Perceived Control Mediates the Relation Between Parental Rejection and Youth Depression

Previous research suggests that both perceived parental control and rejection may be linked to youth depression. However, research has not definitively determined which dimension matters more, nor examined mediation within a clinical sample. We used a sample of clinically referred youth (aged 7-17) to determine (a) which parenting dimension is more closely associated with youth depression, and (b) whether youngsters' perceptions of control mediated the association. Perceived parental rejection was strongly linked to depressive symptoms (perceived parental control was not); youth perceived control did in fact mediate the association, and robustly so across gender and age groups. The findings suggest a developmental process in depression, plus potential foci for prevention and treatment programs.     

Continuity of parenting practices across generations in an at-risk sample: a prospective comparison of direct and mediated associations

A prospective model of parenting and externalizing behavior spanning 3 generations (G1, G2, and G3) was examined for young men from an at-risk sample of young adult men (G2) who were in approximately the youngest one third of their cohort to become fathers. It was first predicted that the young men in G2 who had children the earliest would show high levels of antisocial behavior. Second, it was predicted that G1 poor parenting practices would show both a direct association with the G2 son's subsequent parenting and a mediated effect via his development of antisocial and delinquent behavior by adolescence. The young fathers had more arrests and were less likely to have graduated from high school than the other young men in the sample. Findings were most consistent with the interpretation that there was some direct effect of parenting from G1 to G2 and some mediated effect via antisocial behavior in G2.     

Ethical Issues and At-Risk Behaviors in Marriage and Family Therapy: A Qualitative Study of Awareness

This exploratory study investigated perceptions of and relationship with professional ethics of therapists-in-training. A focus group of marriage and family therapy doctoral students explored self-awareness and at-risk behaviors regarding ethical competence and compliance. A grounded theory analysis of data is presented as a conditional matrix, which offers a theory of development between therapists and their perception of ethics. The Practitioner-Relationship Ethics Model represents findings of interaction between confidence in ethical principles, field experience, use of justification, and at-risk behaviors. Implications and limitations of these findings are presented, as are suggestions for research.     

Punishment insensitivity and parenting: temperament and learning as interacting risks for antisocial behavior

We review ideas about individual differences in sensitivity or responsiveness to common disciplinary behaviors parents use to correct aggressive and antisocial behavior in children. At extremes, children may be seen as punishment-insensitive, an heuristic with some value relevant to models of the development of antisocial and aggressive behavior disorders. Literature from diverse fields, such as psychopathy, child temperament, socialization and the development of moral conscience, conditioning theory, and personality theory, have all utilized the idea that humans differ in their sensitivity to aversive stimuli and the cues that signal their occurrence, as well as their ability to inhibit reward-driven behavior, in the presence of punishment cues. Contemporary thinking places these dispositions squarely as basic biological aspects of temperament that moderate the effects of the environment (e.g., parenting) on outcomes (e.g., mental health). We review a largely forgotten literature that shows clearly that sensitivity to punishment is also reliably influenced by the environment itself. An attempt is then made to model the interactional processes by which parenting and punishment sensitivities in children magnify or diminish each other's progress toward healthy or antisocial development. Implications for parenting of children with low responsiveness to punishment strategies are discussed.     

Husbands' and Wives' Attachment Orientations and Depressive Symptoms: Predictors of Positive and Negative Conflict Behaviors in the Marriage

The present study examined both husbands' and wives' attachment orientations and depressive symptoms in predicting reports of marital conflict behaviors. Married couples (N = 60) completed questionnaires to assess their attachment orientations, depressive symptoms, and perceptions of positive and negative conflict behaviors in the marital relationship. Using hierarchical regression analyses, statistical models were tested wherein husbands' and wives' reports of marital conflict behaviors were regressed on their own and their spouses' attachment orientations and depressive symptoms. The results suggest that both attachment orientations and depressive symptoms were important predictors of reported marital conflict behaviors. However, different predictors were found for husbands' and wives' reports of positive and negative conflict behaviors. In general, spouses' attributes played only a small role in predicting reports of marital conflict behaviors.     

A Mediated-Moderation Model of Maternal Parenting Style,Association with Deviant Peers,and Problem Behaviors in Urban African American and European American Adolescents

We examined a model positing that association with deviant peers mediates the relation between perceived maternal parenting style, represented by the dimensions demandingness, responsiveness, and their interaction, and problem behaviors in an urban sample of 82 African American and 56 European American young adolescents. Regression analyses revealed that the data are consistent with a model where association with deviant peers mediates the relation between maternal responsiveness and problem behaviors for European Americans and African American males. In addition, a responsiveness by demandingness interaction was found for European Americans. Only the relation between association with deviant peers and problem behaviors was supported for African American females. The results suggest that ethnic and gender variables might interact with pathways from parenting to association with deviant peers and problem behaviors and that the dimensions of parenting might not be equal in their salience.     

Psychological Adjustment and Knowledge About Hereditary Hemochromatosis in a Clinic-Based Sample: A Prospective Study

This study assessed psychological adjustment and quality of life relative to population-based norms and knowledge about hereditary hemochromatosis in a sample of 101 patients who attended a hemochromatosis clinic. Participants were assessed prior to their clinic visit, and two weeks and 12 months after attendance, using self-administered questionnaires. Mean Mental Health Component Scores from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) (45.3, 95% CI 43.2, 47.4) were as compromised as those found amongst stroke victims (45.9, 95% CI 42.8, 49.0) who had participated in a national health survey. Recall of the genetic testing result was less than optimal, in that only 69.3% of those with genetic testing results knew whether they carried one or two mutations. This study demonstrates that patients would benefit from routine assessment of psychological distress and referral to mental health professionals of those whose levels of distress suggest a need for clinical intervention. Results also show that patients may benefit from strategies aimed at improving recall of genetic testing results.     

Understanding Mechanisms of Change in the Development of Antisocial Behavior: The Impact of a Universal Intervention

The association between the development of antisocial behavior, affiliation with deviant friends, and peer rejection was tested with a preventive intervention; 664 boys and girls were randomly assigned to a universal classroom-based intervention targeting disruptive behavior or a control condition. Peer nominations of antisocial behavior, friends' antisocial behavior, and peer rejection were assessed annually for 4 years. A high, a moderate, and a stable low antisocial behavior trajectory were identified. Large reductions in antisocial behavior were found among intervention children who followed the high trajectory. These reductions coincided with affiliations with nondeviant peers and with decreases in peer rejection. The affiliation between deviant and nondeviant peers was initiated by nondeviant children. The results support a causal role of deviant friends and peer rejection in the development of antisocial behavior. The implications for our understanding of the mechanisms leading to reductions in antisocial behavior are discussed.     

The effects of safety-seeking behavior and guided threat reappraisal on fear reduction during exposure: an experimental investigation

We examined the effects of safety-seeking behavior and guided threat focus and reappraisal on fear reduction during exposure. Participants (N=46) displaying marked claustrophobic fear were randomized to one of three 30-min exposure conditions: (a) guided threat focus and reappraisal; (b) safety-behavior utilization; or (c) exposure only control. Tripartite outcome assessments during a behavioral approach test, along with measures of suffocation and restriction fears were obtained at pre- and post-treatment, and at a 2-week follow-up. Treatment process measures were collected throughout treatment and consisted of indices of fear activation; within and between-trial fear habituation; and suffocation and entrapment expectancies. Measures of safety behavior utilization and attentional focus were also collected to assess the integrity of the experimental manipulations. Consistent with prediction, those encouraged to utilize safety-behaviors during exposure showed significantly more fear at post-treatment and follow-up relative to those encouraged to focus and reevaluate their core threat(s) during exposure. Moreover, growth curve analyses of treatment process data analyses revealed that safety-behavior utilization exerted a detrimental effect on between-trial habituation; whereas guided threat reappraisal enhanced between-trial habituation.     

Serious delinquent behavior,sensation seeking,and electrodermal arousal

Low tonic skin conductance level (SCL) has been related, inconsistently, to both delinquency and sensation-seeking. This study tests the hypothesis that there is an interaction such that high sensation seeking delinquents, in particular, have low SCLs. Participants consisted of 335 boys from the Pittsburgh Youth Study classified as serious delinquents or controls based upon 10 years of prospectively collected self-report delinquency data. Participants' skin conductance was evaluated at age 16 along with several personality and neuropsychological measures. Both delinquency and sensation seeking were characterized by low SCL. However, there was no evidence to suggest that the presence of both of these factors together lead to especially low skin conductance levels. This finding is not explained by differences between the groups on measures of negative emotionality, IQ, socioeconomic status, or impulsivity.