Adherence-health status relationships in childhood diabetes

Used 24-hr recall interviews to assess adherence in a sample of seventy-eight 6- to 19-year-olds with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus over a 3-month period. Thirteen adherence measures were quantified and grouped into six adherence factors (Injection, Exercise, Diet Type, Testing/Eating Frequency, Calories Consumed, and Concentrated Sweets). Prevailing glucose levels over a 2- to 3-month interval were indexed by glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HA1c) and glycosylated serum protein (GSP) assays. Fasting triglycerides (TRIG) and total cholesterol (CHOL) assays were used to estimate lipid metabolism. Adolescents were generally less adherent than their young counterparts. Using hierarchical multiple-regression techniques, HA1c and GSP were not reliably predicted by most of the adherence factors; only Calories Consumed showed any predictive power. No significant regression equations emerged for CHOL. In contrast, TRIG was significantly associated with five of the six adherence factors; in all cases, adherence interacted with the patients' metabolic status (as defined by HA1c) at study entry, suggesting that adherence had different effects for youngsters in good versus poor diabetes control.     

Establishing and Evaluating the Key Functions of an Interactive Systems Framework Using an Assets-Getting to Outcomes Intervention

Community practitioners can face difficulty in achieving outcomes demonstrated by prevention science. Building a community practitioner's prevention capacity—the knowledge and skills needed to conduct critical prevention practices—could improve the quality of prevention and its outcomes. The purpose of this article is to: (1) describe how an intervention called Assets‐Getting To Outcomes (AGTO) was used to establish the key functions of the ISF and present early lessons learned from that intervention's first 6 months and (2) examine whether there is an empirical relationship between practitioner capacity at the individual level and the performance of prevention at the program level—a relationship predicted by the ISF but untested. The article describes an operationalization of the ISF in the context of a five‐year randomized controlled efficacy trial that combines two complementary models designed to build capacity: Getting To Outcomes (GTO) and Developmental Assets. The trial compares programs and individual practitioners from six community‐based coalitions using AGTO with programs and practitioners from six similar coalitions that are not. In this article, we primarily focus on what the ISF calls innovation specific capacity and discuss how the combined AGTO innovation structures and uses feedback about its capacity‐building activities, which can serve as a model for implementing the ISF. Focus group discussions used to gather lessons learned from the first 6 months of the AGTO intervention suggest that while the ISF may have been conceptualized as three distinct systems, in practice they are less distinct. Findings from the baseline wave of data collection of individual capacity and program performance suggest that practitioner capacity predicts, in part, performance of prevention programs. Empirically linking practitioner capacity and performance of prevention provides empirical support for both the ISF and AGTO. Special Issue: Advances in Bridging Research and Practice Using the Interactive System Framework for Dissemination and Implementation; Guest Editors: Abraham Wandersman, Paul Flaspohler, Catherine A. Lesesne, Richard Puddy; Action Editor: Emilie Phillips Smith     

Effects of Parental Acceptance-Rejection on Children’s Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors: A Longitudinal,Multicultural Study

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Grounded in Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection Theory, this study assessed children’s (N?=?1315) perceptions of maternal and paternal...     

Did John B. Watson Really “Found” Behaviorism?

Developments culminating in the nineteenth century, along with the predictable collapse of introspective psychology, meant that the rise of behavioral psychology was inevitable. In 1913, John B. Watson was an established scientist with impeccable credentials who acted as a strong and combative promoter of a natural science approach to psychology when just such an advocate was needed. He never claimed to have founded “behavior psychology” and, despite the acclaim and criticism attending his portrayal as the original behaviorist, he was more an exemplar of a movement than a founder. Many influential writers had already characterized psychology, including so-called mental activity, as behavior, offered many applications, and rejected metaphysical dualism. Among others, William Carpenter, Alexander Bain, and (early) Sigmund Freud held views compatible with twentieth-century behaviorism. Thus, though Watson was the first to argue specifically for psychology as a natural science, behaviorism in both theory and practice had clear roots long before 1913. If behaviorism really needs a “founder,” Edward Thorndike might seem more deserving, because of his great influence and promotion of an objective psychology, but he was not a true behaviorist for several important reasons. Watson deserves the fame he has received, since he first made a strong case for a natural science (behaviorist) approach and, importantly, he made people pay attention to it.     

Does the Amount of Participation in Afterschool Programs Relate to Developmental Outcomes? A Review of the Literature

Contrary to the findings from previous reviews we found little support for the general notion that greater amounts of participation in afterschool programs was related to academic, behavioral, or socio-emotional outcomes. However, some relationships did emerge depending on how participation was conceptualized and measured, and the methodology used to assess the relationship between participation and outcomes. For example, some benefits occurred when participants with high levels of participation were compared to non-participants, not when they were compared to other program participants. Several suggestions are offered to improve future research on the relationship between aspects of participation and developmental outcomes.     

Developmental Trajectories of Boys’ and Girls’ Delinquency: Sex Differences and Links to Later Adolescent Outcomes

This study examined gender differences in trajectories of delinquent behaviors over a 6-year period in adolescence and differential outcomes of these diverse developmental pathways. Participants were 754 children who were part of a longitudinal study of the development of early starting conduct problems. Four trajectory patterns were identified across grades 7–12: increasing, desisting, chronic, and nonproblem groups. Although the proportion of boys and girls varied across the pathways, both genders were represented on these trajectories. Boys were more represented on the chronic and desisting trajectories; girls were more represented in the nonproblem group. However, the proportion of boys and girls was similar in the increasing trajectory. Trajectory membership significantly predicted age 19 outcomes for partner violence, risky sexual behavior and depression, and the risk conferred on these negative adjustment outcomes did not vary by gender. The overall pattern was characterized by poor outcomes at age 19 for youth in both the chronic and the increasing trajectories. The major conclusion is that, other than base rate differences, developmental patterns and outcomes for girls mimic those previously found for boys.