Responsive parenting: establishing early foundations for social, communication, and independent problem-solving skills

Mothers whose infants varied in early biological characteristics (born at term, n = 120; born at very low birth weight [VLBW], n = 144) were randomized to a target group (n = 133) or developmental feedback comparison group (n = 131) to determine whether learning responsive behaviors would facilitate infant development. The target condition included videotaped examples, problem-solving activities, and mothers' critique of their own behaviors through video procedures across 10 home visits. All target versus comparison mothers showed greater increases across multiple responsiveness behaviors observed in 4 assessments conducted across 6-13 months of age; changes in emotionally supportive behaviors were strongest for target mothers of infants born at VLBW. Increased maternal responsiveness facilitated greater growth in target infants' social, emotional, communication, and cognitive competence, supporting a causal role for responsiveness on infant development. Although benefits were generally comparable across risk groups, aspects of social and emotional skills showed greater change for those born at VLBW. Evidence for responsiveness as a multidimensional construct was provided as well as the importance of different aspects of responsiveness mediating the effect of the intervention on different infant skill domains.     

Situational social problem-solving skills and self-esteem of aggressive and nonaggressive boys

This study was designed to assess specific social problem-solving, perceived competence, and selfesteem characteristics of 20 aggressive and 18 nonaggressive boys. Significant behavioral differences existed between the groups. The problem-solving measure provided for qualitative assessment of specific problem solutions that children consider, varying according to the interpersonal context of conflicts with peers, teachers, and parents and to the level of others' intent in conflicts (ambiguous frustration and hostile provocation). In univariate analyses, aggressive children had poorer selfesteem, generated fewer verbal assertion solutions in peer conflicts and during hostile frustration, and employed more direct action solutions with teachers and during hostile frustration. Discriminant analyses significantly differentiated the two groups. Findings indicated that future research should consider the relative distribution of specific kinds of problem situations that children produce, and that situational factors in social problem-solving skills should be addressed.This paper is based on a presentation made at the American Psychological Association annual convention in Los Angeles, August 1985. Acknowledgment is made of the administrative support provided by the Durham County Schools and the Durham Community Guidance Clinic. This research was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and from the Research Branch of the North Carolina Division of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services. Appreciation is expressed to the school counselors who assisted with the coordination of this research: Tom Gemmer, Patricia Kirkley, Kathy McSwain, and Geoff Wyckoff.     

Women,sex, and HIV: social and contextual factors,meta-analysis of published interventions,and implications for practice and research

This article is focused on examining social and contextual factors related to HIV-risk behavior for women. Specifically, this article has three main purposes: to review the literature on selected social and contextual factors that contribute to the risk for the heterosexual transmission of HIV and AIDS, to review and conduct a meta-analysis of HIV-prevention interventions targeting adult heterosexual populations, and to suggest future directions for HIV-prevention intervention research and practice. Results suggest that the HIV-prevention interventions reviewed for this article had little impact on sexual risk behavior, that social and contextual factors are often minimally addressed, and that there was a large gap between research and the practice of HIV-prevention intervention.     

Assessment of children's social problem-solving skills in hypothetical and actual conflict situations

This study compared the social problem-solving skills of 57 maladjusted and 57 well adjusted first and second graders in a series of hypothetical and actual provocations. All children were asked how they would react to four videotaped provocations involving same-age peers. They were also exposed to three provocations simulated by a peer-confederate; their verbal and nonverbal behaviors were videotaped. Multivariate analyses of variance indicated that, overall, maladjusted subjects displayed less assertiveness and more verbal and nonverbal aggressive responses to the actual provocations. Conversely, hypothetical situations yielded few between-group differences with respect to verbal strategies. The validity of hypothetical situations is questioned; the importance of actual situations for assessment and intervention purposes is stressed.This research was funded by the Conseil Québécois de Recherche Sociale. We thank the authorities and directors of the Outaouais-Hull and Aylmer School Boards as well as the first- and second-grade teachers and children for their collaboration. Josée Bouchard, Doreen McCaughry, Michel Diotte, Elizabeth Ruel, David Cuthill, and Alain Gendron also deserve our thanks for their participation in the collection or analysis of the data.     

Evaluation of a social problem-solving skills program for third- and fourth-grade students

The effects of a social problem-solving (SPS) training program for entire classrooms of third- and fourth-grade children were examined in two studies. In the first study, experimental children showed significantly greater improvement in knowledge and performance of SPS skills than control children. However, both positive and negative effects of the intervention (varying by classroom) were found on measures of behavioral adjustment, self-efficacy, and peer acceptance at a 6-month follow-up. The second study compared two different intervention strategies: (a) SPS training with teacher-student dialoguing, peer pairing, and self-monitoring, and (b) SPS training with dialoguing only. It was found that children in both the experimental and control groups improved significantly in performance of SPS skills but no differences between the groups were found for changes in behavioral adjustment, self-efficacy, and peer acceptance. The limitations of cognitively mediated interventions for young children were discussed.     

Stress,social support,and problem-solving appraisal/skills: Prediction of suicide severity within a college sample

This study assessed whether stress, social support, and interpersonal problem-solving appraisal/skills were predictive of level of suicidality within a chronic suicidal college sample. Stepwise regression analyses were used to assess whether stress, social support, and problem-solving were independently predictive of severity of suicide ideation. In addition, hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the mediational nature of social support and problem-solving in the stress-suicidality relationship. Problem-solving confidence was found to be a significant predictor of severity of suicide ideation. In addition, both perceived problem-solving skills and social support mediated the relationship between stress and level of suicide ideation. However, only one of the two perceived problem-solving skills interactions was in the expected direction. This study provided support for the importance of problem-solving confidence and the interaction of stress and social support in the prediction of suicide severity. Unlike previous studies, this study did not find problem-solving skills/deficits to mediate the stress-suicidality relationship.This research was supported by NIMH Grant 1-18MH48133.     

亲密伴侣暴力中儿童的社会适应及干预

亲密伴侣暴力是指现在或曾经处于亲密关系中的伴侣之间发生的攻击或控制行为。亲密伴侣暴力不仅对妇女的身心造成伤害,对家庭中儿童的社会适应也有不利影响。亲密伴侣暴力与儿童外化行为、内化行为有紧密联系。作为保护因素,年龄、情绪调节能力、社会支持等可以减少亲密伴侣暴力环境中儿童的适应问题。认知-背景理论、情绪安全理论、外溢理论和发展心理病理学理论对亲密伴侣暴力影响儿童社会适应的机制进行了解释。为了促进亲密伴侣暴力中儿童的社会适应,实践工作者提出了不同的干预方案。未来研究应在区分亲密伴侣暴力的不同评估、控制共生风险因素、重视神经生物学研究、改进干预研究等方面做出努力。     

Prospective associations between friendship adjustment and social strategies: friendship as a context for building social skills

The proposal that friendships provide a context for the development of social skills is widely accepted. Yet little research exists to support this claim. In the present study, children and adolescents (N = 912) were presented with vignettes in which a friend encountered a social stressor and they could help the friend and vignettes in which they encountered a stressor and could seek help from the friend. Social strategies in response to these vignettes were assessed in the fall and spring of the school year. Different indicators of friendship adjustment had unique effects on youths' strategies in response to helping tasks. Whereas having more friends predicted decreases in avoidant or hostile strategies, having high-quality friendships predicted emotionally engaged strategies that involved talking about the problem. Moreover, whereas having more friends predicted increases in relatively disengaged strategies, like distraction and acting like the problem never happened, having high-quality friendships predicted decreases in these strategies. The present study also tested whether youths' strategies in the fall predicted changes in friendship adjustment by the spring. Only strategies which may be seen as major friendship transgressions (i.e., avoiding or blaming the friend when the friend encounters a problem) predicted changes in friendship over time. Collectively, these results provide important new information on the interplay between social competencies and friendship experiences and suggest that friendships may provide a critical venue for the development of important relationship skills.     

Mutual problem-solving skills training for premarital couples: A six-month follow-up

The purpose of the present study was to undertake a six-month follow-up of the communication and problem-solving skill level of those premarital couples trained in the Ridley, Avery, Harrell, Leslie, and Dent (in press) study. Fifty-nine percent of the original sample (14 experimental couples and 18 control couples) were given a behavioral assessment of communication and problem-solving ability six months after training. Results indicated that the experimental group, relative to the control group, had significantly higher pretest to follow-up scores on communication skills and the problem-solving steps. Discussions centered on the implications of skill maintenance over time and possible directions of future research.     

Applying behavioral theory to practice: an examination of the behavioral momentum metaphor

This paper discusses some of the difficulties that arise in the practical applications of theories derived from specific experimental settings. Nevin's metaphoric extension of the physical concept of momentum to modifying behavior (i.e., behavioral momentum) is used as a recent example. Problems in the application of behavioral momentum are discussed, alternative analyses are offered, and methods for further testing the process are suggested. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.