Patterns of sedentary behavior among adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: Reducing certain sedentary behaviors (e.g., watching television, using a computer) can be an effective weight loss strategy for youth. Knowledge about whether behaviors cluster together could inform interventions. STUDY DESIGN: Estimates of time spent in 6 sedentary behaviors (watching television, talking on the telephone, using a computer, listening to music, doing homework, reading) were cluster analyzed for a sample of 878 adolescents (52% girls, mean age = 12.7 years, 58% Caucasian). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The clusters were based on the sedentary behaviors listed above and compared on environmental variables (e.g., household rules), psychosocial variables (e.g., self-efficacy, enjoyment), and health behaviors (e.g., physical activity, diet). RESULTS: Four clusters emerged: low sedentary, medium sedentary, selective high sedentary, and high sedentary. Analyses revealed significant cluster differences for gender (p < .002), age (p < .002), body mass index (p < .001), physical activity (p < .01), and fiber intake (p < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest a limited number of distinct sedentary behavior patterns. Further study is needed to determine how interventions may use cluster membership to target segments of the adolescent population.     

Culturally adapting an evidence-based parenting intervention for Latino immigrants: the need to integrate fidelity and cultural relevance

Latinos constitute the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. However, the cultural adaptation and dissemination of evidence-based parenting interventions among Latino populations continues to be scarce despite extensive research that demonstrates the long-term positive effects of these interventions. The purpose of this article is threefold: (1) justify the importance of cultural adaptation research as a key strategy to disseminate efficacious interventions among Latinos, (2) describe the initial steps of a program of prevention research with Latino immigrants aimed at culturally adapting an evidence-based intervention informed by parent management training principles, and (3) discuss implications for advancing cultural adaptation prevention practice and research, based on the initial feasibility and cultural acceptability findings of the current investigation.     

TEACHING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER TO MAND FOR INFORMATION USING “WHICH?”

We examined a procedure consisting of a preference assessment, prompting, contrived conditioned establishing operations, and consequences for correct and incorrect responses for teaching children with autism to mand “which?” We used a modified multiple baseline design across 3 participants. All the children learned to mand “which?” Generalization occurred to the natural environment, to a novel activity, and to a novel container; the results were maintained over time.Key words: mand for information, verbal behavior, verbal operant, whichContrived motivating operations have been used to teach mands for information to children with autism, including the mands “what?” (e.g., Williams, Donley, & Keller, 2000), “where?” (e.g., Betz, Higbee, & Pollard, 2010; Lechago, Carr, Grow, Love, & Almason, 2010), and “who?” (e.g., Endicott & Higbee, 2007; Sundberg, Loeb, Hale, & Eigenheer, 2002). More recently, researchers have examined the effects of contriving establishing operations (CEOs) in four different ways to teach children with autism to acquire the mands “what?” (Marion, Martin, Yu, & Buhler, 2011; Roy-Wsiaki, Marion, Martin, & Yu, 2010) and “where?” (Marion, Martin, Yu, Buhler, & Kerr, in press). Like the mands “what?” and “where?,” the mand “which?” is a mand for information that gives the speaker the ability to gather specific information regarding an item (e.g., “Which book is mine?”). Given the dearth of research that has examined interventions to teach mands for information using “which?,” the purpose of the present study was to extend the work of Marion et al. (2011, in press) by contriving one of four CEOs for teaching the mand “which?” to children with autism, and to assess for generalization to the other CEOs, the natural environment, and over time.     

A Confidant Support and Problem Solving Model of Divorced Fathers’ Parenting

This study tested a hypothesized social interaction learning (SIL) model of confidant support and paternal parenting. The latent growth curve analysis employed 230 recently divorced fathers, of which 177 enrolled support confidants, to test confidant support as a predictor of problem solving outcomes and problem solving outcomes as predictors of change in fathers’ parenting. Fathers’ parenting was hypothesized to predict growth in child behavior. Observational measures of support behaviors and problem solving outcomes were obtained from structured discussions of personal and parenting issues faced by the fathers. Findings replicated and extended prior cross‐sectional studies with divorced mothers and their confidants. Confidant support predicted better problem solving outcomes, problem solving predicted more effective parenting, and parenting in turn predicted growth in children's reduced total problem behavior T scores over 18 months. Supporting a homophily perspective, fathers’ antisociality was associated with confidant antisociality but only fathers’ antisociality influenced the support process model. Intervention implications are discussed regarding SIL parent training and social support.