Changes in Externalizing and Internalizing Problems of Adolescents in Foster Care

Using a developmental psychopathology framework, this study aimed to examine changes in externalizing and internalizing problems of adolescents in foster care and to determine whether type of maltreatment, gender, and age influenced trajectories. Authors used 3 waves of data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well‐Being. Growth‐curve analyses of 106 adolescents aged 13–16 in foster care revealed that externalizing and internalizing problems decreased over time. Adolescents, particularly boys, placed in foster care as a result of sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect demonstrated faster decreases in externalizing problems and, similarly but to a weaker degree, internalizing problems than did those placed in foster care as a result of other forms of maltreatment.     

环境知识、风险感知与青年环境友好行为

基于2013年中国综合社会调查数据,对青年环境友好行为的影响因素的分析发现,环境知识水平和风险感知对青年环境友好行为有积极的影响,但环境知识水平和环境风险感知对青年环境友好行为有积极促进作用,这种作用部分受到社会人口学特征变量的抑制。同时,青年私人领域环境友好行为和青年公共领域环境友好行为的影响因素存在较大差异,青年私人领域环境友好行为受到阅历、经济基础和风险感知的影响,公共领域环境友好行为与"人的现代化"程度有关。     

Family Socialization and Chinese Youth Children’s Development: Does psychosocial Maturity Matter?

The present study examined the effects of family socialization in the form of family processes and parenting practices on youth children’s internalizing and externalizing problems concomitantly in a sample of Chinese parent–child dyads. The results generally support that (1) family socialization is crucially influential on the youth outcomes, in which parenting is a function of family processes; (2) youth’s psychosocial maturity significantly mediates the effects of family socialization on their outcomes; (3) effects of family processes are observed more pronounced as compared with parenting practices; and (4) more complicatedly varying effects of family processes and parenting practices on the youth outcomes appear when setting free the mediations of psychosocial maturity across different structural models. Service implications of the findings and future research directions are briefly discussed.     

Parallel Process of Posttraumatic Stress and Externalizing Problems Among Youth at High Risk for Victimization

Research shows comorbidity between posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and externalizing problems among polyvictimized youth. However, the impact of polyvictimization on the longitudinal co-development of PTSS and distinct forms of externalizing problems remains unclear. Growth trajectory modeling was used to address this gap. At ages 8, 12, and 16, polyvictimization was measured using youth, caregiver, and official records; whereas youth self-reported PTSS and caregivers reported aggression and delinquency. Results demonstrate that changes in PTSS and each externalizing domain were independent. Further, polyvictimization and PTSS/aggression were only associated at concurrent time points. In contrast, polyvictimization and delinquency were generally associated at concurrent and distal time points, suggesting that polyvictimization may have a more enduring impact on youths' delinquent behaviors than other symptoms.     

Developmental Outcomes for Children of Young Mothers

This study tested the association between mother’s early age at first birth and various life outcomes for her children in later adolescence and early adulthood. Data were analyzed from the Rochester Youth Development Study, an ongoing panel study of adolescents enrolled in seventh or eighth grade in Rochester Public Schools in 1988 (N =729). Boys born to mothers who began childbearing before age 19 had elevated risks of drug use, gang membership, unemployment, and early parenthood. Girls born to young mothers only had elevated risks of early parenthood. Of the mediators tested, low maternal education had the largest mediating effects. The findings suggest that the risks associated with being born to a young mother are substantial but perhaps disproportionately so for boys.     

Cumulative Social-Environmental Adversity Exposure as Predictor of Psychological Distress and Risk Behavior in Urban Youth

The present study examines exposure to adversity as a predictor of psychological distress and risk behavior among 266 elementary students in 14 low income neighborhood schools in Chicago. Two indices of adversity exposure were created, reflecting neighborhood, school, and peer group risk (NSP) and the lack of protective resources within the family and neighborhood (LPR). Regression analyses investigated these indices as independent and potentially interacting predictors of self-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety, frequency of substance use, and involvement in violence-related behavior. The LPR index was found to be a linear predictor of greater reported anxiety and exhibited a significant curvilinear association with reports of depression, substance use, and violence-related behavior. Similarly, the NSP index was a linear predictor of greater reported levels of substance use and violence-related behavior. Significant interaction between the two indices was found. Implications for research and school clinicians (social workers and psychologists) are offered.     

Indoor Tanning and Problem Behavior

Objective: The authors examined factors predicting college students' use of tanning beds. Participants and Methods: Undergraduate students (N = 745) at a large Northeastern university participated in the study by answering a survey measuring tanning behavior and other psychosocial variables, including sensation seeking, self-esteem, tanning image beliefs, and friends' tanning bed use. Results: All 3 systems from problem behavior theory predicted past tanning bed use and intention to use tanning beds. The authors observed a positive association between sensation seeking and intention to use tanning beds. Tanning image beliefs were positively associated with both past tanning behavior and intention to use tanning beds. Conclusions: Interventions focusing on friend and acquaintance social network influences may be more effective than health-risk campaigns in reducing tanning bed use.     

Socioemotional functioning across the transition to lower secondary school: The role of temperament and relationships with mothers and teachers

This Finnish longitudinal study investigated the role of relationships with mothers (n = 631) and teachers (n = 56), and adolescents' (n = 848; 53.9% girls, 46.1% boys) temperament in the development of the adolescents' socioemotional functioning during the transition to lower secondary school (Grade 6 to Grade 7; age in Grade 6: M = 12.32, SD = 0.36). The results showed that mother–adolescent closeness predicted a higher level and teacher–adolescent closeness predicted a smaller decrease in prosocial behavior. Teacher–adolescent conflict predicted a higher level, and mother–adolescent conflict predicted an increase in externalizing problems. Only temperament predicted internalizing problems. In addition, relationship quality both mediated and moderated some of the associations between temperament and socioemotional functioning.     

Relationships of Sexual,Physical, and Emotional Abuse to Emotional and Behavioral Problems Among Incarcerated Adolescents

ABSTRACT

This study examined the relationships of sexual, physical and emotional abuse to emotional (internalizing) and behavioral (externalizing) problems among incarcerated girls and boys. Participants were youth who were remanded to the correctional facilities within a statewide juvenile correctional system in a southern state in the United States of America. Each participant completed a structured interview regarding abuse history, emotional and behavioral difficulties, and demographic characteristics. Multiple regression analyses indicated that girls were more likely than boys to internalize their problems. The only abuse variable that was positively and significantly associated with emotional problems was emotional abuse. Greater behavioral problems were significantly related to youths being younger in age, white ethnicity, history of sexual abuse, and history of physical abuse. There were overall gender differences for internalizing problems, but not for externalizing problems among incarcerated adolescents. Furthermore, physical and sexual abuses were related to externalizing problems but not to internalizing problems. Thus, different types of abuse appear to have different effects on adolescent behavior. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Attachment Style and Risk Taking: A Theoretical Approach to Understanding Young Men Who Have Sex with Men

Relationships between attachment style and risk-taking behaviors are examined among young men who have sex with men. A large body of research has demonstrated that possessing a secure attachment style may buffer the effects of other risk factors. Conversely, an insecure attachment style, particularly fearful and preoccupied styles, interfere with motivation to participate in health-protective behaviors and create barriers to developing platonic relationships with peers and adults, including service providers, who can assist with positive adaptation and functioning. Thus, a better understanding of the attachment styles of at-risk youth may guide the development of more suitable interventions.     

Intergenerational continuity in parenting: a review and theoretical integration

Abstract

Objective: This review evaluates literature on how parenting behaviors are passed from one generation to the next in families by providing a new definitional framework to organize existing work, utilizing this framework to review literature on intergenerational continuity in parenting behaviors, and proposing a new developmental framework for understanding the etiology of intergenerational continuity in parenting behaviors.

Design: The present review examines 31 studies of intergenerational continuity in parenting, summarizes the findings offered by these studies, and integrates this existing literature in a theoretical framework for considering the etiology of intergenerational continuity in parenting behaviors.

Results: Results indicate that parental warmth, hostility, and behavioral control each demonstrate intergenerational continuity, and that internalizing and externalizing behavior serve as potential mediators of intergenerational continuity across all three types of parenting behaviors.

Conclusions: Parenting behaviors falling in the warmth, hostility, and behavioral control domains each demonstrate modest continuity across generations. Internalizing and externalizing behaviors developed by children in response to parenting in their family of origin may persist and cause similar patterns of parenting when these children grow up and start their own families. Partner psychopathology and parenting styles may moderate these externalizing and internalizing pathways to intergenerational continuity in parenting.     

Out-Of-School Care and Youth Problem Behaviors in Low-Income,Urban Areas

Using data from Welfare, Children and Families: A 3-City Study, this study explores how change and stability in out-of-school care are associated with changes in problem behaviors among youth from Time 1 (i.e., at ages 10–11) to Time 2 (an average of 16 months later). Girls in at-home, family care or an organized activity at Time 1 and in informal, out-of-home care or self-care at Time 2 experienced greater increases in problem behaviors than girls remaining in at-home family care or an organized activity. Other changes in care were related to youth outcomes differently depending upon maternal psychological distress. Policies must provide a full range of support services related to childcare and mental health care for low-income families.     

Mothering and Peer Associations Mediate Cumulative Risk Effects for Latino Youth

The present study examined whether positive parenting and deviant peer associations mediated the relations between a cumulative risk composite comprising financial strain, neighborhood problems, and maternal psychological distress and subsequent youth adjustment problems. Drawn from the Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study, the sample consisted of 449 economically disadvantaged Latino families. Structural equation modeling showed that after controlling for baseline levels of youth adjustment problems, cumulative risk, assessed when adolescents were 10 to 14 years old, was directly and indirectly predictive of youths’ deviant peer associations 16 months later, through mother’s positive parenting. Deviant peer associations, in turn, were proximally associated with youth externalizing and internalizing problems. Findings underscore the role of mothers and peers in Latino youth adjustment problems.     

Addressing Urban African American Youth Externalizing and Social Problem Behavioral Difficulties in a Family Oriented Prevention Project

Summary

The current article examines the secondary effects of an inner-city Community-University Collaborative HIV-Prevention and Adolescent Mental Health Family Program (CHAMP) in reducing externalizing (i.e., aggressive and rule-breaking behavior) and social problem behaviors for children with significant levels of externalizing behavior. Data were provided by parents for a sample of 50 youth assigned to the CHAMP Family Program and 299 comparison children. Among the CHAMP Family Program participants at pretest, 40% (n = 20) of parents reported their children exhibited significant levels of externalizing behavior. Among the comparison group, 38% (n = 113) of parents reported their children exhibited significant levels of externalizing behavior. There was a significant reduction in child externalizing scores for children in the CHAMP Family Program from pretest to posttest, bringing their mean scores of externalizing behavior from clinical to sub-clinical levels. Posttest only comparisons revealed that children in the CHAMP Family Program had significantly lower externalizing behavior scores than children in the comparison group. Analyses of child social problems indicated mixed results. Implications for urban mental health and prevention programs are discussed.     

Using the Stepfamily Genetic Design to Examine Gene-Environment Processes in Child and Family Functioning

SUMMARY

Studying children in different types of families-intact, single-mother, and stepparent families-affords opportunities for testing models of gene-environment processes, based on estimates of sibling similarity among full-siblings and half-siblings. We used a stepfamily quantitative genetic design to estimate genetic and environmental sources of variance in children's behavior problems and prosocial behaviors, as well as negativity in their relationships with their mothers and mothers' partners. Participants included full- and half-sibling pairs (same- and opposite-sex) from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Mothers reported on their children's behavior problems and prosocial behaviors, as well as negativity in their parent-child relationships, for a target child (4 years old) and oneolder sibling (M =6.31 years). There was additive genetic variance in child behavior problems and partner-child negativity, and shared environmental variance in mother-child and partner-child negativity. One-fifth to two-thirds of the variance was accounted for by nonshared environment and error. These findings were similar even after controlling for sibling gender and age differences, the resident status of the older sibling, and the older siblings' degree of contact with the nonresident biological parent. The links between parental negativity and child behavior problems were mediated by genetic covariance suggesting possible gene-environment correlation processes, and the links between parental negativity and child prosocial behaviors were mediated primarily by environmental covariance.     

Parents and Peers in Relation to Early Adolescent Problem Behavior

Concurrent and prospective associations between parent‐youth dyadic hostility and adolescent externalizing and internalizing problem behavior were examined in a sample of 416 families. Parenting control, parents’ well‐being, and youths’ affiliation with deviant peers were included as integral covariates. Information from multiple sources was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Concurrently, youth externalizing problems were associated with dyadic hostility, deviant peers, inadequate parenting control, and fathers’ well‐being (inversely). Internalizing problems were associated with inadequate parenting control and lower levels of fathers’ well‐being. Prospectively, some of these relations continued over 2 years, with a few new associations emerging. A process model is proposed in which parent‐youth dyadic hostility during early adolescence influences parenting, peer relations, and parents’ well‐being over time.     

Quantum decision theory augments rank-dependent expected utility and Cumulative Prospect Theory

Using experimental data on choices between pairs of lotteries, we compare a new parameterized Quantum Decision Theory (QDT) with Rank Dependent Utility Theory (RDU) and Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT). At the aggregate level, CPT-based QDT outperforms. At the individual level, the considerable heterogeneity across subjects is best described by the RDU-based QDT, at odds with the conclusion using the representative agent approach. The quantum attraction factor thus plays a key role in describing subjects’ behaviors at both levels. A large fraction of subjects exhibit temporal stability of asset integration attitudes. Another significant fraction of subjects are diagnosed to be using mixtures of mental models, which are elicited selectively depending on the nature of the presented choice alternatives.     

Condom Use,Condom Refusal,and Substituted Sexual Behaviors Among Youth at Higher and Lower Risk for HIV Infection

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to describe sexual behaviors that youth substitute for protected intercourse when a partner refuses to use a condom or a condom is not used. Participants included: (a) 120 adolescents (mean age 17.2 years) undergoing substance abuse treatment and (b) 171 university students (mean age 21.3 years). The treatment sample reported significantly higher levels of discrete risk factors for HIV exposure. While only a small proportion of each sample experienced outright refusals by partners to use condoms, the majority of participants in each sample used condoms inconsistently with main partners. The university sample reported more substituted behaviors (lower risk and total) when partners did not want to use condoms. Yet, substantial proportions of participants in each sample engaged in unprotected intercourse. Implications for social work and health promotion efforts directed toward youth at risk for HIV/STD exposures are discussed.     

Assessing the Moderating Effects of Depressive Symptoms on Antisocial Behavior among Urban Youth in Public Housing

This study assesses whether the influences of attitude towards deviance, exposure to delinquent peers and parental supervision and encouragement on antisocial behavior are moderated by depressive symptoms. Two hundred and thirty eight African American adolescents ages 13–19 from three public housing developments participated in this study. Results indicate that approximately half of the youth did not engage in antisocial behaviors in the last year. Gender, depression, attitudes and peers were significant correlates of antisocial behavior. Parental supervision and encouragement, and age were not related to antisocial behavior. Interaction effects suggest that the relative influences of attitudes towards deviance and delinquent peers on antisocial behaviors depend upon gender and level of depression symptoms. Implications for social work practice and future research are discussed.