Early life events as discriminators of socialized and undersocialized delinquents

The relationship between early life events and the socialized and undersocialized dimensions of conduct disorder was investigated. Subjects were 40 incarcerated male delinquents and their mothers. The mothers were administered the Children's Life Events Questionnaire and the Developmental Questionnaire. Youths were administered the Adolescent Parent Relations Scale. The results indicated that the undersocialized delinquents had a greater number of stressful life events during their first 4 years of life than did the socialized delinquents. Discriminant function analysis indicated that stressful life events during the 2nd and 4th years were the most important predictors of membership in the undersocialized group. The discriminant function generated was able to classify 82.5% of the sample correctly. The remaining variables did not significantly discriminate the groups.     

Community-delivered infant–parent psychotherapy improves maternal sensitive caregiving: Evaluation of the Michigan model of infant mental health home visiting

The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a home-based psychotherapeutic Infant Mental Health Home Visiting (IMH-HV) intervention for enhancing parenting sensitivity; a secondary aim was to evaluate whether the use of video feedback was associated with greater treatment response. Participants were N = 78 mothers and their children (age at entry ranged from prebirth to 24-month old (M = 9.8, SD = 8.4), who were initiating IMH-HV services with community mental health-based therapists (N = 51). Dyads were assessed during extended home visits via standardized interviews and observational and questionnaire methods within the first month of treatment (baseline), and again 6 and 12 months thereafter. Following each of these extended home visits, study evaluators completed a standard Q-sort to capture observations of maternal sensitivity during the visit. Therapists completed fidelity checklists used to derive the total number of IMH-HV sessions received (i.e., dosage) and frequency with which therapists provided video feedback. Results indicated a dose–response relationship between number of sessions and maternal sensitivity, and that video review with parents independently contributed to improved maternal sensitivity. Discussion focuses on the effectiveness of this community-based psychotherapeutic home visiting model for enhancing parenting, as well as the value of video feedback as a specific therapeutic strategy.     

Mother–Daughter Relationship Quality and Body Image in Preadolescent Girls

Research suggests that mothers may play a role in girls’ body image development. The “interactive” hypothesis specifies that qualities of the mother–daughter relationship, as opposed to maternal modeling alone, predict daughter’s body image. We sought to understand how maternal relationship quality, from the perception of both daughters and mothers, was associated with preadolescent girls’ body image. The relationship between mother–daughter relationship quality and daughters’ body image was examined in 152 girls (ages 8–12) and their mothers. Mothers and daughters primarily identified as non-Hispanic white or Hispanic. Hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that daughters’ perception of mother–daughter relationship quality was associated with daughters’ body esteem and body dissatisfaction, adding a small, but significant, amount of variance above the larger effect of child z-BMI and age. In contrast, maternal perception of mother–daughter relationship quality was not associated with any child body image measures. Young girls who perceived their relationships with their mothers more positively had healthier body images. Although effect sizes were relatively small and the cross-sectional design precludes conclusions regarding causality, these results support the “interactive” model of body image development whereby the characteristics of the mother–daughter relationship (as perceived by the daughter) are related to body image. Our findings support the notion that daughters’ perceptions of strong mother–daughter relationships are associated with healthy child body image, and fall in line with family-based prevention efforts that attempt to enhance parent–child relationships.     

Posttraumatic stress disorder and retrospectively reported stressor exposure: a longitudinal prediction model

There has been recent concern about the degree to which posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology influences reports of prior exposure to highly stressful life events. In this longitudinal study of 2,942 male and female Gulf War veterans, the authors documented change in stressor reporting across 2 occasions and the association between change and PTSD symptom severity. A regression-based cross-lagged analysis was used to examine the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and later reported stressor exposure. Shifts in reporting over time were modestly associated with PTSD symptom severity. The cross-lagged analysis revealed a marginal association between Time 1 PTSD symptom severity and Time 2 reported stressor exposure for men and suggested that later reports of stressor exposure are primarily accounted for by earlier reports and less so by earlier PTSD symptomatology.     

Challenges to the Career Development of Urban Racial and Ethnic Minority Youth: Implications for Vocational Intervention

Urban racial and ethnic minority youth experience a variety of internal and external challenges to their career development. This article discusses several potential barriers to successful career attainment experienced by racial and ethnic minority youth and identifies a series of recommendations that vocational counselors may wish to consider in addressing the career development needs of this population.