Implementation Quality and Positive Experiences in After-School Programs

Data collected during an evaluation of a multi-site trial of an enhanced after-school program were used to relate quality of program implementation to student experiences after school. The enhanced after-school program incorporated a drug use and violence prevention component that was shown to be effective in previous research. Building on Durlak and Dupre’s (Am J Community Psychol 41:327–350, 2008) dimensions of implementation, we assessed the level of dosage, quality of management and climate, participant responsiveness, and staffing quality achieved at the five program sites. We evaluated how these characteristics co-varied with self-reported positive experiences after-school. The study illustrates how multiple dimensions of program implementation can be measured, and shows that some but not all dimensions of implementation are related to the quality of student after-school experiences. Measures of quality of management and climate, participant responsiveness, and staffing stability were most clearly associated with youth experiences. The importance of measuring multiple dimensions of program implementation in intervention research is discussed.     

Assessing At‐Risk Youth Using the Reynolds Adolescent Adjustment Screening Inventory With a Latino Population

Factor analyses were conducted on scores from the Reynolds Adolescent Adjustment Screening Inventory (RAASI; Reynolds, 2001 ) representing at‐risk Latino youth. The 4‐factor model of the RAASI did not exhibit a good fit. However, evidence of generalizability for Latino youth was noted.     

Posttraumatic Stress in Women with Breast Cancer and Their Daughters

Using the PTSD Reaction Index, posttraumatic stress was assessed in 133 women with breast cancer and 64 of their daughters. Twenty-one percent of patients and 13% of daughters reported symptoms consistent with PTSD. PTSD in these patients without bone marrow transplants may be higher than reported in other samples, and the prevalence of PTSD symptoms in the daughters appear comparable to women with breast cancer. For patients, cancer stage at diagnosis was positively associated with posttraumatic stress severity. Mothers experiencing PTSD symptoms were significantly more likely to have daughters experiencing PTSD symptoms. Intergenerational patterns in reaction to breast cancer are discussed.     

Expecting More in Relationships – Implications of Relational Entitlement

Abstract

Sense of relational entitlement refers to what individuals’ believe they “should” expect from their romantic partner. When expectations are both unrealistic and not met by one’s partner, there is a potential for adverse consequences. Researchers surveyed 195 female participants between the ages 18-60. The study examined the influence of one’s sense of relational entitlement with varying conflict strategies. The findings revealed that extreme forms of one’s sense of relational entitlement was associated with conflict strategies like verbal aggression, and control & domination. Thus, one’s sense of relational entitlement appears to play a significant role in how individuals handle conflict.     

Evaluating Group-Based Interventions When Control Participants Are Ungrouped

Individually randomized treatments are often administered within a group setting. As a consequence, outcomes for treated individuals may be correlated due to provider effects, common experiences within the group, and/or informal processes of socialization. In contrast, it is often reasonable to regard outcomes for control participants as independent, given that these individuals are not placed into groups. Although this kind of design is common in intervention research, the statistical models applied to evaluate the treatment effects are usually inconsistent with the resulting data structure, potentially leading to biased inferences. This article presents an alternative model that explicitly accounts for the fact that only treated participants are grouped. In addition to providing a useful test of the overall treatment effect, this approach also permits one to formally determine the extent to which treatment effects vary over treatment groups and whether there is evidence that individuals within treatment groups become similar to one another. This strategy is demonstrated with data from the Reconnecting Youth program for high school students at risk of school failure and behavioral disorders.     

Double trouble: restrained eaters do not eat less and feel worse

Objective: While high levels of dietary restraint do not appear to reflect actual caloric restraint, it has been found to be a risk factor for a wide array of maladaptive eating patterns. These findings raise the question what, if not caloric restriction, dietary restraint entails. We propose that the very finding that restrained eaters do not eat less than they intend to do can provide an answer. Based on this disparity between the intention to restrain oneself and actual behaviour, we therefore hypothesised that high levels of restraint are associated with eating-related guilt.

Method: Three studies (N?=?148) using unobtrusive measures of food intake; different restraint scales; and different measures of guilt tested whether restraint is related to eating-related guilt.

Results: Results indicated that restraint was not associated with food intake, but instead was associated with increased levels of guilt after eating. Guilt was explicitly related to food intake. Moreover, the observed guilt could not be attributed to a general increase in negative affect.

Conclusion: The results of these studies suggest that restraint is not an indicator of actual restricted food intake, but rather a reflection concerns about food and eating manifested in eating-related guilt.     

Situational aspects are more important in shaping proactive coping behaviour than individual characteristics: A vignette study among adults preparing for ageing

It seems likely that proactive coping is an important mechanism for dealing successfully with threats to personal goals, yet little empirical research has been conducted in relation to this concept. The aim of the present study is to examine to what extent proactive coping is influenced by situation-specific features as well as by personal characteristics. Three vignettes, each representing a potential decline in an important resource (health, social relationships and finance), were presented to 123 adults between 50 and 70 years old. Multilevel analyses show that proactive coping is highly variable within persons and that three situational factors (type of stressor, appraised threat and appraised control) affected the employment of proactive coping strategies. Future temporal orientation was identified as a significant, positive predictor of proactive coping, but none of the other personal factors were found to be relevant.