance preoccupation strongly covaried and were bidirectionally associated over time. Female gender and age were associated with more anxiety and preoccupation. When gender moderation was tested, only the stability in appearance anxiety was moderated, with greater stability in females than males. Overall, offline and online appearance anxieties are highly interrelated and share a common risk factor in face-to-face appearance-related victimization by peers

Parental Support and Adolescents’ Coping with Academic Stressors: A Longitudinal Study of Parents’ Influence Beyond Academic Pressure and Achievement

Adolescents face many academic pressures that require good coping skills, but coping skills can also depend on social resources, such as parental support and fewer negative interactions. The aim of this study was to determine if parental support and parental negative interactions concurrently and longitudinally relate to adolescents’ ways of academic coping, above and beyond the impact of three types of academic stress, students’ achievement at school (i.e., grades in school), and age. Survey data were collected from 839 Australian students in grades 5 to 10 (Mage = 12.2, SD = 1.72; 50% girls). Students completed measures of support and negative interactions with parents; academic stress from workload, external pressure (teachers/parents) to achieve, and intrapsychic pressure for high achievement; and ways of academic coping that were grouped into two positive and two negative types. Hypothesized associations were tested concurrently and from one year to the next using path modeling. Beyond the numerous significant influences of academic stress and achievement on coping, and control for age and COVID-19 timing, adolescents with more parental support reported more use of engagement coping (e.g., strategizing) and comfort-seeking, whereas those who reported more negative interactions with parents reported more use of disengagement coping (e.g., concealment) and escape. In the longitudinal model, parental support predicted an increase in engagement and comfort-seeking and a decrease in disengagement coping, whereas negative interaction with parents predicted an increase in disengagement coping. Overall, the findings support the view that coping with academic stressors will continue to depend on parent-adolescent relationships even into the teen years