Violence Exposure and Early Adolescent Alcohol Use: An Exploratory Study of Family Risk and Protective Factors

In this short-term longitudinal exploratory interview study, the relations between exposure to community violence and subsequent alcohol use were examined, with a focus on caregiver and family variables as moderators. Maternal caregivers and their children (N =101 families; 98% African American; M child age = 11.2 yrs) were interviewed separately and completed measures of violence exposure, caregiver and child adjustment, including substance use, and family functioning. Family interaction was also videotaped and coded. Child alcohol use at Time 2 was positively associated with all forms of violence exposure, and was negatively related to felt acceptance from caregiver, but was not associated with caregiver-rated family competence, observer-rated family interaction, maternal problems with alcohol, or maternal psychopathology. Logistic regression analyses predicting child alcohol use at Time 2 indicated that exposure to community violence increased risk of alcohol use, and felt acceptance from the caregiver decreased the likelihood of alcohol use, but did not buffer the effects of violence exposure on alcohol use. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Protective Factors as Moderators of Risk Factors in Adolescence Bullying

The present study examined the role played by protective factors in moderating the effects of risk factors over bullying and victimization in a sample of 679 male adolescents recruited in Italian high schools. Boys’ involvement in bullying revealed that one in three students has bullied others at least sometimes in the previous three months, and one in six has been victimized at the same rate; victimization decreases with age. The family related risk factor (conflicting parents) was positively associated with bullying and with victimization (together with punitive parenting); the same applied for risk factor related to the individual ways of dealing with problems (emotionally oriented coping skills). Protective factors related to the family context (supportive and authoritative parents) and to the individual (problem solving coping skills) were negatively associated to bullying and victimization. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed a moderating effect of supportive parenting on punitive parenting and on emotionally oriented coping strategies in predicting victimization. Problem solving coping strategies helped buffer the negative impact of emotionally oriented coping strategies over bullying. Implications of results for practitioners and for future studies are addressed.     

特殊儿童心理弹性的研究：现状及启示

心理弹性研究是心理学研究的热点领域,特殊儿童的心理弹性又是其中的重要部分。本文对学习障碍儿童、身体功能障碍、情绪或行为问题儿童等特殊儿童心理弹性的研究进行梳理．厘清其研究框架及问题范畴,寻找和明确促进儿童弹性发展的保护性因素及危险因素,并据此从家庭教育、学校教育、社会支持等方面入手,提出了促进特殊儿童的弹性发展之策略,以期为特殊儿童的教育实践提供一些有益的探索。     

Prevalence of Children's Exposure to Domestic Violence and Child Maltreatment: Implications for Prevention and Intervention

The purpose of this paper is to review research on the prevalence of children's exposure to domestic violence, to consider the available literature on the co-occurrence of domestic violence and child maltreatment, and to gain more understanding about the impact of exposure on children. There is clear evidence indicating that both severe and moderate violence occurs frequently in homes among family members and that children are exposed to this violence. However, because of differing definitions of what constitutes domestic violence and variability in research methodologies for collecting the data, there are significant discrepancies in prevalence reports across studies. Of great concern is the immediate impact on the children and the long-term consequences for their later relationships. Fewer studies have been done on the co-occurrence of domestic violence and child maltreatment. However, it is likely that children who live in homes where domestic violence occurs are more likely to be abused and neglected. On the basis of available research, there is little doubt that vast numbers of children are exposed to domestic violence and that children's responses vary widely depending on their risk and vulnerability, as well as the structure of their environments. A developmental risk and protective factors framework will be used to integrate the information on children's exposure to violence.     

Early Parenting Intervention: Family Risk and First-time Parenting Related to Intervention Effectiveness

The effects of cumulative risk and parity on the effectiveness of a home based parenting intervention were tested in a randomized controlled trial with 237 families with 1- to 3-year-old children screened for high levels of externalizing behavior. The intervention was aimed at enhancing positive parenting and decreasing externalizing behaviors. The results showed that cumulative risk was not associated with either change in child externalizing behaviors or change in positive parenting. When intervention effectiveness was compared for primiparas (i.e., first-time mothers) versus multiparas (i.e., mothers with more than one child), we found that intervention mothers of first-born children displayed an increase in their use of positive discipline strategies as compared to first-time mothers in the control group, whereas a similar effect for multiparas was absent. Among multiparas we found an intervention effect on sensitivity, with control group mothers showing an increase in sensitivity, whereas the intervention group showed a constant level of sensitivity over time. These results suggest that parity may be a moderator of intervention effectiveness. Implications for investigating moderators of intervention effectiveness are discussed.     

Family Factors Predicting Categories of Suicide Risk

We compared family risk and protective factors among potential high school dropouts with and without suicide-risk behaviors (SRB) and examined the extent to which these factors predict categories of SRB. Subjects were randomly selected from among potential dropouts in 14 high schools. Based upon suicide-risk status, 1,083 potential high school dropouts were defined as belonging to one of four groups; 573 non-suicide risk, 242 low suicide risk, 137 moderate suicide risk and 131 high suicide risk. Results showed significant group differences in all youth self-reported family risk and protective factors. Increased levels of suicide risk were associated with perceived conflict with parents, unmet family goals, and family depression; decreased levels of risk were associated with perceived parental involvement and family support for school. Perceived conflict with parents, family depression, family support satisfaction, and availability of family support for school were the strongest predictors of adolescent SRB. Our findings suggest that suicide vulnerable youth differ from their non-suicidal peers along the dimensions of family risk and protective factors.     

Child Homicide in the City of Los Angeles

SUMMARY

Homicide is the only leading cause of child death which has increased in rank in the past 30 years. This investigation describes the deaths of 0-14 year olds which were classified as homicides by the Los Angeles Police Department from 1980 to 1989. Special focus is given to suspect-to-victim relationship and victim race/ethnicity because of their relevance to prevention and program planning. Family members were suspects in 49.8% of the cases (mother, 14.5%; father, 13.6%; mother's paramour, 8.5%; male and female caretaker, 11.1%; other family members, 2.1%). Few differences emerged among the Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White child victims. Non-Hispanic White victims had the highest proportion (67.7%) and Hispanic victims had the lowest proportion (42.7%) of within-family suspects. Prevention implications include the need to focus on the actions of male caregivers and the observation that the substance and content of prevention programs (e.g., an emphasis on reducing blunt force trauma to young children) can be consistent across race/ethnic groups.     

Translating knowledge into interventions: An ‘individual by context’ approach to bullying

Bullying affects a considerable number of children and adolescents, with serious consequences for school performance, health and emotional well-being. To understand bullying a promising approach is the individual by context approach, which implies that social contexts can either attenuate or exacerbate the effect of individual characteristics on bullying behaviour. Within this interactional framework, the paper reviews studies which lie at the intersection between two research areas, bullying knowledge and anti-bullying interventions research. Specifically, studies that show how the relation between individual vulnerability and bullying is moderated by class norms, peer behaviours and teacher interventions will be discussed. Following these results, translation implications will be analysed focusing on: 1) studies evaluating interventions which aim to change peer behaviours and class norms; 2) studies investigating the circumstances under which an intervention may work or not; and 3) studies focusing on the effectiveness of an intervention in relation to the different target population.     

Parental and family risk factors for substance use in inner-city African-American children and adolescents

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a multidimensional model of parental and family influences on risk for substance use in inner-city African-American primary grade children and their adolescent siblings. The risk factors investigated were conceptually grouped into three broad domains of family influences and the respective indices computed: parental risk attributes, family risk attributes, and parenting styles. Parenting styles were captured as indicators of a latent construct, poor parenting. In study 1, we hypothesized that the parental and family risk variables would be mediated through parenting styles to predict intentions to use drugs, actual drug use, positive drug attitudes, and negative drug attitudes in a sample of 455 inner-city African-American families and their primary-grade children. In study 2, the substance use risk model was tested on a sample of 59 adolescent sibilings to determine whether the pattern of parental and family factors that contributed to early high-risk attitudes and behaviors in children would predict drug attitudes and behaviors in teen siblings. The results confirmed our expectations that parental and family risks were important predictors of childrens' negative drug attitudes and intentions to use drugs in the future and that positive parental and family characteristics would protect against future risk by enhancing negative drug attitudes. Also, substance use attitudes and behaviors in the teen siblings were predicted primarily by family risk characteristics. The family risk index also predicted frequency of use of hard drugs, but only when mediated through poor parenting. The implications of these results for future research are discussed.     

老年无症状性脑梗死患者的临床研究

SCI患者110例和110例健康对照组之间血脂、超敏C反应蛋白（Hs-CRP）等指标的差异进行研究,同时用临床记忆量表检测两组的记忆能力。提示SCI组的记忆商和指向记忆、人像特点联想回忆分显著低于健康对照组。两组的甘油三酯、高密度脂蛋白及Hs-CRP之间差异有显著性。而SCI患者头昏、记忆力减退较为常见,易出现高甘油三酯、高密度脂蛋白降低、Hs-CRP升高、动脉硬化程度重,进一步加重认知功能损害,需早期防治。     

Gender Differences in Risk and Promotive Classifications Associated With Adolescent Delinquency

How likely are children exposed to multiple risk factors to engage in delinquent behavior, to what extent do promotive factors mitigate exposure to these risk factors, and do the predictors of delinquent behavior differ by gender? To address these questions, the authors analyzed data from youths (229 boys, 187 girls) who completed the third wave of the Lehigh Longitudinal Study using Latent Profile Analysis. A unique risk and promotive class with slightly elevated rates of exposure to parental violence, mean levels of other risk factors and low levels of promotive factors was present for girls but not for boys. Additionally, for boys and girls, high-risk, low-promotive individuals were significantly more likely to engage in delinquent behavior than low-risk, high-promotive cases. Findings suggest the need to examine risk and promotive factors in combination to account for their shared influences on developmental outcomes for youth.     

Youth Depression in the Family Context: Familial Risk Factors and Models of Treatment

Research on parent risk factors, family environment, and familial involvement in the treatment of depression in children and adolescents is integrated, providing an update to prior reviews on the topic. First, the psychosocial parent and family factors associated with youth depression are examined. The literature indicates that a broad array of parent and family factors is associated with youth risk for depression, ranging from parental pathology to parental cognitive style to family emotional climate. Next, treatment approaches for youth depression that have been empirically tested are described and then summarized in terms of their level of parent inclusion, including cognitive–behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, and family systems approaches. Families have mostly not been incorporated into clinical treatment research with depressed adolescents, with only 32% of treatments including parents in treatment in any capacity. Nonetheless, the overall effectiveness of treatments that involve children and adolescents exclusively is very similar to that of treatments that include parents as agents or facilitators of change. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings and directions for further research.     

Developmental Trajectories of Victimization

ABSTRACT

Using a modified version of Olweus' victimization (Student Questionnaire, 1993) scale, 1,241 children in Grades 5 to 7 from diverse socioeconomic neighborhoods were classified into four distinct trajectories of victimization: non-victims, late onset victims, stable victims, and desisters. MANCOVAS investigated how changes in victimization across different trajectories corresponded to variations in intraand interpersonal functioning. Risk factors including anxiety and low friendship quality lead to subsequent victimization and these problems increased with continued victimization. Engaging in fewer aggressive behaviors, having high quality friendships, and experiencing low levels of anxiety were identified as factors that protect adolescents from future victimization. The discussion focuses on the possible mechanisms contributing to the maintenance or changes in levels of victimization, and how interventions can reduce peer victimization in schools.     

Marital discord and psychiatric disorder in children and adolescents

The relationship between marital discord and any DISC-2.1/DSM-III-R child psychiatric diagnosis was explored. Interview data from a community sample of 90 parent/child pairs and a clinic sample of 37 parent/child pairs were analysed. The data were collected at Columbia University/the New York State Psychiatric Institute as part of the pilot project of a multi-site methodological study. Rates of marital discord and DISC diagnoses were found higher in the clinic sample than in the community sample. The association between marital discord and any diagnosis remained significant when other risk and protective factors were controlled. Policy implications and recommendations for future research strategies suggested by the current exploratory study were discussed.     

学校危险和保护因素与初中生偏差行为的关系

学校危险因素和保护因素对初中生的偏差行为有重要影响.本研究以1739名初中学生为被试,考察了学校危险因素和保护因素及其与青少年偏差行为的关系.结果表明:(1)学校危险因素和保护因素分别与初中生偏差行为有显著的正相关和负相关;(2)学校危险因素得分随年级升高而增长,保护因素得分随年级升高而降低;(3)“偏差行为榜样”、“教师的支持”、“知觉到积极期望”是对初中生偏差行为有重要影响的三个学校环境因素.     

The Effectiveness of Couple Therapy

Abstract

Most theories and methods about couple dierapy are developed and tested in Anglo-Saxon countries. In this clinical study, we tested these theories and methods within a Swedish public health context. We assessed the outcomes of 131 couples (262 individuals) using the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) and the Family Climate (FC) survey. Initially, the couples displayed severe marital distress and a dysfunctional family climate. Both marital satisfaction and family climate improved considerably, which confirmed the effectiveness of these methods in a Swedish context.