A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Impact of a Family-Based Adolescent Depression Intervention on both Youth and Parent Mental Health Outcomes

This paper presents findings from a multi-centre, double-blind, randomized controlled trial that tested the hypothesis that parent and youth mental health improvements would be superior in a family-based intervention for adolescent depression (BEST MOOD) compared to a treatment-as-usual supportive parenting program (PAST). Eligible participants were families with a young person aged between 12 and 18 years who met diagnostic criteria for a depressive disorder (major, minor or dysthymic). Participating families (N = 64; 73.4% of youth were female) were recruited in Victoria, Australia and allocated to treatment condition using a block randomization procedure (parallel design) with two levels of blinding. This paper reports on the trial’s secondary outcomes on youth and parent mental health. General linear mixed models were used to examine the longitudinal effect of treatment group on outcome. Data were analyzed according to intention-to-treat; 31 families were analyzed in BEST MOOD, and 33 families in PAST. Parents in the BEST MOOD group experienced significantly greater reductions in stress and depressive symptoms than parents in the PAST group at 3-month follow-up. A greater reduction in parental anxiety was observed in the BEST MOOD group (d = 0.35) compared with PAST (d = 0.02), although the between-group difference was not significant. Both groups of youth showed similar levels of improvement in depressive symptoms at post-treatment (d = 0.83 and 0.80 respectively), which were largely sustained at a 3-month follow-up. The family-based BEST MOOD intervention appeared superior to treatment-as-usual (PAST) in demonstrating greater reductions in parental stress and depression. Both interventions produced large reductions in youth depressive symptoms.     

家庭支持与朋友支持对不同自理能力老年人抑郁水平的影响

探讨社会支持中的家庭支持和朋友支持对不同自理能力老年人抑郁水平的影响作用。结果发现:(1)社会支持可有效缓解老年人抑郁症状;(2)对个体而言,家庭支持是较稳定的支持来源,受个体年龄和健康水平的影响较小,而朋友支持变动较大,随年龄增长和健康水平的下降,朋友支持逐渐减少;(3)社会支持对不可完全自理老年人抑郁水平的解释率高于对可完全自理老年人抑郁水平的解释率;(4)对于生活可完全自理的老人,朋友支持比家庭支持有更大的预测作用,而对于生活不能完全自理的老人,家庭支持的作用更大。     

“It’s Sort of My Calling”: The Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility of Latino Immigrant-Origin Young Adults

The aim of this study was to describe civic patterns of engagement of Latino first- and secondgeneration (immigrant-origin) young adults and to provide insights into what differentiates these patterns. Based on 58 in-depth interviews with 18- to 25-year-olds of Dominican, Mexican, and Central American origin, the authors first established variations in different levels of civic engagement profiles. The authors then analyzed the characteristics that distinguish these civic profiles, considering demographic variables (generation, gender, education level, and undocumented status) as well as motivations for civic engagement. Two thirds of first- and second-generation participants were actively engaged, though variations in patterns emerged across civic profiles; undocumented status appeared a particularly salient driver of engagement. The authors found that rather than being instrumentally and individually motivated, Latino immigrant-origin young adults were primarily motivated to be civically engaged by social responsibility as well as by social (in)justices.     

Student Service Members/Veterans’ Mental Health: Who Is at a Greater Risk for Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms on College Campuses?

Using a cross-sectional design, this study surveyed 144 students on campus who are service members and veterans to determine whether posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms are significantly correlated with demographic factors (e.g., age, race and marital status), risk factors (e.g., military branch and combat exposure), and resources (e.g., social support and religiosity). The results confirm previous findings on correlates of PTS symptoms, provide new information about service members on campus that are at a greater risk for PTS and highlight resources that are associated with reduced PTS symptoms. These findings not only give institutions of higher learning insight into identifying specific demographics that are at a greater risk for PTS symptoms on college campuses, but also point to ways of supporting student service members/veterans by accurately targeting existing resources to the most affected populations.     

Tracing children's vocabulary development from preschool through the school‐age years: an 8‐year longitudinal study

In this 8‐year longitudinal study, we traced the vocabulary growth of Chinese children, explored potential precursors of vocabulary knowledge, and investigated how vocabulary growth predicted future reading skills. Two hundred and sixty‐four (264) native Chinese children from Beijing were measured on a variety of reading and language tasks over 8 years. Between the ages of 4 to 10 years, they were administered tasks of vocabulary and related cognitive skills. At age 11, comprehensive reading skills, including character recognition, reading fluency, and reading comprehension were examined. Individual differences in vocabulary developmental profiles were estimated using the intercept‐slope cluster method. Vocabulary development was then examined in relation to later reading outcomes. Three subgroups of lexical growth were classified, namely high‐high (with a large initial vocabulary size and a fast growth rate), low‐high (with a small initial vocabulary size and a fast growth rate) and low‐low (with a small initial vocabulary size and a slow growth rate) groups. Low‐high and low‐low groups were distinguishable mostly through phonological skills, morphological skills and other reading‐related cognitive skills. Childhood vocabulary development (using intercept and slope) explained subsequent reading skills. Findings suggest that language‐related and reading‐related cognitive skills differ among groups with different developmental trajectories of vocabulary, and the initial size and growth rate of vocabulary may be two predictors for later reading development.     

Change-oriented behavior: A meta-analysis of individual and job design predictors

We propose and meta-analytically test a theoretical model of individual and job-based predictors of change-oriented behaviors. Meta-analytic tests (106 effect sizes, N = 28,402) demonstrate that employee's proactive personality is a stronger predictor of change-oriented behavior than the five-factor model (FFM) personality traits of openness and extraversion. Also, enriched job characteristics (autonomy, complexity, and task significance) are more important in predicting change-oriented behavior, than un-enriched job characteristics (routinization and formalization). Finally, we establish work engagement as a mediator that provides an explanation for how and why proactive personality and enriched job characteristics predict change-oriented behavior. We provide both theoretical and empirical integration of the literature with practical implications for managing change-oriented behaviors, which are increasingly recognized as important to both organizational effectiveness and employee career management.     

Psychometric Properties and Responsiveness to Change of 15‐ and 28‐Item Versions of the SCORE: A Family Assessment Questionnaire

The SCORE (Systemic Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation) is a 40‐item questionnaire for completion by family members 12 years and older to assess outcome in systemic therapy. This study aimed to investigate psychometric properties of two short versions of the SCORE and their responsiveness to therapeutic change. Data were collected at 19 centers from 701 families at baseline and from 433 of these 3–5 months later. Results confirmed the three‐factor structure (strengths, difficulties, and communication) of the 15‐ and 28‐item versions of the SCORE. Both instruments had good internal consistency and test–retest reliability. They also showed construct and criterion validity, correlating with measures of parent, child, and family adjustment, and discriminating between clinical and nonclinical cases. Total and factor scales of the SCORE‐15 and ‐28 were responsive to change over 3–5 months of therapy. The SCORE‐15 and SCORE‐28 are brief psychometrically robust family assessment instruments which may be used to evaluate systemic therapy.     

Helping Parents Cope with Suicide Threats: An Approach Based on Nonviolent Resistance

Parent training in nonviolent resistance was adapted to deal with situations of suicide threat by children, adolescents, and young adults. The approach aims at reducing the risk potential and the mutual distress surrounding the threat‐interaction. Parent training in nonviolent resistance has been shown to help parents move from helplessness to presence, from isolation to connectedness, from submission to resistance, from escalation to self‐control, and from mutual distancing and hostility to care and support. Those emphases can be crucial for the diminution of suicide risk. Parents show good ability to implement the approach and report gains on various areas over and beyond the reduction in suicide threat. A particular advantage is that the method can be used also in cases where the young person threatening suicide is not willing to cooperate.     

The (Non) Religion of Mechanical Turk Workers

Social science researchers have increasingly come to utilize Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to obtain adult, opt‐in samples for use with experiments. Based on the demographic characteristics of MTurk samples, studies have provided some support for the representativeness of MTurk. Others have warranted caution based on demographic characteristics and comparisons of reliability. Yet, what is missing is an examination of the most glaring demographic difference in MTurk—religion. We compare five MTurk samples with a student convenience sample and the 2012 General Social Survey, finding that MTurk samples have a consistent bias toward nonreligion. MTurk surveys significantly overrepresent seculars and underrepresent Catholics and evangelical Protestants. We then compare the religiosity of religious identifiers across samples as well as relationships between religiosity and partisanship, finding many similarities and a few important differences from the general population.