Parent behavioral training: An analysis of the relationship among multiple outcome measures

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship among three types of outcome measures that have been employed to evaluate parent behavioral training: observational data collected by independent observers, parent-collected data, and parent-completed questionnaires. Previous research suggests that all three measures yield positive outcome data; however, a correlational analysis has not been performed to determine if the subjects who demonstrate the largest (smallest) change on one measure demonstrate the largest (smallest) change on the other measures. The present study undertook such a correlational analysis. Subjects were 20 young clinic-referred children and their mothers. Treatment consisted of a standardized parent training program to modifly child noncompliance. All three outcome measures (observational data, parent-collected data, and questionnaire data) indicated that therapy was effective. A correlational analysis performed on the outcome measures indicated a number of significant relationships for dependent variables withinthe observational data and withinthe questionnaire data; however, there were no significant relationships acrossthe three outcome measures. Although different outcome measures may yield similar conclusions about the effectiveness of parent behavioral training, the results suggest that any one subject, relative to other subjects, does not demonstrate uniform degrees of change across the three outcome measures. Explanations for the findings, as well as their implications, are discussed.This research was supported by NIMH grant MH-28859-01.     

Adolescent depressed mood and young adult functioning: A longitudinal study

The present study examined two aspects of depressed mood in adolescence: (1) stability across the adolescent years and (2) ability to predict functioning in young adulthood. Participants included 82 Caucasian individuals (46 females and 36 males) who were assessed one time per year for 4 consecutive years during adolescence (mean age at initial assessment = 13.5 years) and again during young adulthood (mean age = 19). The results indicated that depressed mood, as measured by the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), remained relatively stable across at least 3 consecutive years of data collection during adolescence. In addition, adolescent CDI scores predicted young adult functioning in each of four areas: prosocial competence, self-esteem, externalizing problems, and internalizing problems.This study was supported, in part, by the William T. Grant Foundation and the University of Georgia's Institute for Behavioral Research.     

Mom,you're only remembering the bad behavior! the utility of distributed lag models in single-subject research

The present study examined if prior events/behaviors accounted for variance in parental perceptions of child behavior beyond that accounted for by those events/behaviors occurring simultaneously with the assessment of the parental perception. By utilizing a time-series analysis, this study investigated the relative effects of positive and negative child behaviors, interparental behavior, and intrapersonal behavior/events occurring simultaneously or at an earlier point in time on a mother's daily satisfaction with her clinic-referred child. Using a single-subject methodology with replication, nine mothers served as subjects. Data were collected across 30 days for participants, and subsequently, each mother's data were analyzed by multiple regression techniques. The results indicate the usefulness of distributed lag models for single-case designs in the absence of autocorrelation. Analyses indicate that for some mothers what happens on prior days with her child is as important or more important in determining her satisfaction with the child than what happens on the current day. In particular, mothers tend to carry over previous days' negative child behaviors into the present day's satisfaction rating. Previous days' positive and negative spouse behaviors and daily activities did not consistently contribute to regression equations predicting mothers' daily satisfaction ratings with their children.This research was supported in part by the University of Georgia's Institute for Behavioral Research.Data for this study were collected as part of a project designed to examine correlates of maternal satisfaction with their children. The primary results of the project have been reported by Furey and Forehand (in press). While the method in this study is basically similar to the Furey and Forehand (in press) method, the questions posed in the two studies differed.     

The relationship of early adolescent functioning to parent-reported and adolescent-perceived interparental conflict

Is an adolescent's perception of interparental conflict important or is the parents' report of such conflict sufficient to predict adolescent functioning? To examine this question, a study was undertaken with 178 young adolescents and their mothers, fathers, and social studies teachers. Adolescents completed a measure of their perceptions of interparental conflict while mothers and fathers completed a self-report measure of their conflict. Teachers provided an assessment of each adolescent's cognitive and social functioning at two separate times, 1 year apart. Results indicated that both parental report, particularly maternal, and adolescent perception of interparental conflict were significantly related to adolescent cognitive and social functioning, and the magnitude of the correlations did not differ significantly. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed in which mother and father report of conflict was forced into the equation initially and adolescent perception of such conflict was allowed to enter freely. These analyses indicated that adolescents' perceptions accounted for unique variance in their functioning, beyond that accounted for by parental report. The results are discussed in terms of the specific roles that parental conflict and adolescent perceptions of such conflict play and the possible mechanisms by which each operates.     

Parent-completed and adolescent-completed CDIs: Relationship to adolescent social and cognitive functioning

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of both young adolescents' scores on the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and their mothers' ratings of the adolescents' depression (parent-completed CDI) to indices of their social and cognitive functioning obtained from a source outside the home. Subjects consisted of a nonclinic sample of 85 young adolescents (11–15 years of age), their mothers, and their social studies teachers. Recent school grades and teacher-completed measures served as the indices of adolescent social and cognitive competence. The results indicated that both adolescents' and mothers' CDI scores were significantly and negatively correlated with measures of adolescent cognitive and social functioning. Multiple regression analyses, utilizing adolescent- and parent-completed CDI scores as predictors, indicated that both predictor variables entered into the equations for cognitive functioning while only the mother-completed CDI entered into those for social functioning. When maternal depression was also entered into the multiple regressions, the findings regarding mother- and adolescent-completed CDI scores were not altered. The relationship of these findings to other somewhat disparate findings concerning the utility of mother and child reports of child depression is discussed.This research was supported, in part, by the William T. Grant Foundation and the University of Georgia's Institute for Behavioral Research.